With a porn star. This is peace through strength and action. Howie the media are split over the meeting with little rocket man. The president bucks his party by imposing tariffs. And gary cohn is being treated like and hero. This looks like a ship, its sinking and people are jumping. Hes telling people how sad he is about working in the white house. We cant afford to have people like gary koanl leaving the white house. We have anthony scaramucci, Sebastian Gorka and a series of rodeo clowns. Howie the Stormy Daniels story from a decade ago turns into a hush money story. Michael cone rrp received a restraining order to keep her from talking about the agreement. There was a payment and we assert it was to silence her. Plus a sitdown with Jennie Willoughby, one of rob porters exwifes. Im howard kurtz and this is mediabuzz. The state department told reporters thursday the u. S. Was not going to talk to the kim re jean. But the president said hell accept north koreas offer to talk. The press for two hours is going, this is fantastic, this is amazing. A certain anchor on cnn, fake as hell, cnn, said this is really something. He would go down as a truly great president if this happened. Nbc is worse than cnn. Then i get up in the morning, same people, they are saying not that big a deal. Anybody could have done it. Obama could have done it. Howie joining me to analyze the coverage. Gillian turner, mollie hemingway, Senior Editor at the federalist and a fox news contributor. And adrienne elrod. Gillian i have heard the meeting shouldnt take place. I havent heard anybody say the meeting is not a big deal. Gillian the reason the media is all over this because nothing make for a good story other than a nuclear summit. Especially when its between one world leader and one dictator who have been treating jabs the last year. The administrations tone has changed on north korea the last couple weeks. The media reaction we are seeing is a reflection of that. Howie after so much media disparagement of the president calling him little rocket man, plus the sanctions, does this cast it in and different light . Gillian it does. The administration has gone from every opportunity reminding the north they have a Bigger Nuclear button and military capabilities. Now President Trump is acting like the triangulatorinchief. There is a dramatic change in tone. Its and reaction of reality. Howie the media says there is a reason no previous president has met with a north korean dictator. Mollie i think they are not understanding a lot of the context of this, saying you cant legitimize someone like kim and previous president s would have never done this. Previous president s did things and didnt achieve anything. I think people on the right who oppose trump are move interventionist than the average republican. I think you are not hearing a lot of the principled realism dominating current Foreign Policy. Howie few in the press believe donald trump can do this. Some are saying will this meeting end up taking place. Is the medias scepticism justified . You are seeing people like Aaron Burnett who said if this takes place. Its incredible. I think the media will come around to being more open miernlded and different approaches. Howie we are seeing made yag warnings that North Koreans are very good at long drawn out negotiations with a lot of promises that dont get fulfilled. Is it the roll of the press to point out history which has not been favorable to the u. S. . Gillian yes. I dont see the media commenting on, and this is the thing i thought everybody would jump on at once. President trump ran on a Foreign Policy program that was in opposition to president obamas twrawn nuclear deal. I thought the media would jump on him for agreeing to replicate that. Hes willing to sit down with a u. S. Adversary to negotiate a nuclear deal. Mollie the iran deal is not denuclearization rather than delaying nuclearizationing. Gillian its similar parameters and the media is not pointing that out. Howie north korea is a rogue regime. The comments thats trump is a madman and oh, my god, hes going to have a diplomatic effort and sit down with kim jongun. Mollie some of that extreme departure is understandable. But they went from being so upset with his rhetoric. Then we have peace talks and denuclearization on the table and they are upset with that as well. If north korea said we are willing to talk denuclearization and trump said forget it i think he would have received a lot of criticism. Literally no matter what he does hell be criticized for it. Howie the press is convinced the president has a lone ranger style. Is this being framed as president of the United States disregarding the experts and winging it because hes such a great deal maker . Adrienne i think the media is rightfully critical of his tweets. Trying to tweet by diplomacy. Thats a serious concern. Howie most of president s didnt have twitter. Maybe it worked. Maybe the fire and fury convinced kim that he needed to come to the table. Adrienne its hard to make sure what makes sense because former president s did not have success. Howie individual journalists the were called out at last nights pennsylvania rally. President trump its 1999, im on meet the press, a show with chuck todd, a sleepy on of a bitch. Im reading peggy noonan and she is writing like im some kind of neanderthal. Gillian i dont know what it gets him but its incredibly effective with the folks who are supportive of him. It his criticism of the Mainstream Media works for a lot of republicans, too, though you dont see them coming forth and touting that. This is a president who i think for the Republican Party is representing a sentiment and feeling about the media that has been bubbling forth for many decade. Thats why we dont see folks like Speaker Paul Ryan and senator john mccain come down hard on him for that. Howie really classy, explain that to your children. Hewlett said donald trump only slams those hes afraid of. Mollie people have said its something revolutionary about him doing it here when he has dont for decades. It shows to a wide audience they still dont understand how donald trump speaks. And they dont get his humor. The media acts so prim and proper. This also the issue thats chuck todd had been hostile to the president of the Steel Workers union. When donald trump attacks chuck todd who just attacked Steel Workers they think hell fight for me. Howie let me point to this morning, the president tweeting about a New York Times story saying hell may bring a new lawyer on to his legal team in the russia investigation. He called that a fake story and accused the times of saying hes unhappy with his current lawyer, and it doesnt actually say that. Maggie haberman says hes a flunky. Adrienne this is what donald trump does. He attacked chuck, he attacked maggie, this is what he does. Howie Maggie Haberman tweeted that the story was confirmed. The Reagan Library talking about my new book this week. When we come back. The press gives gary cohn a sendoff. Jennie willoughby on her issue with rob porter. You know whats awesome . Gigspeed internet. You know whats not awesome . When only certain people can get it. Lets fix that. Lets give this guy gig really . And these kids, and these guys, him, ah. Oh hello. That lady, these houses yes, yes and yes. And dont forget about them. Uh huh, sure. Still yes xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. Now you can get it, too. Welcome to the party. Howie Michael Cohens rest is gary cohns resignation caused controversy. Is there a scintilla of doubt most of members of the Mainstream Media side with gary cohn on tariffs on aluminum and steel . Mollie there are no good economic arguments for doing tariffs if you just view it economically. That narrow prism is the only way people in the media are looking at it. The Trump Administration says its a National Security issue. They think the fundamental issue is whether a country should have steel and aluminum capabilities or not. So broadening out that discussion would help them not be so biased. Howie gary cohn left because of a policy disagreement. Well, he wasnt elected. But the press seems to love gary cohn suddenly. Adrienne the press likes gary cohn because he was a stable figure in the white house. And journalists have relationships with gary cohn as well. Howie if you talk to reporters and feed the beast, it helps with your public image. Adrienne i dont know about that. But he has credibility on economic issues. Coming from the stand point that hes leaving because they did have a seminal disagreement. Howie the political headline has the word disaster in it. An Unnamed White House official quoted saying with gary gone from a policy perspective it means disaster. Leaks from within the white house also fueling this narrative. Gillian i dont know that i agree with you guys so much that he has been a beloved figure in the media. I see this turn as more of a departure for the media. I think the reason they are showering him with this love, this is the first time we have seen someone leave the administration because they have a policy difference with the president. I think its better to chew over than when somebody leaves after a scandal like scaramucci or tom price. Its one thing to say i dont think the president is moving in a direction thats good for the company. Howie cohn did take some heat from the press and criticized the president s remarks after charlottesville. The media often forgets, this is what he promised during the campaign. I think that the Trump Administration is viewing this as a bargaining tip. And china is able to get steel into the u. S. In a way that is helping them and hurting us. We need to have that bigger position as well. Howie great to see you all. Ahead, the Stormy Daniels saga is back on the front pages. The onair humiliation of former trump aide sam nunberg. Was he exploited by the cable howie if you took a long nap monday you missed the sam nunberg show. It prompted some sharp criticism of cable news. He was a former Campaign Aide that was fired. And he decided to tell the world again and again that he had no intention of cooperating. If you are going to defy a grand jury are you worried about being held in contempt of court . Lets see what mr. Mueller does. Are you worried about being arrested . I think it would be funny if they arrested me. If you are asking my opinion, it sounds like a pain, but he is the special counsel and he has the long arm of the law. Howie why is nunberg saying this . He didnt have to hide his motivation. Im not a fan of donald trump. He treated me like crap. Okay . Howie as the day went on he threw out allegations. What do they have . I dont know. I think some people are worried about you and worried about what usual doing. We just showed the white house doesnt want to comment on this. You are in the eye of the storm. Hut up. And he criticized Sarah Huckabee sanders for her physical appearance. I smell alcohol on your breath. I havent had a drink. It is the talk out there. Howie if he was, the hangover showed up the next day. Say the networks exploited the guy who was melting down. But cable news focused on getting the best bookings for their hour. Sam nunberg wanted to deliver a message thats news. There was nothing wrong with under viewing him, but he couldnt cooperate some of the wild stuff. She was known to the press as rob porters exwife. Now Jennie Willoughby will be here to talk about a scandal she never sought. The president s lawyer is being accused of trying to vo gopis found a way to keep her receipts tidy, even when nothing else is. Brand vo snap and sort your expenses with quickbooks and find, on average, 4,340 in tax savings. Quickbooks. Backing you. Howie i spoke to the president s lawyer about Stormy Daniels trying to overturn a nondisclosure agreement. Cohen was the one who had her sign the agreement. The idea an attorney would go off on his own without his clients lawyer and engage in this agreement is ludicrous. The story line is a porn star was paid 130,000 by the president s personal lawyer to keep her mouth shut about an affair that took place around the time his son was being born. This is not a good story line for the president. Howie howie cohen told me i committed no crime. The sole purpose of these negative attacks is an attempt to malign our president and distract from his historic achievements over the past year. In austin, texas, jess tatar love, and emily jashinsky. Does the hush money aspect and Michael Cohen getting this restraining order gets Stormy Daniels make it war think frontpage news . Emily wet allegations first surface when the allegations first surfaced, people blinked. But when you are naming him in a lawsuit, then we are talking about front page news. Howie jessica let me read you another comment from my interview with Michael Cohen. He says where i have been mistreated is by the talking heads on the various news programs making comments on their opinion and limited knowledge of the event. But the Trump White House hasnt been answering questions about this. Jessica Michael Cohen could help us out and make it clear what happened here. This story went through so many iterations. Now we ended up at a place where trumps personal lawyer used his personal email account to do it. If this happened with president obama, the country would be on fire. Because President Trump was on the cover of playboy and he can talk to howard stern about inappropriate things. That he would pay hush money right before the election in november. It is insane and it is front page news and there may be legal ramifications and thats why congress is paying attention to it. Howie here is perhaps the most of newsworthy thing he told me. Michael cohen said Stormy Daniels denied the allegations on multiple occasions. Mr. Trump denied the allegation as well. Just because something isnt true it doesnt mean it cant cause you harm and damage. Despite claims by the liberal media this was not done for the campaign but for trump personally. He said he did this for his client and not to influence the campaign. There is all these legal details we have to hash out. We have to talk about this in the larger context of the news cycle. Bernie sanders had an interesting comment to jake tapper. He says cnn is talking about this, but we had terrorists in the news and shootings in the news, so its a crowded news cycle. How where he may seek damages over the breaking of this agreement. First she claimed they had an affair, then she let a statement to be released saying no affair. Now she is having her lawyer say the opposite as she sues the president. I would like all of it could be looked into. Lets be fair to each member of the cast of characters. Credibility is a question here. We know the Money Transfer was made. And i get it, sometimes people pay people off because it can be damaging, not because it happened. But its frustrating. Howie we havent seen the emails and documentation because of the nondisclosure. Stormy daniels taped and interview with 60 minutes with anderson cooper. But i dont think cbs can run this unless the none disclosure business is resolved. Liberal pundits should remember this is not bill clinton having sex with an intern and lying about it while he was in office. It was a long time ago consensual affair. I dont think its something we should ignore. If we do ignore it, its passive acceptance of it. But there are key distinctions. This is a different time. There is so much happening in the news. The media has to keep their viewers in mind. I have gotten flack saying dont touch this story. Jessica tarlov, emily jashinsky, thanks foe coming by. Howie Jennie Willoughby is on deck. You wont see these folks at the post office they have businesses to run they have passions to pursue how do they avoid trips to the post office . Stamps. Com mail letters ship packages all the Amazing Services of the post office right on your computer get a 4 week trial plus 100 in extras including postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again with the nun. 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Jennie willoughby said in Television Interviews how he had been physically abusive, how he yanked her out of the shower to continue yelling at her and she got a protective order against him. What was it like for you to be in that Media Coverage of the abusive treatment by your exhusband. Its a period of your life you thought you left behind. It was a year ago i wrote the blowing post that initiated this. It was my therapy and my attempts to help other people who might be in that situation. When the media caught wind of that and they started investigating rob, thats when i got pulled into this. Howie you just wrote a Washington Post oped and said they havent apologized for mishandling the situation. What would you like the president to say . Anybody suffering from Domestic Violence, this is a moment for the white house to draw a line in the sand and say this is not okay. After other national crises, thats what the president is for. Rather than doing that, he missed the opportunity to do that. Howie you write that john kelly the chief of staff added insult to injury by describing it as just accusation of a messy divorce. What bothers me about that is a larger societal issue that we can put a hierarchy to a view. Somehow Emotional Abuse is something you can overlook and the physical abuse is where you draw the line. Howie you did have the punching of the glass, but Emotional Abuse is what you feel you went through. Emotional abuse is where it starts. Howie what kind of backlash have you gotten . You have gone the a lot of hate mail. You have a lot of people concerned i am out for revenge to tear down robs career and the white house. Why would i want to do this . I didnt. I dont. Howie you said you werent calling him to lose his job. No, i trusted the federal bureau of investigation to do their job in determining whether he would be able to stay in that position. It was not my desire to make that decision. Howie was there a lot of vitriol directed at you personally . Yes. A lot of people questioning my credibility. Am i getting paid. Has my alimony stopped . I put that marriage behind me years ago and did the healing i needed to do. The reason i chose to speak out is i wanted people to not be able to mischaracterize my words on my blog post. Howie there was a sense that you were pushing a hidden agenda. How much of a problem is it when you go farther and a mans colleagues say its true more generally. Hes such a terrific guy at work. Hes so talented, he would never do that. The claim must be exaggerated. If somebody has the same behaviors they had at home in private, if they are that same way in public they wouldnt have the job they have. People wouldnt want to work with them and people wouldnt be friend with them. There is a duality they are able to maintain which makes it next to impossible for coworkers to believe they could be that different at home. Howie are you reluctant to be labeled a victim forever and branded that way . I dont consider myself a victim. I dont want that to be my label. I cringe that my label now is rob porters exwife because i am so much more than that and i always have been. I hope people suffering an abusive situation can see this is not something that will define you forever. Howie its not the only thing you have done or are doing. Do you want to get out of the spotlight or do you feel compelled to speak out . I originally wanted to get out of the spotlight. Now that i have had time to dissect it and read the comments and supportive gotten from the Domestic Violence community i do feel compelled to speak. I wanted to elevate Domestic Violence to a national stage. The way the white house handled it is emblematic of how the nation will handle it. Howie do you think journalists were generally fair to you despite the public backlash . I think the media was fair in reporting my words. They were reporting generally. But the initiation of this scandal. But i feel the media missed out on an opportunity. They took the security clearance issue, the potential coverup or whatever the might house may have been doing. They told the story they shot people wanted to hear. And missed the opportunity to tell the story the public needs to hear. Thats how we as a society address and shy away from. Howie many women who suffer Domestic Abuse are reluctant to speak out. If they are not connected to somebody famous, its hard. Even after my blog post has gone public, even after i have gone public, having to relive this experience, people still question and not want to believe me. So what hope does that give someone who is not in the public eye. Howie we appreciate you having the conversation on camera today. Bill maher calls out the media bill maher calls out the media for phoney outrage stories. [thinking] mexican spices . Bill maher calls out the media for phoney outrage stories. [thinking] nacho cheese sauce . They dont want these coming out. Whos they . The burger people. They they nacho fries, now serving at a taco bell near you. [bong ] howie bill maher went off and manufactured controversies such as supposed outrage that actress jennifer lawyers was photographed in a promo where all the men are wearing coats and she isnt. No wonder fake news resonates so much with trump fans. So much of it is fake. Just nonsense to keep you perpetually offend by controversies that arent controversial and outrages that arent outrageous. Places like the Huffington Post make their money by how many clicks they get. Howie arent you tired of these stories about twitter is outraged about x. Mollie if you are going to write about outrage, make sure its somewhat genuine. Howie this is a promo shoot for the movie red sparrow with Jennifer Lawrence she chose to do. Maher says. Mollie she got pushback. She had an Instagram Post in response to it. A lot of the people in the media dont know how to write about pretty women. They know people like to look at pictures of Jennifer Lawrence and they dont want to objectify them, so they come up with other reasons. They do like to write about attractive women but they dont want to seem sexist and they need a fig leaf. You are giving away the secret here. Mollie there is a responsible on people. When you talk about something going viral, its because readers like to click on it. Think about whether you are choosing the most of edifying it. Howie on the frivolous stuff is there such a hunger for clicks that no one can resist in or does this boomerang against one side if its done too often. Poll requires one thing to see a random blog get clicks. But major publications that have parts of their website linking to anything. If we are going to hold ourselves up as being important for civility and good discussions, we have a responsibility to do whats right. How report echo chamber effect. Saying its really hot, its going viral. Everyone is talking about it because everybody is ginning it up. Poll rrl we seem to have a tyranny of outrage. Think about ways to cover other things other than shows outraged. Howie it looks like barack obama is getting his own show and joy bay hairs finally sorry. Howie heres an embarrassing correction. The New York Times created a hypothetical family and said their taxes will likely soar. It turns out the paper made a mistake and the taxes for mr. An formr. And mrs. Hypotl decrease by 46. Barack obama and Michelle Obama are going to have a show on netflix. Joy behar was pressured to apologize to mike pence for her crack about him talk to jesus. Im showered kurtz. Continue the conversation on twitter howardkurtz. Check out my Facebook Page and give us a like. If you want to email us, come at us. Set your dvrs. Well be back next sunday 11 rrp eastern with the latest buzz. Crash in new york city. Landed almost like it was supposed to land and completely under water. This is a diplomatically led effort. You can see that an action right now for those who questioned me about whether it was diplomatic we led. I now rest my case with exhibit a. I have actually asked to head up a task force that would really look at what states are doing. Theres a sense of urgency. Im not running for president