Mornings on the Mall 05.07.19

Thank you to @HotlineJosh for co-hosting with @MaryWalterRadio on @WMALDC 105.9 FM this morning! pic.twitter.com/KGokBTeU3M

— WMAL DC (@WMALDC) May 7, 2019

Henry Olsen, Gen. Jack Keane, Brian Jay Jones, Tom Bevan and guest host Josh Kraushaar joined WMAL on Tuesday morning!

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Josh Kraushaar

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C Q & A with JOSH KRAUSHAAR: Thoughts on the 2020 Field and Dem Polling

5am – D         Nadler Schedules Vote To Hold Barr In Contempt Of Congress. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler scheduled a vote Monday to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for not giving the committee special counsel Robert Mueller’s full unredacted report. The New York Democrat gave Barr a deadline of 9 a.m. Monday to turn in the full report with no redactions, which many Republicans believe would be dangerous due to the possibly sensitive material, which could be leaked. Nadler has now scheduled the congressional contempt vote for Wednesday, May 8 at 10 a.m. “Even in redacted form, the Special Counsel’s report offers disturbing evidence and analysis that President Trump engaged in obstruction of justice at the highest levels. Congress must see the full report and underlying evidence to determine how to best move forward with oversight, legislation, and other constitutional responsibilities,” Nadler said in a statement Monday. “The Attorney General’s failure to comply with our subpoena, after extensive accommodation efforts, leaves us no choice but to initiate contempt proceedings in order to enforce the subpoena and access the full, unredacted report. If the Department presents us with a good faith offer for access to the full report and the underlying evidence, I reserve the right to postpone these proceedings,” Nadler continued.

5am – E         Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin denied a request from House Democrats for access to six years of President Trump’s personal tax returns. (CNN) Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday denied a request from House Democrats for access to six years of President Donald Trump’s personal tax returns. “I am informing you now that the Department may not lawfully fulfill the Committee’s request,” Mnuchin wrote in his one-page letter, written in consultation with lawyers from the Department of Justice. Mnuchin added that the Department of Justice would issue a formal legal opinion. The denial comes after two missed deadlines by the Treasury secretary, who again in his letter said the request by House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal under an obscure statute of tax law is “unprecedented,” arguing it raises “serious constitutional questions” that could have dire consequences for taxpayer privacy.  Trump has refused to release his tax information, first as a candidate and now as president, breaking a precedent going back to Watergate. The fight over Trump’s tax returns is escalating just as the President has made increasingly clear that he expects his administration officials to fight requests from the opposing party. Attorney General William Barr declined a Democratic request to testify last week in the House about special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, a day after appearing in the Republican-controlled Senate.

6am – A         PRO-CHOICE DOXXER HARASSES WOMEN OUTSIDE A PLANNED PARENTHOOD:

• A Pennsylvania Democratic state representative went on an eight-minute rant, verbally harassing an elderly woman protesting outside a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic. Brian Sims recorded a woman outside Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, which is in his district, telling her to pray at home, calling her an “old white lady” and lecturing her about her Christian beliefs on the Periscope app.
• Brian Sims doesn’t stop with the ‘old white lady’… he goes on to harass some young prolife activists and offers viewers $100 to dox the pro-life minors

6am – B         COHEN GOES TO JAIL:

• Michael Cohen Set To Begin Prison Sentence. Michael Cohen reported to prison on Monday, nearly five months after his sentencing. President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and alleged “fixer” was sentenced to three years in prison last December for tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations over his hush payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims that she had an affair with Trump in 2006. Cohen reported to a minimum-security federal prison in Otisville, New York on Monday where he will have a special food menu and access to his own personal Rabbi, among other amenities. Cohen reported to a minimum-security federal prison in Otisville, New York on Monday where he will have a special food menu and access to his own personal Rabbi, among other amenities. The Federal Correctional Institute, which is located roughly 70 miles form Manhattan, offers a food menu that includes matzo ball soup and gefilte fish. The prison was described by white-collar criminal Larry Levine as “Jewish heaven” for its proximity to several major New York Jewish communities.
• Trump’s Ex-Lawyer Michael Cohen Joins Jersey Shore Star & Fyre Festival Founder in Prison. After pleading guilty in December, Trump’s former “fixer” will head to the Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville to serve his three-year sentence. What do Jersey Shore star Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland, and Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen all have in common? They’re all serving time together at what Forbes once ranked as one of “America’s 10 Cushiest Prisons.”

6am – C         ROYAL BABY IS BORN:

• Meghan Markle, Prince Harry welcome first child: It’s a boy! Buckingham Palace has announced the 7th in line to the throne was born yesterday to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The son, as yet unnamed, is Queen Elizabeth’s eighth great grandchild. Prince Harry told reporters he “is over the moon” about the birth of their first child. Awaiting the royal reveal: Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan Markle welcomed a bouncing baby boy early Monday morning, and now the world is waiting to find out the royal newborn’s name and what he looks like.  On Monday, a jubilant Harry said he and Markle still hadn’t decided on his name.

6am – D/E/F  New Jersey may ban all bags at supermarkets — no paper or plastic. (NJ.com) — Last summer, New Jersey was on the verge of becoming a national leader in efforts to curb the use of plastic bags and cutback on plastic waste. But when a bill landed on Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk, it was deemed not strict enough and vetoed. Murphy asked lawmakers to try again. Now a growing number of states are outlawing single-use plastics. Maine became the latest on Tuesday, when the Gov. Janet Mills signed a new law banning polystyrene food containers, including Styrofoam. New York passed a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags at the end of March. All the while, the stricter measure that Murphy requested for New Jersey is idling in the Statehouse. That bill (S2776) calls for bans on single-use plastic bags, plastic straws and polystyrene food containers. It also places a 10-cent fee on paper bags. But it soon may go even further. State Sen. Bob Smith, D-Middlesex, the head of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee, said he will push for the bill, which he sponsored, to be amended to include a ban on paper bags, as well. Smith said the move is aimed at pushing Garden State residents to further change their shopping habits and bring their own bags from home. “No bags whatsoever,” Smith said. “No single-use plastic, no paper.”

7am – A         INTERVIEW – HENRY OLSEN – Washington Post columnist and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center

• If the economy keeps its momentum, 2020 will be Trump’s to lose. (Washington Post/By Henry Olsen) — Friday’s job numbers are marvelous for President Trump. The headline unemployment rate is now the lowest since 1969, and the aggregate 263,000 job gain was nearly 50 percent higher than economists had forecast. And most importantly for Trump, the biggest winners are the same people whose cause he championed: Americans without four-year college degrees. Observers have long noted Trump’s support among the less-educated, especially among whites. At the outset of his presidency, the big question was whether they would vote for him again if he did not deliver what he had promised: better economic times for them. The data clearly show that he has. Unemployment, for example, has declined most over the past year among high school graduates, a key pro-Trump group. It stood at 4.1 percent in April 2018 but declined to 3.1 percent in Friday’s release. This occurred at the same time that more high school-educated workers re-entered the labor force. The employment-to-population ratio for workers 25 and older, which simply counts how many people have a job as a share of that group’s total population, rose from 54.7 percent to 55.9 percent in the past year alone. People with disabilities are also reaping the benefits of this economy. Unemployment among this population dropped from 8 percent last April to 6.3 percent now, showing that in a hot job market, employers seem willing to make accommodations and offer higher wages to bring these people back to work. The Social Security Administration, which pays disability insurance to most previously employed people who develop a disability, corroborates these data. The number of people receiving federal disability insurance through Social Security has risen for years in good times and bad, but the rate of growth slowed in President Barack Obama’s second term. That trend accelerated under Trump, and today nearly 300,000 fewer people receive disability checks than at the start of Trump’s term. Wages are also going up above the rate of inflation for the first time in years. Indeed, in the past year, wages have been rising fastest for the lowest-paid workers. Similar trends are playing out among workers with less education. During the Clinton, Bush and Obama years, wages rose faster for workers with four-year college degrees than for those with only a high school education. But that gap was gone by April of last year. Since then, wages have risen at roughly the same rate regardless of education. Again, the Trump economy is increasingly delivering for exactly the people he said it would.

7am – B         Tiger Woods Receives The Presidential Medal Of Freedom. (Daily Caller) — President Donald Trump awarded an emotional Tiger Woods the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Monday during a ceremony in the Rose Garden. Woods became the fourth golfer ever to receive the honor, along with Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Charlie Sifford. Woods held back tears during the ceremony, where Trump praised him as a “global symbol of American excellence, devotion, and drive.” Widely considered the greatest golfer of all time, Woods won his 15th major championship at “The Masters” last month, his first major win in 11 years. Woods’ latest triumph came after years of personal and physical struggles that saw him plummet from the top of the sport to near irrelevance. Trump announced the day after the tournament that he would be awarding Woods the honor because of his “incredible Success & Comeback in Sports (Golf) and, more importantly, LIFE.” Trump and Woods have known each other for years and have golfed together frequently in the past. When pressed by reporters following a tournament last year, Woods defended his relationship with the president, saying, “Well, I’ve known Donald for a number of years. We’ve played golf together and you know we’ve had dinner together. And so yeah, I’ve known him pre-presidency and obviously during his presidency.”

7am – C         2020 Hopeful Cory Booker Leads Democrat Senators in Fighting Beach Umbrella Threat. (Breitbart News) — The United States is facing daily threats from illegal immigration, outbreaks from once eliminated diseases, and calls from lawmakers to allow children who survive abortion to die, but four Senators on the East Coast — including presidential hopeful Cory Booker — are worried about the threat posed from beach umbrellas. CBS affiliate WTKR-TV cited one example of a woman, Lottie Belk, who died after being struck by an umbrella in Virginia Beach in 2016, but Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA), vice-chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Robert Menendez (D-NJ), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations, Tim Kaine (D-VA), Hillary Clinton’s running mate in 2016, and Democrat presidential candidate Cory Booker (D-NJ) are working to make sure no one else suffers such a fate. The lawmakers sent a letter to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission asking it to tell them how the issue is being addressed.  In the letter, they say that over two decades more than 31,000 “umbrella-related” injuries have taken place and asks for more details about the type of umbrella involved in the injuries. “The scourge of beach umbrellas is not a new phenomenon,” the letter says, citing a woman in New York who received a $200,000 settlement from the state from an injury she incurred in 1999.

7am – D         INTERVIEW – GEN. JACK KEANE – a retired 4 star general, former Vice Chief of Staff of the US Army, the chairman of the Institute for the Study of War and Fox News Senior Strategic Analyst.

• VENEZUELA:
  • Pompeo warns Russia against ‘messing around with Venezuela.’ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had strict words on Sunday for Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov regarding Venezuela – a day before the two are scheduled to meet to discuss, among other things, the continuing political crisis in the South American nation. “I’m going to tell him the same thing the president told the world: that every country must get out, including the Russians,” Pompeo said during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” “That’s what I’ll tell him. We don’t want anyone messing around with Venezuela. Pompeo added: We want [Venezuela] to be an autonomous, independent sovereign state, with democratic elected officials. This is what we desire for the Venezuelan people.”
  • Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó has said he is considering asking the US to launch a military intervention in the embattled country. Speaking to the BBC’s Nick Bryant, he said he would “evaluate all options” to oust President Nicolás Maduro. Last week he launched a failed attempt to spark a military rebellion and force Mr Maduro out of power. The president responded by delivering an address from an army base in Caracas, flanked by soldiers. Mr Guaidó declared himself Venezuela’s interim leader in January. As the head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, he invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency, arguing that Mr Maduro’s re-election last year was illegitimate. But Mr Maduro – who is backed by Russia, China and the leaders of Venezuela’s military – has refused to cede power.
• NORTH KOREA: After North Korean missile launch, Trump still has confidence in deal with Kim Jong Un. WASHINGTON – After North Korea fired a barrage of missiles early Saturday, its first tests in more than a year, President Donald Trump said he remains confident in negotiations with Kim Jong Un and that a nuclear deal is still possible. Trump contended that Kim would not do anything to hurt relations between the United States and the North, saying the North Korean leader did not want to “break his promise” when it came to the testing of missiles and nuclear weapons.  “Anything in this very interesting world is possible, but I believe that Kim Jong Un fully realizes the great economic potential of North Korea, & will do nothing to interfere or end it,” Trump posted to Twitter Saturday morning. “He also knows that I am with him & does not want to break his promise to me. Deal will happen!” Trump’s remarks came hours after South Korea said the North had fired several missiles into the sea off its eastern coast. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff is analyzing the launch and aiming to identify the type of missiles, which they said flew about 125 miles in the direction of the ocean before landing in the water.
• IRAN: US sends aircraft carrier and bomber task force to ‘warn Iran’
• GAZA: Intense fighting subsides in Israel, Gaza after ceasefire takes hold
• RUSSIA / CHINA: Pompeo: Russia is “aggressive” in Arctic, China’s work there also needs watching
• China threatened with tariff hike by week’s end. President Trump has threatened to hike tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent at the end of the week, as trade talks with China appeared to be stalling.
• President Donald Trump’s threats on Sunday to hike tariffs on Chinese imports initially worried investors that trade tensions between the two countries were escalating.
• Trump administration accuses Chinese officials of ‘reneging’ on earlier commitments in trade talks, reaffirms plan to raise

7am – E         Game Of Thrones Ruined My Entire Life By Leaving A Starbucks Cup In The Shot. (The Verge) — Of all the twists and turns on Game of Thrones’ most recent episode “The Last of the Starks,” the most shocking one for most of the internet was the appearance of an out-of-place cup of Starbucks coffee. Was it an uncharacteristic slip-up from one of the most expensive shows on television? Or perhaps it was a more sinister attempt at product placement for the ubiquitous coffee chain? According to Bernie Caulfield, an executive producer on the show, the offending cup was just a simple mistake. “We’re sorry!” Caulfield said in an interview with WNYC radio today, before quipping that “Westeros was the first place to actually, you know, have Starbucks.”  Caulfield noted that the gaff is rare for the show since its “prop people and decorators are so, you know, so on it 1,000 percent,” and “if that’s the worst thing they’re finding, then we’re in good shape.” While the mistake is certainly a bit embarrassing for HBO, everyone involved seems to be taking it in good humor.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – BRIAN JAY JONES – Author of “BECOMING DR. SEUSS: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination”

• Jones is a biographer with as much passion for telling stories as he has for the people he profiles. With his previous bestselling and critically acclaimed books, George Lucas and Jim Henson, he has established himself as a master profiler of creative geniuses. Jones dives into the life of Geisel, who for as prolific as he was, remained a mysterious figure to those who read him.

• Geisel’s Early Years: From his upbringing in Springfield, Massachusetts to attending Dartmouth and Oxford, Jones shares how Geisel’s early life shaped him, including his unremarkable academic career, and the untimely young deaths of his two sisters, Henrietta and Marnie.
• How a lucky encounter on the street started his book career: in 1937, after rejections from at least 20 publishers, Geisel was walking dejectedly home ready to give up, when he ran into a fellow Dartmouth alumnus who had just started a new job at Vanguard Press. Recalled Geisel, “If I’d been going down the other side of Madison Avenue, I would be in the dry-cleaning business today!” Vanguard published Seuss’ first book, though Geisel wouldn’t find commercial success as an author until over a decade later, after Random House published seven more of his books.
• The influence of Helen Geisel: Geisel relied heavily on his first wife, Helen, for her editorial input and aptitude for plot. She was his best and most devoted collaborator, and one of the few people who could challenge Geisel’s artistic instincts. When she died at the age of 69, Geisel kept the circumstances of her death intentionally vague. But there was much speculation about her passing, and whether rumors of Geisel’s extramarital affair drove Helen to take her own life.
• The Creative Process: The Cat in the Hat became a publishing juggernaut and launched Dr. Seuss into a national icon, selling more than a million copies within three years. But it took Geisel over a year to write the book. At the time, the vocabulary for children’s primers was limited to a certain number of “accepted” words for readers at each grade level. Geisel was limited to just 225 unique words, and he agonized over the manuscript, hoping to make the rhythm easy and charming for young readers. At long last, once he found the words “cat” and “hat”, the storyline came to him.
• His Radical Side: Geisel led a life that goes much deeper than the prolific and beloved children’s book author. In fact, the allure and fascination of Dr. Seuss begins with this second, more radical side. He had a successful career as a political cartoonist notably during WWII, and his political leanings can be felt throughout his books, such as the environmental awareness of The Lorax.
• Portrayal of Race and Gender: Over the course of a career that would span seven decades, Geisel drew tens of thousands of cartoons, some earlier examples of which are seen today as racially insensitive and misogynistic, including some war-era works. Later in life, Geisel would point to the established norms of the era. While he would go on to tinker with some of his art by playing with skin tone, his alterations wouldn’t be radical enough to stay away from controversy. Geisel would evolve, but it would take time.
• There Were No Nerds Until Dr. Seuss: In his book If I Ran the Zoo, Geisel’s character Gerald travels to far-off Ka-Troo, from which he brings back “A Nerkle…a Nerd…and a Seersucker, too!’ This was the first time the word nerd ever appeared in print. In the original story, a nerd was simply a grouchy-looking creature, essentially a Grinch, but within a year Newsweek would be writing about the evolution of regional slang in the United States, noting that nerd was replacing square.
• Dr. Seuss was also responsible for publishing other classic children’s books: Geisel helped launch Beginner Books at Random House. Through these books, he helped create a new generation of children’s books, moving away from generic looking books heavy on morality or steeped in fairy tales, and toward creator-driven stories centered on character.  Among notable names: Geisel brought on Stan and Jan Berenstain, who with his help would go on to become the successful authors of the Berenstain Bears books.  He also solicited a children’s book from Truman Capote, but rejected the manuscript Capote submitted.

8am – B/C     IMMIGRATION NEWS:

• WHITE HOUSE READIES IMMIGRATION PLAN… GOP senators head to the White House Tuesday to hear immigration plan.  (Politico) —  Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) are expected to attend, according to people familiar with the meeting. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a key Trump ally, had been expected to attend as well, but a person familiar with the situation said he would not be there after all even though he has been in touch with the White House on the proposal.  The meeting comes as Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, gears up to release an immigration plan he has spent months crafting, which is expected to boost security at the southern border and implement a merit-based system for immigrants.   Kushner is considering increasing the number of migrant workers allowed into the country while simultaneously reducing the number of family members that U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents are allowed to sponsor. That would have a net zero effect on overall immigration levels. … Kushner presented an initial draft to Trump recently but the president asked him to significantly broaden it to include border enforcement. He is working with Stephen Miller…
• ADMIN CHANGES TRAINING FOR VETTING ASYLUM SEEKERS: New Training Document for Asylum Screenings Reflects Tougher US Stance.
• Migrant Paid $130 to ‘Rent’ Boy to Cross Border as Family, Says DOJ
• US to allow 30,000 more visas for seasonal workers, including Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

8am – D         INTERVIEW – TOM BEVAN – President of RealClearPolitics – discussed the latest 2020 announcements and polling.

• Biden takes 32-point lead over Sanders in new 2020 poll.  (The Hill) — Former Vice President Joe Biden has a 32-point lead in the Democratic presidential race in a Hill-HarrisX poll released Monday. Biden won 46 percent in the poll compared to 14 percent for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who came in a distant second place. Former South Bend, Ind. mayor Pete Buttigieg was in third place with 8 percent, followed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) with 7 percent.
• MORE POSSIBLE RUNNERS: Bill de Blasio Denies Reports of 2020 Presidential Campaign Launch This Week. (Daily Beast) — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is denying reports that he is planning to announce his 2020 presidential bid this week, suggesting he is still mulling over the decision, according to NY1. De Blasio was widely expected to announce his much-hyped candidacy this week, but never formally committed to a timeline. He would enter as the twenty-third candidate vying for the Democratic nomination and the second from New York, following Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

8am – E         Ocasio-Cortez blown away by first experience with a garbage disposal. (NY Post) — New York Rep. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is learning a lot of new things in Washington — including about what a garbage disposal is. The 29-year-old freshman congresswoman posted photos and videos on Instagram showing the apparently “terrifying” contraption at work in her swanky DC apartment and saying she’d never seen one before. “OK everyone I need your help because I just moved into this apartment a few months ago and I just flipped a switch and it made that noise and it scared the daylights out of me,” Ocasio-Cortez can be heard saying in footage. “I am told this is a garbage disposal. I’ve never seen a garbage disposal. I never had one in any place I’ve ever lived,” she later said. The “Green New Deal”-touting Bronx Democrat wondered whether the device was “environmentally sound.” “This DC apartment is bougie and has things I’ve never seen before…” Ocasio-Cortez captioned the video, later noting: “Is this what social mobility is? Using kitchen appliances you never saw growing up?” The Bronx-born representative ended her Instagram story by quipping, “All you people telling me to reach in and grab whatever’s there are just Republicans trying to test my health insurance.”