Byron York, Joe diGenova, and Baltimore Sun’s John Fritze joined WMAL on Monday!

Mornings on the Mall

Monday, April 11, 2016

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C CIA Director Brennan: No Waterboarding – Even If a President Orders It. The United States will never use harsh “enhanced interrogation” practices, including waterboarding again – even if a future president orders it, CIA Director John Brennan told NBC News. “I will not agree to carry out some of these tactics and techniques I’ve heard bandied about because this institution needs to endure,” Brennan said. “Absolutely, I would not agree to having any CIA officer carrying out waterboarding again,” he added when asked specifically about waterboarding.

5am – D         Obama vows no influence in Clinton email probe, defends terror fight. (Fox News) — President Obama repeatedly vowed there would be no political influence over the Justice Department’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state — in a wide-ranging interview with “Fox News Sunday” in which he also ardently defended his efforts to defeat the Islamic State and other terror groups amid criticism about his perceived indifference. “I guarantee that there is no political influence in any investigation conducted by the Justice Department, or the FBI, not just in this case, but in any case,” Obama said.” “Nobody is above the law. How many times do I have to say it?” His remarks came less than three months after White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest publicly downplayed a possible indictment for Clinton. Obama praised Clinton’s tenure running the State Department from 2009 to 2013 and said he still doesn’t think the emails to and from her private server breached national security.

5am – E         Danny Willett is the Masters champion. Golf Sensation Jordan Spieth Loses Masters After Horrible Meltdown; Danny Willett Wins. Willett is only the second Englishman to win the coveted Green Jacket. AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) – Englishman Danny Willett took advantage of a stunning meltdown by defending champion and runaway leader Jordan Spieth after the turn to win his first major title by three shots at the Masters on Sunday. Three strokes behind the pacesetting Spieth going into the final round at Augusta National, an ice-cool Willett closed with a five-under-par 67 to end a 17-year title drought by European golfers at the year’s opening major. Willett, a four-times winner on the European Tour competing in his second Masters, birdied three of the last six holes to cap off a bogey-free display in sun-bathed but cool conditions and post a five-under total of 283. He became only the second Englishman to win the coveted Green Jacket, following three-times champion Nick Faldo, and ended a barren title run by Europeans dating back to Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal’s second victory here in 1999.

6am – A/B/C President Obama: Libya aftermath ‘worst mistake’ of presidency. US President Barack Obama has said failing to prepare for the aftermath of the ousting of Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi was the worst mistake of his presidency. Mr Obama was answering a series of questions on the highs and lows of his time in office on Fox News. He said, however, that intervening in Libya had been “the right thing to do”. The US and other countries carried out strikes designed to protect civilians during the 2011 uprising. But after the former Libyan president was killed, Libya plunged into chaos with militias taking over and two rival parliaments and governments forming. So-called Islamic State (IS) gained a foothold, and Libya became a major departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe.

6am – D         INTERVIEW – BYRON YORK – Chief Political Correspondent for the Washington Examiner

• Sanders wins Wyoming caucuses, but Hillary Clinton comes close enough that not much change in delegate. Bernie Sanders won the Wyoming Democratic caucuses Saturday, providing his campaign with one more jolt of momentum before the race against Hillary Clinton heads east. Even so, he made no gains in Clinton’s delegate lead, as each earned seven delegates as a result. The victory is Sanders’ eighth win out of the last nine contests — including a contest that counted the votes of Democrats living abroad — and a big morale booster heading into the crucial New York primary on April 19. Sanders won 55.7% of the vote to Clinton’s 44.3%, giving each candidate seven delegates. That helps Clinton maintain her pledged delegate lead over Sanders, 1,304 to 1,075.
• Cruz Sweeps Colorado  COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado — Sen. Ted Cruz finished Colorado’s delegate fight the way he started it: With overwhelming victory. Donald Trump finished it the way he started as well: With a disorganized and frustrated campaign plagued by mistakes. Cruz took all 13 of the delegates up for grabs on Saturday to complete a clean sweep of the state. Delegates endorsed by his campaign swept all seven congressional district conventions held over the last week as well, which added another 21 delegates. Another three slots are reserved for state party officials.

6am – E         Maryland News:

• CLINTON IN MD: Hillary Clinton makes case for cities in Baltimore. Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton rallied in Baltimore Sunday. (Baltimore Sun) – Clinton says in Baltimore that Red Line should have been completed. Democratic presidential front runner Hillary Clinton used her first campaign visit in Maryland to argue Sunday for more federal investment in cities, a general election message in a blue state that is beginning to receive an atypical level of attention from presidential candidates from both parties. Speaking in Baltimore just more than two weeks before the state’s primary, the former secretary of state was joined by several local elected officials. She picked up the endorsement of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the last Democratic member of the state’s congressional delegation to back her.
• Maryland Politics: 9 things to watch in the final day of Maryland’s legislative session. Maryland lawmakers are scrambling to send bills to Gov. Larry Hogan before the required end of the 90-day legislative session at midnight. Negotiations are still underway between the Senate and House of Delegates on big-ticket bills from drunk driving penalties to police reform to tax relief. Other bills, such as criminal-justice reform, are just awaiting final votes. Tax relief: Whose taxes are cut? 2) Drunk driving: New snag for interlock ignition bill 3) Underage drinking: who should be punished? 4) Police reform: Will civilians oversee all officers? 5) Criminal justice reform: Key vote on compromise bill 6) Likely to fail: Redistricting bill, paid sick leave, fantasy sports 7) Opiod crisis: database for doctors and pharmacists.

 

7am – A         INTERVIEW – JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst

• Obama vows no influence in Clinton email probe
• State Dept. hands over Benghazi records. The State Department has handed over more than 1,100 records to a House committee investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, the committee said Friday.
• Obama hands over ‘Fast and Furious’ docs after court rejects executive privilege. The Obama administration on Friday handed House Republicans reams of documents about the controversial “Fast and Furious” gunrunning operation even as lawmakers appealed their case to seek additional records. After a long court case, the Department of Justice (DOJ) complied with a federal district judge’s order that rejected the administration’s assertion of executive privilege over documents describing the botched operation.    Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the Oversight Committee, called the records “critical” to his panel’s work.

7am – B         Asia News:

• John Kerry’s historic visit Hiroshima raises speculation Obama may visit shrine. John Kerry on Monday became the first U.S. secretary of state to pay his respects at Hiroshima’s memorial to victims of the 1945 U.S. nuclear attack, raising speculation that U.S. President Barack Obama might visit in May. Accompanied by foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies, Kerry toured the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and Museum, whose haunting displays include photographs of badly burned victims, the tattered and stained clothes they wore and statues depicting them with flesh melting from their limbs. The ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States then laid wreaths at a cenotaph to the victims of the Aug. 6, 1945 bombing, which reduced the city to ashes and killed some 140,000 people by the end of that year.
• U.S. Navy officer charged with spying, possibly for China, Taiwan. A U.S. Navy officer with access to sensitive U.S. intelligence faces espionage charges over accusations he passed state secrets, possibly to China and Taiwan, a U.S. official told Reuters on Sunday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin, who was born in Taiwan and later became a naturalized U.S. citizen, according a Navy profile article written about him in 2008. A redacted Navy charge sheet said the suspect was assigned to the headquarters for the Navy’s Patrol and Reconnaissance Group, which oversees intelligence collection activities. The charge sheet redacted out the name of the suspect and the Navy declined to provide details on his identity. It accused him twice of communicating secret information and three times of attempting to do so to a representative of a foreign government “with intent or reason to believe it would be used to the advantage of a foreign nation.” The document did not identify what foreign country or countries were involved. The U.S. official said both China and Taiwan were possible but stressed the investigation was still going on.
• High-ranking North Korean intelligence officer defected to South. A senior North Korean military official in charge of conducting spy operations in foreign countries defected to South Korea last year, Seoul has confirmed. The man, whose name has been withheld, was a senior colonel in the Reconnaissance General Bureau tasked with directing intelligence missions against Seoul. “He is believed to have stated details about the bureau’s operations against South Korea to authorities here,” a source familiar with North Korean affairs told the Yonhap news agency. The defection of a high-level military official from North Korea is a major coup for Seoul at a time of increased military tensions in the Korean peninsula.
• North Korea ‘tests long-range missile engine.’ North Korea says it has successfully tested an engine designed for an intercontinental ballistic missile. The new type of engine would “guarantee” the ability to launch a nuclear strike on the US mainland, the KCNA news agency said. The test was conducted at the country’s long-range missile launch site near its west coast. It is the latest in a series of tests and launches carried out by the isolated nation. The United States issued a statement criticising North Korea’s action.

7am – C         Montgomery County Police asking for public’s help to find missing season… SPRING!  (Fox5) — MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. – Montgomery County Police are asking for the public’s help finding a critically-missing season. According to police, Spring was last seen leaving Maryland last year as Summer arrived. Police say Spring had well-known plans to return to Maryland this time this year, but has not yet been seen. Spring is described as the time of year between Winter and Summer. She sometimes goes by the name “Springtime” or Vernal Season and is known to bring warmer temperatures with occasional April showers to help bring May flowers. Anyone with information about Spring’s whereabouts is asked to immediately call the Montgomery County Police Department.

7am – D/E     NORTH CAROLINA LGBT FIGHT LIKE THE 1960s Civil Rights Fight?

8am – A/B/C Kate Hudson Would Rather Do Anything Than Spend Time With Her Children. The 36-year-old actress is on the cover of the May issue of InStyle magazine, and in a personal essay she wrote for them, she discussed the pitfalls of being a parent.  “Some days I feel like I should win best mom of the day award, and some days I find myself doing strange things that don’t have any real purpose, in faraway corners in my house, and I realize I am literally and deliberately hiding from my children,” Hudson wrote. Hudson, who has a two sons that are 4 and 12, said she thinks of herself as a “wild mom.” “I was really young, like 23, when I had Ryder,” she said. “So, our relationship has always been [a little unusual]. I mean, we’re close, and I am his mom. I’m big on manners. I’m big on politeness. I’m big on gratitude. But I’m a bit of a wild mom.” She said there are times when she would rather watch reality TV than help them do their homework. “I help my kids with their homework,” she continued. “But I also get bored doing it. I will sit and listen to my children pontificate and discuss their ideas till the day is long because it warms my heart, but I really don’t want to do math! I’m gonna say it: I’d prefer to watch ‘The Bachelor’ rather than do fractions and divisions.”

8am – D         INTERVIEW — JOHN FRITZE (FRITZeee) – reporter, The Baltimore Sun

• BIO: John Fritze has written about local, state and national politics for more than 15 years — from Baltimore’s city hall to the White House – and now covers Washington for The Baltimore Sun.
• HILLARY IN MD: Hillary Clinton makes case for cities in Baltimore

8am – E         Hungry burglar in D.C. fires up Five Guys grill. (Washington Post) —Suspected Five Guys burglar fires up grill, cooks himself a meal. An unidentified man snuck inside a shuttered Five Guys in Columbia Heights in the middle of the night on March 18 and made himself a meal before stealing a bottle of water and leaving the premises. D.C. police are investigating the incident. (D.C. Metropolitan Police Department) D.C. police on Sunday said they are on the lookout for a man in a dapper hat who knows how to grill. The “person of interest” is seen strolling through a closed Five Guys last month flipping what appear in grainy security footage to be hamburger patties, though a police spokesman said he could not confirm the nature of the food item being lovingly tended by the suspect. “He cooked food. I don’t know if he made a hamburger or not,” according to officer Sean Hickman. Sometime between 3:10 a.m. and 5:05 a.m. on March 18, the man pokes around a Coke machine at the burger shop on Irving Street in Columbia Heights, stops at the sink and cranks on the grill, the video shows. He also seems to throw on a couple buns while talking on his cell.