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Mornings on the Mall
Monday June 12, 2017
Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese
5am – A/B/C Do you want Puerto Rico to become a state? Puerto Rico could become the 51st state. Puerto Rico on Sunday overwhelmingly voted for statehood. But Congress, the only body that can approve new states, will ultimately decide whether the status of the US commonwealth changes. Ninety-seven percent of the votes in the nonbinding referendum favored statehood, an increase over the results of a 2012 referendum, official results from the State Electoral Commission show. It was the fifth such vote on statehood.
5am – D Capital Pride parade disrupted by protesters (Washington Post) The D.C. Capital Pride Parade was disrupted by protesters Saturday who say the event is too corporate and marginalizes minorities and the very community the tradition was created to celebrate. Protesters from No Justice No Pride linked arms to block the parade route near 15th and P streets in Northwest Washington about 5:30 p.m. With a pink, turquoise and yellow banner stretched across the street, the protesters shouted “What side are my people? What side are you on?” and “No justice, no pride.” “Capital Pride has consistently demonstrated that it is more interested in accommodating the interests of Metropolitan police and of corporate sponsors than it is in supporting the very communities it supposedly represents,” the group wrote in a statement announcing its disruption of the parade.
5am– E Sam Panopoulos, 83, the creator of the Hawaiian pizza, died in Ontario Thursday/ Adam West, TV’s ‘Batman,’ Dies at 88
6am – A Trump Jr. Interview on Fox News “When he tells you to do something, guess what? There’s no ambiguity in it, there’s no, ‘Hey, I’m hoping,’” Trump Jr. said. “You and I are friends: ‘Hey, I hope this happens, but you’ve got to do your job.’ That’s what he told Comey. And for this guy, as a politician, to then go back and write a memo: ‘Oh, I felt threatened.’ He felt so threatened — but he didn’t do anything.” Trump Jr. also said that Comey’s testimony “vindicated” the president and that everything in it was “basically ridiculous.” “I think he’s proven himself to be a liar in all of this. I think he’s proven himself to be a dishonest man of bad character,” Trump Jr. said.
6am – B NSA Leaker Reality Winner: I’ll Play The ‘Pretty, White And Cute’ Card To Avoid Jail Time On Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Solari revealed in an Atlanta, Georgia court that Winner told her sister via a jailhouse phone: “I’m going to play that card being pretty, white and cute, braid my hair and cry and all.” Why do millennials keep leaking government secrets?
6am – C Pelosi’s Senior Moments Shortly after calling into question President Trump’s mental health on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe,’ House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s own mental health came under scrutiny, as the 77-year-old California congresswoman referred to President Trump as “President Bush” and forgot what day of the week it is. A reporter quickly helped her correct the gaffe, interjecting “Trump,” but Pelosi appeared oblivious she slipped up. An aide then emerged from the sidelines, passing Pelosi a note, notifying her she got the two presidents mixed up again. During her weekly press conference, Pelosi not only became confused over who is president, but also what day of the week it is. “I spoke with the speaker a week, a week and a couple days ago, about — oh, no, just last Friday,” she said. “What is today? Is it Friday again?”
6am – D INTERVIEW – BRADLEY MILES – CEO of Polaris
Topic: Human trafficking in DC area
- In 2016, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received reports of 391 cases of human trafficking from DC, Maryland, and Virginia.
- How local residents can get involved with the anti-trafficking movement: Members of the public are encouraged to register for the “Freedom Happens Now 5K”
6am – E Melania Trump and son Baron are moving into the White House The First Lady of the United States Melania Trump is due to move in to the White House today with her son Baron – five months after President Donald Trump took office.
Mrs Trump made the decision to stay in New York in Trump Tower to allow Baron to finish his schooling, making her the first presidential spouse in recent years not to relocate to the capital immediately.
6am – F Drivers Head Into Summer With a Gift at the Gas Pump (NY Times) The average nationwide gasoline price on Friday was the lowest for this point of the year since 2005, according to GasBuddy, a website and smartphone app designed to help drivers find the best deals at the pump.
The immediate cause of the price break was the shock to global oil markets that came when the Energy Department reported this week that domestic inventories of both crude oil and gasoline had surprisingly surged the week before despite heavy driving on the Memorial Day weekend.
7am – A INTERVIEW – JOE DIGENOVA – Legal Analyst & Fmr. U.S. Attorney to the District of Columbia
- Special Counsel Mueller Did Exactly What Comey Accused Trump Of Doing
- DOJ Decides Not To Prosecute VA Execs Accused Of Intentionally Misleading Congress
7am – B Student’s Trump shirt blacked-out in high school yearbook Grant Berardo wore his navy blue “TRUMP Make America Great Again” T-shirt to picture day last fall at Wall Township High School. Nobody told him not to. And since he is only a junior, there was no picture-day dress code. The proofs came back, with the picture the way he posed for it, Trump shirt and all. His picture day image is also used on the electronic student ID system, with Trump intact. Then the yearbook came out on Wednesday and Grant’s navy Trump shirt was now blacked-out. Conservative student flees small Boston college after year of harassment
7am – C Bette Midler’s hilariously long speech stole the show Bette Midler, a true Broadway legend, took home the best actress in a musical prize at the Tony Awards Sunday night. And she did so with all the class, glitz and drama her career of almost 50 years deserved. Accepting her best actress in a musical trophy for Hello, Dolly! Midler rattled off an impressive list of thank-yous before the orchestra started playing her off. “Shut that crap off!” she said, silencing the music and continuing her speech as the audience cheered, the whole thing clocking in at over four minutes.
7am – D INTERVIEW – RICHARD MINITER – Terrorism and National security expert, CEO of The American Media Institute
Topic: Qatar
- Why Qatar Is a problem for Washington
- In Libya, Qatar has provided substantial financial and propaganda support to the Muslim Brotherhood’s Fajr militias, which in turn have thwarted all political efforts to find a solution in Libya.
7am – E Ocean City Passes Emergency Ordinance Against Toplessness for Women The Ocean City Council passed an emergency ordinance to prohibit public nudity or states of nudity in response to a woman’s desire to be bare-chested on the city’s beach. The council met on Saturday to pass the legislation, which stated, “There is no constitutional right for an individual to appear in public nude or in a state of nudity.” Whatever personal right one has to be nude or in a state of nudity that right becomes subject to government interest and regulation when one seeks to exercise it in public.” The clash came about after a legal challenge from a woman who argued that Maryland law allows women to go bare-chested in public. The city previously issues a memo directing the lifeguards not to confront bare-chested women or ask them to cover up.
8am – A/B/CA school principal will pay students to forgo screen time this summer. Could your kids unplug? Diana Smith, principal at Washington Latin Public Charter School, pledged to pay her students $100 each out of her own pocket if they forgo electronics and video screens each Tuesday until school resumes at the end of August.“I don’t like when teachers bribe their students with food, so I am breaking my own rules,” Smith said in an interview. “But I do think they need help with this particular relationship.”Smith, who has led the D.C. charter school since 2008, is concerned that teenagers are addicted to their phones. They are losing sleep because they are texting in the middle of the night. Social media has intensified middle and high school drama.
8am – D Feinstein: Congress should probe whether Lynch provided cover for Clinton Asked whether Lynch was providing cover for Clinton, Feinstein said she couldn’t answer.” I would have a queasy feeling too, though, to be candid with you,” she said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think we need to know more about that, and there’s only one way to know about it, and that’s to have the Judiciary Committee take a look at that.”
8am – E Baltimore row house featured in ‘House of Cards’ goes up for auction A late 19th-century Victorian brick row house in Baltimore, whose exterior was seen in the TV series “House of Cards” as the abode of power-hungry D.C. power couple Frank and Claire Underwood, is going up for auction. The four-bedroom home built in 1880 in the historic Bolton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore contains two and 1/2 bathrooms, 12-foot ceilings, marble mantles, dual staircases, a rear patio and a two-car garage. The listing says the remodeled home features original details. The auction is set for July 27 at 1 p.m with opening bids starting at $500,000.
