Cold crazy. Its similar to what the Nixon Administration said to aide. Its not unusual for congress to investigate potential criminal wrongdoing by the president. They created an enemies list with the 81 individuals and entities they are going to try to persecute for material on trump. Its not specifically what jerry nadler is looking for. The president is right, this is almost literally a witch hunt. Howie 81 trump world targets. Legitimate oversight or partisan overreach. Gayle king confronts r. Kelly about the alleged sexual abuse of young girls and he explodes. The cbs morning host kept control of a tense and volatile situation. Im howard kurtz and this is mediabuzz. Even some journalists sympathetic to House Democrats are questioning whether they are going too far after jerry nadler demanded information from 81 groups and individuals. The president calling the democrats crazy, signaling his administration might not comply. President trump the witch hunt continues, and they want to do that instead of getting legislation passed. 81 people and organizations got letters. Its a disgrace to our country. Howie joining us, mollie hemingway. Gillian turner, and mo elleithee, former democratic official who runs georgetown Universitys Department of politics. Are most of of the media cheering them on because all investigations of trump are inherently good . Mollie the media was supporting the hostility the agencies had in oversight. You had congress trying to dig into what was happening at the department of justice or the fbi where they were investigating trump or benghazi. And the media supported resistance to that oversight. Now you have this fishing expedition of dozens and dozens of people, i didnt see that kind of resistance. We talk about the media all the time. New york times, jerry nadler, open the most of perilous affront to trump and could form the basis for a future impeachment proceedings. Washington post. The extensive scope, the democrats are seeming to cripple the president rather than a legitimate inquiry. Gillian i know you were hoping we would be dramatic panelists in the vein of r. Kelly. I think every administration resents congressional oversight and complains congressional oversight over some of their issues detract from their ability to carry out their policies. But this is as old as the presidency itself. The push and pull we are seeing between President Trump and the congressional overlords. We have seen it with president s bush and obama. Whats different for President Trump is the investigation into his personal finances. Howie i covered this going back to the reagan administration. Wouldnt the democrats have avoided bad press if they had spaced out these requests . Mo its interesting one read the two stories, the New York Times and the washington post, they are not necessarily mutually exclusive. It represents a fundamental threat to the Trump Presidency and it could be seen as something that undermines the democratic case and argument. Howie to the extent that President Trump resists these demands and there is precedence for these battles. Do you see the press covering it as a typical battle, the kind we have seen before between the executive and branches . Mollie generally speaking people approve of governmental oversight of golf at alt oversight of govel agencies rather than their personal lives. Mo well see where it goes. But there are legitimate questions about the president s financial and business dealing that connect directly to some of the other investigations that are going on. His company and business tie to the russia could be relevant. Mo in america we are supposed to start with the crime then investigate the crime. Whats happening here is starting with the individual and investigating the individual. Thats a russian, sovietstyle method of investigation that we should be careful about. Howie you talked about battles in previous administrations. But President Trump took some heat for saying president obama from what they tell me was under a similar kind of thing and didnt give one letter. The Trump Administration turned over thousands of documents. Mollie over 2 million documents. Gillian its as american as apple pie. Thats why there is a White House Counsels Office to help manage this. Howie the court had to order the white house to turn over documents in the fast and furious investigation. No one should talk to this committee. Everyone should take the fifth. If everyone takes the fifth the American People will understand this is not a legitimate investigation. Howie i dont think when he was a federal prosecutor would have looked kindly on this. Mo if these folks dont have anything to hide from, then turn it over and go talk to them and make your case and it should go away. Mollie there is a question of whether the investigation is in good faith. I believe i was the first to reveal that its nadlers plan to go after the president back in november. I overheard him on an amtrak train. He said that wasnt true. But now we see it was. When we say hes approaching it in bad faith, there is as reason to be sceptical. Howie bill shine leaving at White House Communications director and deputy chief of staff after 9 months on the job. There have been reports that the president disagreed with shine on certain issues and was frustrated he wasnt Getting Better press. But others say it rehashed the messy departure from fox news. Mentioned hes still getting severance payments from fox. Mollie the new yorker article was sloppy. There are problems you can have with fox news and bill shine. I have a hard time the president would have wanted to see a departure based on that article. Howie the president has gone through five Communications Directors. The president who spends so much time talking to journalists every day and executing his own Communications Strategy on twitter really need a Communications Director . Gillian i would say he needs a Communications Director more than ever before. Though that person is not coordinating the president , the job of a Communications Director coordinates everyone else on the staff. Every president needs a Communications Director. We could argue about whether President Trump needs a spokesperson. Howie well talk to bret baier about the dnc decision to bar fox news from the dnc mo when i was at the dnc i dont think i to fox once or put a surrogate on the air. I think that was a mistake i made. I came here not because i love this company even though this company has been kind and generous to me. I come here because i think the viewers ought to hear a democratic perspective that is not the characterture of what some of the folks on the opinion side say we are. I understand why the dnc made the decision they did. This note working be difficult for democrats. Howie you are on fox all the time. The opinion side of fox overshadows the news section. They need to come on so they dont let Tucker Carlson or sean hannity define what it means to be a democrat. Howie let me get a break here. Bret baier weighing in on the dnc decision on the debate. Many pundits are outraged that Paul Manafort didnt get a longer sentence. President trump says Michael Cohen despite his testimony did ask for a pardon. To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best to make you everybody else. Means to fight the hardest battle, which any human being can fight and never stop. Does this sound dismal . It isnt. Its the most wonderful life on earth. And back pain made it hard to sleep and get up on time. Its the most wonderful life on earth. Then i found aleve pm. The only one to combine a safe sleep aid, plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. Im back. Aleve pm for a better am. Where he actually asked meon i bemommy whats wrongr, with your teeth . If i wouldve known that i was gonna be 50 times happier. I wouldve gone into aspen dental much sooner. It was a very life changing experience. And it felt like i was me again. Thats when i realized i hadnt been for three years. At aspen dental were all about yes. Like yes to flexible hours and payment options. Yes to free exam and xrays for new patients without insurance. And yes whenever youre ready to get started, we are too. Call now at 1800aspendental. Neighbors. Loved ones. Living with diseases like cancer, epilepsy, Mental Health conditions and hiv. Maybe youre one of them. But new medicare rules could deny access to the latest, most effective therapies. Therapies that keep them healthy. Are medicare cuts that save less than one percent worth the risk to millions of patients . Call and tell congress, stop cuts to part d drug coverage medicare patients depend on. Want more from your entejust say teach me more. Into your xfinice remote to discover all sorts of tips and tricks in x1. Can i find my wifi password . Just ask. [ ding ] show me my wifi password. Hey now [ ding ] you can even troubleshoot, learn new voice commands and much more. Clean my daughters room. [ ding ] oh, it wont do that. Welp, someone should. Just say teach me more into your voice remote and see how you can have an even better x1 experience. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Howie Paul Manafort, Donald Trumps onetime Campaign Chairman was sentenced to four years in prison. Whats stwrieking is the reaction of many pundits who were upset and even outraged. Paul manafort, the president s Campaign Manager got four years. Thats crazy. The guidelines were 20 years and they were severely reduced by this federal judge. I think the sentence was unjust, unreasonable, and unprincipled. Howie as if four years in prison is a slap in the wrist. This is a typical type of sentence for the type of crime he committed. It seems the media thinks the Justice Department exists to punish your opponents. But the thing is, this had nothing to do with russia which is something the judge ema sized emphasized on the bench. Howie the judge found there was no collusion with russia. But thats not what the judge said. Mo the judge said this trial, this case had nothing to do with these allegations. Howie man for the wasnt charged with collusion. Mo it was a stark departure from the sentencing guidelines. I think that caught a lot of people off guard. I heard an increasing number of commentators broaden this and say its interesting because there are people of color, people who are less well off who have been convicted of crimes that were far left and received bigger sentences. Howie i think its fair to analyze why he got so much less than bob muellers office recommended. But some of the people we saw and others seem to have a blood lust. Gillian a lot of journalists let that blood thirst show, and thats a grave grave mistake. I say dont despair. He has another sentencing coming up in just days and the legal experts say hell get more time. There is no point in complaining at this point in time. Mollie the special counsel was spun up to investigate collusion by the Trump Campaign with russia. And we have nothing to support that. Howie the intense coverage of the Michael Cohen hearings. It turns out he wasnt telling the truth at this point in his testimony. He said he never asked the president for a pardon. Lanny davis said he did discuss a pardon with rudy giuliani, the president s personal lawyer. Mollie the guy who agreed he lied to congress, coming back to give testimony. Then lanny davis has a long history of saying things that arent true and leading people astray. Howie i disagree on that. Mollie okay. There is too much willingness to accept what lanny davis has said. He did not help his client here. He brought him into a situation where he perjured himself. Howie now President Trump is saying cohen asked him for a pardon directly and he said no. Does all of this tarnish cohens testimony which resonated through the Media Echo Chamber . Mo you have Michael Cohen who is an admitted liar, a convicted liar. One of the least trustworthy people in washington. You look at Public Opinion polls. They trust him more than they do the president of the united states. Whether this will tarnish his testimony could open him up to legal jeopardy. In the court of Public Opinion, they are all seen as liars right now. Mollie when he turned on the president he started getting favorable coverage. His testimony was the best of the season so far. I agree with mollie. I think this support for cohen is because he turned on the president. Howie thanks so much for coming by this sunday. Covington High School StudentNick Sandmann now about to file suit against cnn, saying the network was even more vicious than the washington post. R. Kelly proclaiming his innocence by ranting and raving in front of the cameras. A closer look at the new yorker piece about fox news. So in this commercial we see two travelers at a comfort inn with a glow around them, so people watching will be like, wow, maybe ill glow too if i book direct at choicehotels. Com. Who glows . Just say, badda book. Badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com. Come hok. , babe. Nasty nightime heartburn . Try alkaseltzer pm gummies. The only fast, powerful heartburn relief, plus melatonin so you can fall asleep quickly. Oh, what a relief it is if you have a garden you know, weeds are lowdown little scoundrels. With roundup sure shot wand you dont need to stoop to their level. Draw the line. The sure shot wand extends with a protective shield to pinpoint those pesky bedfellows. It lets you kill whats bad right down to the root while comfortably guarding the good. Draw the line with the roundup sure shot wand. Roundup brand. Trusted for over 40 years. Howie the new yorker has been opposed to donald trump since the first day he started his campaign. Some of the stories taking on the president , Vice President pence and others have been written by jane mayer. The latest story was seized upon by tom perez from the dnc. My concern is not about Chris Wallace. Its about the people above Chris Wallace. And most of recently its been in the new yorker story. At the highest levels of fox news they are not playing straight. Howie a number of journalists have criticized the dnc. There are many prom meant journalists who have been excellent questioners at previous debates. More than 11,000word piece never mentioned that fox has a fullfledged News Division with journalists like bret baier, Martha Maccallum and Chris Wallace. But not all when the president was going to temporarily retreat on border funding when he was withdrawing troops from syria. I think it was a sunning and irresponsible move yesterday. The president blind side his National Security advisor, people on the outside who had been advising him. Howie one person who seemed to welcome the decision was jane mayer. She tweeted boom. Trump took to twitter. Dnc just lost fox news. Good. Then i think i will do the same thing with the fake news networks. Well take a closer look at the new yorkers case against the network. Popular street name. But no matter what park you live on, one of 10,000 local allstate agents knows yours. Now that you know the truth, are you in good hands . Smile dad. I take medication for high Blood Pressure and cholesterol. But they might not be enough to protect my heart. Adding bayer aspirin can further reduce the risk of another heart attack. Because my Second Chance matters. Be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. Were finally going on the trip ive been promising. Because with expedia, i saved when i added a hotel to our flight. So even when she outgrows her costume, well never outgrow the memory of our adventure together. Unlock savings when you add select hotels to your existing trip. Only when you book with expedia. Howie lets take a more indepth look at the dncs decision to bar fox news from the president ial debates. I sat down with bret baier. Welcome. If the dnc had awarded fox a debate, you would have moderated with Chris Wallace and Martha Maccallum. How do you feel about the decision . Bret disappointed. We have a record of being fair to democrats, independents, whomever. I was doing a town hall in michigan with Hillary Clinton and bernie sanders. Both sides said they thought it was fair. Chris wallace has been touted as a great general Election Debate moderator. A lot of praise from both sides. Howie you asked the first question at the first Republican Debate that was aimed at donald trump. Bret is there anyone on stage who is unwilling tonight to pledge youre support to the eventual nominee of the Republican Party . Mr. Trump . Howie this new yorker piece said unnamed sources say there was a leak in advance to candidate trump. Bret i dont believe that could be true, looking back. We had a very tight circle on those questions. There was a lot of backlash. We spent two weeks after that moment defending both outside and inside that we were too tough on donald trump. I dont think just by that first question it seemed like a moment that he was not prepared for in his answer. I cant say definitively. But its anonymous sources. The former head our network you cant ask. Howie a fox execute which with roger ailes tells me he was furious at the questions he didnt know about ahead of time. The primetime hosts and hosts of fox and friends are supportive of trump, but not always. Trump does watch a lot of fox. But here is what wasnt included. Fox has a fullfledged News Division of which you and i and other reports and anchors are a part. Do you feel thats often overlooked . Bret yes. This has been happening since i have been here, 22 years. Defending fox. There are two sides. The news side and opinion side. The loudest critics of fox are often people who dont watch. I say watch my show three times, then drop me an email or post or twitter wheat. The people who do say that they, you know, they get it, they think its fair. Howie you complained on the air about not being able to get an interview with President Trump. Bret it took me 600 days. I had to chase him down in singapore to get my first interview. Chris wallace was even later than that. Listen. There is a disconnect here. There is a bit. Chris said this on the radio earlier this week. There is a bit of fox derangement syndrome with a section of the left. There are a lot of candidates and a lot of people on the Democratic Party who realize the power of the viewership and the power of the fairness of the news operation. But often they are drowned out by the loud voices on the left side of the party. Howie the report that fox killed the story about stormy daniels. Her boss says he made the decision because it wasnt sourced not to protect donald trump. Bret require was a Rupert Murdoch publication, the wall street journal that broke this story. There were other organizations that didnt run with it either, but i wants aware we had anything prior to that. Howie times jay carney became a press secretary, and george stephanopoulos, so this is hardly unique to fox news. Bret im disconnected from the opinion side. I like to think we have horse blinders on and we let news bubble up on our program. The democrats who come on say that was fair. I think thats what you would get if you had a debate on fox. Howie its my job to sometimes criticize what happens on fox. To me this is like saying its unfair to fox. You dont see long Opinion Pieces about whether nbc and cnbc criticize trump as crazy, unhinged, dangerous. Should the dnc consider that as a standard for awarding debates . Bret i will leave that to them. I agree with you. I think there is a disconnect between how we are treated on the news side and how other open races are treated, given how their opinion in primetime deals with the president. The president tweets out that he may not do general Election Debates with other networks. I dont think that helps us either. But there is a point here at which you have to look at fairness. And i understand what the dnc is saying. But its disappointing that they came to this conclusion considering the fact that add three cycles of trying to get back a democratic debate, we have done them before, i thought this was the year. Im not surprised by this decision. I do feel the new yorker is a fig leaf. Its basically what they wanted to have happen. It just got them there. Its unfortunate. Howie bret baier, thanks very much. Ken la corte says the story daniels story he rejected was nine paragraphs with anonymous stories and no mention of hush money. R. Kelly loses it on cbs news. vo were carvana, the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100 online. Now weve created a brand new way for you to sell your car. Whether its a few years old or dinosaur old, we want to buy your car. So go to carvana and enter your license plate, answer a few questions, and our technowizardry calculates your cars value and gives you a real offer in seconds. When youre ready, well come to you, pay you on the spot, and pick up your car. Thats it. So ditch the old way of selling your car and say hello to the new way. At carvana. Howie the journalists covering congress this week, there was not other issue that the congressmen who wanted to rebuke ilhan omar. But there was a backlash when the house passed a resolution denouncing bigotry that didnt even mention omar by name. How many times does she have to say things that are antisemitic before there is a consequence. Congresswoman omar has paid zero consequences for her blatant and constant display of antisemitic. Howie joining us from new york, buck sexton and cathy areu the press is portraying this as a total botch by the democrats, and Nancy Pelosis handling of this and the censure didnt even mention that omar was off the rail. Buck this shouldnt be difficult but democrats made it difficult for a few reasons. Its the comments omar made are mitigated by some on the left. People say its not that bad. She is being singled out. She is being treated by a different standard than another lawmaker would. Others are saying thats not true, anyone who said what she has said because they are antisemitic would be in trouble. I think its a function of the fact that antisemitic does have some excuse makers that linker in the corridors of power on the left. Howie dual loyalty is one of the worst things you can say about an american. Many liberal members in the Democratic Party say the leadership is picking on a muslim woman in power. Cathy the coverage you would expect from the commentators and the opeds to give their opinions. The democrats did it wrong, the republicans did it right. But the washington post, the New York Times and usa today gave a history lesson. This is not the first time it happened. Some face consequences. Others are removed from committee. Others are give be a slap on the wrist or the hand and let go. I think one of the best tart cals to read this week. What happens to members oress w. Its a good documentation of history and i think the best articles of the week. Howie i would say the democrats inflicted this on themselves. This was so watered down, it ended up condemning bigotry against africanamericans, jews, muslims, and japanese in world war ii internment camps. Buck it provides political cover for the one member who is supposed to be facing some condemnation of her comments which wasnt mentioned in this. Its a resolution about everything which is basically a resolution about nothing. Its breathtaking in its insincerity saying the republicans who didnt vote on this. We all agree hate is a bad. Now some of the republicans who said this is all politics its a waste of time. The democrats are saying look at them, they dont oppose this bigotry and hair tread. Howie i think we can agree on his set that hate is back. President trump i thought yesterdays vote by the house was disgraceful. Because its become the democrats have become an antiisrael party. An antijewish party. Howie should the press challenge the president . Cathy just to put it all together like that, which is a problem to begin with. The president , week say all republicans are antimexican because the president keeps harping on the wall that seems to be antimexican. So its so hypocritical. The press needs to keep documenting everything thats happening a because there are so many tweets, so much out there, this 24 7 news cycle. There is so much information. We are exhausted. How require want to mention what the New York Times cycle. The sharp left turn in the Democratic Party is concerning to moderate democrats. Buck i think nancy pelosi and other important establishment democrats are finding this out the hard way. The ability that some of these new members of congress to drive the news cycle because largely of social media and the overall medias obsession with them will translate into an ability to move what the Democratic Partys priorities are, what its legislative options will be going forward. They cant avoid it. This is reality. Howie it certainly affects the partys image and the president drives a message as well. Cathy areu and buck sexton, thank you very much. Gayle king versus r. Kelly. Theres little rest for a single dad, and back pain made it hard to sleep and get up on time. Then i found aleve pm. The only one to combine a safe sleep aid, plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. Im back. Aleve pm for a better am. But how do i know if im im getting a good deal . I tell truecar my zip and which car i want and truecar shows the range of prices people in my area actually paid for the same car so i know if im getting a great price. This is how car buying was always meant to be. This is truecar. [ sighing ] oh my momma she gave me these feathered breaths oh my momma check in from afar with remote access. And have professional monitoring backing you up with xfinity home. Demo in an xfinity store, call, or go online today. [ sighing ] oh my momma she gave me these feathered breaths oh my momma check in from afar with remote access. And have professional monitoring backing you up with xfinity home. Demo in an xfinity store, call, or go online today. Howie the challenge for cbs news anchor gayle king was obvious. R. Kelly decided to give her the first interview since the Sexual Harassment charges. I [bleep]. They are trying to kill me. You are killing me. This is not about music. I want to have a relationship with my kid and i cant do it. You dont want to believe the truth. I dont want just ranting at the camera. You are playing the victim. I am just telling the truth. Howie emily jashinsky, how did gayle king imagine this . Emily particularly well. Her so her stoicism while hs ranting and just couldnt keep it in. I figured i had the best way to convince my parents i didnt do anything wrong was to scream and shout as loud as i could. Howie gayle king could have lost control of that interview and mixed it up and become part of the story. Emily and he could have left. Howie im struck by the image of him standing and flailing his arms and she is sitting there. Emily i think or stoicism is admirable. She kept it together to get more out of him and ask him more tough questions, rather than sending him running away. She developed a rapport with him and she asked him tough questions and exposed his childishness on national television. It was well done. Howie she said a lot of people dont believe you and here is why. You are playing the victim. Then gayle king interviewed two girlfriend who defended r. Kelly. They said they lied to him about being 18. Their parents are making charges. Then gayle king said r. Kelly was coughing loudly in the background to remind the women he was there. Emily these two girls are in a horrible situation. To hear him in the same room coughing in the background. Hats off to gayle king. This was well done. Howie television can be very revealing. The camera captures a lot. I dont know if this was premeditated by r. Kelly or it just happened in the moment. Emily the case against r. Kelly exposed so nakedly, because he just looked unhinged. Howie if this is how he is in front of the camera. Emily imagine what hes like with these women alone if this is how hes acting on national television. Its good that the nation was exposed to how disgusting it is. Prayers for the families who want those girls back. Howie check out my new Podcast Media buzzmeter. We hope you will check out and give us a like on the facebook page. I post my columns. Continue the conversation on twitter howardkurtz. Well see you back here next sunday, 11 eastern with the latest buzz. To make you everybody else. Means to fight the hardest battle, which any human being can fight and never stop. Does this sound dismal . It isnt. Its the most wonderful life on earth. Its the most wondcome hok. , babe. Rth. Nasty nightime heartburn . Try alkaseltzer pm gummies. The only fast, powerful heartburn relief, plus melatonin so you can fall asleep quickly. Oh, what a relief it is arthel fox news alert. President trump set to unveil his 2020 budget tomorrow. He plans to ask for an additional 8. Billion to pay for his 8. 6 billion to pay for his border wall. Eric welcome on Daylight Saving time. Huge increases in spending for Border Patrol and i. C. E. As the senate is set to vote this week on a resolution to try to overturn