Ray Stagich, Janice Dean, Captain Chuck Nash, A.B. Stoddard, Tucker Barnes, Jake Tapper and guest host Mary Walter joined WMAL on Thursday!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Mary Walter

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C Poll: Trump More Widely Trusted Than News Media. “Better to get your news directly from the president,” Republican congressman Lamar Smith said last month. “In fact, it might be the only way to get the unvarnished truth.” You may call that sentiment Orwellian, but nine out of ten Republicans would call it common sense: A new poll from Emerson College finds 90 percent of Republicans believe that the Trump administration is “truthful” — while less than 10 percent say the same about the news media. By contrast, 77 percent of Democrats believe the Trump White House is “untruthful,” while 69 percent think the news media generally tells the truth. Independents tend to think they’re all a bunch of liars, with 52 percent calling the administration untruthful and 47 percent calling the media the same. Republicans’ nearly unanimous trust in the Trump White House — and contempt for the Fourth Estate — means that, on the whole, voters have more faith in the president: Forty-nine percent call the Trump administration truthful, 48 percent say the opposite; for the media, those numbers are 39 and 53, respectively.

5am – D INTERVIEW – RAY STAGICH – Radio Meteorologist for The Weather Channel – previewed if snow will have an impact on air travel and commuting in the DC area.

5am – E Latest on the confirmations:

• Senate confirms Jeff Sessions as attorney general. The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Jeff Sessions as the next attorney general, following a bitter debate in the chamber that saw Republicans formally rebuke Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) for the manner in which she criticized her colleague from Alabama. Sessions, a four-term U.S. senator, was the first senator to endorse Trump in February 2016, and his conservative, populist views have shaped many of the administration’s early policies, including on immigration. The vote, 52-47 in favor of confirmation, ran largely down party lines. Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) was the only Democrat who supported him. Sessions voted present.
• Manchin a no on Tom Price, setting up likely party-line vote. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin will oppose Rep. Tom Price’s nomination as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, meaning Price is likely to be confirmed with only Republican votes. The Senate has a procedural vote on Price’s confirmation tonight, setting up a final vote that’s likely to come sometime Friday morning.
• Trump to meet with moderate Democrats with Gorsuch vote in mind. Washington (CNN )President Donald Trump invited several red state Democratic senators to a White House lunch Thursday in hopes of wooing their support for his Supreme Court nominee and other agenda items, a White House official told CNN Monday.The four senators — Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Jon Tester of Montana — are up for re-election in 2018.

6am – A/B/C Report: 12M Americans hide bank accounts, credit cards. WASHINGTON — If you’ve been hiding your spending habits from your spouse, it looks like you’re not alone. About 12 million Americans have a bank or credit account that they’re hiding from their live-in spouse, partner or significant other, according to a new CreditCards.com survey. Older consumers of the baby boomer generation, those ages 63 to 71, were the biggest culprits. Eleven percent were guilty of financial infidelity. Millennials clocked in at only 3 percent. Baby boomers were also found to be more likely to spend $500 or more without telli ng their partner. Overall, Americans are happy to make large purchases on their own, with 28 percent of respondents admitting to having spent $500 or more on a single purchase without asking their partner. Baby boomers were, again, found to be more likely to spend that amount than millennials — 39 percent as opposed to 20 percent.

6am – D Gorsuch Calls Trump Tweets About Judges ‘Demoralizing’ And ‘Disheartening.’ Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch told a U.S. senator today that he found President Trump’s recent attacks on judges to be “demoralizing” and “disheartening.” Gorsuch made the comments during a private meeting and was quoted later by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. Blumenthal told reporters, “He certainly expressed to me that he is disheartened by the demoralizing and abhorrent comments made by President Trump about the judiciary.” Gorsuch has been meeting with senators in preparation for confirmation hearings. A member of the Supreme Court nomination team escorting Gorsuch through the get-acquainted meetings also confirmed the remarks to NPR’s Tamara Keith.

6am – E INTERVIEW – JANICE DEAN “THE WEATHER MACHINE” – Fox News senior meteorologist and author of new book “Freddy the Frogcaster and the Terrible Tornado” and author of “Freddy the Frogcaster and the Big Blizzard” – previewed if snow will have an impact on air travel and commuting in the DC area.

6am – F Carly Fiorina ‘certainly looking at’ Virginia Senate run. (The Hill) — Former Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said she is considering running for Senate in Virginia next year. In an interview with local Virginia radio show,” Fiorina was asked if she would run against incumbent Sen. Tim Kaine (D). Fredericks grilled Fiorina about recently attending several local events in Virginia. “Well, I don’t know yet, John. Sorry, I’m not gonna make a big announcement on your show,” she said in the interview this week that was first reported by CNN. “Look, I’m certainly looking at that opportunity,” she continued. “It’s a little early to be making that decision. We’re two weeks into a new administration.”

7am – A INTERVIEW – CAPTAIN CHUCK NASH – Retired U.S. Navy Captain, FOX News military analyst and retired from the Navy in 1998 after serving more than 25 years as a naval aviator.

• Nearly two-thirds of Navy planes grounded due to years of budget cuts . Overall, more than half the Navy’s aircraft are grounded, most because there isn’t enough money to fix them. Additionally, there isn’t enough money to fix the fleet’s ships, and the backlog of ships needing work continues to grow.
• Military brass appeals to House Armed Services Committee to end sequestration. Pleading for a repeal of a law that strictly limits defense spending, a panel of four-star military officers warned congressional lawmakers Tuesday that fiscal constraints are crippling the military’s ability to respond to threats. The officers presented a message to the House Armed Services Committee that appears to grow grimmer each time it’s delivered. Each of the services gave to Congress plans for increasing the 2017 defense budget by more than $30 billion. The informal proposals, obtained by The Associated Press, represent the first attempt by President Donald Trump’s Defense Department to halt the erosion of the military’s combat readiness Adm. Bill Moran, the vice chief of naval operations, said more than half of all Navy aircraft are grounded because they’re awaiting maintenance or lack needed spare parts. The figure is higher among its F/A-18 fighter jets, which have been pushed “well beyond” their lifespan during the last 15 years and require double the amount of time to fix, Moran said.

7am – B/C Trump Assails Nordstrom for ‘Unfairly’ Dropping His Daughter Ivanka’s Line. WASHINGTON — President Trump lashed out on Wednesday at the Nordstrom department store chain for dropping his daughter Ivanka’s accessories and clothing line, once again raising ethical questions about the relationship between his presidency and his family’s sprawling business interests. Mr. Trump has already broken with tradition by singling out companies for criticism, like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, automakers and news organizations, sometimes causing gyrations in their stock prices and prompting debates about whether corporations would tailor their conduct to suit a bellicose president. But in those cases, his ire targeted government contracts, departing American jobs or news coverage — not his own family’s personal fortunes. Six days after Nordstrom announced that, based on sales, it would no longer carry Ms. Trump’s products — a decision that prompted some Trump supporters to call for a boycott of the stores — the president took to Twitter to complain that “Ivanka has been treated so unfairly” by the company. He first posted the message from his personal account, and then re-sent it from his official White House account. Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump: My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person — always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible! 10:51 AM – 8 Feb 2017

7am – D INTERVIEW – AB STODDARD – associate editor and columnist at RealClearPolitics

• The Sessions vote and the latest on the confirmations
• Senate confirms Jeff Sessions as attorney general.
• Manchin a no on Tom Price, setting up likely party-line vote.
• Trump to meet with moderate Democrats with Gorsuch vote in mind.

7am – E INTERVIEW – TUCKER BARNES – Morning weather anchor on FOX 5 News

• From 60s to snow: Thursday morning could be sloppy in spots

8am – A/B/C Virginia School Board Defends Politically Correct Signs In Classrooms. (Daily Caller) — An Arlington County School Board member stood by allowing teachers to post politically-suggestive messages in classrooms during a Wednesday interview on a Washington-based radio station. The signs, posted by teachers, were seen by students at Yorktown High School in Arlington, Virginia. Parents of a student contacted the school board and complained about the political undertones of the signs posted at the school. “We put a lot of effort into ensuring all of our students feel safe, and supported as well as academically challenged,” Barbara Kanninen, Vice Chair of the Arlington School Board told WMAL. “It’s not a school board decision about approving signs or not approving signs. This came to us because parents asked about it. We have a very clear policy on our teacher conduct. And that is, of course, teachers do have First Amendment rights.” Kanninen clarified that they do have a policy on political activity which involves teachers not being allowed to endorse a political candidate or political party while in school and using school resources. The signs say in rainbow colors the following phrases: “Patriots Know: Facts are Not Political. Diversity Strengthens Us. Science Is Real. Women’s Rights Are Human Rights. Justice Is For All. We’re All Immigrants. Kindness Is Everything. We Are Yorktown.” “The particular comments on the signs are about science and being supportive of all of our students in our school,” she responded.

8am – D INTERVIEW — JAKE TAPPER – Anchor of THE LEAD and STATE OF THE UNION on CNN

• NOTES: Tapper is going to be the commencement speaker at Darthmouth this year and last night, he was on Colbert…. also we aired the CRUZ vs SANDERS debate on WMAL this week
• Gorsuch Calls Trump Tweets About Judges ‘Demoralizing’ And ‘Disheartening.’ Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch told a U.S. senator today that he found President Trump’s recent attacks on judges to be “demoralizing” and “disheartening.” Gorsuch made the comments during a private meeting and was quoted later by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. Blumenthal told reporters, “He certainly expressed to me that he is disheartened by the demoralizing and abhorrent comments made by President Trump about the judiciary.” Gorsuch has been meeting with senators in preparation for confirmation hearings. A member of the Supreme Court nomination team escorting Gorsuch through the get-acquainted meetings also confirmed the remarks to NPR’s Tamara Keith.
• Poll: Trump More Widely Trusted Than News Media. “Better to get your news directly from the president,” Republican congressman Lamar Smith said last month. “In fact, it might be the only way to get the unvarnished truth.” You may call that sentiment Orwellian, but nine out of ten Republicans would call it common sense: A new poll from Emerson College finds 90 percent of Republicans believe that the Trump administration is “truthful” — while less than 10 percent say the same about the news media. By contrast, 77 percent of Democrats believe the Trump White House is “untruthful,” while 69 percent think the news media generally tells the truth. Independents tend to think they’re all a bunch of liars, with 52 percent calling the administration untruthful and 47 percent calling the media the same.

8am – E Entertainment News:

• Sir Tom Jones ‘dating Priscilla Presley’ a year after wife Linda’s death. (Telegraph) — Crooner Sir Tom Jones is dating Elvis Presley’s ex-wife Priscilla, according to reports. The 76-year-old Welsh star was devastated when his wife of 59 years, Linda, died of cancer last year. A friend told the Sun that Priscilla had been a “support” for Sir Tom in “a difficult year”, and that the pair are “courting” but that it “is early days”. And The Voice coach told the newspaper: “We have been friends for a long time. She’s a lovely lady. We do enjoy our nights out together.” The It’s Not Unusual singer and 71-year-old Priscilla were spotted going out for dinner together at a Hollywood restaurant in a Rolls-Royce last month. The actress, who starred in the Naked Gun films, and Elvis divorced in 1973, four years before the Hound Dog singer died, aged 42.
• Lady Gaga tells bodyshamers ‘I’m proud of my body.’ Lady Gaga hit back at cyber bullies who made fun of her body during her spectacular halftime show at Sunday’s Super Bowl. “I heard my body is a topic of conversation so I wanted to say, I’m proud of my body and you should be proud of yours too,” the “Born This Way” singer wrote on her Instagram page on Tuesday. “No matter who you are or what you do. I could give you a million reasons why you don’t need to cater to anyone or anything to succeed. Be you and be relentlessly you,” she added. Gaga, whose Super Bowl outfits included a crop top and glittering shorts, was mocked by some viewers on social media for the appearance of her stomach. “Tried to enjoy @ladygaga’s performance, was distracted by the flab on her stomach swinging around,” tweeted one viewer, Nathan @negans_swing.