Fred Fleitz, Rep. Rob Wittman and Peter Doocy joined WMAL on Friday!

Mornings on the Mall

Friday, January 25, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C TENN SCHOOLS CONSIDERING CODES OF CONDUCT & DRESS FOR PARENTS. The codes would forbid campus visitors from showing up on campuses intoxicated and wearing clothing deemed inappropriate. “I was talking to my principals when I got the real story,” Antonio Parkinson, a Democratic state representative, said. “There are parents who are showing up at schools in the office with lingerie on.”

5am – D         BORDER UPDATE:

• 10,000 PLUS MIGRANTS HIT MEXICO AND REQUEST ASYLUM AS CARAVANS RAGE ON: CBP Releases Apprehension Data — As of today, USBP has seen a surge in Family Unit Aliens compared to the same time from last fiscal year by 280%.  Fiscal Year 2018 was a record year and this year will surpass that if the current trend continues without any legislative fixes.  Overall apprehensions between the POE’s are up 81%.
• ASYLUM: Official: Asylum seekers in San Diego will be forced to wait in Mexico
• Border officers in San Diego to begin forcing asylum applicants to wait in Mexico

5am – E         Nicholas Sandmann’s family hires ‘attorney for the damned’ specializing in libel, slander

6am – A/B/C LATEST ON SHUTDOWN NEGOTIATIONS:

• Senate rejects Trump plan to fund border wall and end shutdown. The Senate voted down competing Democratic and Republican plans for ending the 34-day partial government shutdown yesterday, but the failed measaures did prompt a new flurry of bipartisan talks. Senators from both sides floated plans to reopen agencies for three weeks, that would provide hundreds of thousands of federal workers a paycheck, while bargainers work on a deal.

• TRUMP MULLS THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY OPTION: President Trump is considering the option of declaring a national emergency to force the construction of his border wall and the partial government shutdown, a White House adviser told Fox News … In an interview with Laura Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle” Thursday night, Mercedes Schlapp, the White House director of strategic communications, said it is clear Congress will not come up with a solution to effectively address the illegal entry at the border and that the president is “seriously considering other options,” which include declaring a national emergency. The White House has reportedly begun drafting a proclamation to declare the emergency and found the funds to construct the barrier. The move – all but certain to draw a legal fight — could, in theory, allow the president to circumvent Congress and end the budget stalemate. Trump has said he wants $5.7 billion for the project. News of Trump’s possible national emergency declaration comes as the Senate on Thursday rejected dueling Democratic and GOP proposals to end the ongoing partial government shutdown. The impasse, now entering its 35th day, is the longest in U.S. history, and approximately 800,000 federal workers on Friday will miss another paycheck. After the bills failed in the Senate, White House signaled that a “large down payment” on border wall funding would be enough to end the shutdown. They even suggested that Trump would request less than $5.7 billion for the wall. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has rejected any kind of funding for a wall, dismissed the proposal as a nonstarter. Pelosi has canceled Friday session of Congress and sent lawmakers home for a “three-day weekend,” drawing outrage from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Still, the pressure on both parties will continue to mount as federal workers continue to go without pay.
• PELOSI SAYS DEMS ARE NOT CRAFTING A COUNTER-OFFER TO TRUMP: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that House Democrats are not working behind the scenes to craft a counteroffer to President Trump’s border wall demands as a strategy for ending the history-making partial shutdown.

6am – D/E     Roger Stone indicted on charges brought by special counsel.  (CNN) Longtime Donald Trump associate Roger Stone has been indicted by a grand jury on charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller. He was arrested by the FBI Friday morning at his home in Florida, his lawyer tells CNN. Stone was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia on seven counts, including one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of false statements, and one count of witness tampering. Stone will make an appearance later Friday at the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, according to Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsel’s office. Law enforcement raided Stone’s house, and CNN witnessed uniformed and armed law enforcement approach his house just after 6 a.m. ET in Fort Lauderdale. Pounding on his door, one agent said: “FBI. Open the door.” Stone opened the door.

6am – F         Schumer blocks bill to pay Coast Guard after GOP refuses to open rest of government. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday blocked a Republican bill that would pay the Coast Guard without ending the ongoing partial government shutdown. Republican Senator John Kennedy, who attempted to move the legislation forward, refused Schumer’s request to add provisions reopening the federal government because, he said, such a bill would not be signed by President Trump. “It will be a futile, useless exercise. Now, we can go through it if you want to. You can spend all day trying to teach a goat how to climb a tree, but you’re better off hiring a squirrel,” said Kennedy. Around 42,000 Coast Guard members are currently working without pay. Members of the other branches of the military have not been affected by the shutdown, but the Coast Guard is funded separately through the Department of Homeland Security. The shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, is now in its 34th day, and is poised to deprive around 800,000 federal workers of a second consecutive paycheck. Elsewhere on Thursday, two separate bills designed to break the impasse and reopen the government failed in the Senate.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – FRED FLEITZ – President and CEO of the Center for Security Policy and former Deputy Assistant to President Trump and Chief of Staff to National Security Adviser John Bolton – discussed the situation in Venezuela.

• BIO: Fred Fleitz is President and CEO of the Center for Security Policy. He recently served as a Deputy Assistant to President Trump and Chief of Staff to National Security Adviser John Bolton. He previously worked in national security positions for 25 years with CIA, DIA, the Department of State and the House Intelligence Committee staff.
• US State Dept. has ordered non-emergency US government employees to depart Venezuela, and advises that “U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Venezuela should strongly consider departing Venezuela … while commercial flights are available.” Maduro says Venezuela is breaking relations with US, gives American diplomats 72 hours to leave country.
• Venezuela Military Backs Maduro, as Russia Warns U.S. Not to Intervene. (NY Times) — CARACAS, Venezuela — The embattled government of Venezuela struck back against its opponents on Thursday, winning strong support from the country’s armed forces and the solid backing of Russia, which warned the United States not to intervene.  The events put Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, at the center of a Cold War-style showdown between Russia, an ally that has shored up his government with billions of dollars, and the United States, which has denounced him as a corrupt autocrat with no legitimacy. The Trump administration pressed its case on Thursday, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling on all countries in the hemisphere to reject Mr. Maduro and “align themselves with democracy,” setting up a test of wills with the Kremlin. Only a day before, Mr. Maduro’s political nemesis, the opposition leader Juan Guaidó, seemed to have the momentum. During nationwide protests against the government, he proclaimed himself the country’s rightful president, earning endorsements from President Trump and several governments in the region. But on Thursday, it was Mr. Maduro’s turn to put Mr. Guaidó on defense. In a televised news conference, the leader of Venezuela’s armed forces declared loyalty to Mr. Maduro and said the opposition’s effort to replace him amounted to an attempted coup.
• Bloomberg: Maduro’s Fall Would Be a Defeat for Putin, Too. Russia risks losing billions invested in propping up the Venezuelan regime.

7am – B         Roger Stone indicted on charges brought by special counsel.  

7am – C         Warren to propose substantial new wealth tax, would raise 1 percent of GDP a year. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., proposed a new tax on wealth as part of her presidential campaign platform on Thursday. The tax would start at a 2 percent rate for households with net worths above $50 million and rise to 3 percent for billionaire households.

7am – D         INTERVIEW – REP. ROB WITTMAN – (R-VA) – shared his thoughts on the shutdown and his new bill to ban first class flights on taxpayers’ dime.

• Rep. Wittman, a Virginia Republican, wants to stop members of Congress from flying first class. Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) has introduced a bill that would prohibit members of Congress from flying first class at taxpayers’ expense, a perk under increased scrutiny during the partial federal government shutdown. Wittman’s bill would apply to all travel regardless of the shutdown, but he expects lawmakers to take a closer look at matters of congressional accountability once the government reopens. The senior Republican on a subcommittee that overseas the Navy fleet, Wittman said he flies coach on government business because that’s how servicemen and women get to their duty stations. “I don’t think [flying first class] sets the right example,” he said in an interview. “I think members of Congress ought to be held to the same standard as others flying on government business.”  As Transportation Security Administration workers toil without pay, at least one lawmaker enjoyed luxury air travel for official business.

7am – E         WILBUR ROSS:

• In an interview with CNBC, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross suggested that unpaid federal workers “get a loan” instead of lining up at food banks.
• As federal workers face another payday without pay, the White House rushed to tamper down a social media firestorm touched off by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s remarks yesterday in which he said he didn’t understand why federal workers would be standing in line at food banks when they could apply for loans.
• TRUMP ATTEMPTS TO CLARIFY ROSS’ REMARKS: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross sparked a firestorm Thursday when he suggested federal workers needing assistance for food during the partial government shutdown should take out a loan … In an interview on CNBC, Ross, one of the richest people in Trump’s Cabinet, was asked to comment on reports that some of the federal workers currently not receiving paychecks are going to homeless shelters to get food. “Well, I know they are and I don’t really quite understand why,” he said. “The obligations that they would undertake, say borrowing from a bank or a credit union, are in effect federally guaranteed. So the 30 days of pay that some people will be out — there’s no real reason why they shouldn’t be able to get a loan against it.” Ross’ comments were immediately criticized as insensitive. Trump attempted to clarify the remarks by telling reporters, “Local people know who they are when they go for groceries and everything else,” the president told reporters. “I think what Wilbur was trying to say is that they will work along. I know banks are working along.”
• Sen. Schumer calls Wilbur Ross comments “appalling” and “the 21st century equivalent of ‘let them eat cake.'” “Secretary Ross, they just can’t call their stock broker and ask them to sell some of their shares.”

8am – A         CNN’s Jim Acosta is writing a book about Trump’s war with the media.

New York (CNN) CNN’s chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta is authoring a book about the Trump administration and its battles with the news media. The Harper imprint of HarperCollins Publishers announced the book on Thursday morning. Harper says Acosta will share “never-before-revealed stories of this White House’s rejection of truth, while laying out the stakes for how Trump’s hostility toward facts poses an unprecedented threat to our democracy.” The book’s title is “The Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America.” The first part, of course, comes from the president’s own rhetoric against the press corps. The subtitle comes from a speech Acosta gave at San Jose State University last year. Acosta’s book will come out on June 11. The book deal was first reported by The Associated Press. Acosta started to gather material for a possible book during the 2016 presidential campaign, and he signed the book deal with Harper last fall, before the 2018 midterm elections. That means that the book was in the works well before Trump singled out Acosta and banned him from the White House grounds the day after the midterms. CNN and Acosta challenged the administration’s action and won a temporary restraining order from a federal judge. The White House then reinstated Acosta’s press pass.

8am – B         Roger Stone indicted on charges brought by special counsel.  

8am – C         MUELLER PROBE NEWS:

• Paul Manafort due in court to face Mueller probe allegations he lied after pleading guilty. Paul Manafort is set to appear in federal court Friday to face a U.S. judge weighing whether President Trump’s former campaign chairman breached his plea agreement by lying repeatedly to prosecutors in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. A finding that the 69-year-old Manafort “intentionally provided false information” after pleading guilty in any of five areas alleged by prosecutors could subject him to months or years more in prison at two fast-approaching sentencing hearings, beginning Feb. 8. Suggestions of the collapse of Manafort’s cooperation deal have revealed that prosecutors knew far more about his activity since his October 2017 indictment than he realized.
• Judge rules Paul Manafort can wear suit instead of prison uniform to court Friday. Judge rules Paul Manafort can wear suit instead of prison uniform to court Friday. Manafort, whose lavish taste in suits was the subject of scrutiny during his 2018 trial, has previously made similar requests. At least one was denied.
• Michael Cohen subpoenaed by Senate Intelligence Committee

8am – D         INTERVIEW – PETER DOOCY – Reporter, Fox News Channel – discussed the latest on shutdown and border funding negotiations.

• White House: ‘Large down payment’ on wall could end government shutdown
• Pelosi has canceled Friday session of Congress and sent lawmakers home for a “three-day weekend,” drawing outrage from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Still, the pressure on both parties will continue to mount as federal workers continue to go without pay.

8am – E         ENTERTAINMENT NEWS:

• KATE HUDSON WILL RAISE HER DAUGHTER ‘GENDERLESS’: WE DON’T KNOW ‘WHAT SHE’S GOING TO IDENTIFY AS’
• SAG AWARDS THIS WEEKEND: *Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Rami Malek and Chadwick Boseman will be among the presenters at Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards. Megan Mullally will host the 25th SAG Awards, where Tom Hanks will also present the SAG Life Achievement Award to Alan Alda for fostering the “finest ideals of the acting profession.”
• HULU DROPS PRICES AFTER NETFLIX RAISES THEIRS: The Hulu site already lists the new price, so it’ll already be effective for new subscribers. Existing subscribers will see the new price take effect as of February 26. The $6 tier is ad-supported but includes all of Hulu’s on-demand programming from participating channel providers, as well as Hulu’s slate of original content. A separate $12 tier removes the ads, while a significantly higher $45 tier includes live TV and is aimed at competing with cable subscriptions.
• OFFICE “DOCUMENTARY” TO BEGIN FILMING IN APRIL:  Work starts on a show about the US sitcom. TV producers are making a documentary about the mockumentary The Office. The new show will be about the US version of the sitcom starring Steve Carell, although it is also likely to cover Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s UK original, too. Filming on the programme – entitled That’s What She Said (And They Said Too!) – begins in April, although there in no word on where it might be broadcast or distributed. However it is expected to be out in time  for the comedy’s  15th anniversary in March 2020. News of the project was leaked by Robert Ray Shafer, who played Bob Vance in 24 episodes of the NBC show. Writing on Facebook he revealed that producers had approached him about appearing in the documentary.  He reproduced their email, which said: ‘We will be delving into the history of the highest streamed show currently on Netflix, with anecdotes from cast, crew, creators, fandom culture, and how the show successfully addressed the larger social issues of the times.’
• VINNY FROM Jersey Shore PITCHES KIM K TO GET MIKE OUT OF JAIL: We got Vinny Tuesday at LAX, and he said his buddy is doing fine behind bars. He was worried, but he’s been assured by Mike’s wife, Lauren, he’s doing great. After some talk about getting jacked in prison, Vinny makes his pitch to Kim, who’s batting 3-0 in her effort to free certain inmates.