Border Patrol Union’s Brandon Judd, Ken Cuccinelli and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers joined WMAL on Tuesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C SECOND BIDEN ACCUSER

• BIDEN’S BLUES: Joe Biden’s potential 2020 candidacy may be in jeopardy before it even begins after a second woman has come forward to accuse former vice president of inappropriate touching … Amy Lappos, 43, first told the Hartford Courant in an interview published Monday that Biden grabbed her during a $1,000-per-plate October 2009 fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn. Lappos, who was working as an aide for Himes at the time, said Biden’s action’s weren’t sexual, but that he did grab her. Her accusations came on the heels of a similar claim by former Nevada lieutenant governor candidate Lucy Flores, who said Monday she’d still vote for Biden over Trump, despite her claims.
• Second #MeToo accuser comes forward: ‘Joe Biden can’t keep his hands to himself’ / A second woman has come forward with a #MeToo allegation against former Vice President Joe Biden, saying he touched her inappropriately at a political fundraiser in 2009. Amy Lappos, 43, who was a congressional aide to Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., at the time of the alleged incident, told the Washington Examiner that Biden, 76, should not run for president in 2020 and should support a female candidate instead. She described how he put his hand around her neck and pulled her toward him to rub noses. She said she thought he was going to kiss her on the mouth. “This is the Al Franken thing all over again,” she said.
• LUCY WOULD STILL VOTE FOR BIDEN: The woman who has accused Joe Biden of inappropriate conduct says she’d vote for him over Trump. Lucy Flores, a former Nevada state assemblywoman, said she would without a doubt support former Vice President Joe Biden if he were to face off against President Trump in the general election, despite calling his behavior toward women “disqualifying” a day earlier. Flores accused Biden on Friday of touching her inappropriately and kissing her on the back of her head at a campaign rally in 2014. “That’s not even a question. Of course I would support Biden,” she told CBS News on Monday. She told CNN on Sunday that Biden’s behavior is “disqualifying” for her.

5am – D         Democrat-controlled New York State is cutting Special Olympics funding and is giving lawmakers a raise of the same amount. This comes a week after Democrats attacked the Trump admin for cutting funding to the Special Olympics. New York State Cuts Its Special Olympics Budget. (Daily Caller) — The federal government isn’t cutting its funding for the Special Olympics, but New York State is, according to its budget. New York’s budget for the Special Olympics decreased from $200,000 in 2018 to $150,000 for this year. Meanwhile, every one of the state’s 213 lawmakers will ultimately receive a raise that is almost the same amount cut from the games for disabled athletes.

5am – E        BALTIMORE MAYOR TAKING LEAVE:

• Mayor Catherine Pugh is taking a leave of absence amid controversy over her “Healthy Holly” book deals. Baltimore City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young will take over temporarily as mayor.
• Baltimore Mayor Pugh to take leave of absence in midst of ‘Healthy Holly’ book controversy. (Baltimore Sun) — Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, facing a call by Gov. Larry Hogan for a criminal investigation into the book deal that paid her hundreds of thousands of dollars, announced Monday that she will take an indefinite leave of absence because of her health. The Democratic mayor’s office issued a statement Monday saying she had been advised by her doctors to take time to recover from a bout of pneumonia that hospitalized her for five days last week. “With the mayor’s health deteriorating, she feels as though she is unable to fulfill her obligations as mayor of Baltimore city,” the statement read in part. “To that end, Mayor Pugh will be taking an indefinite leave of absence to recuperate from this serious illness.” The statement did not address the scandal over the books — a series she authored featuring a young girl named Healthy Holly aimed at promoting exercise and good diet — that has quickly overtaken the mayor. A no-bid deal with the University of Maryland Medical System was first reported by The Baltimore Sun last month. City Solicitor Andre Davis confirmed Pugh’s leave is to start at midnight and that the mayor will continue to be paid her $185,000 annual salary. Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young, also a Democrat, will take over temporarily as mayor. Young said in an interview that he was “heartbroken” by the mayor’s deteriorating health and that his first aim was to ensure stability in the city he will now lead.

6am – A         SMOLLETT PROTESTS:

• Dueling Chicago demonstrations erupt over Kimberly Foxx’s handling of Jussie Smollett case
• Police union, activists face-off over Kim Foxx, Jussie Smollett
• Jussie Smollett supporters chanting “Black lives matter” as Chicago FOP chants “Blue lives matter”
• CHICAGO ABC REPORTER: Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police is [holds] an anti-Kim Foxx rally downtown. (VIDEO… “FOXX MUST GO!”
•  Maxine Waters on Jussie Smollett: “It’s the correct thing that the charges were dropped,” Ms. Waters, a California Democrat, told “Extra” at the NAACP Image Awards. “First of all, we probably will never know all of the details,” she said. “We’ve heard a lot of information. No one was hurt — that is, physically, killed, shot — he never committed a crime before, he forfeited the bail and it’s this kind of situation where they close the case all over the country every day.”

6am – B         A new report says Americans would run out of avocados in just three weeks if President Donald Trump went through with his threat to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border. We’ll run out of avocados in 3 weeks if President Trump closes the border.  (AP) — A new report says Americans would run out of avocados in just three weeks if President Donald Trump went through with his threat to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border. According to Reuters, nearly half of the United States’ vegetables and 40 percent of our imported fruit are grown in Mexico. The publication says Americans are also “heavily reliant” on Mexico to import limes and tequila for the margaritas we drink here.

The estimates are staggering. According to Forbes, approximately 78 percent of avocados and 71 percent of tomatoes enter the U.S. from Mexico. Americans reportedly get 15 percent of our sugar there, and we drink 80 percent of Mexico’s tequila. “You couldn’t pick a worse time of year because Mexico supplies virtually 100 percent of the avocados in the U.S. right now,” Steve Barnard, the president of the world’s largest avocado grower and distributor, told Reuters. “California is just starting, and they have a very small crop; but they’re not relevant right now and won’t be for another month or so.” President Trump recently said he was likely to close America’s southern border if Mexican authorities didn’t take immediate action to stop illegal immigration. “It could mean all trade” with Mexico, Trump said when questioned Friday by reporters in Florida. “We will close it for a long time.” The U.S. and Mexico trade roughly $1.7 billion worth of goods every day. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said closing the border would be “an unmitigated economic debacle” that would threaten 5 million American jobs.

6am – C         WAPO: Khashoggi children have received houses in Saudi Arabia and monthly payments as compensation for killing of father. (Washington Post) — The children of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi have received million-dollar houses in the kingdom and monthly five-figure payments as compensation for the killing of their father, according to current and former Saudi officials as well as people close to the family. Khashoggi’s two sons and two daughters may also receive much larger payouts — possibly tens of millions of dollars apiece — as part of “blood money” negotiations that are expected to ensue when the trials of Khashoggi’s accused killers are completed in the coming months, according to the officials and others who spoke on the condition of  anonymity to discuss sensitive talks. The previously undisclosed payments are part of an effort by Saudi Arabia to reach a long-term arrangement with Khashoggi family members, aimed in part at ensuring that they continue to show restraint in their public statements about the killing of their father by Saudi operatives in Istanbul six months ago, the officials said. The Khashoggi siblings have refrained from any harsh criticism of the kingdom, even as their father’s death provoked global outrage and widespread condemnation of the heir to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The delivery of homes and monthly payments of $10,000 or more to each sibling were approved late last year by King Salman as part of what one former official described as an acknowledgment that “a big injustice has been done” and an attempt “to make a wrong right.” But the royal family is also relying on its wealth to help contain the ongoing fallout from the killing and dismemberment of the prominent Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributing columnist who was targeted for articles that were often critical of the government. A Saudi official described the payments as consistent with the country’s long-standing practice of providing financial support to victims of violent crime or even natural disasters and rejected the suggestion that the Khashoggi family would be obligated to remain silent. “Such support is part of our custom and culture,” the official said. “It is not attached to anything else.”

6am – D         ISIS bride claims she’d be model citizen if she’s allowed to return to US: ‘I didn’t hate America’ (By Benjamin Hall | Fox News) — NORTHERN SYRIA — In the dying days of the caliphate, thousands of ISIS families fled into the Syrian desert trying to escape the incessant bombardment of U.S. airpower. Among them, Hoda Muthana, the woman born in America who joined ISIS. She is now living in a squalid camp in Northern Syria – and Fox News tracked her down. “I just want to go back home,” she said. “I want my son to see my family, I want him to be safe in Syria. It’s not safe here, no matter what my government tells me.” But the U.S. insists Muthana is not and has never been a U.S. citizen because her father was a Yemeni diplomat at the time of her birth. Her lawyer is fighting this. President Trump and secretary of State Mike Pompeo have both said she’s not welcome. In February, Trump tweeted that he instructed Pompeo to not “allow Hoda Muthana back into the country.”

6am – E         China announces new crackdown on fentanyl in win for US President Trump. Beijing (CNN)The Chinese government will add fentanyl-related substances to their list of controlled drugs from May 1, in a move aimed at curtailing the manufacturing and distribution of one of the world’s most powerful opioids. The new laws are likely to be interpreted as win for US President Donald Trump, who has taken a strong stance against fentanyl and was full of praise for China in December 2018 when President Xi Jinping first agreed to the move. “This could be a game changer on what is considered to be the worst and most dangerous, addictive and deadly substance of them all,” Trump posted on Twitter at the time. An extremely powerful synthetic drug, fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin. According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, fentanyl was used in one in four overdose deaths in the US in 2018, killing just over 18,000 people in one year and overtaking heroin and oxycodone as the country’s most deadly drug.  On Monday, China’s Ministry of Public Security, National Health Commission and the National Medical Products Administration came together to make the announcement at a press conference in Beijing. Liu Yuejin, deputy head of China’s National Narcotics Control Commission, called the move a “major innovative measure” in the country’s contribution to the global war on drugs. The top anti-narcotics official said the new regulation would prevent drug labs from evading the law by simply tweaking chemical structures of their products. Liu stressed that China would enforce its laws “even more comprehensively” after the latest announcement and “bring violators to justice without mercy.”

6am – F         Jared and Ivanka named in whistle-blower’s list of 25 White House staff who got security clearances despite ‘disqualifying’ red flags involving ‘foreign influence’ – but Republicans counter only five cases were for ‘very serious reasons.’ (Daily Mail) — A career official in the White House security office says dozens of people in President Donald Trump’s administration were granted security clearances despite ‘disqualifying issues’ in their backgrounds, such as concerns about foreign influence, drug use and criminal conduct. Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner are among the officials whose clearance denials were overruled, according to a CNN reporter. Tricia Newbold, an 18-year government employee who oversees the issuance of clearances for some senior White House aides, says she compiled a list of at least 25 officials who were initially denied security clearances last year because of their backgrounds.  But she says senior Trump aides overturned those decisions, moves that she said weren’t made ‘in the best interest of national security.’ Republicans infuriated by the the manner in which Democrats released the damaging testimony fired off a letter pointing to an Obama-era clearance issue relating to a budget staffer who admitted cocaine use and a clearance supervisor who didn’t ‘promptly address’ the issue.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – BRANDON JUDD – president of the National Border Patrol Council @BPUnion

• Massive caravan on ‘illegal immigration superhighway’ to press strained border resources. (Washington Times) — For most people, the pain of mass illegal immigration has been abstract. That’s about to change. Anyone crossing the U.S.-Mexico border could end up stuck in longer lines as officers are pulled from the land ports of entry and deployed to help the Border Patrol transport, feed and see to the medical needs of the tens of thousands of people streaming illegally into the U.S. each week. Mexican officials warn of another caravan of 20,000 migrants preparing to shoot north, hoping to take advantage of the lax enforcement in both Mexico and lenient policies in the U.S. About 100,000 immigrants responding to those incentives have been nabbed at the border in March alone. “The result is an illegal immigration superhighway that’s flowing through Mexico,” one senior Homeland Security Department official told The Washington Times.
• ‘We’ve never seen anything like this’: As Trump threatens to close border, migrants overwhelm Texas cities
• Trump seeks to cut foreign aid to 3 Central American nations

7am – B/C     MARY’S APRIL FOOLS JOKES ROUNDUP:

• McDONALD’S UNVEILS THE PICKLE BURGER: “Pickle lovers, it’s the news you’ve all been waiting for. We’re super stoked to announce the launch of our brand new McPickle Burger,” the Instagram post read. “It’s time to tuck into juicy, flavoursome pickles layered between melted cheese, ketchup sauce and toasted sesame seed buns. It’s sure to be a treat for all your senses. #dailynuggets #mcpickle #pickleoverload #maccas #imlovinit”
• CHICAGO BEARS LAUNCH NEW 3 DIGIT JERSEYS: To prove it, the players revealed their “new” triple-digit jerseys, which they claimed they would sport in 2019 in honor of their 100th season. The announcement conveniently landed on April Fools’ Day, leaving many Bears followers skeptical. But the Bears committed to the joke — even posting a news release and an accompanying video of their alleged new uniforms.

7am – D/E     Second #MeToo accuser comes forward: ‘Joe Biden can’t keep his hands to himself’ / A second woman has come forward with a #MeToo allegation against former Vice President Joe Biden, saying he touched her inappropriately at a political fundraiser in 2009. Amy Lappos, 43, who was a congressional aide to Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., at the time of the alleged incident, told the Washington Examiner that Biden, 76, should not run for president in 2020 and should support a female candidate instead. She described how he put his hand around her neck and pulled her toward him to rub noses. She said she thought he was going to kiss her on the mouth. “This is the Al Franken thing all over again,” she said.

8am – A         Trump eyeing Kris Kobach, Ken Cuccinelli for ‘immigration czar’ (Washington Examiner) — President Trump is reportedly interested in adding a “border” or “immigration czar” to his team to coordinate federal agencies on his immigration policies. Trump is eyeing former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli for the position, sources told the Associated Press. The “czar” would work with a series of government agencies such as the Homeland Security Department, the Defense Department, the Health and Human Services Department, and the Justice Department to make sure all agencies are in sync with one another to implement the Trump administration’s immigration policies. Both Kobach and Cuccinelli are Republicans and Trump allies, and they have been vocal about securing the border. For example, Kobach started promoting a group this year called “We Build The Wall,” a nonprofit organization that developed from a GoFundMe effort to earn funds for a border wall.

8am – B         Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Complains About $7 Croissants at NY Airport – Then Proposes Minimum Wage Increase to $15/Hour. (Gateway Pundit) –– Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — the chattering Communist parrot who just doesn’t know when to shut up. Ocasio-Cortez’s latest tweet was full of so much stupidity, it left us wondering if she posted it to troll as an April Fool’s joke. Monday morning, Ocasio-Cortez fired off a tweet complaining about $7.00 croissants being sold at New York’s LaGuardia Airport while simultaneously fighting to raise minimum wage to $15.00/hour. “Croissants at LaGuardia are going for SEVEN DOLLARS A PIECE — Yet some people think getting a whole hour of personal, dedicated human labor for $15 is too expensive??” AOC said in a tweet. After massive trolling and backlash, AOC backpedaled with a follow up tweet, “GOP taking every tweet so earnestly, making my point for me. It’s not an argument against the price of a croissant – it’s about the value of human worth. But I guess the idea is foreign to them since their policies treat people as disposable anyway.”

8am – C         Mick Jagger will undergo heart surgery this week to replace damaged valve after cancelling Rolling Stones’ tour, report claims. (Daily Mail) — Sir Mick Jagger will undergo heart valve replacement surgery after cancelling the Rolling Stones’ latest tour, it has been claimed. The 75-year-old rock icon is set to have a damaged valve replaced during the operation in a New York City hospital this week, according to Drudge Report. Jagger was forced to postpone the nine-week ‘No Filter’ tour across the US and Canada after doctors told him he wasn’t fit to go on stage. Page Six reported that he will also have a sent placed in his heart.  More than a million fans, who in total have spent an estimated £200 million on tickets, were due to watch the band at 17 sell-out venues.  Jagger, who follows a strict diet and exercise regime, is expected to make a complete recovery and be on stage by the summer, sources close to the star said. Heart valve replacement surgery has a 95 per cent success rate.

8am – D         INTERVIEW — REP. CATHY MCMORRIS ROGERS – R-Washington’s 5th congressional district, and she is the lead Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce – discussed the Born-Alive discharge petition and Mark Zuckerberg’s op-ed on the government regulating data privacy and the internet.

• BORN ALIVE ACT: House GOP Pushes for Floor Vote on Born Alive Act. Republicans are maneuvering to give an abortion survivors protection bill a floor vote in the Democrat-controlled House. GOP leaders will file a discharge petition to force a vote on the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act on April 2 in an effort to force a vote after Democrats have refused to bring it out of committee. Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R., La.) is spearheading the effort to gain the 218 votes needed to accomplish that goal. That would require the support of his entire caucus, as well as 21 Democrats. Scalise acknowledged that the maneuver is rarely used, but said it was necessary given the embrace of “radical abortion” positions advancing in blue states, such as New York.
• ZUCKERBERG: Cathy is the lead Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, which has jurisdiction over privacy.  Zuckerberg: “People around the world have called for comprehensive privacy regulation in line with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, and I agree. I believe it would be good for the Internet if more countries adopted regulation such as GDPR as a common framework.”

8am – E         MORE BAD APRIL FOOLS JOKES:

• Ugh: James Comey made the one April Fools’ Day joke no one in America needed.  James Comey refuses to let the American people rest. It’s April Fools’ Day, and the former FBI director who learned he’d been fired by Donald Trump when he heard about it on TV, just pulled the most extremely unnecessary, wildly unfunny prank. He announced a fake presidential run. Comey shared a photo of himself standing in the middle of an empty road on social media, alongside the words “I’m in. We need someone in the middle. #2020.” And reader, when I received the notification on my phone, I literally screamed.
• REACTION:
  • Joe Biggs‏ @Rambobiggs 12h12 hours ago Joe Biggs Retweeted James Comey: Get out of the middle of the road dumb a$$.
  • Erick Fernandez @ErickFernandez Yo this dude is exhausting.
  • Joe Macaré @joemacare: Is this the dumbest most unwanted campaign announcement ever, or the dumbest most unwanted April Fool ever?
• TOM BRADY / APRIL FOOLS:
  • Tom Brady @TomBrady: I’m retiring. In my spare time, I’ll be tweeting #LFG 9:19 AM – 1 Apr 2019
  • TOM BRADY ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT: The apparent joke received more than 10,000 retweets and more than 20,000 likes in its first hour. It was Brady’s first-ever tweet. He appears to have joined the social media platform last month. A little over an hour later, Brady following it up with: “Was this a bad joke?”