Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

Cal Thomas, Chad Pergram, Erich Pratt, and Adam Kennedy joined WMAL on Wednesday! 

5am – A/B/C Trump sees witnesses as increasingly likely (NY Times) President Trump believes the chances that witnesses will be called at his impeachment trial in the Senate have grown, even as advisers believed they might be able to allay concerns from senators after reports about assertions made by his former national security adviser, John R. Bolton, in an unpublished manuscript. According to several people who spoke to him, Mr. Trump has sounded resigned to the possibility of witnesses after The New York Times reported Sunday that Mr. Bolton’s manuscript described the president directly tying the release of security aid to Ukraine to the country’s pursuit of investigations he sought into Democrats.

5am – D/E CHINA:

• Britain said on Tuesday that it would not ban equipment made by the Chinese technology giant Huawei from being used in its new high-speed 5G wireless network, the starkest sign yet that an American campaign against the telecommunications company is faltering. Despite more than a year of intense lobbying by the Trump administration, which has accused Huawei of having ties to China’s Communist Party that pose a national security threat, the British government announced it would allow the company to provide equipment in some portions of a next-generation network to be built in the coming years.
• Charles Lieber, chairman of the chemistry department at Harvard University, is accused of lying to federal authorities about his ties to China and was arrested Tuesday, officials announced. Police confirmed Lieber is a Lexington resident. His case was one of several discussed Tuesday in a press conference in Boston. According to a criminal complaint, Lieber failed to disclose that he was being paid a salary of up to $50,000 per month and up to $158,000 per year in living expenses by China’s Thousand Talents Plan and the Wuhan University of Technology. Federal investigators also determined that Lieber was awarded more than $1.5 million to establish a nanotechnology research lab at WUT.
• The Trump administration today stopped short of declaring a public health emergency for the Wuhan coronavirus but extended screening for the virus to 20 S. airports.
• On Tuesday, White House officials called major airline executives to inform them that the administration is considering a temporary ban on all China-U.S. flights. Companies such as United Airlines have canceled dozens of flights next month to mainland China, while others, such as Delta and American Airlines, are waiving cancellation fees for travelers to China.

6am – A/B/C 2020 NEWS:

• Democratic 2020 candidate Joe Biden snapped at an Iowa voter on Tuesday, telling the man to “go vote for someone else” after he asked the former vice president not to support building new pipelines. The man said that he would support Biden in the general election against President Donald Trump, but that he planned to support billionaire Tom Steyer in the Democratic primary.
• Biden Says He ‘Sure Would Like Michelle To Be The Vice President’
• Hillary Clinton admits she feels an ‘urge’ to run against Trump again
• Bernie Sanders Pledges His First Executive Orders Would Reverse Trump’s Immigration Agenda

6am – D INTERVIEW – CAL THOMAS – Syndicated columnist and author of “America’s Expiration Date: The Fall of Empires and Superpowers – and the Future of the United States”

TOPICS: Trump’s Mideast peace plan / impeachment trial/witnesses

• • President Trump believes the chances that witnesses will be called at his impeachment trial in the Senate have grown, even as advisers believed they might be able to allay concerns from senators after reports about assertions made by his former national security adviser, John R. Bolton, in an unpublished manuscript.
  • FOX NEWS: GOP develops aggressive ‘Plan B’ in impeachment trial, as several Dems appear to support acquittal
  • Trump Middle East Peace Deal: President Mr. Trump’s plan would guarantee that Israel would control a unified Jerusalem as its capital and not require it to uproot any of the settlements in the West Bank that have provoked Palestinian outrage and alienated much of the outside world. He promised to provide $50 billion in international investment to build the new Palestinian entity and open an embassy in its new state.

6am – E/F CNN’s Don Lemon explains handling of segment after Trump criticism (The Hill)  CNN anchor Don Lemon on Tuesday night addressed a segment from the weekend that drew criticism from President Trump in which the host laughed after a guest mocked supporters of the president. “Ask anyone who knows me,” Lemon said at the end of his show Tuesday while addressing the segment. “They’ll tell you: I don’t believe in belittling people … for who they are, for what they believe or where they’re from.” Lemon said that while he found the “joke” from the guest to be funny at the time, he “didn’t catch everything that was said.” “I was laughing at the joke and not at any group of people,” he concluded. During a segment on Saturday, Lemon had a panel discussion with GOP strategist Rick Wilson and New York Times columnist and CNN contributor Wajahat Ali. Both Wilson and Ali have been staunch critics of Trump during his presidency. Lemon laughed after Wilson said, “Trump couldn’t find Ukraine on a map if you had the letter ‘U’ and a picture of an actual physical crane next to it.” Wilson kept going, calling Trump supporters “the credulous boomer rube demo.” The interaction drew the ire of Trump, who retweeted the segment early Tuesday morning, adding, “Don Lemon, the dumbest man on television (with terrible ratings!).”

7am – A INTERVIEW – CHAD PERGRAM – congressional correspondent for The Fox News Channel

TOPIC: Discuss what’s happening next in the impeachment trial process

• • • What to expect in the trial Q&A Wed: Sides will alternate posing questions. Questions will be in writing, submitted to the Chief Justice & read aloud. Sens do not pose the questions themselves. Senators must sign the questions. Questions could come from a group of senators
    • We are told to expect 10-12 questions per side before a recess. There is no time clock as to how long counsel for both sides has to respond. But Roberts suggested today they should try to limit responses to 5 mins, based on ’99 Clinton trial precedent
    • In the trial Q&A, there can be no challenge of given answers by counsel for either side.

7am – B/C WHAT’S IN TRUMP’S MIDDLE EAST PEACE PLAN? (FOX NEWS)

• • • • Two-State Solution: Long-billed as the only way for the Palestinians and Israelis to actually come to terms, Trump’s plan calls for a two-state solution – with the creation of a future “state” of Palestine. The plan would require the Palestinians to meet certain benchmarks — rooting out terrorism, stopping “pay to slay,” implementing steps toward free speech and political reforms – to become a state, but Trump promised that they would have S. backing if they did. It also calls for the creation of a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem and for more than doubling the amount of territory the Palestinians control.
      • Land Swaps: There will also be a number of land swaps including one south of the Gaza strip to give the Palestinians more territory and one near the Egyptian border that will remain Israeli territory and will be subject to Israeli security control. The plans also calls for the construction of a tunnel connecting the West Bank and Gaza Israel will also maintain sovereignty of the Jordan Valley east of the West Bank.
      • Security: A major part of the plan focuses on cutting down terror attacks on Israeli settlements – and Israeli reprisals on the Palestinians – by calling for a demilitarized Palestinian state. In a suggestion sure to ruffle feathers among the Palestinian leadership, the plan also gives Israel power to maintain overall security in the region, though it does create programs for the Palestinians to show the capability to secure their areas with local police forces.
      • Settlements: The plan calls for Israel to halt the construction of any new settlements in contested areas for four years during which time details of a comprehensive agreement would be negotiated. It is not immediately clear, however, if the freeze could be extended if a final deal is not concluded in the four years. The deal would also require the Palestinians to accept conditions they have been previously unwilling to consider, such as accepting West Bank In the run-up to the March 2 election, Netanyahu has called for annexing parts of the West Bank and imposing Israeli sovereignty on all its settlements there. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Jordan Valley in particular is considered a vital security asset.
      • Jerusalem: Continuing the Trump administration stance, the plan recognizes Israeli sovereignty over the city of Jerusalem – although it does set up a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem. The Palestinians see the West Bank as the heartland of a future independent state and east Jerusalem as their capital. Most of the international community supports their position, but Trump has reversed decades of S. foreign policy by siding more blatantly with Israel. The centerpiece of his strategy was recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the American embassy there.

7am – D/E GUNS:

• • • • Michael Bloomberg has already spent more than $200-million in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, but the former New York mayor and current gun control sugar daddy is also promising to nearly double what the NRA spent in the 2016 election in order to push anti-gun candidates around the country in this election cycle. Everytown for Gun Safety, the Bloomberg-created gun control group, announced Monday that it plans on spending $60-million in the 2020 elections in a bid to do to the United States as a whole what the group did to Virginia in 2019: give Democrats complete control of the executive and legislative branches of government.
      • WV Gov Joins Push To Annex VA’s 2A Sanctuary Counties. Gov. Justice pointed out that a number of West Virginia lawmakers have recently introduced resolutions inviting Virginia counties to “come on down,” and said he echoes that sentiment. “If you’re not truly happy where you are, we stand with open arms to take you from Virginia or anywhere you may be. We stand strongly for the Second Amendment and we stand strongly for the unborn. There are so many great things about West Virginia, and we’re on the verge of moving in a way that you can’t fathom.”
      • Were White Nationalists Really Planning To Attack The Virginia Gun Rights Rally? According To Police Records, Not Exactly (The Daily Caller)

8am A – INTERVIEW – ERICH PRATT – Senior Vice President of Gun Owners of America (GOA)

• TOPIC: Discuss the push to make Fairfax County a Second Amendment Sanctuary County.  He can recap the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday and discuss how the board reacted to the push for making it a 2A sanctuary Erich Pratt on Twitter: I will be speaking at the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting tomorrow at 4:30 pm in favor of making the county a 2A Sanctuary County! If you live here, please join me at Fairfax County Government Center, 12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax.

8am – B/C     San Francisco official in charge of cleaning up city’s filthy streets arrested (Fox News)  San Francisco Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru was arrested Monday alongside Nick Bovis, the owner of a popular sports bar in Fisherman’s Wharf, Lefty O-Doul’s. Sources told NBC Bay Area that Nuru was arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes for airport concession contracts. Both Nuru and Bovis were released on bond following their arrest. As the top official in charge of the $312 million city public works budget since 2012, Nuru was tasked with cleaning up San Francisco streets, which critics note remain cluttered with feces, trash and used needles amid a homelessness crisis. In the early 2000s, Nuru was accused by Public Works whistleblowers of misappropriating public funds and replacing city workers with employees from a nonprofit he previously led. Bovis, for his part, has a criminal past. The Chronicle learned he was arrested in 1993 and charged with second degree robbery and use of a firearm in commission of a felony. He was convicted of second degree robbery in 1996 and sentenced to five years in prison. Shortly after he took over the city’s iconic sports bar.

8am – D  INTERVIEW – INTERVIEW – ADAM KENNEDY – Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of White House Communications

TOPICS:

• PRESIDENT TO SIGN USMCA INTO LAW: Note from the White House: While the do nothing Democrats continue to focus on the sham impeachment of President Trump, the President is securing historic wins to improve the lives of American families and workers. On Wednesday, the President will sign USMCA into law. This 21st century agreement fundamentally rebalances our trade relationship with Mexico and Canada and create a more level playing field for American workers, farmers, ranchers and businesses.
• Recap President’s MidEast Peace Plan: Trump unveils Middle East peace plan with two-state solution, tunnel connecting West Bank and Gaza

8am – E Buttigieg’s Campaign Reportedly Barred White Staffers From Filling Out Internal Survey (Daily Caller) Pete Buttigieg’s struggles with minority voters has sapped morale at his campaign, according to a New York Times report, so much so that a campaign official circulated a survey earlier this month for minority campaign staffers inviting them to air grievances about their white colleagues. According to The Times, Buttigieg campaign national engagement coordinator Raven Hollins circulated the survey on Jan. 1 asking minority campaign staffers to describe negative experiences with white staff members. “Please only fill out this survey if you identify as a Person of color,” the survey reads, according to The Times. The responses, the survey said, “will be used to inform our white colleagues about privilege and microaggression.”