Mornings on the Mall

Friday, February 21, 2020

Hosts: Vince Coglianese and guest host Beverly Hallberg – Fellow, Independent Women’s Forum (IWF)

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

Gordon Chang, MD Del. Nic Kipke, ESPN 630’s Carol Maloney and Fox’s Bret Baier joined WMAL on Friday!

5am – A/B/C Russia 2.0: Intel officials warn Russia wants to interfere in 2020 election to help Trump get reelected, reports say. (Fox News) — Intelligence officials have warned lawmakers that Russia wants to interfere in the 2020 election to help President Trump get reelected, according to multiple reports on Thursday. The warning was first reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post with the use of anonymous sources. In a classified briefing held on Feb. 13, Shelby Pierson, the top election-security official under then- acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, told members of the House Intelligence Committee and other national security officials about Russia’s preference for Trump and the suspicion that they would try to act on the president’s behalf. U.S. intelligence agencies say Russia interfered in the 2016 election through social media campaigns and stealing and distributing emails from Democratic accounts. Russia, they have said, was trying to boost Trump’s campaign and cause chaos in the U.S. elections. Special counsel Robert Mueller concluded after a lengthy investigation that Russian interference was “sweeping and systematic,” but he did not find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign.” The new warning would revive old suspicions (and some critics say Democratic conspiracy theories) of collusion between Trump and Russia. According to reports, the news infuriated Trump, who complained that Democrats would use the information against him, and he then berated Maguire. This week, the president announced he was replacing Maguire as acting DNI with Richard Grenell, the current ambassador to Germany.

5am – D         TRUMP’S TRIP TO INDIA NEXT WEEK: U.S. President Donald Trump will be accorded the biggest public reception given to any foreign leader in years during his visit to India.  India set to dazzle Trump with pomp and circumstance as trade rows fester. NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will be accorded the biggest public reception given to any foreign leader in years during his visit to India beginning on Monday, officials say, one that could help paper over the two countries’ growing friction over trade. Close political and security partners, India and the United States have hit each other with retaliatory tariffs. Over the past month they have engaged in intense negotiations to produce a mini trade deal, but officials say it remains elusive.  The two sides have been arguing over U.S. demands for access to India’s huge poultry and dairy markets, Indian price controls on medical devices such as stents and stringent local data storage rules that U.S. companies say will raise the costs of doing business.     Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has sought restoration of trade concessions that Trump withdrew in 2019 and greater access to U.S. markets for its pharmaceutical and farm products. Above all, it says that Trump should not treat India on par with China, whose economy is five times larger.   At an event in Las Vegas overnight Trump gave mixed messages about prospects for a trade deal with Modi.  “We’re going to India and we may make a tremendous deal there. Maybe we’ll slow it down, we’ll do it after the election,” he said.     Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to gather in Modi’s political hometown of Ahmedabad to greet Trump for a road show leading to a rally in a cricket stadium with a capacity of over 100,000.     On stage, both leaders will address a bigger version of the “Howdy Modi” rally that they jointly appeared at in Houston to a jubilant crowd of 50,000 Indian Americans last year, where Trump likened Modi to Elvis Presley for his crowd-pulling power.       “From the moment of their arrival at the airport a little before noon on 24th February, the delegates will be treated to a display of famed Indian hospitality and India’s Unity in Diversity,” said Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla.

5am – E         Warren won’t disavow new super PAC, after years decrying them.  (Fox News) – LAS VEGAS – Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren is reversing her position on opposing support from outside groups such as super PACs. The progressive senator from Massachusetts had long spoken out against such political action committees — but as she attempts to mount a comeback for the nomination after disappointing third- and fourth-places finishes in the Iowa caucuses and last week’s primary in neighboring New Hampshire, respectively, she’s changing her stance. Speaking to reporters on Thursday after a stop at a campaign field office in North Las Vegas ahead of Saturday’s Nevada caucuses, Warren said: “If all the candidates want to get rid of super PACs, count me in, I’ll lead the charge. But that’s how it has to be. It can’t be the case that a bunch of people keep them and one or two don’t.”

6am – A         Coronavirus-infected Americans flown home against CDC’s advice. (Washington Post) – In the wee hours of a rainy Monday, more than a dozen buses sat on the tarmac at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Inside, 328 weary Americans wearing surgical masks and gloves waited anxiously to fly home after weeks in quarantine aboard the Diamond Princess, the luxury liner where the novel coronavirus had ­exploded into a shipwide epidemic. But as the buses idled, U.S. officials wrestled with troubling news.  New test results showed that 14 passengers were infected with the virus. The U.S. State Department had promised that no one with the infection would be allowed to board the planes. A decision had to be made. Let them all fly? Or leave them behind in Japanese hospitals? In Washington, where it was still Sunday afternoon, a fierce debate broke out: The State Department and a top Trump administration health official wanted to forge ahead. The infected passengers had no symptoms and could be segregated on the plane in a plastic-lined enclosure. But officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention disagreed, contending they could still spread the virus. The CDC believed the 14 should not be flown back with uninfected passengers. “It was like the worst nightmare,” said a senior U.S. official involved in the decision, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. “Quite frankly, the alternative could have been pulling grandma out in the pouring rain, and that would have been bad, too.” The State Department won the argument. But unhappy CDC officials demanded to be left out of the news release that explained that infected people were being flown back to the United States — a move that would nearly double the number of known coronavirus cases in this country. The tarmac decision was a pivotal moment for U.S. officials improvising their response to a crisis with few precedents and extraordinarily high stakes. Efforts to prevent the new pathogen from spreading have revealed the limits of the world’s readiness for an unprecedented public health emergency. In the worst-case scenario, covid-19, a flulike respiratory infection, could become a full-blown global pandemic. Navigating the crisis has required delicate medical and political judgments. The decision to evacuate the Americans from the Diamond Princess came only after infections on the cruise ship spiked and passengers revealed their grim living conditions.

6am – B/C     D.C. issues record $1 billion in traffic and parking tickets, AAA calls it ‘predatory.’ WASHINGTON (WJLA/ABC7) – D.C. has long been considered one of the most onerous places in the country for traffic fines, seeing a steady climb year to year in tickets issued and revenue generated. But recently the District broke into stunning new territory, issuing more than $1 billion in tickets in just three years. Townsend closely monitors the District’s ticketing behavior. He says this is a money-making operation that can’t prove these high fines have made anyone safer. In fact, he says they haven’t found any evidence that shows the amount of the fine modifies a motorist’s behavior. We asked the District to show us its evidence that D.C.’s cameras, and the high fines, translate to fewer accidents, fewer injuries and fewer deaths. The District told us it hasn’t done any studies. Yet the fines keep increasing, generating more money than alcohol, cigarette, motor vehicle, fuel and estate taxes and all revenue from licenses and permits, and personal property taxes combined. Nearly three million motorists were on the receiving end of traffic and parking citations last year, totaling $375 million. In a study comparing the nation’s 25 largest metro areas, D.C. had the highest traffic fines per capita by a long shot at $170 per person, the next closest, Chicago, was $101.

6am – D         Md. Lawmakers Consider Adding Sales Tax For Services Like Daycare, Lawn Mowing. ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) — A sweeping tax proposal in Maryland has people sitting up and taking notice. It is a sales tax on services, something Maryland doesn’t do now, but supporters say would bring in the hundreds of millions of dollars necessary to fund the new recommendations for improving public schools. House Majority Leader Eric Luedtke said it’s time to look at the sales tax structure. “Part of the issue is that, over time, our economy has become more services-based,” Luedtke said. “So the sales tax has been degraded over time. People are buying fewer things and more services.” Governor Larry Hogan said he predicted this action, and it’s is why he opposes the Kirwan Funding recommendations. “I specifically said they are going to raise the sales tax, and they swore they would not raise the sales tax, ” Hogan said. He ticked off a list of services to be taxed. “On daycare, on barbers, on dog walkers, on landscaping, on somebody that cuts your grass,” Hogan said. While the bill expands the sales tax to cover services, it lowers the tax from 6 percent to 5 percent.

6am – E/F      ROGER STONE SENTENCED:

• Roger Stone sentenced to 40 months for witness intimidation, lying to Congress
• Trump says he won’t pardon Roger Stone — for now. Las Vegas (CNN)President Donald Trump said Thursday he won’t act to grant clemency to his friend and former associate Roger Stone right now, saying he wants the process to play out before making a decision. “I’m not going to do anything in terms of the great powers bestowed upon a president of the United States, I want the process play out, I think that’s the best thing to do,” Trump said in Las Vegas. “Because I’d love to see Roger exonerated and I’d love to see it happen because I personally think he was treated very unfairly.” The President didn’t rule out an eventual pardon or commutation, but said the process should play out first.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – GORDON CHANG – author of “Coming Collapse of China” @GordonGChang – discussed China’s handling of Coronavirus and its impact on the U.S.

• Washington Post: Confusion mounts over coronavirus cases in China as authorities change counting method for third time in eight days. Public health officials said they had been ordered to change how they count cases for the third time in eight days — and the second time in 24 hours. In remarks to the state news agency Xinhua, a Hubei Health Commission official suggested that agencies were not being transparent and accurate with their reported case numbers at a time when statistics have fluctuated wildly and inconsistencies have emerged in Chinese official data.
• Coronavirus-infected Americans flown home against CDC’s advice.  The 14 Americans who were infected with coronavirus were flown home from Diamond Princess this week to U.S. against the advice of CDC. Passengers on the plane were not informed.

7am – B/C     GRENELL UPDATE:

• CATHERINE HERRIDGE: #BREAKING Source close to matter tells @CBSNews NSC staffer Kash Patel tapped to serve as senior adviser to Amb. Rick Grenell, acting Intel chief (DNI.) Source said mandate is to “#cleanhouse including “top to bottom” review DNI operations that expanded dramatically since 2005.
• GRENELL’S CREDENTIALS QUESTIONED:  WASHINGTON POST headline: Trump puts an unqualified loyalist in charge of national intelligence
• Trump considering Doug Collins as nominee for director of national intelligence.  President Trump on Thursday said he is considering Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) to serve as director of national intelligence. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling to Nevada from a Colorado campaign rally that Collins is among the candidates in the running to be nominated to fill the position that has not had a permanent occupant since Dan Coats resigned last August.
• Russia 2.0: Intel officials warn Russia wants to interfere in 2020 election to help Trump get reelected, reports say. (Fox News) — Intelligence officials have warned lawmakers that Russia wants to interfere in the 2020 election to help President Trump get reelected, according to multiple reports on Thursday. The warning was first reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post with the use of anonymous sources. In a classified briefing held on Feb. 13, Shelby Pierson, the top election-security official under then- acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, told members of the House Intelligence Committee and other national security officials about Russia’s preference for Trump and the suspicion that they would try to act on the president’s behalf. U.S. intelligence agencies say Russia interfered in the 2016 election through social media campaigns and stealing and distributing emails from Democratic accounts. Russia, they have said, was trying to boost Trump’s campaign and cause chaos in the U.S. elections.

7am – D         INTERVIEW – MD DELEGATE NIC KIPKE – Minority Leader in the Maryland House of Delegates (Republican) – discussed the Democrats proposing an Annapolis the largest tax increase in Maryland.

• “The People of Maryland Are Not Going to Stand For That”: Governor Hogan on the Proposed Largest Tax Increase In State History
• Lawmakers Consider Adding Sales Tax For Services Like Daycare, Lawn Mowing. ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) — A sweeping tax proposal in Maryland has people sitting up and taking notice. It is a sales tax on services, something Maryland doesn’t do now, but supporters say would bring in the hundreds of millions of dollars necessary to fund the new recommendations for improving public schools. House Majority Leader Eric Luedtke said it’s time to look at the sales tax structure.

7am – E         Bloomberg quietly plotting brokered convention strategy.  (Politico) — Mike Bloomberg is privately lobbying Democratic Party officials and donors allied with his moderate opponents to flip their allegiance to him — and block Bernie Sanders — in the event of a brokered national convention. The effort, largely executed by Bloomberg’s senior state-level advisers in recent weeks, attempts to prime Bloomberg for a second-ballot contest at the Democratic National Convention in July by poaching supporters of Joe Biden and other moderate Democrats, according to two Democratic strategists familiar with the talks and unaffiliated with Bloomberg.

8am – A         INTERVIEW   CAROL MALONEY – host of The Carol Maloney Show on ESPN 630 (in studio) – discussed the Nats spring training (Carol was just down there), she also discussed the Nats playing the Astros this weekend… plus some changes at the Redskins.

• NATS:
  • SPRING TRAINING NATS GAME TO PAY ATTENTION TO: Feb. 22 NATS @ Astros: (Fox Sports) — On Saturday, the Washington Nationals will take the field for a game for the first time since celebrating its World Series victory on Oct. 30.  The reigning World Series champions will play 31 spring training games over the next month as the team tries to decide which 26 players will begin this season’s title defense with the big league club.  A few months ago, this spring training game would have been notable for the mere fact that it was a World Series rematch against two teams that share a spring training facility. Oh, how things have changed. This game suddenly comes with even more storylines than anyone could have imagined.  Houston will make its first spring training appearance since the sign-stealing scandal that rocked Major League Baseball. The Astros will get its first game action of being the villain, whether that’s treatment from fans or treatment from their peers around the league. All of the narratives dilutes the fact that the World Series champions are returning to the field, and that Max Scherzer is scheduled to be on the mound for the Nationals.  This game starts at 6:05 p.m. and will be broadcasted on MASN. If there was ever a spring training game that was a “can’t-miss game,” this feels like one.
  • Dusty’s back! Baker returns after 2 seasons away from the game. Dusty Baker is back in Major League Baseball two seasons after the Nationals decided not to keep him. (WUSA9) WASHINGTON — Dusty Baker walked into a proverbial hornet’s nest when he became the Astros manager. Baker took over an Astros team that’s now dealing with the backlash of the 2017 sign-stealing scandal. It’s Dusty Baker’s first job since the Nationals decided not to bring back Baker after the 2017 season that saw Washington lose to the Cubs in the Division Series in five games.
• REDSKINS:
  • Redskins release Jordan Reed – The Washington Redskins announced they have released veteran tight end Jordan Reed after seven seasons with the team. ASHBURN, Va. (WJLA) — The former Pro-Bowl tight end Jordan Reed will continue his career elsewhere. The Redskins announced Thursday afternoon they have released their six-year veteran after missing the entire 2019 season with a concussion.
  • Redskins exercise ’20 option for RB Adrian Peterson. (ESPN) – ASHBURN, Va. — Over the past two seasons, running back Adrian Peterson remained one of the most durable and productive players for the Washington Redskins, and the team announced Wednesday that it had exercised the option year of his contract for 2020, a move that was widely expected. Peterson had signed a two-year deal with the team option last offseason. He will receive a $2.25 million base salary with a roster bonus of $109,375. He carries a $3.1 million salary-cap hit. The Redskins had communicated to Peterson that they planned to pick up the option, according to a source, but didn’t have to make it official until no later than 22 days before the start of the league year on March 18.
  • Trent Williams reportedly to return to the Redskins after team cleans house. Trent Williams sat out during the Washington Redskins’ 2019 campaign amid a feud with the team’s medical staff and Bruce Allen. With those figures now gone, the latest rumors say he’ll return to the team. Last season, the Washington Redskins suffered a big offseason loss when Trent Williams announced that he would be holding out in late June. While some expected that Williams’ holdout was related to money, it was actually related to a medical issue that had been misdiagnosed by the Redskins staff. After suffering a health scare, Williams vowed never to play for the Redskins again and demanded a trade. Bruce Allen wouldn’t budge and reportedly didn’t even dangle Williams as a trade asset until the 11th hour of the NFL’s pre-trade deadline period. That led to more tension and Williams didn’t play at all in 2020 as a result.

 8am – B/C     BERNIE BROS:

• Steve Scalise Responds To Keith Ellison’s Claim That Bernie Sanders’ Supporters Aren’t Violent. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) ripped a tweet from Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) defending the behavior of Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) supporters and asking for examples of misconduct, with Scalise alluding to how he was shot by a Sanders supporter in 2017. “I have never seen @BernieSanders supporters being unusually mean or rude,” Ellison, a former Democratic congressman and deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, tweeted following the latest Democratic presidential debate Wednesday night. “Can someone send me an example of a ‘Bernie Bro’ being bad. Also, are we holding all candidates responsible for the behavior of some of their supporters? Waiting to hear,” added Ellison, who was an early endorser of Sanders. “I can think of an example,” Scalise responded in a tweet on Thursday.
• Keith Ellison @keithellison I have never seen  @BernieSanders supporters being unusually mean or rude. Can someone send me an example of a “Bernie Bro” being bad. Also, are we holding all candidates responsible for the behavior of some of their supporters? Waiting to hear.
• Steve Scalise @SteveScalise 15h I can think of an example.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – BRET BAIER  – Anchor of “Special Report” on Fox News Channel weekdays at 6 pm and author of the latest book “Three Days at the Brink: FDR’s Daring Gamble to Win World War II”

• 2020 Nevada Democratic caucuses: The 2020 Nevada Democratic caucuses will take place in Nevada, United States, on Saturday February 22, 2020, as the third nominating contest in the Democratic Party presidential primaries for the 2020 election, following the New Hampshire primary the week before. Nevada Democrats are hoping their caucuses avoid similar problems that plagued Iowa earlier this month.
• ROGER STONE SENTENCED: Roger Stone sentenced to 40 months for witness intimidation, lying to Congress
• Trump says he won’t pardon Roger Stone — for now. Las Vegas (CNN)President Donald Trump said Thursday he won’t act to grant clemency to his friend and former associate Roger Stone right now, saying he wants the process to play out before making a decision. “I’m not going to do anything in terms of the great powers bestowed upon a president of the United States, I want the process play out, I think that’s the best thing to do,” Trump said in Las Vegas. “Because I’d love to see Roger exonerated and I’d love to see it happen because I personally think he was treated very unfairly.” The President didn’t rule out an eventual pardon or commutation, but said the process should play out first.
• AMB RIC GRENELL TO BE ACTING INTEL CHIEF (DNI): CATHERINE HERRIDGE: #BREAKING Source close to matter tells @CBSNews NSC staffer Kash Patel tapped to serve as senior adviser to Amb. Rick Grenell, acting Intel chief (DNI.) Source said mandate is to “#cleanhouse including “top to bottom” review DNI operations that expanded dramatically since 2005.
• DOUG COLLINS: Trump considering Doug Collins as nominee for director of national intelligence. (The Hill) –  President Trump on Thursday said he is considering Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) to serve as director of national intelligence. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling to Nevada from a Colorado campaign rally that Collins is among the candidates in the running to be nominated to fill the position that has not had a permanent occupant since Dan Coats resigned last August.
• BREAKING NEWS: Rep. Doug Collins, who is running for Georgia Senate seat, says he’s not interested in cabinet intel job after Trump floats his name. President Trump said late Thursday that he is considering Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., for the permanent Director of National Intelligence job, a move that could resolve a mini-crisis in the GOP surrounding Collins’ challenge against incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., in Georgia’s upcoming special election.

 8am – E         DAILY MAIL: Ilhan Omar DID marry her brother and said she would ‘do what she had to do to get him “papers” to keep him in U.S.’, reveals Somali community leader.  ‘Squad’ congresswoman Ilhan Omar told friends years ago that the man who went on to become her second husband was in fact her brother, DailyMail.com can confirm.  And now for the first time one of those friends has come forward to reveal exactly how Omar and Ahmed Elmi scandalized the Somali community in Minneapolis.  Abdihakim Osman is the first person to go on record to speak of how Omar said she wanted to get her brother papers so he could stay in the United States, at a time when she was married to her first husband Ahmed Hirsi.     But hardly anyone realized that meant marrying him.     ‘No one knew there had been a wedding until the media turned up the marriage certificate years later,’ Osman, 40, exclusively told DailyMail.com.  Osman’s revelations are sure to renew calls for an investigation into the Minnesota freshman representative who has repeatedly refused to answer questions on her marriage to Elmi. She originally said the idea that the spouses were also siblings were ‘baseless, absurd rumors’, accusing journalists of Islamophobia, but has since stayed quiet.

• ILHAN OMAR: Paying people to generate fake new stories in order to delegitimize me and those I represent isn’t a good look. Desperation is a sad mobilizing tool.