Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

Saagar Enjeti, Mark Krikorian, Jenna Ellis and Tom Bevan joined WMAL on Thursday!

5am – A/B/C IMPEACHMENT:

• Trump impeached over Ukraine dealing, as Pelosi floats holding up Senate trial. Without any Republican support, the House on Wednesday night voted to impeach President Trump for “abuse of power” and “obstruction of Congress” related to his dealings with Ukraine, making Trump the third American president ever to be impeached. The separate votes on the two counts teed up an all-but-certain acquittal in the Senate, should House Democrats forward the charges to the GOP-controlled chamber. They also fulfilled a promise made by some Democrats ever since Trump’s inauguration to impeach him, even as polls have shown a decline in public support for the action. However, late Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, floated the possibility that the House would not send the articles of impeachment to the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., likely would oversee a strong defense of the president that could prove politically damaging for vulnerable Democrats.”We’ll make a decision … as we go along,” Pelosi told reporters, adding that “we’ll see what the process will be on the Senate side.” “We have acted,” Pelosi continued, repeatedly refusing to commit to sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate. “Now, they’ll understand what their responsibilities are, and we’ll see what that is.”
• Pelosi threatens to withhold impeachment articles until Senate guarantees ‘fair’ trial. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will not commit to delivering two approved articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate.

5am – D         Surveillance footage outside of Jeffrey Epstein’s cell during suicide attempt is missing. New York Daily News |Surveillance footage of the outside of Jeffrey Epstein’s cell at the troubled Metropolitan Correctional Center during his suicide attempt has gone missing, prosecutors revealed Wednesday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Swergold admitted nobody can find the footage of the outside of the cell the multimillionaire perv shared with accused quadruple murderer Nick Tartaglione during a hearing in White Plains District Court. Tartaglione, a former Briarcliff Manor cop, faces the death penalty for the alleged murders in a drug deal gone bad. Bruce Barket, an attorney for Tartaglione, confirmed the stunning revelation that the footage was not preserved. The Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office declined comment. Tartaglione’s attorneys filed a request for the footage to be retained two days after Epstein’s unsuccessful suicide attempt on July 23, Barket said. It is on the surface troubling,” Barket said. “I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve found out more details.” Judge Kenneth Karas asked the government to look further into what happened to the footage. The Daily News previously reported that Tartaglione claimed to have saved Epstein’s life after the pedophile perv tried to hang himself. Epstein reportedly claimed that Tartaglione attacked him.“ Nick acted appropriately and admirably,” Barket said. The video footage was relevant to Tartaglione’s defense because it is potentially evidence of the ex-cop’s good character. In the event Tartaglione is found guilty and reaches the death penalty phase, the Epstein incident could possibly be evidence showing why he doesn’t deserve to die.

5am – E         Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard votes ‘PRESENT’ on impeachment articles against Trump

6am – A/B/C CHAOS IN CONGRESS — PELOSI SCOLDS CHEERS ON SOLEMN DAY, DEMS CELEBRATING AND FIESTY HOUSE FLOOR SPEECHES:

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “December 18th, a great day for the Constitution of the United States. A sad one for America that the President’s reckless activities necessitated us … to introduce articles of impeachment”
• Speaker Pelosi: “I view this day, this vote as something that we did to honor the vision of our founders, to establish a republic, the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform to defend our democracy and that republic”
• Speaker Pelosi, invoking the late Elijah Cummings: “We did all we could, Elijah. We passed the two articles of impeachment. The president is impeached.”
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she “could not be prouder or more inspired than by the moral courage of the House Democrats” after House votes to impeach Pres. Trump
• Nancy Pelosi: “We have legislation approved…that will enable to decide how we send over the articles of impeachment.” “We cannot name managers until we see what the process is on the Senate side…so far we haven’t seen anything that looks fair to us.”
• PELOSI SCOLDS: THE LOOK PELOSI GIVES… Nancy Pelosi had to scold her caucus for cheering after the article of impeachment against President Trump was adopted
• CELEBRATING DEMS: Sad day for Democrats? Source on the Hill sends me video of staffers having a party in California Democrat Mike Thompson’s office, where it appears to be wine o’clock for staff
• WATERS GETS AN APPLAUSE: Democrats erupt in applause after Rep. Waters touts, “yes I called for Trump’s impeachment early”
• RASHIDA TLAIB IS GIDDY TO GO VOTE TO IMPEACH TRUMP: Here is Rashida Tlaib  celebrating on her way to vote for #impeachment. Woman is heard in the back: Woo!! (This is the same woman who said “we’re gonna impeach the mother fucker” hours after being sworn in. That statement was 6 months BEFORE Trump called the Ukrainian President, which the impeachment is based on.)
• MORE SQUAD NEWS: Ilhan Omar Yells ‘Stop It’ On House Floor When McCarthy Cites Tlaib’s ‘Impeach The Mother F**Ker’ Comment.    “And a few mere hours after that, Congresswoman Tlaib said she was going to ‘impeach the mother f-er,’” he said. At which point someone, later reportedly identified by PBS Newshour senior reporter Daniel Bush and others as Rep. Omar, could be heard yelling “Stop it!” at least three times.
• Rep. Doug Collins Why do you keep calling it a solemn occassison you have been wanting to do this since he got elected
• GOP Rep. Doug Collins criticizes Democrats over the impeachment proceedings: “I guarantee you, one day you’ll be back in the minority and it ain’t going to be that fun.”

6am – D/E/F  SPENDING BILL

• Congressional spending bills are expected to permanently repeal taxes funding the Affordable Care Act and raise the tobacco buying age to 21.
• Rep. Chip Roy‏ @RepChipRoy: Tomorrow we vote on #impeachment. For those who were paying attention today, House leadership purposefully separated the bloated spending bills so that @realDonaldTrump wouldn’t have to go back on his commitment to never sign another huge omnibus. Mr. President, don’t sign.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – SAAGAR ENJETI – Chief Washington Correspondent & Host at The Hill — discussed the impeachment vote, presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard voting ‘PRESENT’ on impeachment articles against Trump and previewed his interview with Tulsi today.

7am – B/C     Washington Post, CNN journos under fire after Trump impeachment for celebrating ‘Impeachmas.‘ (Fox News) – Several Washington Post reporters were under fire late Wednesday night for celebrating “Impeachmas” following the impeachment of President Trump. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., continued to insist that the impeachment — just the third in U.S. history — was a “solemn” occasion for the nation but that did not appear to be the case for the group of WaPo journalists, who were seen in an online post marking the historic night with drinks. “Merry Impeachmas from the WaPo team!” WaPo Congress reporter and CNN political analyst Rachael Bade remarked in the post, in which she was seen with colleagues Paul Kane, Mike DeBonis, as well as Seung Min Kim and Karoun Demirjian, who also are CNN analysts. Bade deleted the tweet roughly an hour after it was posted.

7am – D         INTERVIEW – MARK KRIKORIAN  – Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) – discussed citizenship for 4,000 Liberian illegal aliens … snuck into a 3,430-page defense bill.

• US citizenship path for many Liberians tucked into spending bill. Defense bill headed to Trump’s desk includes legislation that provides pathway to citizenship for thousands of Liberians. Thousands of Liberian immigrants without permanent legal status in the United States will be eligible to apply for green cards and eventual US citizenship under the terms of a defence spending bill passed by the US Senate on Tuesday. The pathway to citizenship – even for a relatively small cohort of immigrants – is a victory for pro-migrant activists and politicians who pushed for citizenship for Liberians covered by temporary deportation relief programmes. The legalisation, which protects Liberians who have been in the country since 2014, is the first of its kind in nearly two decades, according to immigration experts. US President Donald Trump has attempted to phase out most enrollment in humanitarian immigration programmes such as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED), which are offered at the discretion of the administration. Liberians have been protected both by TPS and DED. Trump unexpectedly postponed a winding down of DED protections for Liberians earlier this year, pushing back the end date until March 2020. In that announcement, Trump cited the “unique” history of Liberia, a nation founded in 1847 by freed American slaves. A pair of Democratic US senators, Tina Smith of Minnesota and Jack Reed of Rhode Island, pressed to include the provision for Liberians in the $738bn National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA. Minnesota had the largest population of Liberian immigrants of any US state in 2018, according to US Census Bureau estimates.

7am – E         DERSHOWITZ:  SCOTUS COULD OVERTURN IMPEACHMENT: (The Hill) – Two former, well-respected justices of the Supreme Court first suggested that the judiciary may indeed have a role in reining in Congress were it to exceed its constitutional authority. Justice Byron White, a John F. Kennedy appointee, put it this way: “Finally, as applied to the special case of the President, the majority argument merely points out that, were the Senate to convict the President without any kind of trial, a Constitutional crisis might well result. It hardly follows that the Court ought to refrain from upholding the Constitution in all impeachment cases. Nor does it follow that, in cases of presidential impeachment, the Justices ought to abandon their constitutional responsibility because the Senate has precipitated a crisis.” 

8am – A         INTERVIEW – JENNA ELLIS – Senior Legal Advisor to the Trump Campaign, a Constitutional Law Attorney and the author of “The Legal Basis for a Moral Constitution” — discussed the unconstitutional impeachment vote in the House yesterday.

• • Trump impeached over Ukraine dealing, as Pelosi floats holding up Senate trial. Without any Republican support, the House on Wednesday night voted to impeach President Trump for “abuse of power” and “obstruction of Congress” related to his dealings with Ukraine, making Trump the third American president ever to be impeached. The separate votes on the two counts teed up an all-but-certain acquittal in the Senate, should House Democrats forward the charges to the GOP-controlled chamber. They also fulfilled a promise made by some Democrats ever since Trump’s inauguration to impeach him, even as polls have shown a decline in public support for the action. However, late Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, floated the possibility that the House would not send the articles of impeachment to the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., likely would oversee a strong defense of the president that could prove politically damaging for vulnerable Democrats. “We’ll make a decision … as we go along,” Pelosi told reporters, adding that “we’ll see what the process will be on the Senate side.” “We have acted,” Pelosi continued, repeatedly refusing to commit to sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate. “Now, they’ll understand what their responsibilities are, and we’ll see what that is.”

8am – B/C     Trump Rally Highlights

8am – D         INTERVIEW – TOM BEVAN – co-founder and president of RealClearPolitics — previewed the 2020 Democrat Debate tonight.

• • • Seven Democratic presidential hopefuls will take the stage in Los Angeles on Thursday for the sixth Democratic debate. Co-hosted by PBS NewsHour and Politico, the event at Loyola Marymount University is set to begin at 8 p.m ET. It will be the last debate of 2019. The event is officially a “go” after a labor dispute that threatened to derail it was settled. The dispute involved Sodexo, the food service provider for Loyola Marymount University, and its workers, with the Democratic candidates pledging to boycott rather than cross a picket line. Unite Here Local 11, the union representing the food service workers, announced early Tuesday that a tentative contract agreement has been reached.The field of candidates appearing on stage at the presidential debates continues to shrink as the campaign continues. Senator Kamala Harris, a Democrat from California, dropped out of the race earlier this month, while eight other Democrats failed to qualify, including Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii. The two newest entrants into the race, former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, will also not be on stage. Here are the seven candidates who will appear:     Former Vice President Joe Biden, Mayor Pete Buttigieg,  Senator Amy Klobuchar, Senator Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer,  Senator Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang.

8am – E         More of Trump’s rally: Trump laments that Debbie Dingell voted to impeach him despite the fact that he allowed the normal state funeral to proceed for her late husband, former Rep. John Dingell. Trump then suggests John Dingell is in hell — to audible groans. “Debbie Dingell, that’s a real beauty,” Trump says. “I gave them the A treatment,” he says, of the family after Rep. John Dingell died. Says Dingell told him her husband would be looking down happy. “Maybe he’s looking up,” Trump says.