Washington Post’s Antonio Olivo, Mark Krikorian, former CIA agent Dan Gabriel and Fox’s Peter Doocy joined WMAL on Tuesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C             Olivia Newton-John doesn’t want to know how long she has to live: ‘It’s better not to’ (USA TODAY) — Olivia Newton-John looks at every day as a “gift.” During an interview with “60 Minutes Australia,” Newton-John revealed that she chooses not to focus on how much time doctors say she has left amid her battle with stage 4 breast cancer. “When you’re given a cancer diagnosis or a scary honest diagnosis, you’re suddenly given a possibility of a time limit,” the singer/actress said during the interview, published Sunday. She continued: “If somebody tells you, you have six months to live, very possibly you will because you believe that. So for me, psychologically, it’s better not to have any idea of what they expect, or what the last person that has what you have lived, so I don’t tune in.”

5am –D          Trump administration plans to drastically weaken law protecting endangered species (NBC News) — The Trump administration is finalizing major changes Monday to the way it enforces the landmark Endangered Species Act, a move it says will reduce regulatory burden but critics charge will drive more creatures to extinction. The administration was making public a final rule overhauling the way the federal government handles protections for plants and animals at risk of extinction. Information about the rule and Monday’s release was obtained by The Associated Press beforehand. The Endangered Species Act is credited with helping save the bald eagle, the California condor and scores of other animals and plants from extinction since President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1973. The Trump administration says the changes will make regulation more efficient and less burdensome while preserving protections for wildlife.

5am – E         Staffer for Councilmember Brianne Nadeau Arrested for Firing a Gun at a Marijuana Pop-Up (Washington City Paper) — A constituent services staffer for Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau was arrested for allegedly firing a gun outside a marijuana pop-up event in Northeast D.C. on August 3. DaVon Fuller, who has already been removed from Nadeau’s Council page and website, was arrested over the weekend and charged with assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a firearm without a license. He is on paid administrative leave from his Council job, according to Nadeau’s spokesperson. Fuller makes $55,000 a year. In court records, police describe watching a video provided by a witness that showed two men, one of whom they believe to be Fuller, walk out of the marijuana pop-up event toward Fuller’s BMW. An SUV with tinted windows and no license plate stops in front of the BMW and two men get out and “attempt to rob [Fuller] of the BMW,” according to court records. Fuller and his associate “proceed to pull out handguns and fire indiscriminately in the block in the direction of 9 unidentified victims and damaged a vehicle parked on the scene.” Police searched Fuller’s home on August 10, and in his closet, between layers of clothes, they found a 9 mm Glock handgun, magazines, ammunition, and a firearm registration dated July 20, 2019.

6am – A/B/C Trump administration releases new “public charge” rule making it easier to reject immigrants. (Fox News) — The Trump administration on Monday issued a long-awaited rule strengthening the ability of federal officials to deny green cards to immigrants deemed likely to rely on government aid. Officials described the so-called “public charge” rule as a way to ensure those granted permanent residency are self-sufficient — and protect taxpayers in the process. “The principle driving it is an old American value, and that’s self-sufficiency,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli told Fox News in an interview. “It’s a core principle — the American Dream itself — and it’s one of the things that distinguishes us, and it’s central to the legal history in the U.S. back into the 1800s.” “It will also have the long-term benefit of protecting taxpayers by ensuring people who are immigrating to this country don’t become public burdens, that they can stand on their own two feet, as immigrants in years past have done,” he said. “It’s not only a recipe for their success, but for America’s success growing out of our immigration system.”

6am – D/E/F  Interview – ANTONIO OLIVO – Reporter covering government, politics and demographics in Northern Virginia for The Washington Post

• In blue Northern Va., top officials push back against proposed shelter for migrant youths (Washington Post) — Top Democrats in increasingly blue Northern Virginia are telling the Trump administration they’re against plans to open a shelter for unaccompanied minors in the region and saying their jurisdictions should be compensated for any potential impact on local schools or hospitals. In a part of the state that is home to a large Latino immigrant community, elected officials also are saying they disapprove of the way the federal government has handled a historic wave of migration at the southern border, where children have been separated from their families and placed in squalid conditions inside crowded holding facilities.  “I am extremely concerned about your administration’s policy of separating children from their families when they cross the border into the U.S.,” Sharon Bulova (D), chair of Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors, said in a letter sent Monday to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees care for unaccompanied minors. “Fairfax County wants no part in this heartless practice.” Last week, Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson (D) sent the agency a similar letter, while Phyllis J. Randall (D), chair of Loudoun County’s Board of Supervisors, said in a WAMU radio interview that such a facility “is not good for children.”

7AM – A         Interview – MARK KRIKORIAN – executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies

• Trump administration defends new green card rule (Fox News) — The Trump administration on Monday issued a long-awaited rule strengthening the ability of federal officials to deny green cards to immigrants deemed likely to rely on government aid. Officials described the so-called “public charge” rule as a way to ensure those granted permanent residency are self-sufficient — and protect taxpayers in the process. “The principle driving it is an old American value, and that’s self-sufficiency,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli told Fox News in an interview. “It’s a core principle — the American Dream itself — and it’s one of the things that distinguishes us, and it’s central to the legal history in the U.S. back into the 1800s.” “It will also have the long-term benefit of protecting taxpayers by ensuring people who are immigrating to this country don’t become public burdens, that they can stand on their own two feet, as immigrants in years past have done,” he said. “It’s not only a recipe for their success, but for America’s success growing out of our immigration system.”

7AM – B/C     EPSTEIN NEWS:

• NBC: FBI agents swarm Jeffrey Epstein’s private Caribbean island. FBI agents raided Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean on Monday in a vivid display that the probe into his alleged sex trafficking ring is continuing despite his death. A swarm of federal agents was seen fanning out across Little St. James in golf carts about 10:30 a.m.  “We were just trying to look at pretty fish and swim with turtles and here we are in the middle of an FBI raid,” said Kelly Quinn, the owner of Salty Dog Day Sails, who was running a sailing charter in the area. […]   Epstein purchased the picturesque island off the coast of St. Thomas for $7.95 million in 1998. He went on to build a sprawling estate featuring a 24,000-square-foot private residence, two pools, a spa and an odd blue-striped structure that has been the subject of endless online fascination.
• DAILY MAIL: EXCLUSIVE: A dozen FBI agents raid Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Pedophile Island’, pulling up to his Caribbean getaway in speedboats and roaming the grounds in golf carts, two days after pervert billionaire’s suicide
• NYT: In Short-Staffed Jail, Epstein Was Left Alone for Hours; Guard Was Substitute.   One of the two people guarding Jeffrey Epstein when he apparently hanged himself in a federal jail cell was not a full-fledged correctional officer, and neither guard had checked on Mr. Epstein for several hours before he was discovered, prison and law-enforcement officials said.
• FOX NEWS: Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t checked on for hours before apparent suicide, source says
• Barr: ‘Serious irregularities’ at jail where Jeffrey Epstein died.  Attorney General William Barr said Monday that there were “serious irregularities” at the federal pen in Manhattan where accused perv Jeffrey Epstein allegedly committed suicide.     “We will get to the bottom of what happened and there will be accountability,” Barr said at a law enforcement gathering in New Orleans.
• William Barr Has A Message For Jeffrey Epstein’s Co-Conspirators: “Any co-conspirators should not rest easy.”
• NY POST: Jeffrey Epstein hanged himself with prison bedsheet: source.     Jeffrey Epstein was found hanging in his lower Manhattan jail cell with a bedsheet wrapped around his neck and secured to the top of a bunk bed, The Post has learned.  The convicted pedophile, who was 6 feet tall, apparently killed himself by kneeling toward the floor and strangling himself with the makeshift noose, law enforcement sources said Monday. He hadn’t been checked on for several hours, sources said.

7am –D          Interview – DAN GABRIEL – former CIA counter-terrorism officer and filmmaker of the film Mosul – in studio

• ABOUT DAN GABRIEL:  Daniel P. Gabriel is a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) counter-terrorism officer with extensive experience in countering violent-extremism (CVE), directing counter-insurgency operations, and developing and benchmarking counter-radicalization theory and methodology in the Islamic world. He has served as a senior strategic communications advisor, consultant, and strategist to USG policymakers, civilian/military officials, international media organizations, and foreign governments. He is recognized internationally as a thought-leader in leveraging Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in support of governance and post-conflict management objectives.
• MOSUL is a character-driven, feature-length documentary (1 hr 24 min). It is built around several characters from contrasting backgrounds and ideologies who we come to know over a period of time (Oct 2016-July 2017), as they play their respective roles in the battle to reclaim the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS). The story is told as a journey into the heart of darkness, through the eyes of a small band of Iraqi filmmakers who navigate up the Tigris River, from Baghdad to Mosul, and ultimately come face to face with evil itself.

8 AM – A         ENTERTAINMENT NEWS:

• Sarah Silverman fired from new movie for blackface photo (PageSix) — Sarah Silverman revealed that she was recently fired from a movie over an old photo of her in blackface. She said the photo, which was snapped on the set of “The Sarah Silverman Show” in 2007, recently resurfaced and caught the eye of the film’s producers. “I recently was going to do a movie, a sweet part,” she said on “The Bill Simmons Podcast.” “Then, at 11 p.m. the night before, they fired me because they saw a picture of me in blackface from that episode. “I didn’t fight it,” she continued. “They hired someone else who is wonderful but who has never stuck their neck out. It was so disheartening. It just made me real, real sad because I really kind of devoted my life to making it right.”
• Italy’s Salvini Tells Richard Gere to Take Stranded Migrants to Hollywood on His Jet (Bloomberg) — Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini suggested Richard Gere fly 160 migrants stranded off the Italian coast back to Hollywood on his “private jet” after the actor made a plea to European leaders to find a port for the ship. Gere joined representatives from the non-governmental organization Open Arms at a press conference on the Italian island of Lampedusa to appeal to take in the ship. Salvini has refused to allow the vessel into Italian waters, the latest episode highlighting Europe’s divisions over immigration.

8 AM – B/C    Video shows Chris Cuomo in altercation after man calls him ‘Fredo’ (The Hill) — CNN on Monday defended late-night anchor Chris Cuomo after video surfaced showing him getting in a heated, profanity laced confrontation with an individual who referred to him as “Fredo,” a fictional character from “The Godfather.” “Chris Cuomo defended himself when he was verbally attacked with the use of an ethnic slur in an orchestrated setup,” CNN spokesperson Matt Dornic said in a statement on Twitter late Monday. “We completely support him.” The video, which was first shared on YouTube and other social media platforms, shows Cuomo repeatedly cursing at a man who appeared to mock him by calling him “Fredo.” It is unclear when and where the exchange took place. “Punk ass bitches from the right call me Fredo,” Cuomo says to a man standing beside him. “My name is Chris Cuomo. I’m an anchor on CNN. Fredo is from ‘The Godfather.’ He was a weak brother and they use it as an Italian aspersion.”

8 am –D         Interview – PETER DOOCY – reporter, Fox News Channel – shared the highlights of the 2020 Dem candidates campaigning in Iowa.

• Biden’s gaffes pile up, worrying some supporters
• Senior center resident to Kamala Harris: Leave our health care alone