Mornings on the Mall 10.12.16

Joe Concha, KT McFarland and David Martosko joined WMAL on Wednesday morning!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C             WIKILEAKS NEWS:

• Clinton camp appeared to have contacts with DOJ on email case. An official within Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign appeared to have discussions with sources inside the Department of Justice (DOJ) about ongoing open records lawsuits regarding the former secretary of State’s emails, according to an email released on Tuesday. In an email from May 2015, Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said that “DOJ folks” had “inform[ed]” him about an upcoming status conference in one of the lawsuits regarding Clinton’s private email setup. The information about an upcoming court event would have been public knowledge and open for all to attend. And it’s unclear whether the people Fallon spoke to at the Justice Department were officials who regularly communicate with the public. However, the fact that Fallon — a former spokesman with the Justice Department — remained in contact with anyone from the department is likely to renew allegations that the Obama administration maintained an especially cozy relationship with Clinton’s presidential campaign.
• Emails show State Dept. helped Clinton Foundation donors get contracts for 2010 Haiti quake. International efforts to help Haiti following the 2010 earthquake have come under scrutiny recently, specifically those involving the Clinton Foundation. By combining aid groups and the private sector, the foundation may have given its friends special treatment. Emails released by ABC News show that the State Department assisted friends of the Clintons in facilitating government contracts and aid groups. Friends of Bill Clinton were flagged for special treatment by the State Department, while others who offered aid were redirected to a general government website.
• WIKILEAKS: Clinton Allies Make Fun Of Rupert Murdoch For Being A Devout Catholic Soon to be former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton campaign staffers took part in a 2011 email chain attacking News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch and Wall Street Journal Managing Editor Robert Thompson for raising his kids Catholic. “Ken Auletta’s latest piece on Murdoch in the New Yorker starts off with the aside that both Murdoch and Robert Thompson, managing editor of the WSJ, are raising their kids Catholic,” John Halpin, a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress, wrote in a 2011 email to John Podesta and Jennifer Palmieri, according to hacked emails published by WikiLeaks. “Friggin’ Murdoch baptized his kids in Jordan where John the Baptist baptized Jesus,” Halpin wrote. “Many of the most powerful elements of the conservative movement are all Catholic (many converts) from the SC and think tanks to the media and social groups.” “It’s an amazing bastardization of the faith,” he wrote. “They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy.”
• WIKILEAKS: John Harwood Of NYT And CNBC Advises Clinton Campaign, Gloats About Provoking Trump At Debate. (Daily Caller) —  The latest batch of emails from the account of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta show New York Times reporter and CNBC anchor John Harwood giving the Clinton campaign tips about other candidates and bragging about feeling vindicated by provoking Donald Trump as a debate moderator. In a December 2015 email to Podesta, Harwood bragged about his much-criticized debate performance in which he asked Trump “Let’s be honest, is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign?” Harwood titled the email “I imagine…” and continued the sentence in the body of the email, writing, “…that Obama feels some (sad) vindication at this demonstration of his years-long point about the opposition party veering off the rails.” “I certainly am feeling that way with respect to how I questioned Trump at our debate,” Harwood continued.
• WIKILEAKS: Starbucks CEO Advising Clinton Campaign About Hillarys ‘Brand’ Newly leaked emails reveal Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz advising the Clinton campaign about how best to market Hillary Clinton’s “brand” to voters generally, and to millennial voters in particular. Schultz reached out to longtime Clinton aide Cheryl Mills in July 2015 to give his advice on the state of the campaign. He would not publicly endorse Clinton for another two months. Mills forwarded Schultz’s email to an unknown number of campaign staffers, including Clinton campaign manager John Podesta. The email was one of thousands from Podesta’s personal account published by Wikileaks on Friday and Monday. In a reply to Mills’ email, Clinton aide Huma Abedin noted that the Starbucks CEO “has so much regular contact with [Hillary].” In the email, Schultz, whose own name was briefly floated as a possible third party presidential candidate, expressed dismay that Hillary’s campaign “feels stale” and “feels ‘yesterday.’” He also called it “concerning that the media is not on [Hillary’s] side” at that point in the campaign. (Polling has consistently shown that voters believe the opposite — that the media is biased against Trump and helping Clinton.) “From the outside looking in, I see an old style start to the campaign that feels stale with very few signs of the kind of freshness and transparency that the American people (especially millennials) will need to trust and ultimately elect HRC as President,” Schultz wrote. “It’s also becoming very apparent and concerning that the media is not on her side. This will get only worse and not bode well for her as time goes on.
• REVEALED: Donna Brazile Shared CNN Town Hall Questions With Clinton Camp
• WikiLeaks exposes media bias, Clinton team cheering Stephanopoulos’ use of talking points
• New York Times Gave Hillary Veto Power

5am – D/E         Trump Says He’s Now Been Unshackled.

6am – A/B/C TEACHERS TRYING TO BE FRIENDS WITH STUDENTS:

• Virginia teacher, student arrested in beer run gone wrong. Alcohol, narcotics found at the teacher’s home. (AP) — A teacher and student at a Fairfax County high school have been arrested after police say they teamed up to steal a case of beer. Police say that 30-year-old Fabiana Ciammaichella, a Spanish teacher at South Lakes High School in Reston, and an 18-year-old male sophomore at the school have both been charged with drug, alcohol and larceny offenses. According to Fairfax County Police, on Monday night Ciammaichella was caught on surveillance video distracting a cashier at a gas station in the Reston area while the student steals the case of beer.
• Pr. George’s Co. teacher charged with soliciting, touching student. WASHINGTON — A Prince George’s County high school teacher has been arrested after allegedly sending explicit texts to, and inappropriately touching, one of his students. The Prince George’s County police said that Doney Olivieri, 66, of D.C., a teacher at DuVal High School, was arrested Monday. He’s been charged with sexual solicitation, fourth-degree sexual offense and second-degree-assault. The charging documents say that the police spoke on Saturday with a 16-year-old student, who said that Olivieri, his foreign-language teacher, had sexually assaulted him. The student said that his classmate, who is 17, told him Olivieri had asked for the student’s number last June. The classmate gave Olivieri his own number, the documents say, and from June to September, Olivieri allegedly sent explicit texts requesting sex to the classmate, thinking he was the 16-year-old. Olivieri is also accused of grabbing the student’s chest and asking for a kiss in a classroom last month. The police said Olivieri has admitted to sending the texts.

6am – D         Critter News:

• ‘Beardog’ discovery offers clues to how canines, other animals evolved. For decades a fossilized carnivore jawbone sat largely unnoticed in a drawer at Chicago’s Field Museum. Now the scientist who grew curious when he opened that drawer has established with a colleague that the fossil belonged to an early, long-extinct relative of dogs, foxes and weasels known as a beardog. The Field Museum fossil and another at the University of Texas each represent a new genus, the taxonomic rank above species. The researchers believe these beardogs, which lived up to 40 million years ago, may eventually tell the world more about the evolution of dogs and other carnivores and how animals adapt to changes in climate.
• What ‘comfort animals’ should be allowed on flights? Monkeys and turkeys and pigs (on flights), oh my! The Department of Transportation has allowed comfort animals in plane cabins since the 1990’s, but that may soon change. About 100,000 animals ride in plane cabins each year, and some airlines feel people are taking advantage of the opportunity to bring along a “comfort animal,” taking the phrase “when pigs fly” too literally. In the past, monkeys, turkeys, and pigs have all been spotted. From Wednesday to Friday, the DOT is meeting to see if there should be a limit on what kinds of animals would be allowed in a plane cabin.  Federal officials say some travelers are trying to avoid paying fees and abusing the “comfort animal” term.

6am – E         Metro News:

• DC Council OKs resolution urging return to Metro late-night service. WASHINGTON — In a unanimous decision, the D.C. Council approved an emergency resolution urging Metro’s board to restore late-night hours. Council member Jack Evans, who is also the chairman of the Metro board, introduced the resolution after months of backlash against the proposal by Metro’s Paul Wiedefeld to permanently cut late-night service in order to give Metro crews more time to do regular maintenance work. Evans said the resolution is only a sense of the Council and is not binding. But the measure sends a signal “that the District of Columbia wants the late night hours,” he said.
• Metro hints at fare increases to close budget gap. As Metro officials weigh options to close a looming budget gap, it’s looking increasingly likely that they will move to raise fares. In documents released Tuesday to prep the board for upcoming budget negotiations, Metro staff say bus fares could be raised from $1.75 to $2 without a significant impact on ridership. The presentation on potential budget scenarios also suggests that Metro is considering a slight increase to rail prices — a 7-cent-per-mile increase for shorter trips, and a 10-cent-per-mile increase for trips 6 miles and over. In that scenario,  the maximum fare that riders would pay during peak periods would go from $5.90 to $6.

• Metro riders faced morning of delays on four rail lines.

7am – A         INTERVIEW — JOE CONCHA – The Hill’s Media Reporter

• Latest on the WikiLeaks emails and what they reveal about Hillary’s relationship with the media:
• WikiLeaks releases third batch of Podesta emails. WikiLeaks on Tuesday released 1,000 new emails that it claims were taken from the account of a longtime adviser to the Clinton family, in the third release of its kind over the last week. The publication of the 1,190 emails on Tuesday morning appears to be part of a strategic campaign to slowly release messages allegedly from John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman and a former White House chief of staff during Bill Clinton’s presidency.
• WIKILEAKS: Clinton Allies Make Fun Of Rupert Murdoch For Being A Devout Catholic
• WIKILEAKS: John Harwood Of NYT And CNBC Advises Clinton Campaign, Gloats About Provoking Trump At Debate
• REVEALED: Donna Brazile Shared CNN Town Hall Questions With Clinton Camp
• WikiLeaks exposes media bias, Clinton team cheering Stephanopoulos’ use of talking points
• New York Times Gave Hillary Veto Power
  

7am – B         2016 News:

• Clinton turns to Al Gore and climate change to excite millennials in Florida. MIAMI — Retired Democratic warhorse Al Gore was trotted out at a rally here Tuesday with Hillary Clinton to highlight an issue he has long championed — combating climate change — and to remind voters how important voting can be to the outcome of close elections. Gore, who lost the 2000 presidential race following an aborted recount here in Florida, vouched for Clinton’s credentials on increasing the use of solar power and other renewable energy and said voters face a stark choice in the election next month against embattled Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. “Her opponent, based on the ideas that he has presented, would take us toward a climate catastrophe,” said Gore, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on putting climate change on the world’s political agenda. Clinton sees new opportunities to woo Republicans in Trump’s troubles] Appearing clean shaven and considerably grayer than during his years in office, Gore sounded professorial as he talked about atmospheric changes, and he came across as a little rusty on the political stump. It was his first and expected to be his only appearance this election with Clinton, whose husband he served under for eight years in the White House. The Democrat’s emphasis on climate change was intended to resonate with millennials, a voting bloc that has been slow to warm to Clinton and that in polls consistently ranks the issue as a greater concern than their older counterparts. Trump has famously referred to climate change as a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. Clinton told the audience at Miami Dade College’s Kendall campus that she would turn to Gore for advice on climate change upon entering the Oval Office and called him “one of the world’s foremost leaders” on the subject.

• Trump targets Clinton’s health in new ad. A new television ad from Donald Trump’s campaign raises questions about Hillary Clinton’s health, once again elevating fringe conspiracy theories to the forefront of the presidential race.

7am – C  Watch: President Obama protects wedding ring as he shakes hands with public GREENSBORO, N.C. — One of the jobs of the leader of the free world is to shake hands with the public. A lot of hands. For President Obama, that means taking additional precautions — and we don’t mean by using a lot of disinfectant afterward. The video above shows the president approaching a rope line at the airport here in Greensboro, where he is spending Tuesday at a town hall-style event on race and a campaign rally for Hillary Clinton. After leaving Air Force One, Obama walked toward a small crowd that had gathered to welcome him on the tarmac. Watch as Obama, who recently celebrated his 24th wedding anniversary, deftly takes off his wedding band and slips it into his pocket before shaking hands.

7am – D         INTERVIEW — KT MCFARLAND – Fox News National Security Analyst

• WikiLeaks releases third batch of Podesta emails. WikiLeaks on Tuesday released 1,000 new emails that it claims were taken from the account of a longtime adviser to the Clinton family, in the third release of its kind over the last week. The publication of the 1,190 emails on Tuesday morning appears to be part of a strategic campaign to slowly release messages allegedly from John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman and a former White House chief of staff during Bill Clinton’s presidency.
• WikiLeaks: Hillary Clinton Says Vetting Refugees Is Impossible. Hillary Clinton regards vetting refugees as impossible, according to email released by WikiLeaks. For his part, Donald Trump says his immigration plan does not ban Muslims, but instead requires “extreme vetting” for Muslims arriving from countries with documented problems of Islamic terrorism—consistent with the U.S. Constitution. Regarding policy, Americans will decide between the sharply contrasting visions of Trump and Clinton—one focusing explicitly on security and America’s interests, the other saying behind closed doors that she believes in “open borders” but does not say so publicly, and that national leaders can have a private position that is different from their public positions. Apologists for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton say that Trump’s immigration plan is both bad policy and unconstitutional, and that one type of immigrant—Syrian refugees—should be admitted in far greater numbers. But hacked emails released by Wikileaks show Clinton thinks vetting Syrian refugees is “impossible.” Michael Patrick Leahy reports that Clinton acknowledged this reality for refugees pouring into Jordan.
• Clinton camp appeared to have contacts with DOJ on email case. An official within Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign appeared to have discussions with sources inside the Department of Justice (DOJ) about ongoing open records lawsuits regarding the former secretary of State’s emails, according to an email released on Tuesday. In an email from May 2015, Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said that “DOJ folks” had “inform[ed]” him about an upcoming status conference in one of the lawsuits regarding Clinton’s private email setup. The information about an upcoming court event would have been public knowledge and open for all to attend. And it’s unclear whether the people Fallon spoke to at the Justice Department were officials who regularly communicate with the public. However, the fact that Fallon — a former spokesman with the Justice Department — remained in contact with anyone from the department is likely to renew allegations that the Obama administration maintained an especially cozy relationship with Clinton’s presidential campaign.
• Emails show State Dept. helped Clinton Foundation donors get contracts for 2010 Haiti quake
• Russia to the US: If you want a confrontation, ‘you’ll get one everywhere’ A full year after Russia stepped into the Syrian quagmire on behalf of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Moscow has come to rival and challenge the US and NATO in virtually every arena possible. Without a doubt, relations between Russia and the West have reached their lowest point since the height of the Cold War. Retired Russian Lt. Gen. Evgeny Buzhinsky told the BBC that for its part, Russia sees the West as the belligerent party, citing sanctions against Russia as well as barring the Russian Paralympic team from the Rio Olympics for well-documented and state-sponsored doping as Western aggression against Russia. “Of course there is a reaction. As far as Russia sees it, as Putin sees it, it is full-scale confrontation on all fronts. If you want a confrontation, you’ll get one,” Buzhinsky told the BBC. “But it won’t be a confrontation that doesn’t harm the interests of the United States. You want a confrontation, you’ll get one everywhere.”

7am – E         Anti-tobacco bills advance in District, would raise age to buy cigarettes to 21.  The D.C. Council on Tuesday advanced a package of anti-tobacco bills that would increase the minimum age to buy cigarettes from 18 to 21 and restrict the public use of tobacco products. The bills would extend the same restrictions against cigarette smoking in restaurants, schools and public buildings to electronic cigarettes. It would also ban chewing tobacco at sport facilities, including Nationals Park. The proposals are part of a national effort to prevent a new generation from becoming addicted to nicotine, especially with the rise of e-cigarettes, which are marketed as an alternative to traditional cigarettes. Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie (D-Ward 5) has pushed to increase the minimum age to possess and purchase tobacco since 2013, saying it would reduce youth exposure to a “deadly habit.” The legislation would apply to all forms of cigarettes.

8am – A/B/C INTERVIEW — DAVID MARTOCKO – US Political Editor at The Daily Mail

• CAMPAIGN TRAIL IN FLORIDA:
• ‘She’s a bad, bad person!’ Trump digs at Hillary as he recites Wikileaks bombshells and pledges to ‘investigate the investigation’ that ended her classified email case.  (Daily Mail / David Martosko) — Donald Trump rattled off a litany of Wikileaks revelations before a Florida crowd on Tuesday nights.   He hit his Democratic opponent on her embarrassing ‘open trade and open borders’ speech and railed against her campaign’s criticism of Catholics. Trump spent more than 20 minutes detailed embarrassing bombshells hacked from Clinton’s campaign chairman’s email account.
• Trump declares war on GOP, says ‘the shackles have been taken off’ (Washington Post) — Donald Trump declared war on the Republican establishment Tuesday, lashing out at House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and other GOP elected officials as his supporters geared up to join the fight amid extraordinary turmoil within the party just four weeks before Election Day. One day after Ryan announced he would no longer campaign on Trump’s behalf, the GOP nominee said as part of a barrage of tweets that the top-ranking Republican is “weak and ineffective” and is providing “zero support” for his candidacy.
• Wikileaks: Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Furious After Daily Mail Reporter David Martosko Followed Motorcade. (Breitbart) — The Clinton campaign was furious with Daily Mail reporter David Martosko for following Hillary Clinton’s motorcade and filing a story about it, according to WikiLeaks’ new batch of emails from campaign chairman John Podesta. Martosko reported that Clinton’s “Scooby van” was clocked traveling 92 mph as he followed them on the trail. In a series of emails, campaign chief Jennifer Palmieri sent a draft of a letter she was considering sending to the Daily Mail to complain about his behavior, citing “other journalists” who also expressed their concerns.

8am – B         SPORTS NEWS:

• Tim Tebow prays over fan who appears to have a seizure. While signing autographs after an Arizona Fall League game, Tim Tebow saw a fan having what appeared to be a seizure and prayed over him until the paramedics arrived.
• Colin Kaepernick to start at quarterback for 49ers. After a four-game losing streak with Blaine Gabbert at the helm — a stretch where the former first-round pick threw for just four touchdowns and six interceptions and posted an average passer rating of 65.1 — the team is making a change, Chip Kelly announced on Tuesday. Kelly and the staff met earlier in the day to discuss a potential quarterback swap. Kelly said that the move had nothing to do with Kaepernick’s soon-to-be altered contract status, which should negate some of the balky injury guarantees in his previous long-term deal. Kaepernick said Tuesday to reporters that his contract is still being worked on. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that he’s expected to sign the new deal before he steps on the field. When asked about reassuming the starting position in San Francisco, Kaepernick said, “I’m excited and ready to go.”
• Dodgers beat Nats 6-5 in Game 4 of the NLDS, force deciding Game 5 Thursday in Washington.

8am – C         Ronald McDonald to limit appearances in light of clown scares. (CNN) Well, at least we won’t be seeing one creepy clown so much. McDonald’s announced Monday that Ronald McDonald is going on the down low. His appearances will be limited due to the rise in clown-related disturbance. “McDonald’s and franchisees in local markets are mindful of the current climate around clown sightings in communities and as such are being thoughtful with respect to Ronald McDonald’s participation in community events for the time being,” McDonald’s spokeswoman Terri Hickey told CNN in an email.  For a long time, Ronald McDonald was a globally recognized icon synonymous with the fast food giant, but the clown hasn’t featured as prominently in McDonald’s advertisements in recent years.

8am – D         WIKILEAKS

• Clinton camp appeared to have contacts with DOJ on email case.
• Emails show State Dept. helped Clinton Foundation donors get contracts for 2010 Haiti quake.
• WIKILEAKS: Clinton Allies Make Fun Of Rupert Murdoch For Being A Devout Catholic
• WIKILEAKS: John Harwood Of NYT And CNBC Advises Clinton Campaign, Gloats About Provoking Trump At Debate.
• WIKILEAKS: Starbucks CEO Advising Clinton Campaign About Hillarys ‘Brand’ Newly leaked emails reveal Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz advising the Clinton campaign about how best to market Hillary Clinton’s “brand” to voters generally, and to millennial voters in particular.
• REVEALED: Donna Brazile Shared CNN Town Hall Questions With Clinton Camp
• WikiLeaks exposes media bias, Clinton team cheering Stephanopoulos’ use of talking points
• New York Times Gave Hillary Veto Power

8am – E         This Kim Kardashian Robbery Halloween Costume Draws the Ire of Everybody. Taking it too far. A Halloween costume inspired by Kim Kardashian’s Paris robbery is being sold by online retailer Costumeish, and the internet is not having it. The photo of the costume features a look-alike of the 35-year-old reality star gagged with her hands tied. According to the description on Costumeish.com, the $69.99 outfit also comes with a “white short sexy robe, long black wig, ‘$4 million dollar’ ring, large sunglasses, fake gag and 2’ of rope.”  “This Halloween it’s all about the #Hallomeme and who better than America’s goddess of all things glamorous ‘Parisian Heist Robbery Victim Costume?’” the explanation on the site reads. “She has devoted her life to promoting American decadence, youth and hedonism but all that flashy living caught up with her one night in Paris when armed men bound her, stole her jewelry and her peace of mind. This Halloween have some fun with pop culture and dress just like the Queen of Social media.”