The American People should want to know if there were any secret dealing with the russians during the campaign. But we never had an attorney general who put his entire future in the hands of the Russian Ambassador. I felt that was a weak moment for the attorney general. I think he could have stepped up and said i did nothing wrong. Sessions is wrong, whether hes guilty of perjury, he lied to the senate, he lied to the American People. In a stunning development, the media praising donald trump over his speech to congress, even though the harsh attackers are on the left. Obsessing 24 hours, 7 days a week over this one guy. Do we think he will come on our show . Does he like us . Howie this is mediabuzz. No one in the media is quite sure how to handle President Trumps charges and the fact that he personally blaismed his blamed his predecessor. President trump tweeted this. Terrible. Just found out my wired were tapped just before the victory. Nothing found. This is a bad or sick guy. Katie pavlich, editor of townhall. Com and the columnist for the daily beast. How should the media treat these tweets . To figure out what he said and why he said what he said. What was it that made donald trump tweet. He said just found out. When did he find out and what did he find out. Howie it seems murky. I think the medias position will be hes trying to distract from the sessions. The president talking about a specific incident, when did he find out, just now. But its important for the media to talk about it in terms of when did this ham. There are reports of a request to go into trump tower and observe a server there. But they need to reminds the American People what the Obama Administration did. If the Obama Justice department collected phone calls and emails of reports and news executives. And they went after tea party groups. But president obama has the obligation to provide proof. If hes going to make such a staunch accusation. Howie the president was apparently spurred by a long in monologue in breitbart, and that seems to be why he went on this saturday morning tweet storm. Does any of that raise questions for you . Sure. The questions it raises is about trump and his mental processes. Most president s would want to talk to the f. B. I. And Justice Department lawyers and try to talk find out the official things. Trump doesnt roll that way. One of the oldest adages in the business is if the president says it, its news. Howie in the course of the investigation about russia we dont know if the request was granted. But would president obama have any personal involvement with that putting out a statement saying president obama nor his Administration Never ordered the investigation. The reports about this are troubling. The president would like the hill intelligence committees to expands their investigations to include this. And what did the Obama Administration do. Then neither the white house nor the president will comment further. It sounds like an effort to shut it down. If the white house put out an official statement from shawrn spicer saying that. He obviously wants to turn the page. Howie by the way, good luck with that. They want to talk about repealing obamacare which is supposed to be on the docket and the new travel ban. Howie we are chasing the latest controversy scandal. Let me play for you an exchange on abc this week. One Administration Official out there on the show, Sarah Huckabee sandersen Martha Raddatz. Lets look into this. If this happened, if this is accurate. The president of the United States is accusing the former president of wiretapping him. I think this is again something if this happened, march that if, if, if, if. Its hard for Martha Raddatz say if, if, if when all week she has been saying regarding Jeff Sessions if he met with the russian am balances doer. The idea that the president cant make thats accusation is interesting. Howie Sarah Huckabee sanders is out there and what Martha Raddatz is arguing the president stated it as fact. He said this happened. Michael says you cannot cover it, yet we dont know if there is any there there. Its a story the media should be covering. If the media is going to lecture about covering things when there is no there there, when they have been covering things for months with no evidence, it doesnt hold credibility. The president cannot just go out and say things without evidence of the claim. He put his team into a position where they have to defend it. And they are saying they are not going to comment on it. If this scene ongoing investigation, they cant comment on it. There is not a lot of information you can give because people are investigating whether a crime was coming. Howie some of the media is covering this as if its a conspiracy theory. An accuse anyf anything if you are going to make stuff up. The point is both for politicians and journalists in public life and have a responsibility to watch what they say, the point is to make sure there is some kinds of grounds for what you are saying about people, whether you are writing it or saying it about another politician. The coverage of that when somebody doesnt offer evidence or have a basis that we know about should be extremely sceptical. The president hasnt liked leaked or the stories about whats going on inside the white house. Cnn posted a video of a big fight happening inside the oval office. Hes at odds with his staff. Sean spicer if putting out this statement to shut it down. Maybe there is open war between trump and his staff. Howie cnn had a head line, President Trump falsely accused president obama of pyr of wiretapping. That brings us back to Jeff Sessions. There was a furor over a Washington Post story that despite what he told the senators at confirmation hearing, he had had a couple meetings with the Russian Ambassador. Here is the attorney general talking about this with the attorney general. Do you see this as a witch hunt . I dont think what was said about that meeting i had with the Russian Ambassador was legitimate. I think it was shieched beyond reason and i dont think it was fair. When Jeff Sessions who says he didnt minneapolis lead the committee and answering a narrow version of the the ask the the question. Toot Washington Post story was accurate. The reporting was about meetings that occurred. There was no context of what was discussed in the meetings. There is no proof of wrongdoing tore collusion between senator Jeff Sessions as a campaign surrogate and the Russian Ambassador. Howie the attorney general decide on his own to recuse himself. He deserves a lot of credit for this. Hes loyal to the process and low to the law. There was an appearance ofism propriety and he knew that. For someone who believes in that not being an issue, he rekiewlsd himself. I would say the reason it got so hyped is democrats went after him. Yet we have this long list of democrats who also met with the Russian Ambassador how report question was, was he completely candid with the senate committee. They did not criticize Loretta Lynchs meeting with bill clinton while the election was going on. Welcome to washington. This is always going to happen. We have Supreme Court hearings coming you have and well see democrats doing the things republicans would have done when obama was president. Its not shocking. Howie you are right, welcome to washington. But it undercuts the people who have selective outrage. Ahead, a New York Times columnist on President Trump calling his paper evil. Pundits on the right gush over President Trumps speech to congress. Everything your family touches sticks with them. 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Our goal, without a doubt, is that all customers are satisfied before they leave. Howie President Trumps toughest critics in the media had phrase for him after his speech to congress. The time for small thinking is over. Time for trivial fights is behind us. This is the most president ial he has been. This is the best speech of his short political career. I feel like tonight donald trump became the president of the United States. There are a lot of people who have a lot of reasons to be frustrated with him, to be fearful of him, to be mad at him. But that was one of the most extraordinary moments you have ever seen in american politics, period. He said in the beginning he was going to speak from his heart, and i think he certainly did that. Howie it was across the political spectrum. Based on the social medias relationship with President Trump saying fake news, which was surprised to see such openness to the things he was saying. I think to give him some credit, it wasnt just what he said and the words that came out of his mouth, it was his tone and the things he decided to address. There werent any personal attacks upon what he calls his goes and enemies. When President Trump and candidate trump talked about real issues, thats when he came up in the polls and catching hillary clinton. In the last month we have seen his numbers go down because he was focusing on petty issues. Howie van jones was talking about that emotional moment with the widow of the fallen navy seal. It was called optimistic, uplifting, called for unity. Didnt really change his positions, but rare praise for this president. He didnt change his positions. He just made them sound nicer. I wrote a reasonably favorable column about his speech. Howie were you grimacing when you wrote that . People expected him, i dont know, to talk about and polled arnol totalk about Arnold Schwarzeneggers bad ratings and he didnt do that. He reached out to democrats during the speech. And some of the criticism of the story i wrote is im surprised you covered the speech straight. Howie this speech was how the pundits and the media in general want trump to behave, to be reasonable sounding and bipartisan sounding and not engage in all the attacks. They dont like when hes firing thing off on twitter and its kind of chaotic and attacking the press among others. 24 hours later everyone is talking about Jeff Sessions. Its not just pundits and his foes who want him to behave in a more president ial manner. His supporters want him to put the twitter feed away and have it not be a reactionary tool. That speech gave them that confidence, but the next day we were talking about attorney general Jeff Sessions which wasnt the Trump Administrations doing. Howie did you get feedback and notice what the pundits were saying . There was an interesting debate playing out over the course of the week over that moment with the navy seals widow. I noticed some military people tweeted they thought it was manipulative. Howie speak of petty fights. The president tweeted Arnold Schwarzenegger leaving celebrity apprentice. And arnold blamed trump. Up next, Vice President pence wants an apology from the ap and he isnt getting one. Well tell you why. Why put up with just part of a day . Aleve, live whole not part. Tell you what, ill give it to you for half off. What would help is simply being able to recognize a fair price. Truecar has pricing data on every make and model, so all you have to do is search for the car you want, there it is. Now youre an expert in less than a minute. This is truecar. Companies across the state are york sgrowing the economy,otion. With the help of the lowest taxes in decades, a talented workforce, and worldclass innovations. Like in plattsburgh, where the most advanced transportation is already en route. And in corning, where the future is materializing. Let us help grow your companys tomorrow today at esd. Ny. Gov howie the a. P. Had been covering a perfectly legitimate piece about mike pence using a personal account when he was governor. But they published the aol account name of his wife karen. Do you see any justification of printing the aol address of mike pences wife . First is whether its justified. The a. P. Is saying they were both used to conduct personal business. Should they have asked whether the account was still active. Thats something i would have checked. We try to avoid things like posting peoples personal addresses and phone numbers, license plate numbers. You can argue she is a private citizen. But you can argue she works in an official capacity as well. Howie the story didnt say here is a bombshell email karen expense said. It just threw in the address. Vice president pence asked for an apology. The a. P. Did delete the address subsequent online. So i can see where that would be us from crating for the Vice President and his family. I dont see what warranted publishing the address. To report she had a personal account, fine. Its an oversight that they didnt check to see if that account was still active. They admit such. They said when we realized the account was still used, we took it down. What would have happened fit was Michelle Obama or dr. Jill biden. On social media people were declaring this is more evidence that the media is dead set against the Trump Administration. George bush is back in the news, his painting of Wounded Warriors and veterans. Did you ever consider the media to be the enemy of the American People . I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy. We need an independent media to hold people like me to account. Howie president bush got so Much Negative coverage. Now they are saying he wasnt such a bad guy. I wish they would have followed that up with another question whether he thinks the media is fair in general to republicans. The Bush Administration did not view the press as neutral. They saw them as bias and a special Interest Group its interesting to hear him now. He wasnt on board with the trump campaign, so you can draw any conclusion there from the way he responded to that. Howie george bush was muted in his criticism of donald trump. Great to see you. We have a response from Katrina Pierson from the trump organization. This this this this is my body of proof. Proof of less joint pain and clearer skin. This is my body of proof that i can take on Psoriatic Arthritis with humira. Humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. Its proven to help relieve pain, stop further joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. Humira is the 1 prescribed biologic for Psoriatic Arthritis. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Want more proof . Ask your rheumatologist about humira. Whats your body of proof . Howie the president hasnt been slamming the press too vociferously this week. With us is Katrina Pierson. We have been talking about president obama accusing barack obama of make the ex closive charge of acting like nixon during watergate. Personally blaming the form president for wire tarpg his phones in trump tower during the campaign. Why would he make such a charge without proof. Clearly the president has information that has not been released yet. Its not farfetched to even imagine Something Like this being done by the Obama Administration its the same administration that used several agencies to target republicans. The d. O. J. Raid on gibson guitar for using the same wood on their guitar as their competitor. Because they were a republican donor. Howie to say the president probably has evidence hes not sharing doesnt rise to the level for the media to be able to report this is true. If he has that information why would he not release that information to make his case. He says i just learned. This is something he was just informed. He said that in his statement and im pretty sure well see more of that to come. Y where is the evidence where donald trump was working with the russians during the campaign . We have seen this narrative in the media for months now with zero evidence. Howie i dont dispute that. All the allegations and insinuations may turn out to be nothing. And i want to come back to that. You have breitbart doing an article that was circulated in the white house. Mark levin and guardian and others said whether the f. B. I. Was seeking approval from the fisa courts. Thats not the same as saying barack obama personally authorized this. Is the president reacting to an article in breitbart which is a favored publication at the white house . If you look at the last administration, this is the same administration with the president using an pail yas. A statement that came out today with regards to obama says that they would in no way interest geared an investigation. We know the f. B. I. Wanted to investigate the Clinton Foundation and Obamas Administration stepped in. So this, too, is not farfetched. The Washington Post reported this week that Jeff Sessions, give what we might say was an incomplete answer to if the Senate Judiciary hearing during his confirmation. That story as far as we know was accurate and the attorney general on his own made the decision to recuse himself. The president later said this is a witch hunt. Why is it a rich hunt to report something that turned out to be true . There is no there there. Jeff sessions answered the question that was asked of him in the capacity that he was part of the campaign. Of course, a senator has interactions with foreign officials, and thats not the question that was asked of him. I dont think he should have recused himself. But he did so as he said he would. Because he was essentially considered a part of the campaign he recused himself. Howie all these stories and investigation and allegations going back to who in the campaign and Trump Associates had contacts with people from russia including the Russian Ambassador. Do you think the media is pursuing this because they have a sense there is a there there and something nefarious at the heart of this, or just Unanswered Questions that have not been disclosed. This particular attack on the attorney general Jeff Sessions was specifically to remove all the coverage from the amazing speech the president gave. He gave a speech where you had republicans and democrats agreeing, the country was coming together around this president and the media was not going to let that happen. Howie you think the timing is deliberate . Absolutely. The democrats are notorious for changing the narrative. This time you have a Republican Administration thats going to fight back. Howie Kellyanne Conway, this thing subsequent viral. Democratic congressman receive c richmond told an awful joke about her. Do you believe the awful joke about kellyanne deserved more attention. I think all of the womens groups should have come out . Kellyanne conways defense. If a republican had received something similar. They would be demanding a resignation, they would be demanding his wife leave him. Ivanka trump is being targeted for something her dad said a decade ago. Howie it did deserve more coverage and more criticism. Katrina peer southern. Thanks very much. Ahead more on the broke us outrage over that Kellyanne Conway photo. Success has always been measured in zeros. But shouldnt it be about firsts . And seconds. How about adding a third . We think theres a bajillion ways to measure success. And whether you have hundreds or millions. We think you deserve the Financial Freedom to sleep like this at night. This is the new success story. And at tiaa, were with you. Start today at tiaa dot org. The search for relief often leads. Here. Here. Or here. Today, theres another option. Drugfree aleve direct therapy. A tens device with high intensity power that uses technology once only available in doctors offices. 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Howie you wrote that most republicans think the press is unfair to their side and felt that for a very long time. As you showed earlier in the broadcast here. President george w. Bush received forward and said the press does play a vital role, and we know he did not love the press and always thought we had it in for him. The point of my column was basically when true information is questioned through the press, that serves no one. So you can see republican opponents of President Trump wanting true states or data to make a policy argument. Is true data is knocked down so easily it under serves them. Howie even if the stories are legitimate. The near volume has been so relentless. Can you say these newspapers, fofor example thanked the same scepticism. I dont know if we saw the same climate at the beginning of the Obama Administration. Even the Trump Administration would say they came in to really shake things up. He has never been in office before, so this an extraordinary beginning. Its a complete apples and oranges comparison. You raised this, if reporters view the trump presidency, at that time just a possibility. Their report would go respect that and they would notch closer to being oppositional. You said balance has been on vacation since . Strum stepped on to the trump tower escalator. Thats a question people have. Weather reporters think they are saving the world or not. Have they have changed the standards reporting on this president ial candidate who is now president . Im glad you brought that column up. If you have reid it down to its conclusion, it said report the facts wherever they may lead. Thats our job. Sometimes campaigns and it by no means would it mean going easive at all on then candidate clinton. It takes that report the facts wherever they take you and it is with it is. To your point the tone has sometimes been a little hot across the media. They report the news in as straight away as they can. But this an extraordinary publication and President Trump is an extraordinary publ figure and there will be a different way of covering him. Howie we are also at a time when its extraordinarily low levels of trust in the media. Some of that is a hangover from the campaign. So i think we all have to keep in mind that our credibility here is on the line as well. Let me get you to weigh in on the subject. The president ial tweets, accusing president obama wire catching trump tower. The New York Times said he offered no proof. But what is the challenge here for reporting on this kind of president ial nation . I think its just that. Here, this amazing, huge allegation. So we need to drive for evidence. If there isnt any, we need to say it. You see the debate unfold on twitter and publicly and im sure other shows like this one. If you do that headline, President Trump accuses predecessor of spying on him. Thats a flat statement. And you have to say there is no evidence. But well keep reporting. I think this will shake loose some new details and everyone will be interested to find out including the administration. Im for reporting and fairness. You are saying you see it in a different way. Appreciate the chance to talk to you. Thanks so much for coming in. Good to see you. After the break, more on President Trumps unproven wiretapping allegations. Taking the ancestry dna test is really quite simple. It comes in the mail, you pull out the tube and you spit in it, which is something southern girls are taught youre not supposed to do. You seal it and send it back and then you wait for your results. Its that simple. Why pause a spontaneous moment . Cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. Tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. To avoid longterm injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. If you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Ask your doctor about cialis. Howie where does the media go from here on President Trumps wiretapping charges against president obama. The president has done this before on twitter without providing evidence. Will the media still be pursuing this a week from now or will there be other controversies . Of course well pursue it. Its part of this larger russia issue. Where is the evidence . Is there an investigation going on . And what can we get about that . We havent heard anything about what the russians think about whats going on with this story. Howie the russians have not criticized this. There is not a lot of coverage about what moscow thinks. I also think at some pientd we might hear from president obama because these allegations have been made against him. President trump was suppose to be quiet after the new president took over. I think we could hear more from him. Then there is the ke question of context. Why were all these Trump Associates meeting with russians. Howie what do you think of the defenders saying ultimately there is nothing at the bottom of this. But there is no nefarious conspiracy at the heart of this and the media almost want this to be true. They may. But its clear from the way the president is acting and some of what he is saying that there is some reason hes after this story. And hes continuing to have the media chase it. I think the president is complicit in making this a story. Howie i also think some of this has to do with his foreign policy. Some people see that as raising questions. But he won an election saying those very things. In the department of stupid stuff. Look what happened when this photo of Kellyanne Conway went viral. The oval office, feet under the couch. The new york post, was Kellyanne Conway raised in a barn. When your staff is straight out of the trailer. Come on. Kellyanne addressed her shocking behavior with lou dobbs. I wanted to thank so many of them for coming to my defense. They my was being asked to take a picture in a crowd room with the press behind us. I certainly meant no disrespect. Howie why did this go so viral and was there sexism in it. I think because Kellyanne Conway has been such a big figure in the news of late and taken on criticism, so people love to continue that criticism. You and i both are in television. We know that photographers do whatever they can to get the shot. Howie they crawl over people and so forth. The fact that she is probably the most visible defender of President Trump and often goes on tv. She wears something colorful she gets snobbed. I guess the media goes along with it on twitter. Its so bogus. Its just a photo of her taking a photo. Im sure there are people who did a double take when they saw her sitting as she was. But she is a controversial figure so thats what people grab on to. Howie my thought is, get a life. The latest trump trauma. And jon stewart back and mocking the media. Everything your family touches sticks with them. Make sure the germs they bring home dont stick around. Use clorox disinfecting products. Because no one kills germs better than clorox. You need one of these. You wouldnt put up with an umbrella that covers you part way, so when it comes to pain relievers, why put up with just part of a day . Aleve, live whole not part. Tell you what, ill give it to you for half off. So beautiful. What shall we call you . Tom name it tom studies show that toms have the highest average earning potential over their professional lifetime. See . Uh, its a girl. Congratulations two of my girls are toms. I work for ally, finances are my thing. You know, im gonna go give birth real quick and then well talk, ok . Nice baby. Lets go. Here comes tom 5 nothing, stops us from doing right by our customers. Ally. Do it right. Whoo look out. Howie washington most writer Amanda Erickson doesnt like the president creating illegal crime. Wall street journalist bret stevens tweeted this. When will the republicans acknowledged the president of the United States is mentally ill. Can we all skip the diagnoses and stick to journalism . Jon stewart is back popping up with his onetime sidekick Stephen Colbert and he has a message for the media. Hey, media. I heard donald trump broke up with you. Stings, doesnt it. You finally met your match. A blabber mouth who is as thin skinned and narcissistic as you are. Now its over. Good rid dance. I say kick him to the curb. Howie you make it so personal like we cant live without trump. I notice you couldnt stay off tv and you had to sound off about donald trump. So welcome back to the tv blabber mouth club. Im howard kurtz, thanks for joining us. Hope you like our facebook page. Give it a like. And continue the conversations on twitter as well. I get plenty of tweets, particularly after each show. If you happened to miss our program, set your dials up there. I also appear on siriusxm radio, media minutes. We are back here next sunday. See you then with the latest buzz. [ ] eric explosive allegations of the Obama Administration surveilling trump tower. The president accused his predecessor of wiretapping trump tower before the election. Administration calling on congress to investigate whether the Obama Administration abused its powers. Welcome to americas news heath head quart kearse. Im eric shawn. Arthel im arthel neville. President trump comparing it to watergate but offeringo