Daily Caller’s Kevin Daley, Center for Immigration Studies’ Jessica Vaughan, Washington Post’s Scott Allen and National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar joined WMAL on Tuesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

 

5am – A/B/C Trump disinvites Eagles from White House, plans ‘different type of ceremony’ for fans (The Hill)- President Trump on Monday abruptly announced that Super Bowl champions the Philadelphia Eagles would not visit the White House on Tuesday, citing the team’s participation in national anthem protests. “The Philadelphia Eagles are unable to come to the White House with their full team to be celebrated tomorrow. They disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country,” Trump said in a statement. “The Eagles wanted to send a smaller delegation, but the 1,000 fans planning to attend the event deserve better,” he added.

5am – D/E Christian Baker prevails at Supreme Court in Same-Sex Wedding Cake Dispute (Daily Caller) – The U.S. Supreme Court issued a narrow ruling Monday in favor of a Christian baker who declined to bake a custom wedding cake for a same-sex wedding, concluding a state agency did not apply anti-discrimination law in a neutral manner.  Though the baker prevailed in Monday’s decision, the Court’s decision is narrow in the sense that the ruling is carefully fact-bound and does not address the major First Amendment question the case raised.  Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the opinion for a seven-justice majority. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor.  The case was occasioned when David Mullins and Charlie Craig, a gay couple, entered Jack Phillips’ Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colo in 2012. After a short discussion with the prospective patrons, Phillips said he would not sell them a custom wedding cake due to his deeply-held religious beliefs. Mullins and Craig filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, prompting a lengthy legal battle culminating in an appeal to the high court.

  

 6am – A   Parkland, FL News:

• ‘It was my job, and I didn’t find him’: Stoneman douglas resource officer remains haunted by massacre (Washington Post) ­– Scot Peterson had spent much of the past three months in hiding, but now somebody was walking onto his porch and toward the front door. A motion detector activated an alarm inside his duplex. Peterson, 55, ducked away from the windows and bent out of sight. His girlfriend, Lydia Rodriguez, walked to the entryway and began to pull down a corner of the white sheet that now covered most of their front door. “Oh, please,” she said. “What now?” It had been exactly 90 days since Peterson’s last shift as a school resource officer in Parkland, Fla., where he had been armed and on duty as 17 people were killed and 17 more were injured, and ever since then a procession had been making its way to his door to demand accountability for another American mass shooting. First came the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to repossess his police cruiser and his badge. Then came dozens of reporters and television trucks, jamming into the cul-de-sac of a retirement community to broadcast stories about the “Coward of Broward.” Then came a court officer serving Peterson with a lawsuit from a parent whose daughter had been fatally shot on the school’s third floor. “Scot Peterson is a coward,” it read. “Scot Peterson did nothing. Scot Peterson waited and listened to the din of screams of teachers and students, many of who were dead and dying. He let innocent people die.”
• Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg heads to Capitol Hill after a bittersweet graduation. He plans to focus on youth voter turnout (ABC) – While most of his peers will be having fun soaking in their final summer before college, David Hogg will be traveling across the country to call for change, lobbying Washington, D.C. in an effort to protect students from mass shootings like the one he survived this year. After the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 students and staff teachers were killed, Hogg rose to prominence as one of the first students to speak out survivors in the spotlight. Hogg said he leaped into adulthood in the wake of the Feb. 14 attack, helping to force forcing a national conversation about gun control. But Now, just hours after receiving his high school diploma on Sunday, Hogg said he will continue to focus on common sense gun regulations and encourage young people to vote. but also incorporate broader goals looking to cast his net beyond gun control. “I’m gonna be taking a gap year and not going to college for a year so that I can continue to work on these issues and promote sensible legislation, for example — not just around gun control, but around youth voter turnout,” Hogg said in an interview with ABC News’ “Nightline.” “I think the fact that I was — that I got my draft card on my 18th birthday here — but the federal government can’t register me to vote is ridiculous.

 6am – B  Mueller News:

• Mueller says Manafort tried to tamper with witnesses, hide evidence (Fox News) – Special Counsel Robert Mueller claimed in a court filing Monday that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort tried to tamper with two potential witnesses in his upcoming trial while under house arrest. Prosecutors working for Mueller made the claim in a request that the judge overseeing the case revoke or revise an order for Manafort to be placed on pretrial release. They also said an associate of Manafort’s tried to contact a potential witness more than once. According to documents filed in federal court in D.C., Manafort reached out to the would-be witnesses in February after a superseding indictment was unsealed. Among other claims, the indictment accused the 68-year-old of secretly paying European ex-politicians to lobby on behalf of Ukraine’s pro-Russian government in the U.S. without registering. This coterie allegedly was dubbed the “Hapsburg” group by Manafort.
• George Papadopoulos’s wife tells Chuck Ross he had nothing to do with Russia and that he only plead guilty because Mueller threatened to charge him as a foreign agent of Israel (Daily Caller) – George Papadopoulos’ wife, Simona Mangiante, said her husband was not involved in collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government and that he pleaded guilty in the special counsel’s investigation to avoid facing charges that he was an agent of the Israeli government. In an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation, Mangiante also claimed that it was former Trump campaign aide Papadopoulos who, during an interview with the FBI on Jan. 27, 2017, brought up Joseph Mifsud, the mysterious Maltese professor who mentioned Hillary Clinton’s emails to him during a meeting in London in April 2016.

 6am – D  INTERVIEW – KEVIN DALEY – Supreme Court reporter, Daily Caller News Foundation – discussed same-sex wedding cake decision.

 6am – E  FOOD NEWS:

• Macon, Georgia woman turns 105, credits chocolate (Macon.com) – Virginia Pair Witherington puts it simply when asked her secret to living to 105, and not looking near her age to top it off.  “Because I take care of myself,” she said among a din of noise as she celebrated her birthday with friends at La Parrilla Mexican Restaurant on Sunday. She turns 105 on Monday.
• Woman with spider phobia ordered KFC hoping delivery driver would take care of spider (Washington Post) – Sometimes, restaurant delivery isn’t just for food.  Demi Sweeney, who lives in England, got creative last week when one of her worst fears appeared before her eyes: a spider. Sweeney has a pronounced phobia of spiders and regularly loses sleep just thinking about the eight-legged crawlers, she said. So when she saw one in her house, which she estimated measured about an inch, she called her friend in a heart-racing panic. Her housemates were not home. None of her other friends was around, as it is the end of the academic school year at Bournemouth University, and they were all busy studying or had already left for the summer. The friend on the phone suggested she order food delivery and see whether the driver would do her a solid and take care of the spider.

 6am – F  Caps beat Golden Knights 6-2 in Game 4, putting them one more win away from bringing home the Stanley Cup (NBC 4) – Evgeny Kuznetsov smiled about getting four assists. He tried not to smile too much at the thought of being one win away from the Stanley Cup. With Kuznetsov and goaltender Braden Holtby leading the way, the Washington Capitals are one win away from capturing the first title in their 43rd season after routing the Vegas Golden Knights 6-2 on Monday night to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals will get their first chance to hoist the Cup in Game 5 on Thursday night back in Las Vegas.    

 

7am – A  INTERVIEW – Jessica Vaughan – director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies – discussed upcoming immigration battle in Congress.

• House Republicans careen toward immigration showdown (Politico): House Republicans are on the brink of an embarrassing showdown over immigration that Speaker Paul Ryan and his leadership team have been desperately trying to avoid.

 7am – B  Tuesday’s Primaries:

• Eight states – Alabama, California, Iowa Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota – will hold primaries Tuesday to pick candidates to run in the midterm general elections Nov. 6.

 7am – C  Caps beat Golden Knights 6-2 in Game 4, putting them one more win away from bringing home the Stanley Cup (NBC 4) – Evgeny Kuznetsov smiled about getting four assists. He tried not to smile too much at the thought of being one win away from the Stanley Cup. With Kuznetsov and goaltender Braden Holtby leading the way, the Washington Capitals are one win away from capturing the first title in their 43rd season after routing the Vegas Golden Knights 6-2 on Monday night to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals will get their first chance to hoist the Cup in Game 5 on Thursday night back in Las Vegas.       

7am – D  Trump disinvites Eagles from White House, plans ‘different type of ceremony’ for fans (The Hill)- President Trump on Monday abruptly announced that Super Bowl champions the Philadelphia Eagles would not visit the White House on Tuesday, citing the team’s participation in national anthem protests.  “The Philadelphia Eagles are unable to come to the White House with their full team to be celebrated tomorrow. They disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country,” Trump said in a statement. “The Eagles wanted to send a smaller delegation, but the 1,000 fans planning to attend the event deserve better,” he added.

 7am – E  Kanye West News:

• Kanye West’s ‘Ye’ Set for No. 1 Debut on Billboard 200 Albums Chart (Billboard) – Kanye West’s new album, Ye, is heading for a No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200 chart next week, according to industry forecasters. Prognosticators suggest his new effort, which was released via G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam Recordings on June 1, may launch with over 175,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending June 7. If Ye bows atop the tally, it will score West his eighth No. 1.
• Trump Told Kim Kardashian She and Kanye West Are Helping Him With Black Voters (Bloomberg) – President Donald Trump welcomed Kim Kardashian to the White House last week to discuss prison reform. But there was something else on his mind. Trump told the reality TV star and wife of hip-hop mogul Kanye West in the Oval Office that the couple was boosting his popularity with African-Americans, according to two people familiar with the matter. About a month before the meeting West praised Trump in a tweet, claiming that he and the president “are both dragon energy.” Trump later credited the April 25 West tweet with raising his approval rating among African Americans, a group that has shown scant support for the president.

8am – A  Eric Trump:  My father’s life became “exponentially worse” when he decided to run for president (The Hill) – President Trump’s middle son, Eric Trump, says his father’s life became “exponentially worse” when he ran for president. “My father’s life became exponentially worse the minute he decided to run for president,” Eric Trump told Westchester Magazine in an interview. “He didn’t need to do this, but he was immensely frustrated with where the country was going.” Trump, who took over management responsibilities of the Trump Organization along with his brother, Donald Trump Jr., when their father became president said being “abused” by the media and mocked on Saturday Night Live “comes with the territory” in politics.           

 8am – B  INTERVIEW – SCOTT ALLEN – Sports reporter, Washington Post – discussed last night’s Caps win in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

• Caps beat Golden Knights 6-2 in Game 4, putting them one more win away from bringing home the Stanley Cup (NBC 4) – Evgeny Kuznetsov smiled about getting four assists. He tried not to smile too much at the thought of being one win away from the Stanley Cup. With Kuznetsov and goaltender Braden Holtby leading the way, the Washington Capitals are one win away from capturing the first title in their 43rd season after routing the Vegas Golden Knights 6-2 on Monday night to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals will get their first chance to hoist the Cup in Game 5 on Thursday night back in Las Vegas.

 8am – C  Saudi Arabia issues its first driving licences towomen as it prepares to lift decades-long ban on female drivers this month (Daily Mail) – Saudi Arabia on Monday began issuing its first driving licences to women in decades, state media reported. ‘The first group of women today received their Saudi driving licences,’ the official Saudi Press Agency said. ‘The general directorate of traffic started replacing international driving licences recognised in the kingdom with Saudi licences,’ it added. The move comes as Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world where women are not allowed drive, prepares to lift its decades-long ban on female drivers on June 24.

 8am – D  INTERVIEW – JOSH KRAUSHAAR – Politics Editor, National Journal – discussed Tuesday’s primaries as the midterm elections approach.

• Eight states – Alabama, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota – will hold primaries Tuesday to pick candidates to run in the midterm general elections Nov. 6.
• KRAUSHAAR: Democrats Scramble to Avoid California Disaster. (National Journal) — Democrats are learning the unintended consequences of progressivism in California. The state, which once looked like a political gold mine, is becoming a massive political headache two weeks before its congressional primaries. California has become ground zero of the anti-Trump resistance movement, but the unharnessed liberal energy has become an unexpected problem in the party’s battle to win back a House majority. Democrats are contesting 10 GOP-held House seats there—nearly half of the number they need to win for Nancy Pelosi to become speaker again—but in several of those races, so many candidates are running that the party risks getting shut out of the general election.     

8am – E  79-year-old “Auntie Maxine” held a Meet & Greet Tweet-A-thon on Sunday for two hours, and while it’s hard to know what she hoped the outcome would be, but the turnout seemed to be underwhelming (The American Mirror) – Maxine Waters likes to say millennials love her, but if her own campaign event is any indication, that might be more rhetoric than reality.  “Come join top social media influencers for a tweet-a-thon in support of Auntie Maxine, our fearless champion in Congress who taught us how to reclaim our time!” the flyer read.  “Millennials come energized & ready to get out the vote!” her campaign urged.  But a video posted of the event by Waters’ campaign shows only a handful of millennials actually attended.