Rep. Mike Rogers, Heritage Action’s Dan Holler, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity and CNN’s Jake Tapper joined WMAL on Thursday!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Mary Walter

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C   House Intel chairman: Trump’s personal communications may have been collected. (CNN) House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes set off a stunning new political controversy Wednesday by revealing that communications of President Donald Trump and associates may have been picked up after the election by intelligence agencies conducting surveillance of foreign targets. Nunes hurried to the White House to personally brief Trump on the revelations, after talking to the press but without sharing the information with Democrats. His Democratic counterpart on the committee — Rep. Adam Schiff of California — warned that his colleague had cast a “profound cloud” over their effort to investigate Russian attempts to interfere in the election. A Republican source with knowledge of the situation claimed the information that Nunes talked about was from the intelligence community and not the White House. The source said Nunes was “steaming” about what he read.

5am – D         Rockville High Incident News:

• Attorney for suspect in Maryland school rape case says client is wrongly accused. (Washington Post) – Henry Sanchez Milian, one of two suspects charged in the rape of a 14-year-old girl in a bathroom at a Maryland high school did not do what he is accused of, his defense attorney said Wednesday. “Based on everything we know, we think he’s innocent,” said Andrew Jezic, who has been retained by Sanchez Milian’s family. “This appears to have been a consensual encounter.”
• Rape at Maryland high school stirs up debate on sanctuary cities. (Washington Times) — Two suspects gained foothold as immigrants. Since the beginning of 2014, Montgomery County has been the destination for 3,286 UACs.  Prince George’s County has received 4,144, and Fairfax County in Virginia has taken in 3,925.

5am – E         London attack: 7 arrests as police probe attacker’s links. London (CNN) Police investigating the deadliest terror attack in central London in 12 years have arrested seven people and searched six addresses, Britain’s most senior counterterror police officer said Thursday. Inquiries are continuing in London, Birmingham and other parts of the country, Mark Rowley said. Rowley revised the number of dead down by one to three. The victims were a police officer protecting Parliament, a woman in her mid-40s and a man in his mid-50s, Rowley said. The attacker, who rammed a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before attempting to storm the Houses of Parliament, was also shot dead at the scene. Twenty-nine people were treated in hospital, seven of whom are still in a critical condition, Rowley said. There were also a number of “walking wounded,” he said. Hundreds of detectives worked through the night, Rowley said, with their investigation focused on the attacker’s motivation, preparation and associates.

 

6am – A/B/C Arm-twisting goes down to the wire as House prepares to vote on healthcare. Freedom Caucus Chair: No Deal Yet, ‘But I’m Really Optimistic’ (CNSNews.com) – “I’m really optimistic that we can get there,” Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, said about an emerging health insurance bill that is being tweaked, even as it heads for a House vote today. “I mean, there’s still a lot of details to work out,” Meadows told Fox News’s Sean Hannity shortly before 11 p.m. Wednesday. “And so to say that we’ve got a deal, that wouldn’t be accurate.”

6am – D         INTERVIEW – REP. MIKE ROGERS – Former House Intelligence Chairman and former FBI Special Agent

• TOPICS: Discuss the House Intel Chair’s announcement about Trump’s communications possibly collected and his thoughts on the London attack

6am – E         Chelsea Clinton to be honored by Variety, Lifetime. (The Hill) – Chelsea Clinton will be honored with an achievement award from Variety next month, the magazine announced Tuesday. The 37-year-old former first daughter, a vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, is rumored to  eyeing a run for a New York Senate seat in 2020 should Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) decide to run for president, the New York Daily News reported last month. Variety, in partnership with Lifetime, will hand out the “Impact Honorees” awards during its annual “Women in Power” luncheon at the ritzy Cipriani restaurant in midtown Manhattan on April 18. Other winners this year include Gayle King of “CBS This Morning,” actresses Jessica Chastain, Blake Lively and Audra McDonald and media executive Shari Redstone. According to Variety, Clinton is being honored “for her work with Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which empowers kids to develop lifelong healthy habits.”

• Susan Rice‏ @AmbassadorRice Mar 21: Susan Rice: When the White House twists the truth, we are all less safe. Why veracity matters to our security.
• Susan Rice slams Trump’s ‘vacation from veracity.’ Former national security adviser Susan Rice says President Trump must improve his administration’s commitment to the truth or risk harming the nation’s credibility. “First impressions matter, and an unsettling pattern has already emerged,” she wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. “Still, it is possible to mitigate the long-term effects of this vacation from veracity – if the White House and the president quickly and convincingly return to the tradition of endeavoring to tell the truth from the Oval Office and the White House briefing room,” added Rice, who also served as former President Obama’s ambassador to the United Nations.

6am – F         Impartiality of Federal Judge Who Blocked Trump EO May Be in Question. (Breitbart / by Michael Patrick Leahy) — Theodore Chuang, the Federal District Judge for the District of Maryland who halted most elements of President Trump’s latest executive order temporarily banning travel from six Middle Eastern countries, as well as refugees from all countries, served as deputy general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2014. His March 15 ruling in the case, International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) v.Trump, in which DHS, the State Department, and President Trump are defendants, raises legitimate questions about whether he should have recused himself from hearing the case in the first place. Title 28, Part I, Chapter 21, Section 455 (a) “Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate judge” of the U.S. Code Annotated reads as follows: (28 U.S. Code § 455 ).

 

7am – A         INTERVIEW — DANIEL HOLLER – Vice President of Government Relations of Heritage Action for America

• Dan Holler is the Vice President of Communications and Government Relations for Heritage Action for America. Prior to his work with Heritage Action, Dan was the deputy director of Senate Relations for The Heritage
• Heritage Action, Club for Growth still opposed to GOP health bill
• Arm-twisting goes down to the wire as House prepares to vote on healthcare. Freedom Caucus Chair: No Deal Yet, ‘But I’m Really Optimistic’

7am – B/C     INTERVIEW – Former Congressman PETE HOEKSTRA – (hook stra) – is the former Chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee

• TOPICS: Discuss the House Intel Chair’s announcement about Trump’s communications possibly collected and his thoughts on the London attack

7am – D         Walking Up Moving Escalators Causes Damage, DC Commuters Told. (NBC 4) – Escalator riders should stand on both the left and right, Paul Wiedefeld said. Walk to the left, stand to the right? Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said please don’t. The head of Washington’s Metro system said Wednesday that the custom of standing on the right side of a Metro escalator to clear the way for people to walk on the left damages escalators. “We do not promote, obviously, the walking on the left. These are very sensitive pieces of equipment,” he said as officials unveiled a new escalator at the Bethesda station. It’s best for escalators when riders stand on both sides of the steps, Wiedefeld said. He seemed resigned to the notion that commuters will continue to follow widespread escalator etiquette. “We prefer that they stand as they move up the escalator, but also we know what people will do what they want to do,” he said.

7am – E         GPS News:

• You no longer need to call or text to let someone know where you are or when you will arrive. Google Maps can tell your friends where you are. (USA Today) — SAN FRANCISCO — Google Maps is pushing the bounds of online sharing, handing people a convenient way to broadcast their movements to friends and family via the mobile app. No need to call or text to let someone know where you are or how soon you will arrive. When you are sharing your location with people, they can see you on their map. Google says it reminds you that you are sharing your location. And it says you can turn off the feature any time. The location-sharing feature will debut Wednesday in an update to the Google Maps app and on personal computers.
• Why millennials ALWAYS get lost: Satnavs ‘switch off’ part of the brain we use for navigation.  (Daily Mail) — It has long been suspected that using satnavs can make drivers abandon their senses and do silly things. The persuasive voice of the satnav has led to countless cases of big lorries stuck in narrow country lanes, or motorists who have ignored their own eyes and driven into rivers or the sea. Now research has shown that when we use the handy devices, it ‘switches off’ the parts of our brain we normally use to navigate. But don’t panic if you’re a Google Maps junkie – although your brain might be in sleep mode now, using real maps will wake it up again.  Navigation exercises the brain in a way that simply does not happen when we are simply following orders. Previous research has shown that London taxi drivers who rely on learning the rat runs and avenues of the capital by heart in ‘the Knowledge’ have enlarged brains. Researchers at the University College London studied how 24 volunteers navigated a computer simulation of Soho, central London while their brains were being scanned.

 

8am – A/B/C INTERVIEW – Supervisor PAT HERRITY for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (R-Springfield)

• Detailing how the situation in Fairfax County is similar to what’s happening in the region, Fairfax County Police Captain Paul Cleveland said there’s been a resurgence in all crimes. “Malicious wounding, assaults have gone up in every district,” Cleveland said. Suggestions from elected leaders and law enforcement to tackle the gang problem include intervention, prevention and education such as providing more after-school programs and teaching parents what to look for. “We’ve had about 1,500 undocumented minor children put in our school systems over the past couple years. So, [these] problems shouldn’t really be too surprising,” Supervisor Pat Herrity of the Springfield District said. Much like what happens in Prince William County, Herrity suggested federal resources be sought to support standalone schools for undocumented immigrants — many of whom can’t read or write in their own language, Herrity said. Already this year, Herritty said, Jeb Stuart High School in Falls Church welcomed 47 children from Guatemala and El Salvador — the home of gang MS-13.

8am – B         London Attack:

• London attack: eight people now arrested, say police. (Guardian, updated this morning) – Eight arrested in six counter-terrorism raids in London, Birmingham and elsewhere, with four confirmed dead in Westminster terror attack.
• The attacker, who rammed a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before attempting to storm the Houses of Parliament, was also shot dead at the scene.
• Twenty-nine people were treated in hospital, seven of whom are still in a critical condition, Rowley said. There were also a number of “walking wounded,” he said.
• Hundreds of detectives worked through the night, Rowley said, with their investigation focused on the attacker’s motivation, preparation and associates.
• Trump offers condolences to May on London attack.  President Donald Trump has offered his condolences to British Prime Minister Theresa May following the deadly attack in London. The White House says the president praised the response of security forces and first responders and pledged “the full cooperation and support” of the U.S. government “in responding to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice.” The White House says the two spoke by phone after a vehicle mowed down pedestrians on London’s Westminster Bridge.

8am – C Rockville High Incident News:

• Attorney for suspect in Maryland school rape case says client is wrongly accused. (Washington Post) – Henry Sanchez Milian, one of two suspects charged in the rape of a 14-year-old girl in a bathroom at a Maryland high school did not do what he is accused of, his defense attorney said Wednesday. “Based on everything we know, we think he’s innocent,” said Andrew Jezic, who has been retained by Sanchez Milian’s family. “This appears to have been a consensual encounter.”
• Rape at Maryland high school stirs up debate on sanctuary cities. (Washington Times) — Two suspects gained foothold as immigrants. Since the beginning of 2014, Montgomery County has been the destination for 3,286 UACs.  Prince George’s County has received 4,144, and Fairfax County in Virginia has taken in 3,925.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – JAKE TAPPER – Anchor of THE LEAD and STATE OF THE UNION on CNN – discussed the House Intel Chair’s announcement about Trump’s communications possibly collected.

8am – E         Hogan and DeVos To Visit Bethesda School This Morning:

• Hogan pledges veto of bill that would limit Maryland school reforms. (Baltimore Sun) — Gov. Larry Hogan is pledging to veto a bill moving through the General Assembly that would prevent the state from enacting controversial reforms for struggling schools that have been championed by the Republican governor and members of the state school board. The bill would prevent the state from creating a new school district to govern the lowest-performing schools. It would also prohibit converting them into charter schools, giving the students vouchers to transfer to private schools or bringing in private managers for the schools. Hogan plans to veto the bill, which could reach his desk before the legislature’s session ends April 10. “We will 100 percent veto it the moment it reaches the governor’s desk,” Hogan spokesman Doug Mayer said.  The bill has already passed the House of Delegates by a veto-proof margin and is scheduled to be considered by the full Senate beginning Thursday. The legislation is advancing at a rate that would give lawmakers enough time to override the governor’s expected veto. The bill would set limits for the state school board as it writes up a plan due in September to comply with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, which governs school improvement. The legislation defines how the state would identify the lowest-performing schools in need of improvement, as well as which tools the state can use to help those schools.
• Supporters of the bill have said it’s aimed at blocking the “Trump-DeVos-Hogan privatization agenda,” referring to Republican President Donald J. Trump and his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, who is an avowed supporter of charter schools and vouchers for students to attend private schools. Hogan is planning to appear with DeVos at an elementary school in Bethesda on Thursday morning. The bill also would prohibit the state from putting the low-performing schools into a new, statewide “recovery” school district.