Mornings on the Mall 05.21.18

Joe diGenova, Michael Pregent, Gordon Chang and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton joined WMAL on Monday!

Mornings on the Mall

Monday, May 21, 2018

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C ‘Loner’ student shoots and kills 10 at Texas school – SANTA FE, Texas (Reuters) – A 17-year-old student dressed in a trench coat and armed with a shotgun and pistol opened fire at his high school outside Houston on Friday, killing nine students and a teacher, before surrendering to officers, authorities said. Santa Fe High School, southeast of Houston, joined a long list of U.S. campuses where students and faculty have been killed in a spray of gunfire.

5am – D         DOJ / FBI:

• The Justice Department asks its watchdog to look into alleged wrongdoing in the FBI’s investigation of Russia interference in the 2016 election after President Trump orders a review into whether agents infiltrated his campaign
• FBI UNDER INVESTIGATION: The Justice Department asked its watchdog to look into any alleged “impropriety or political motivation” in the FBI’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, the DOJ said Sunday night — hours after President Trump ordered a review looking into whether federal agents infiltrated or surveilled his campaign for political purposes … She also released a response from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein: “If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action.” Trump, late last week, began accusing the Justice Department of trying to frame him by planting a spy in his campaign — an allegation his own lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said might not be true.
• Trump puts pressure on DOJ, FBI to release documents amid spying claims (Fox News) – President Trump on Saturday said it would be “a really big deal” if the FBI and Department of Justice infiltrated his campaign during the 2016 election campaign, and he called for the DOJ to release documents being requested by Republican lawmakers’ regarding the Russia probe.
• Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump  If the FBI or DOJ was infiltrating a campaign for the benefit of another campaign, that is a really big deal. Only the release or review of documents that the House Intelligence Committee (also, Senate Judiciary) is asking for can give the conclusive answers. Drain the Swamp!
• SCHIFF: Trump’s claim of an embedded “spy” is nonsense. His “demand” DOJ investigate something they know to be untrue is an abuse of power, and an effort to distract from his growing legal problems. Never mind that DOJ has warned that lives and alliances are at risk. He doesn’t care.
• Chuck Schumer tells GOP to beware: Pursuit of FBI informant’s identity comes close to crossing legal line
• JUST IN: DOJ asks Inspector General to investigate possible political motivation during the origin of Russia probe.
• @realDonaldTrump  17h17 hours ago: I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!
• F.B.I. Used Informant to Investigate Russia Ties to Campaign, Not to Spy, as Trump Claims (NY Times) —.WASHINGTON — President Trump accused the F.B.I. on Friday, without evidence, of sending a spy to secretly infiltrate his 2=16 campaign “for political purposes” even before the bureau had any inkling of the “phony Russia hoax.” In fact, F.B.I. agents sent an informant to talk to two campaign advisers only after they received evidence that the pair had suspicious contacts linked to Russia during the campaign. The informant, an American academic who teaches in Britain, made contact late that summer with one campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, according to people familiar with the matter. He also met repeatedly in the ensuing months with the other aide, Carter Page, who was also under F.B.I. scrutiny for his ties to Russia.
• Nunes: I won’t meet with Justice Dept until I get info on FBI source who met with Trump officials (The Hill) — House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said on Sunday that he will not meet with officials from the Justice Department (DOJ) until he receives documents connected to an FBI source who met with Trump campaign aides in 2016 over alleged contacts between members of the campaign and Russia. Nunes accused someone in the DOJ of leaking the information after he and Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) did not agree to Justice officials’ offer to answer questions from lawmakers in a briefing.
• Special Counsel Robert Mueller tells Trump’s legal team he could wrap up his Russia investigation by Sept. 1 if he is able to interview the president by mid-July, Rudy Giuliani tells Fox News
• MUELLER SETTING NEW TRAP FOR TRUMP?: Special Counsel Robert Mueller has told President Trump’s legal team he should be able to wrap up the Russia investigation by Sept. 1 if he is able to interview Trump by mid-July, Rudy Giuliani told Fox News on Sunday ... Giuliani said he and Mueller spoke about an end date to the investigation approximately two weeks ago. During that conversation, Giuliani told Mueller that any interview of Trump by the special counsel would be contingent on knowing when the probe would wrap up. Giuliani added that he wants Mueller’s investigation wrapped up by Sept. 1 so that it doesn’t affect Republican chances in November’s midterm elections. He said the date refers only to aspects of the investigation related to Trump, as opposed to court cases involving former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former campaign manager Paul Manafort and others
• HALPER OVERSAW SPY OPERATION IN 1980 CAMPAIGN: Four decades ago, Halper was responsible for a long-forgotten spying scandal involving the 1980 election, in which the Reagan campaign – using CIA officials managed by Halper, reportedly under the direction of former CIA Director and then-Vice-Presidential candidate George H.W. Bush – got caught running a spying operation from inside the Carter administration. The plot involved CIA operatives passing classified information about Carter’s foreign policy to Reagan campaign officials in order to ensure the Reagan campaign knew of any foreign policy decisions that Carter was considering.

5am – E         CHINA NEWS:

Chinese land bomber in South China Sea, potentially escalating tensions over disputed zone. (Fox News) — Chinese state media released a video showing a long-range nuclear-capable bomber landing on an island in the South China Sea for the first time, a move the Pentagon said raises tensions in the region years after China’s president pledged not to militarize the disputed area. A Washington think tank, CSIS,  says the bomber landed on Woody Island in the Paracel Islands, claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam in addition to China. It is not one of the man-made islands China has constructed atop former reefs in recent years in the Spratly chain further south. The Chinese bomber flight took place Thursday on the same day the U.S. Navy installed a new commander for its Pacific Fleet, Adm. John Aquilino.

• The U.S. has put on hold its plan to impose sweeping tariffs on China as it presses forward with talks to reduce its trade deficit with Beijing. Treasury secretary: U.S. is ‘putting the trade war on hold’ with China and administration will delay tariffs (Washington Post) — President Trump’s tough-guy persona is taking a beating from China, judging from the reaction of some of his allies on Capitol Hill and in the trenches of the trade wars. The former business executive, who prides himself on his negotiating savvy, is facing criticism for bending to the Chinese government on two key trade disputes in the space of a week, alarming longtime supporters who had welcomed his call for a more confrontational approach to Beijing. On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the administration put its trade war with China “on hold” after two days of talks in Washington that he said had produced an agreement on increased Chinese purchases of American products and measures to make it easier for U.S. companies to operate in China. Even though the agreement lacked the specific $200 billion reduction in the U.S. trade deficit with China that was Trump’s signature demand on trade, the president halted tariffs he had threatened to impose on $150 billion in Chinese products.

 

6am – A/B/C Parents sue child for not moving out.  (WILX) — Getting your kids to fly out of the home nest isn’t always the easiest thing. And for two parents in New York were struggling so hard with this issue that they had to get the courts involved. Christina and Mark Rotondo have be trying to get their 30-year-old son, Michael, to leave their house for several months. They have given him five written 14 day notices to vacate their home since this past February. They have even offered their son $1,100 to find another place to stay. But sadly, the 30-year-old has refused to leave his family home. So, the couple has taken their issue to the Supreme Court of New York. The son contends that the written notices didn’t provide him enough time to find another place to live. He is even trying to get the latest request dismissed.

6am – D         HILLARY NEWS:

• ‘No, I’m not over it’: Hillary Clinton jabs Trump, shows off Russian hat at Yale Class Day (Daily Caller) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Yale University’s graduating class she’s “still not over” losing to President Donald Trump in the 2016 election. It took Clinton less than two minutes to bring up the 2016 election during her commencement speech on Sunday. “I mean, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” Clinton said, whipping out a Russian hat. The twice failed presidential candidate took repeated jabs at Trump while giving her commencement speech on Sunday, although she didn’t directly name him. “I remember the first months after that 2016 election were not easy. We all had our own methods of coping,” Clinton said, noting she went for “long walks in the woods,” spent “hours going down a Twitter rabbit hole” and had her “fair share of chardonnay.” “No, I’m not over it. I still think about the 2016 election. I still regret the mistakes I made. I still think, though, that understanding what happened in such a weird and wild election in American history will help us defend our democracy in the future,” she said.
• Harvard to award Hillary with a participation trophy? Hillary Clinton to get Harvard medal for ‘transformative impact on society.’ Hillary Clinton will receive Harvard’s prestigious Radcliffe Medal for her “transformative impact on society,” according to the Ivy League university. She will receive the award Friday as part of the school’s graduation-week activities. Clinton is a former first lady, New York senator, secretary of State and two-time Democratic presidential candidate. Her 2016 White House bid was damaged severely by an FBI investigation into her use of private email servers to send and receive classified information while at the State Department. Organizers at Harvard say Clinton was chosen for the award because she’s a “champion for human rights,” a “skilled legislator” and “an advocate of American leadership” on the world stage.

6am – E         America’s Mad About Harry & Meghan; Nearly 30M Watch Royal Wedding Live. (Deadline) — It was very early in the morning on this side of the Atlantic but 29.2 million Americans tuned in to watch live the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle yesterday. Seen on 15 networks stateside in the early morning, Saturday’s royal nuptials with the American born bride from St. George’s Chapel was up solidly from the 23 million who watched televised ceremony of Prince William and Kate Middleton back in 2011, according to Nielsen. That April royal wedding seven years ago was aired on 11 networks.

6am – F         SPORTS NEWS:

• Caps lose… Can they recover? Lightning-Capitals: Grading Tampa Bay’s 3-2 victory in Game 5. The Lightning jumped on Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final. No runaway gallop. No funny hats. Just hockey with a purpose in what became a precarious, but convincing 3-2 win over Washington. Cedric Paquette, the team’s dump-truck fourth-line center, scored 19 seconds into the first shift Saturday night, and it went from there after a spectacular first period. But it was a grinding kind of night, and Lightning grinders were out in force. Ondrej Palat added a goal right after what could have been a tripping penalty on Steven Stamkos. That’s the way it’s going right now. Game 5 was a Lightning sequence, good for a 3-2 series lead and a chance to make the Cup final with a win Monday night in Washington.
• Metro announces extended late-night service Monday for Capitals Game 6, sponsored by Uber. Metrorail will remain open an additional hour Monday night for fans attending the Capitals v. Lightning game at CapitalOne Arena. The $100,000 cost associated with keeping open the 234-mile, 91-station Metrorail system for an additional hour is being funded by Uber.
• PREAKNESS: Justify wins 143rd Preakness Stakes to move within one leg of Triple Crown. (Washington Post) — BALTIMORE —As he has across the entirety of his brief and meteoric career, Justify answered the challenge and prevailed Saturday, winning the 143rd Preakness Stakes and keeping alive his Triple Crown hopes. Tested like never before, Justify, an overwhelming 2-5 favorite, ran neck-and-neck with rival Good Magic for much of the race, seized the lead coming out of the last turn and held off late-charging Bravazo down the stretch for a half-length victory, the smallest by far of his five career wins.

7am – A/B/C INTERVIEW – JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney of the District of Columbia — discussed the latest on President Trump’s battle with the DOJ and FBI.

7am – D         INTERVIEW – MICHAEL PREGENT –  is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. He is a senior Middle East analyst,  is a former intelligence officer with over 28 years experience working security, terrorism, counter-insurgency, and policy issues in the Middle East, North Africa, and Southwest Asia.  Pregent spent considerable time working malign Iranian influence in Iraq as an advisor to Iraq’s Security and Intelligence apparatus, including an embedded advisory role with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s extra-constitutional Office of the Commander-in-Chief. An office set up to ensure Iranian-backed Shia militia party control of Iraq’s security and political process.

• Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s political coalition has won Iraq’s parliamentary election, the election commission announced late Friday. The Saeroon Alliance led by al-Sadr, the Shia who many US military officials hold responsible for the deaths of US troops, won by taking the most number of seats in the May 12 parliamentary elections.

7am – E         BILLBOARD AWARDS HIGHLIGHTS SCHOOL SHOOTINGS:

• Ed Sheeran took home the award for Top Artist – Here’s the complete list of winners. Ed Sheeran was named top artist at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards, which were handed out Sunday night from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
• Billboard Music Awards host Kelly Clarkson demands ‘action’ after Texas school shooting
• Parkland show choir joins Shawn Mendes on stage at Billboard Music Awards. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Show Choir joined singers Shawn Mendes and Khalid on stage during the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday night.

 

8am – A         TX SCHOOL SHOOTING:

• ‘Loner’ student shoots and kills 10 at Texas school
• Texas school shooter killed girl who turned down his advances and embarrassed him in class, her mother says
• Incoming NRA President Oliver North discussing the cause of school shootings: “If you look at what has happened to young people, many of these young boys have been on Ritalin since they were in kindergarten.”
• Obama’s education secretary: Let’s boycott school until gun laws change. Former Education Secretary Arne Duncan pushed a radical idea on Twitter: Parents should pull their children out of school until elected officials pass stricter gun control laws.

8am – B/C     INTERVIEW – GORDON CHANG – Daily Beast columnist,  author of “The Coming Collapse of China” and “Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On the World”

• Chinese land bomber in South China Sea, potentially escalating tensions over disputed zone.
• The U.S. has put on hold its plan to impose sweeping tariffs on China as it presses forward with talks to reduce its trade deficit with Beijing.
• NORTH KOREA SUMMIT: South Korean President Moon Jae-In heads to Washington on Monday to do what he can to shore up plans for a US-North Korea summit that seem to be on shaky ground.

8am – D         INTERVIEW — TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN PAXTON – discuss his thoughts on TX school shooting

• ‘Loner’ student shoots and kills 10 at Texas school – SANTA FE, Texas (Reuters) – A 17-year-old student dressed in a trench coat and armed with a shotgun and pistol opened fire at his high school outside Houston on Friday, killing nine students and a teacher, before surrendering to officers, authorities said. Santa Fe High School, southeast of Houston, joined a long list of U.S. campuses where students and faculty have been killed in a spray of gunfire.
• AG Ken Paxton: ‘We Can’t Just Let Our Kids Be Sitting Ducks’

8am – E         LOUDOUN COUNTY SCHOOLS CRACKING DOWN ON VAPING: (WMAL News) — 48 students in Loudoun County public schools have been suspended so far this year for vaping, 45 up from the three kids suspended last year for vaping. Leesburg police officer Matt Bennett says that awareness of vaping could explain the surge in these suspensions.  He says last year people would’ve thought a certain smell was just body spray from the boy’s bathroom but with more education in what vaping is, now people are more aware that the smell is not body spray but actually vapor). Another factor to the surge could be older siblings (18-year-olds in high school) who can legally vape and have influenced their younger siblings, Bennett says. Bennett says that one of the reasons why vaping has caught on for kids is that whereas back in the day cigarette boxes were noticeable, vaping devices are much easier to hide. Along with its size, vaping websites blatantly cater to kids using children models and selling merchandise appealing to children, he says. Bennett says staff members are encouraged to go in bathrooms and look around, while other schools have gone far as to preventing students going to bathrooms further away from where they are.