Mornings on the Mall

Monday, October 28, 2019

Hosts: Vince Coglianese and guest host Beverly Hallberg – fellow at Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) and President of District Media Group

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

Legal analyst Joe diGenova, Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, ESPN’s Carol Maloney and Joe Concha joined WMAL on Monday!

5am – A/B/C ISIS LEADER KILLED:

• President Trump announced Sunday that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a U.S. military raid in northwest Syria. Trump described the mission in detail saying al-Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest after being cornered in a tunnel by U.S. special operations forces with three of his children.  The president said U.S. operators were able to confirm the identity through DNA testing on the scene. No U.S. service members were killed in the raid.
• Al-Baghdadi takedown a big victory for Trump, blunts criticism of Syria pullback as Dems avoid congratulating president. President Trump’s successful operation to take out Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi sent Democrats scrambling on Sunday, as several top party leaders who had charged that the White House had no “real plan” to combat the terror group following the U.S. pullout in Syria were proven wrong. In a dramatic sign of how Democrats’ messaging apparently backfired, NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” ran an ill-timed sketch suggesting that Trump had created “jobs” for ISIS — just hours before the president held a news conference announcing al-Baghdadi’s demise. The sketch aired around the time the two-hour late-night raid in northwest Syria was underway. Through the day on Sunday, the Democrats — including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Bob Menendez and former Vice President Joe Biden — seemingly settled on a new strategy. They praised the troops who executed the historic raid, while pointedly avoiding c
• omplimenting the president in any way. It was a stark contrast to the way they specifically praised President Obama after he announced Usama bin Laden’s death in May 2011.
• DEMS COMPLAIN PELOSI WASN’T NOTIFIED: Trump left key Democrats in the dark about Baghdadi raid
• Pelosi out w statement on Al-Baghdadi death: “The House must be briefed on this raid, which the Russians but not top Congressional Leadership were notified of in advance, and on the Administration’s overall strategy in the region.”

• Trump cites ‘Washington leaks’ for keeping raid on ISIS leader from congressional leaders
• Washington Examiner’s Susan Ferrechio @susanferrechio Although Democratic leaders complain they were not briefed on al Baghdadi,  President Obama failed to brief @SpeakerBoehner/GOP when Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was freed in exchange for five Taliban prisoners. The advanced briefing was required, but Obama Administration ignored it.
• House Dems angered that Trump told Russia, Turkey of al-Baghdadi raid, but not Pelosi:    Pelosi, in a statement released shortly after the president’s address, thanked the U.S. Special Operations forces for carrying out the raid – praising “the heroism, dedication and skill of our military and our intelligence professionals” – but questioned why the Trump administration choose to notify other nations of the raid and not congressional lawmakers.  “The House must be briefed on this raid, which the Russians but not top Congressional Leadership were notified of in advance, and on the Administration’s overall strategy in the region,” she said. “Our military and allies deserve strong, smart and strategic leadership from Washington.”

5am – D         DURHAM NEWS:

• John Ratcliffe: Change In Status Of Durham Investigation Is ‘Not A Coincidence’ (Daily Caller) – “I don’t believe in coincidences, and the end of the inspector general’s investigation and his impending report coming at the same time as the start of John Durham announcing that this is now a criminal probe is not a coincidence,” Ratcliffe, a Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
• Rep. Schiff: Durham Probe Into Russian Interference Investigation ‘Illegitimate,’ Suggests He’ll Reject Findings. “You can assign good people to do an illegitimate investigation,” Schiff told ABC News’ “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” as he suggested he won’t accept the results of such a probe. “If these reports are correct and Bill Barr’s Justice Department is doing a criminal investigation of people who properly looked into Russian interference in our election … it means that Bill Barr on the president’s behalf is weaponizing the Justice Department to go after the president’s enemies,” Schiff said. Although the congressman has repeatedly suggested without evidence that Trump had colluded with the Russians, the congressman suggested Sunday that if you “win an election you don’t seek to prosecute the losing side but this is what Bill Barr is seeking to do. He is demonstrating once again that he is merely a tool of the president, the president’s hand, not the representative of the American people.”

5am – E         CONYERS DIES:

• Former U.S. Congressman John Conyers, the longest-serving African American House member in congressional history, died Sunday at the age of 90. The Michigan Democrat was co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus.  He resigned from his Detroit-area seat in 2017 amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment from young female staffers, which he denied.
• At Bernie Sanders rally in Detroit this weekend, Michigan Rep. RASHIDA TLAIB called for moment of silence following the death of former Rep. John Conyers. “He served us and fought for us for over 50 years.”

6am – A/B/C CRAZY MEDIA COVERAGE OF PRESIDENT TRUMP’S ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE DEATH OF THE ISIS LEADER:

• Jake Tapper Wonders Whether Trump’s Critique Of ‘Coward’ Al-Baghdadi Will Galvanize ISIS
• CNN NatSec Analyst: Trump Went Into ‘Irresponsible’ Level of Detail About al-Baghdadi Raid
• ANDREW FEINBERG, BREAKFAST BLOG: Yawn. He wants a “we got bin Laden” moment. Any news organization that gives this the prominence he wants this announcement to have without checking everything he says first has failed at its job. It should not be carried live, he’s forfeited that privilege with all the lying.
• AMY WALTER, COOK POLITICAL REPORT: What impact could killing of abu bakr al-baghdadi have on Trump’s standing w/ public? Likely little to zero. Late April 2011, pre-Osama Bin Laden killing, Obama job approve in Gallup was 46%. Post-OBL kill, job approve jumps to 52%. By June, job approve drops back to 46%.
• BLOOMBERG’S BIZARRE COVERAGE: Bloomberg @business: Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi transformed himself from a little-known teacher of Koranic recitation into the self-proclaimed ruler of an entity that covered swaths of Syria and Iraq
• JOHN HARWOOD, CNBC: also, in the American psyche, Baghdadi was to bin Laden as an ant is to an elephant
• Washington Post publishes al-Baghdadi headline referring to ISIS leader as ‘austere religious scholar’ (Fox News) — The Washington Post  published a gasp-inducing headline for the ages Sunday, describing ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as an “austere religious scholar.” The obituary, written by The Post’s National Security reporter Joby Warrick, followed confirmation of al-Baghdadi’s death in a U.S. military operation in Syria on Saturday night. It detailed al-Baghdadi’s rise to the terrorist group’s shadow leader from what the paper described as his origins as a “religious scholar with wireframe glasses.” The headline read: “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, austere religious scholar at helm of Islamic State, dies at 48.” The story first appeared to run under a headline that referred to al-Baghdadi as the “Islamic State’s ‘terrorist-in-chief.'” It was unclear why or who decided to change the “terrorist” label to “austere religious scholar.” The Post then changed the headline again, settling on “extremist leader of Islamic State.” Washington Post Vice President of Communications Kristine Coratti Kelly told Fox News, “Regarding our al-Baghdadi obituary, the headline should never have read that way and we changed it quickly.”
• #WAPODEATHNOTICES:
  • Frederick Krueger, known for his innovations in sleep-studies as well as his iconic, wearable cutlery has passed away. #WapoDeathNotices
  • Jason Voorhees, former Olympic swimmer, purveyor of fine cutlery, and advocate of summer camp for all dies at 15, and 23, and 24, and 25, and 26, and 28, and 32, and 33.  #WaPoDeathNotices
  • Jesus of Nazareth, noted wine maker, dead at 33. #WaPoDeathNotices
  • Witch of the West, pioneering female aviator, dead at 480.  #WaPoDeathNotices Jeffrey Dahmer, LGBT activist-pioneer, unconventional romantic, and avant-garde gastronomist passed away at age 34 surrounded by his caretakers  #WaPoDeathNotices
  • Emperor Palpatine, former senator of Naboo and austere Sith scholar, dead, age unknown. #WaPoDeathNotices
  • George Washington, star of famed “cherry tree” fable, dead at 67. #WaPoDeathNotices
  • Attila the Hun, world traveler and government administrator, dies at 47. #WaPoDeathNotices
  • Global child advocate Jeffrey Epstein #WaPoDeathNotices
  • #WaPoDeathNotices Genghis Khan, accomplished horseman and indefatigable traveler, breathes his last.
  • Mao Zedong, gentleman, scholar, accomplished innovator of resources, visionary on the importance of human life, dies at 82 #WashPostOrbits #WashingtonPostOrbits #WaPoDeathNotices
  • Adolf Hitler, passionate community planner and dynamic public speaker, dies at 56. #WaPoDeathNotices
  • Charles Manson, famous songwriter and meditation leader, dead at 83 #WaPoDeathNotices
  • Andrew Klavan @andrewklavan This #wapodeathnotices is hilarious. More genuine comedy than all the late night shows put together.

6am – D         John Kelly says he told Trump a ‘yes man’ would get him impeached. (NBC News) — The president said his former chief of staff told him no such thing, and if he had, he would have “thrown him out of the office.”  President Donald Trump is denying that former Chief of Staff John Kelly ever warned him that he would be impeached if he hired a lackey to replace the former four-star general. “John Kelly never said that, he never said anything like that,” Trump said in a statement Saturday after Kelly discussed his warning. “If he would have said that I would have thrown him out of the office. He just wants to come back into the action like everybody else does.” Kelly resigned Jan. 2 and was replaced by Mick Mulvaney, an acting chief of staff whose tenure is clouded by an Oct. 17 news conference in which his main talking points — that next year’s Group of Seven summit would be hosted at Trump’s Miami resort and that the president held up aid to Ukraine to pressure the country to investigate a political rival — were essentially walked back. Kelly said Saturday that before departing the White House he privately told Trump not to hire a “yes man.” “I said, whatever you do, don’t hire a ‘yes man,’ someone who won’t tell you the truth. Don’t do that. Because if you do, I believe you will be impeached,” Kelly said at the conservative Washington Examiner Political Summit. Kelly said he warned the president not to hire a lackey to run his staff. “Don’t hire someone that will just, you know, nod and say, ‘You know, that’s a great idea Mr. President,'” he told the partisan crowd. “‘Because you will be impeached.'” The president’s press secretary also fired back at Kelly. “I worked with John Kelly, and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great President,” Stephanie Grisham said in a statement Saturday.

6am – E         NATS WORLD SERIES RECAP:

• The Nats fall to the Astros 7-1 in Game 5 of the World Series. Houston now leads the series 3-2 and the Nats face elimination in Game 6 on Tuesday. (NBC Washington) — The Houston Astros handed the ball to Gerrit Cole, and he gave them a firm grip on the World Series. Minus ailing ace Max Scherzer, the Nationals were no match in this Washington wipeout. Cole looked exactly like the stud who dominated baseball most of this season, bouncing back from a Game 1 clunker to pitch the Astros to a 7-1 win Sunday night and a 3-2 lead. Slumping rookie Yordan Álvarez and Carlos Correa each hit an early two-run homer off emergency starter Joe Ross. George Springer added another postseason drive, and Houston won its third straight at Nationals Park. What a turnaround, too — outscored 17-7 overall at Minute Maid Park, Houston hammered Washington 19-3 at Nationals Park. Scherzer beat Cole in the opener, and was the Nats’ best hope to slow Houston. But he was scratched just 3 1/2 hours before game time because of an irritated nerve near his neck, an injury that could finish him for the Series. With the road team winning every time so far, Houston heads home with two chances to claim its second title in three years. Justin Verlander gets the first try when he starts against Stephen Strasburg in Game 6 on Tuesday night.
• President Trump was booed loudly by the fans at Nats Parks when he was shown on the big screen during the World Series.  Then came a loud chant: “Lock him up.”
• WUSA reporter Lesli Foster tweet: For additional context: When the President first arrived at @Nationals Park, there were also fans who leaned over to salute and celebrate his presence.
• Man with beer in each hand takes World Series home run ball off gut, ends up with souvenir
• Bud Light @budlight This man is a hero. Twitter please figure out who this guy is so we can reward him. #WorldSeries

6am – F         KAMALA STUMPING FOR INFANTICIDE ADVOCATE & VA DEL. KATHY TRAN:

• On Sunday Kamala Harris campaigned for Virginia Democrat Kathy Tran, who proposed the sick law that would allow a healthy baby to be aborted at birth.
• Virginia’s 42nd House of Delegates district elects one of 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates, the lower house of the state’s bicameral legislature. District 42, located in Fairfax County, has been represented by Democrat Kathy Tran since 2018. Incumbent Democrat Kathy Tran and Republican Steve Adragna are running in the general election for Virginia House of Delegates District 42 on November 5, 2019.
• Kamala Harris joined GOTV efforts this weekend in Virginia, stumping for Dan Helmer and Del. Kathy Tran. The upcoming election (in 9 days!) is a crucial one for Dems in the Commonwealth, who have the chance to win both chambers and gain a majority for the first time in decades
• ON FACEBOOK: Delegate Kathy Tran: ‪Thank you Kamala Harris for joining our canvass launch today! Just 9 days until we win a Democratic majority in the Virginia House! #FlipVABlue

7am – A/B/C Interview – JOE DIGENOVA – WMAL legal analyst and former US Attorney to the District of Columbia – discussed the continued impeachment push, the DOJ probe into the Russia hoax and Gen. Mike Flynn’s revealing defense.

7am – D         Interview – Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer – a CIA trained former senior intelligence officer and president of the London Center for Policy Research  — analyzed the death of the ISIS leader.

• President Trump announced Sunday that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a U.S. military raid in northwest Syria. Trump described the mission in detail saying al-Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest after being cornered in a tunnel by U.S. special operations forces with three of his children.  The president said U.S. operators were able to confirm the identity through DNA testing on the scene. No U.S. service members were killed in the raid.
• LT. COL. TONY SHAFFER – Trump’s withdrawal from Syria saves American lives from unwinnable Middle East conflict (Sun-Sentinel) — President Trump cares about America’s men and women in uniform in a way that his detractors can never fully understand, because he alone bears responsibility when the political class’s visions of glory give way to the grim realities of war. Plus — he understands that being tied down holding terrain makes our troops the target and removes our ability to remain agile and maintain the initiative. When President Trump announced his decision to move American troops out of Northern Syria ahead of a military offensive by Turkey, Democrats and the Washington foreign policy establishment howled with outrage (note after years of inaction or concern under the Obama Administration who’s inaction resulted in 500,000 innocent people murdered). They simply couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t put American lives on the line in order to micromanage a geopolitical conflict on the opposite side of the world in which U.S. interests are not directly at stake — the approach that war hawks spent decades carefully instituting as America’s de facto foreign policy position and that has now been adopted by the pro-war progressive wing of the Democrat party. President Trump has different ideas. As he said during the recent Trump rally in Minneapolis, “Take a victory, United States. Bring our troops back home.”

7am – E         KATIE HILL RESIGNED: Rep. Katie Hill resigns amid ethics probe into reported affair with staffer

• Democratic Representative Katie Hill of California has announced her resignation from Congress days after she admitted to having an inappropriate relationship with a campaign staffer before coming into office.  The news comes after the House Committee on Ethics announced it was opening an investigation into possible rules violations.
• RESIGNATION LETTER: Rep. Katie Hill @RepKatieHill: It is with a broken heart that today I announce my resignation from Congress. This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do, but I believe it is the best thing for my constituents, my community, and our country.  See my official statement below. (letter attached to the tweet)
• AND A WEIRD TWEET FROM HILL AFTER RESIGNING: Katie Hill @KatieHill4CA: To every girl and woman – to everyone who believes in this fight – this isn’t over.
• Pelosi on resignation decision of Dem CA Rep Katie Hill: Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued this statement after Congresswoman Katie Hill announced her resignation: “Congresswoman Katie Hill came to Congress with a powerful commitment to her community and a bright vision for the future, and has made a great contribution as a leader of the Freshman Class.  She has acknowledged errors in judgment that made her continued service as a Member untenable.  We must ensure a climate of integrity and dignity in the Congress, and in all workplaces.”

8am – A         INTERVIEW – CAROL MALONEY – host of The Carol Maloney Show on ESPN 630 (in studio) – recapped this weekend’s World Series games at Nats park.

• The Nats fall to the Astros 7-1 in Game 5 of the World Series. Houston now leads the series 3-2 and the Nats face elimination in Game 6 on Tuesday.
• President Trump was booed loudly by the fans at Nats Parks when he was shown on the big screen during the World Series.

 

8am – B/C     BIDEN NEWS:

• ALANA GOODMAN: Revealed: Joe Biden twice used his position as senator to intervene to boost son Hunter’s lobbying
• Black student to Democrat Joe Biden: “If I were your daughter, what advice would you give me the next time I am stopped by the police?” Biden response: “If you were my daughter, you’d be a Caucasian girl and you wouldn’t be pulled over”
• Joe Biden Falsely Claims He ‘Got Started Out’ at a Historically Black University.  “I got started out of an HBCU, Delaware State, I don’t want to hear anything negative about Delaware State here, okay,” the 76-year-old former vice president said. “But all kidding aside, the fact is that HBCUs are in trouble financially.”
• “I want to earn this on my own.” Joe Biden tells 60 Minutes he asked President Obama not to endorse him in his run for White House

8am – D         INTERVIEW – Joe Concha – Media reporter for The Hill – recapped the crazy media headlines and analysis about the death of the ISIS leader

• Washington Post publishes al-Baghdadi headline referring to ISIS leader as ‘austere religious scholar’
• Jake Tapper Wonders Whether Trump’s Critique Of ‘Coward’ Al-Baghdadi Will Galvanize ISIS
• CNN NatSec Analyst: Trump Went Into ‘Irresponsible’ Level of Detail About al-Baghdadi Raid
• BLOOMBERG’S BIZARRE COVERAGE: Bloomberg @business: Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi transformed himself from a little-known teacher of Koranic recitation into the self-proclaimed ruler of an entity that covered swaths of Syria and Iraq

8am – E         Trump’s DC hotel may be up for sale. (Fox Business) –  Washington, D.C., may soon have a little less Trump. The Trump Organization is reportedly looking to sell the rights to Trump International Hotel, an iconic property in the nation’s capital that opened months after the president took office. The move could combat criticism that the Trumps are violating ethics rules by profiting from the hotel, which is said to have raked in more than $80 million since 2016. Trump’s son Eric Trump told the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the sale, that, “People are objecting to us making so much money on the hotel, and therefore we may be willing to sell.” Officials from the Trump Organization and JLL declined to comment.