Cal Thomas, Rep. Don Bacon, Eli Lake, and Sara Carter joined WMAL on Wednesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

5am – A/B/C Adam Schiff and his criticism of the Intelligence Committee “prematurely” ending the Russian collusion probe

• Democrats tease James Comey bombshell in ‘status report’ on terminated House Intel Russia probe (Washington Examiner) — House Intelligence Committee Democrats teased possible documentation of ex-FBI Director James Comey’s conversations with President Trump when they released a “status report” on Tuesday about their panel’s Russia investigation. The 21-page document, shared by Ranking Member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., on Twitter, makes their case about why they think the majority party acted “prematurely” when they announced the termination of the probe one day prior and reached the conclusion that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin during the 2016 campaign. The status report said the minority party will be issuing an “interim report” at an as-of-yet undisclosed date. It will lay out “the facts that we know to date and identify what significant investigative steps remain, especially with respect to the issues of collusion and obstruction of justice.”

Adam Schiff @RepAdamSchiff

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee just released a status report to share with the American people the work left undone in the Russia investigation when the Majority decided to shut it down. Our work will continue — there’s a lot left to do

5am – D/E     Trump Admin Shakeups:

• Trump ousts Tillerson, will replace him as secretary of state with CIA chief Pompeo (Washington Post) — President Trump said Tuesday he has ousted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and plans to nominate CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace him as the nation’s top diplomat, orchestrating a major change to his national security team amid delicate outreach that includes possible talks with North Korea. Trump and Tillerson have had a fraught relationship for many months. Trump told reporters Tuesday that he ultimately decided to fire the secretary because they disagreed over strategy in key areas of foreign policy, such as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the approach to North Korea and the overall tone of U.S. diplomacy. Tillerson said he received a call from Trump around noon Tuesday, more than three hours after his firing was first reported by The Washington Post and announced minutes later in a tweet from the president.
• Gina Haspel’s ‘black site’ past a hurdle to confirmation as CIA director (Washington Times) — President Trump’s latest personnel shake-up comes with a historic first: Gina Haspel is in line to be the first woman to head the CIA. But the low-key, highly decorated CIA veteran, whose rise through the agency’s vaunted Clandestine Service put her at the center of some the most controversial U.S. intelligence missions of the past half-century, could face a tough confirmation battle. Human rights groups expressed outrage Tuesday over the pick of Ms. Haspel to replace Mike Pompeo. They said her involvement in one the agency’s darkest periods — the waterboarding and rendition programs in the years after the 9/11 attacks — make her an unsuitable candidate to head the agency. However, several former high-level U.S. intelligence professionals, as well as many lawmakers, heaped praise on Ms. Haspel, saying she represents an unprecedented choice from within the CIA’s ranks and that her rise to the top is an inspiration for America’s career intelligence officials.
• Trump’s New Cabinet Picks Face Hell on the Hill (Daily Beast) — President Donald Trump’s announcement on Tuesday that he would be re-shuffling his foreign policy team gave congressional Democrats two new, high-profile opportunities to press the administration on a host of sensitive political matters. Early indications suggest that they will try to turn the upcoming confirmation hearings for Mike Pompeo and Gina Haspel into a fresh political hell for the administration. Pompeo, the CIA director, will be nominated for the role of secretary of state while Haspel, his deputy, is slated to take over the CIA, after Trump fired his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday. Lawmakers said they were troubled at the swift sacking at Foggy Bottom, which comes at a time when the United States is dealing with continued Russian aggression worldwide and a possible summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

6am – A/B/C Wednesday Walkout: Have you talked to your kids about this?

• More area school systems prepare for Wednesday walkout (WTOP) — Wednesday will mark one month’s time since a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Students of middle and high schools across the D.C. area are prepared to join a national demonstration, walking out of classes at 10 a.m. for a 17-minute protest of gun violence. “We support the spirit of the National School Walkout,” wrote Kevin Maxwell, chief executive officer of Prince George’s County Public Schools, in a letter to school leaders. Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, in Maryland, and Arlington County and Alexandria City schools, in Virginia, are among the jurisdictions backing the student-led effort. All students are required to stay on school grounds and return to classes at the end of the 17-minute protest.
• Teens from More Than Two Dozen Schools in Montgomery County Plan D.C. March (Bethesda Magazine) — Students will observe 17 minutes of silence at White House in memory of Parkland victims. Montgomery County students representing more than 25 high schools are planning to march on D.C. on Wednesday to remember the Parkland victims and press the nation’s leaders to pass stronger gun control laws. The rally will be part of a national school walkout, an event that will last for 17 minutes to represent each victim lost in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. While most students in the U.S. will participate by walking out of their schools at 10 a.m., teens in Montgomery County have decided to observe their 17 minutes of silence outside the White House. “We want this to get some national attention,” said Daniel Gelillo, a student organizer who attends Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville. “By doing this in D.C., lawmakers will see that it’s a national movement.”

6am – D         INTERVIEW – CAL THOMAS – syndicated columnist – discussed all the personnel changes at the State Department, CIA, and the White House

6am – E         Stephen Hawking dies at 76 (The Hill) — Stephen Hawking, the world-renowned physicist and author, has died at age 76, according to multiple reports. A spokesperson for the family made the announcement early Wednesday local time. One of the most prominent intellectuals of his era, the Oxford-born cosmologist was behind groundbreaking discoveries about black holes and general relativity. Hawking was diagnosed in 1963 with ALS, which eventually paralyzed him. He was still able to communicate using a computer that generated speech. In recent years, he was an outspoken critic of President Trump, calling him out for his rhetoric on the campaign trail and for his environmental policies. After Trump said last summer he would withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord, Hawking warned that climate change is among the greatest dangers facing the world.

6am – F         Dog dies after United flight attendant forces it into overhead bin (New York Post) — On Monday night, a dog died in a plane after a United Airlines flight attendant forced the dog into an overhead bin. Maggie Gremminger, a passenger on a flight from Houston to New York’s LaGuardia Airport, uploaded a photo of the dog’s owners on Twitter. “I want to help this woman and her daughter. They lost their dog because of an @united flight attendant. My heart is broken,” reads the image caption. The Points Guy reports that during their flight, an attendant insisted that the woman put her dog, which was held in a TSA-approved pet carrier, in an overhead bin for the rest of the flight. Passengers heard barking during the flight, but didn’t learn that the dog had died until the flight was over. “There was no sound as we landed and opened his kennel,” passenger June Lara writes in a Facebook post. “There was no movement as his family called his name. I held her baby as the mother attempted to resuscitate their 10 month old puppy.” Gremminger’s and Lara’s posts about the ordeal are now going viral on social media. United is facing online backlash. “Another reason I will never ever fly or support doing business with United Airlines!” one Twitter user writes. A United spokesperson addressed the incident in a statement to The Points Guy: “This was a tragic accident that should never have occurred, as pets should never be placed in the overhead bin. We assume full responsibility for this tragedy and express our deepest condolences to the family and are committed to supporting them. We are thoroughly investigating what occurred to prevent this from ever happening again.”

7am – A   INTERVIEW – REP. DON BACON  (R-Neb.). – discussed his efforts in Congress to advance the H.R. 4909: STOP School Violence Act of 2018 and his opinion on the different ways that Congress could act to address violence in schools

• Congress will vote THIS WEEK on a bill that hopes to fill in a piece of the puzzle when it comes to school safety in the wake of the Parkland and other school shootings.
• U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), Chairman of the Republican Main Street Caucus, has announced the caucus’ support of U.S. Rep. John Rutherford’s (R-Fla.) bill (H.R. 4909) to increase school safety, which is expected to be considered on the House floor next week. Rutherford is a member of Main Street, a group of 75 members of Congress dedicated to pragmatic governing. Chairman Davis also shared his support for additional school safety measures being prioritized by members of the caucus.
• The caucus also announced the formation of a School Safety Working Group, led by U.S. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.). Under Bacon’s leadership, the caucus will continue to push for the priorities and legislation such as: Providing immediate funding for the Secure Our Schools grant program.
• Chairman Davis is leading a bipartisan letter requesting $150 million, more than nine times the amount that has ever been appropriated, for Secure Our Schools grants to be included in this year’s funding bill that must be passed by March 24th.

7am – B         Trump Admin Shakeups

7am – C         PA Special Election:

• Pennsylvania’s special House election was too close to call, but Democrat Conor Lamb declared victory over Republican Rick Saccone. A final tally is expected Wednesday
• SUSPENSE IN PENNSYLVANIA (Fox News) — Though the race remained too close to call, Democrat Conor Lamb declared victory over Republican Rick Saccone in a Pennsylvania special House election seen as a possible bellwether for the November midterm elections. The Associated Press has not called the race. Unofficial returns showed Lamb with a narrow lead over Saccone as absentee ballots were still being counted. Some absentee ballots were not expected to be tallied until Wednesday morning, and the final result could be decided by a recount. None of this stopped Lamb from claiming victory and thanking his supporters. “It took a little longer than we thought, but we did it,” he said. “Mission accepted.” Meanwhile, Saccone vowed his campaign would work through Wednesday. Still, the unofficial results show Lamb riding a wave of Democratic enthusiasm in a district that President Donald Trump won 16 months ago by 20 points. Whatever the official outcome, Tuesday’s election may have already raised Democratic hopes of taking back the House in November.
• Pennsylvania special election is down to the wire. (Axios) — Tuesday’s special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th district is too close to call with both candidates within one percentage point of each other. Democrat Conor Lamb is looking to beat out Republican Rick Saccone in a district President Trump carried by 20 points in 2016.

7am – D         TRUMP VISITS THE WALL

• President Donald Trump referred to Mexicans being “professional mountain climbers” as a pressing need for a stronger border wall, Tuesday.

• President Trump discusses his preference for a see-through wall, and says it’s important for the US to have border protection. “For the people that say ‘no wall,’ if you didn’t have walls over here, you wouldn’t even have a country.”

• “The state of California is begging us to build walls in certain areas. They won’t tell you that,” Donald Trump said while touring border wall prototypes in San Diego. He also stated his preference for a see-through wall

7am – E         Joy Behar Finally Publicly Apologizes for Anti-Christian Comments on ‘The View’ (Newsbusters) — Joy Behar Finally Publicly Apologizes for Anti-Christian Comments on ‘The View’. After intense public pressure to apologize for her anti-Christian comments made about Vice President Mike Pence on ABC’s The View, host Joy Behar has finally publicly and privately apologized for saying them. After playing the FNC clip of VP Pence on Hannity on The View today, Whoopi prompted Behar to respond, which she did willingly. “Yeah. So I think Vice President Pence is right… I was raised to respect everyone’s religious faith. I fell short of that. I sincerely apologize for what I said,” the View host said somberly, to audience applause. From there, Whoopi quickly moved on and directed the conversation to the political “hot topics.”

8am – A         INTERVIEW – ELI LAKE – Bloomberg View columnist – discussed how the removal of Rex Tillerson and the appointment of Mike Pompeo will affect foreign policy in the Trump administration, the underlying motivations for the removal of Tillerson, and whether more cabinet members are at risk of being removed

• Tillerson’s Exit Hurts Iran Deal, But Not Korea Talks (Bloomberg) — The nominee to lead State flatters the president’s agenda. As far as firings under President Donald Trump go, Rex Tillerson’s is not the most humiliating. That dishonor would have to go to former chief of staff, Reince Priebus. He learned he was fired through three Trump tweets and soon after was decoupled from the president’s motorcade. But Tillerson’s departure is nonetheless a slap in the face to a former CEO who advised and quarreled with a man who used to play one on TV. As Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Steve Goldstein said in a statement Tuesday: “The Secretary did not speak to the President this morning and is unaware of the reason, but he is grateful for the opportunity to serve.” Ouch. The truth is this was a long time coming. Inside the State Department, Tillerson’s allies have long whispered about the rumors of his imminent departure, referring to “Rexit.” Trump himself acknowledged Tuesday before boarding Air Force One for California that he and Tillerson had been discussing him leaving since the summer. They just disagreed on too much.

8am – B         More on today’s student walkout protest happening throughout the country

8am – C         Stormy Daniels News:

• Stormy Daniels’ lawyer on Trump missing deadline: ‘Time to buckle up’ (The Guardian) — Adult film star had offered to return $130,000 payment in exchange for the freedom to speak about her alleged affair with Trump. “Time to buckle up,” said Stormy Daniels’ lawyer on Tuesday as the deadline set by the adult film star for Donald Trump or his lawyer to respond to her offer to return a $130,000 hush fee in exchange for the freedom to speak about an alleged past affair with Trump came and went. Michael Avenatti declined to explain the phrase or comment further during a phone call with the Guardian to discuss possible next moves by his client. Daniels is best known by her stage name as a pornographic actor but her real name is Stephanie Clifford. The full text of the tweet, posted moments after noon, read: “The President and Mr Cohen have purposely ignored our settlement offer, thus doubling down on their efforts to muzzle Ms Clifford and prevent her from telling the American people what happened. Time to buckle up. #basta.” Basta is Italian for “enough”.
• Stormy Daniels friend describes listening in on her phone calls with Trump. A close friend of Stormy Daniels is confirming her affair with Donald Trump more than a decade ago — saying he listened in on their phone conversations — and defending her efforts to get out of the $130,000 hush agreement she made shortly before the 2016 election. The account given by Keith Munyan, a 56-year-old photographer who is among four people listed in the nondisclosure agreement as knowing about the alleged relationship, is the latest development in what has become a daily public relations skirmish between the porn star and the president of the United States. The agreement does not bar Munyan from speaking publicly about the matter.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – SARA CARTER – Investigative journalist and Fox News Contributor… website: SaraACarter.com – discussed the revelation that DNI James Clapper allegedly leaked classified information to CNN and how it affects the Trump-Russia Collusion narrative

• Former DNI James Clapper Allegedly Leaked to CNN, Investigation Revealed (SaraACarter.com) — Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper allegedly leaked information to CNN early last year regarding the classified briefings given to then President-Elect Donald Trump and President Barrack Obama on the salacious dossier claiming the Russians had compromising information on the president-elect, according to government sources, who noted the evidence of the leak was collected during the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation. Clapper, who was one of four senior Obama administration officials to attend the briefing with the presidents, also stated his “profound dismay at the leaks” in an official statement issued in January, 2017 and warned that the leaks were “extremely corrosive and damaging” to national security, according to his press release. Texas Republican Mike Conaway, R-Texas, announced Monday in a press release, that the committee found no evidence of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign.

8am – E         Democrats distance themselves from Hillary Clinton’s ‘backward’ claim (Washington Post) — Democratic senators facing tough reelection fights distanced themselves Tuesday from Hillary Clinton after she said President Trump’s voters came from less productive parts of the country and were attracted by a backward-looking message. “Those are kind of fighting words for me, because I’m partial to Missouri voters,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who is running in a state Trump won by 19 points. “I think they were expressing their frustration with the status quo. I may not have agreed with their choice, but I certainly respect them. And I don’t think that’s the way you should talk about any voter, especially ones in my state.”