Transcripts For FOXNEWSW MediaBuzz 20181111 : vimarsana.com

Tomb of the unknown soldier from world war i. Your eternal and lasting glory. Howie the bell ringing ceremony. Admiral mullen the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff will be leading this bell ringing ceremony. 16 million soldiers and civilians were killed, trench warfare, chemical warfare, and it changed the presentday map of our world. On the right at aling to be ceremony, laying the wreath for the commemoration of this 100th year. [ ] [national anthem taps howie a very special day in arlington, 100 years since the armistice in world war i now to mediabuzz. After the democrats won the house, President Trump fired his attorney general and temporarily handed the job of the chief of staff. The shake up reaches bob mueller. What we saw today was a kind of coup against the rule of law. The kind of action you see in a dictatorship it gives leverage to the president. It signals to Robert Mueller, im in charge, tough no control than you do. Lets wrap this up the man in charge of the investigation offered a blueprint for ending it. Impeachment is real now for a year the president publicly criticized and ridiculed sessions, so it was not very surprisinghow much rt the choice of Matt Whitaker outside the white house. President trump i dont know matt wit whitaker. He worked for Jeff Sessions. Hes very well thought of. The choice was met with rage. Its a shame, no matter who i put in, they go after them. Howie here to analyze the coverage, mollie hemingway. Susan ferrechio, and Adrienne Elrod a democratic strategist to who worked for Hillary Clintons campaign. Howie the president said he didnt know nawtd whitaker, and before he said he did know him but not well. Mollie its not a secret in washington, the Justice Department has been planning for this transition. This is a typical thing for president s to do right after an election. George w. Bush did this with donald rumsfeld. Howie sometimes the press looks for hidden motives. But the president has been attacking his attorney general for a year. This is about the original decision of the a. G. To recuse himself from the Mueller Investigation. Adrienne Jeff Sessions did the right thing. He had to recuse himself. But the criticism of Matthew Whitaker is warranted. I think hell have a hard time getting confirmed by the senate. Howie he doesnt have to be confirmed unless hes named as the permanent head of the Justice Department. Doing this the day after the mid terms when the democrats won the house. The president changed the subject. There is a legal argument whether whitaker can be named as the temporary head of doj. Susan the question is, is this sort of a violation of the spirit of that law to make this person a place holder where whitaker will be there temporarily . If he keeps him in for 241 days is that a violation of the expert of that law. Howie do you think is is because the press doesnt like him, not that hes not qualified . Susan whitaker is a tantalizing target for the press. Hes conservative, he said things about the Mueller Investigation that suggests he would side with the president. Howie whitaker on cnn talking about one way mueller could be slowed down substantially ike see a situation where the budget is reduced so low the investigation grind to almost a halt. Howie now he could do that. But the press immediately went into attack mode. He was a fairly obscure figure until now. But there is a lot of criticism. Likening a piece where he called it a lynch mob. Mollie Rod Rosenstein called him a superb choice to be a. G. He was Jeff Sessions chief of staff. Howie im shocked Rod Rosenstein was passed over. No, im not shocked at all. Mollie Rod Rosenstein has all sorts of conflicts of interest. He obstructed congress. Howie the president fired comey. Mollie he set up a special counsel to investigate that. And he signed one of the warrants used to spy on the trump campaign. Whitaker has none of those conflicts. Howie he has clear views on this. Washington post called him a crack pot because he criticized marbury versus madison. But what the press really cares about is the impact on the mueller probe. Adrienne the press is looking into his background and what he said in the past. You have a press understandably biased against somebody who had such partisan leaning and partisan statements in the Mueller Investigation. Howie you call it bias instead an objective look at this. Adrienne i say i understand where the media is coming from in terms of their bias. Mollie this is a way of saying the Mueller Investigation is legitimate. To say it doesnt have limits is the outlier perspective. He was saying as written, its not limitless. Howie whitaker was an active board member for a company that worked on patents. It was shut down as a scam and still being investigated by the fbi. Is that fair game when you are talking about the new acting head of the Justice Department . Kudos to the miami times for writing about that. 100 legitimate. When someone is appointed to the highest law office in the land, its our job to see who is this person, is he legitimate. All the investigations we are seeing are 100 our roll. Howie on the night it happened, there was a headline, the plot to stop mueller. He hasnt done a single thing to stop mueller, impede mueller. He might and that would be big news. But the coverage is he could do this and could do that. Mollie people know he isnt one of these people who is totally supportive of anything the fbi might do or anything this Mueller Investigation might do. A lot of people at doj and fbi have been obstructing efforts to find out whats going on in the agency. He is an outsider. Thats a reflection of him understanding hes different than what they have been dealing with thus far. Sessions was forced to recuse himself. The Mueller Investigation, but also any investigation into wrongdoing in the 2016 campaign. Howie the media furor is based on the donald trump did something terrible. Even after all the indictments and the pleas we havent seen any evidence. Adrienne the investigation is still going on. Mollie 20 years, maybe well see something. Adrienne the investigation is coming to even end. We heard that the mueller team is writing the final report. Why cant President Trump put somebody in who hasnt have an historical partisan background. Mollie somebody like eric holder . Adrienne this is one of the biggest issues the department of justice has been investigating. We need someone who can be an independent arbiter and that is not whitaker. Howie when we come back. President trump drawing flack as he delivers harsh word to the media. 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. Howie jim acosta isnt the only journalist to draw harsh words for President Trump at the same news conference. You called yourself a nationalist. Some people saw that as emboldening White Nationalists. President trump what you said is insulting to me. Its a very terrible thing you said. Howie and the president unloaded on Abby Phillips. You want to rein in Robert Mueller . President trump what a stupid question. But i watch you a lot and you ask a lot of stupid questions. President trump after telling april ryan to sit down, trump brought her up as well. President trump april ryan, you talk about somebody who is a loser. She doesnt know what the hell she is doing. She gets publicity and she gets a contract with cnn, but she is very nasty. Howie the president regularly rips the media, but calling the questions nasty, stupid, racist. Mollie he was in rare form this week. We have a president who is getting more personal in his insults against the reporters and a press corps decreasing its journalistic standards. The American Public losses out. We are not getting questions that have fair assumptions. We know they hate the president. But do they respect the office at all . Howie i wouldnt say all journalists hate the president. But the president has every right to push back on what he sees as unfair coverage. When he told abby she asked a stupid question, it wasnt. Then he made clear he just didnt like her. I have had people chew me out based on the publication i work for, and i have seen it happen to other reporters on capitol hill. I think what he is saying is hes fed up with people questioning him about his efforts to control the Mueller Investigation. You saw the frustration the president had. I think what hes expressing is the questions seem to be questioning his integrity. I think thats what you saw at the press conference at the first question about mueller. There is a fed up quality to the way the president is responding to the press which is the most of adversarial of any press we have seen in our time. Howie a former New York Times reporter. Here is what she had to say after that tough exchange with the president. What i was doing is posing a question which is what reporters will do. There is a White Nationalist today tweeting about being at the white house today. My question was timely and fair and it is what i do. Howie plenty of critics pointed out these three women in three days are africanamerican women. Obviously the president has slammed plenty of white males, but this was noticeable because it happened in a short period of time. These are three africanamerican women and they are all three very good reporters. I cannot say enough great things about them. Its hard to look at what the president did in his conduct this week and decipher anything differently except for the fact hes attacking these women because they are black and they are women. Mollie the most of famous altercation he had was with jim acosta who is a white male. She was saying there was a White National tweeting from the white house. Thats true, but it was a public tour. I have three problems with the question. One she doesnt understand what National Interest is. Her question of understanding of National Interest, and there is the desire to paint everything that donald trump does. We have someone who cares so much about National Interest. Howie i at least give her credit for asking the question respectfully. She didnt say i believe you are a White Nationalist. But you said something i cant let go. I understand why critics of the president will say he seems to get very personal when it comes to certain black people he doesnt like. You said he criticized them because they are black. Adrienne i dont know that. But why is he going after three africanamerican women. Its a bias that he has shown throughout his presidency. Susan april ryan has set herself up as someone who challenges the president constantly. She does go on tv and talk about it as a paid policy pundit. Hes making a legitimate point. Howie Abby Phillips asked about the Mueller Investigation. Susan i think thats the frustration. Mollie despite the fact we covered this for 2 1 2 years and have nothing. Adrienne Robert Mueller has the freedom to take as long as he thinks is necessary to complete the investigation. Howie loser, stupid. Man particularly when he has the upper ground by challenging the content of the question. Howie improving the tone, he thinks the media should go first. He might yank other journalists credentials. Democratic congressman adam schiff says on axios, hes planning an investigation of trump abusing his power. This is what happens or could happen or will happen when you have a democratic house. Leftwing protesters target Tucker Carlsons home. This is an appalling tactic for anybody who cares about free speech. music throughout a moment of joy. A source of inspiration. An act of kindness. An old friend. A new beginning. Some welcome relief. Or a cause for celebration. Whats inside . [laughter] possibilities. What we deliver by delivering. Howie the president summoned hannity on stage along with jeanine pirro. The network put out a statement of disapproval. Fox news does not condone any journalists i gave a tweet that was truthful. The president , i had no idea. I was honored by the president s request it was not planned. Howie he clarified his remarks about fake news. I was not and would never refer to my friend and colleagues at the fox news channel. They are such a cut above anybody else. If anybody construed it that way, im sorry in terms of the people i work with. Howie hannity and pirro are you be abashed supporters of trump. For an opinion host to praise the president on a Campaign Rally stage cross the line. It creates a perception problem for a network that is often accused fairly or unfairly as being too easy on trump. Thant is an important voice for conservatives. It would be better in my view to stick to making his views known on television. Mow testers were outside Tucker Carlsons home chanting insults and demanding he leave the city. [we know where you sleep at night] howie the protesters frightened his wife. His four children were not at home. Whats it like to find out your wife is hiding in the pantry because people are threatening her. You can see why i feel threatened about that this is a threat to Free Expression to all of us. Howie susan scott and jay wallace called the incident reprehensible. The group smash racism d. C. Also made public the addresses of tuckers brother. Carlson drew support even from liberal voices who dont like him. Targeting his home and terrorizing his family is an act of man trowactof monstrous cowa. Tucker carl somebody is a controversial commentator. But everyone should denounce such intimidation tactics. Leave peoples homes, their spouses and their kids out of it. Ari fleischer on the war of words over the trump team and cnn over jim acostas suspension. 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. You always get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed . Lets say it in a really low voice. Carl . Lowest price, guaranteed. Just stick with badda book. Badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com howie a press conference confrontation between donald trump and jim acosta began with the reporter debating the president over the migrant caravan. That this caravan was an invasion. It was not an invasion. If i may ask one more question. President trump thats enough. Thats enough. Pardon me, maam. President trump cnn should be ashamed of themselves having you working for them. You are a rude, terrible person. You are a very rude person. The way you treat Sarah Huckabee sanders is terrible. Howie kristin tate, and jessica tarlov, well get to the suspension in a second. Did jim acosta go too far . Kristin yes. This was just the latest example of acosta derailing the briefings and making them into a circus. His goal is to derail donald trump and put the attention on himself. He said during the briefing as you know, this caravan is not an invasion. This is not a question. Its a statement. Acosta specifically put himself in a contrarian position. Acosta is wasting valuable time and hes rude. Howie let me set this up. He didnt like hearing that question. He didnt like being challenged on that point, and he doesnt like being called out for his falsehoods. Howie cnn is saying hes just doing his job as a reporter. I had a serious problem when he kept talk and wouldnt give up the mic. Jessica he definitely wasnt following the rules. There are reporters who say, i have a followup. I think both of them were ill behaved in this exchange. I felt bad for the intern who was put in an uncomfort position. Acosta is saying politely, excuse me, i am not done here. We have seen a dropoff on the caravan coverage after the election. I do think it was a question. Howie there are other things going on in fairness. And we had a mass shooting, too. Howie kristin, did the white house go too far in suspending jim acostas credentials . I think by doing that the white house made jim acosta into a journalistic martyr. Kristin acosta should have lost his trespass a long time ago. Hes using the briefings to make himself fame owms and its not fair. He should have been gone a long time ago. Howie cnn says trumps attacks on the press are dangerous and unamerican. Doesnt that feed the perception that this is getting partisan between the news organizations and the president. Kristin it has gotten partisan. And thats unfortunate. The president can respond to the journalists like acosta that are out of control, or just not respond and do nothing. Howie what about the white house trying to make this about the briefing between acosta and the in turn saying he laid hand on her. Is that really what the suspension was about. Jessica no, they doctored the video. Howie they the white house didnt doctor the video. Jessica it came off info wars. Howie let me put up a closeup. Its clear the contact was incidental. It was absolutely incidental. They took his Sarah Huckabee sanders took this off info wars which is a propaganda site that has been banned by facebook, twitter and apple. The president is more comfortable with journalists from infowars than he is from cnn. To say jim acosta should have lost his trespass when he works for cnn is ridiculous. Howie here is the president characterizing the night on which the democrats won the house. President trump i think it was a great victory. Actually some of the news this morning was in fact that it was a great victory. Howie all politicians spin election results. But how does trump describe this as almost a total victory for republicans when we no longer have one Party Government in washington. Kristin the gop picked up seats in the senate and the losses in the house were not as bad as they were expected to be. In 1994 under clinton they lost 52 seats and under obama 63. I dont remember the media calling a that a big red wave when it happened. Howie it was called a shellack and thumping. I get the president s argument that he thinks he can work with nancy pelosi. The democrats picked up 30 house seats. It could be 35. But the point is, the Opposition Party is in control of one chamber. Jessica it was definitely a blue wave. State legislatures, seven governors seats. Well see what happens in arizona and florida. I feel like sinema will win and gillum and nelson will not in florida. This is what politicians do and they spin. He could recognize the fact that hell have to deal with a strong democrat majority. Kristin he praised nancy pelosi. Howie thanks very much for joining us. With the battle between the president and the press reaching fever pitch, we decided to call in Ari Fleischer. I spoke to him earlier from new york. Welcome. Ari thank you. Howie lets start with jim acosta and the president s conduct. You were there in that room with president bush. Are these different than the kinds much questions bush got . Ari totally different. Challenging the questions one thing. But to use the Briefing Room to espouse hire personal point of view, thats what acosta has been doing. That more than anything than that physical altercation which was a nothing altercation. Howie but then he kept on talking like im talking over you now. He wouldnt give up the mic. Was it an overreach or misstep for the white house to suspend his credentials . Ari in the Bush White House i would have tried to take advantage of that moment and say, jim, i hope you get your oped published tonight. I would deflect and try to use humor and try to make everybody laugh at him instead of being an editorial writer rather than a journalist. Im not going to defend jim acosta. Its not the role of white house reporters to express their opinions. It makes other reporters in the room look bad when hes out there expressing his opinion. Ask a question, ask a hard question. You know what . What he could have done is say, its a caravan, not an invasion. Howie let me move on to the media furor over President Trump firing Jeff Sessions and naming on an acting basis this chief of staff, Matt Whitaker. Is the media freakout justified . Ari i think its appropriate to put scrutiny on i who is going to be acting attorney general. The fact that he wrote opinion pieces. Tony snow, the former White House Press secretary wrote negative pieces against george bush, then was hired as his press secretary. There is a history of people in washington writing pieces and sharing their thoughts. Howie Ari Fleischer bringing his per spell tough from his years in the white house past. Ari fleischer. The National Media are realizing the full magnitude of the most of destructive wildfires in california history. A quarter Million People evacuated. Tens of thousands of acres devastated. Thousands of homes and other structures destroyed. One monster fire were too much in the coverage. And from the perspective of someone who has family there. What is not being captured is the fear. Landscapes filled with fear, and students trapped at the pepper dienl campus. Unlike to hurricanes, reporters can stand out in the wind and rain or floods where they can get into boats and cover rescues. The human toll is no less real. After the break, fox was the first to project the democratic takeover of the house on election night. That was controversial. Well talk about that. E safely. But allstate helps you. With drivewise. Feedback that helps you drive safer. And that can lower your cost 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. [ready forngs ] christmas . No, its way too early to be annoyed by christmas. You just need some holiday spirit thats it this feud just went mobile. With xfinity xfi you get the best wifi experience at home. And with xfinity mobile, you get the best wireless coverage for your phone. Youre about to find out you dont even know where i live. Hello see the grinch in theaters by saying get grinch tickets into your xfinity x1 voice remote. A guy just dropped this off. Hehehehe. Bret the fox news desk can project democrats will take control of the house of representatives. Howie joining us from charlottesville, larry sabato. Fox has taken heat for being the first to make that projection while voting was going on in the west. How do you sit on that news once you are convinced you are right the democrats are going to win the house . Larry you dont. On this i think they are completely wrong. This is not 1980 all over again when jimmy carter conceded too early because of the landslide and probably cost a couple democratic congressmen in california their seat. This is a different situation. Fox and a. P. Spent a lot of money to get the second exit poll. Now we have two sources of information. We can compare them. Of course, you would go forward with it as long as you have confidence tonight, and they clearly did and they were right. Howie somebody gets to 270, you cant pretend it didnt happen. There was a lot of Media Chatter about a blue wave and blue tsunami. But toward the end i think the journalists felt badly burned by their own projections in 2016. Do you think their perception was. Larry they were thinking back to 2016 and didnt want to make a mistake. We kept our predictions cautious at the crystal ball and we hit the number on the nail. Plus 34 for the democrats and we said we might be a few seats short. Now it looks like it will be between plus 3437. Somewhere in that vicinity. Howie it makes sense to be cautious. Of course, we have to caution that the republicans picked up a couple seats in the senate and won some key governors races. The media universally expecting there will be utter gridlock on capitol hill and the democratic house. I understand there are dismissed pledges of bipartisan cooperation. Could they be wrong . Is this too of a kneejerk reaction . The answer is always yes. The answer is always yes. Go ahead its final jeopardy. They will agree on something. Democrats have to have something to show for their new majority in the house. They will come together with President Trump and the senate on something. I think it will be something substantial. Howie if its going to be two years of investigations and subpoenas, it doesnt help the democrats. Mr. Crystal ball, larry sabato, thanks for joining us. That does it for this edition of mediabuzz. Im howard kurtz. You can subscribe at apple itunes. You can check out my facebook page. And continue the conversation on twitter howardkurtz. Im glad we were able to bring you the moving ceremonies from arlington to commemorate the end of world war i. Hope to see you back here next week for the latest mediabuzz. Dozen wings. And did you know that geico. lips smacking offers mo. coughing motorcycle insurance . Hoho. My lips are burning. laughs ah. No, my lips are actually burning. Geico. Over 75 years of savings and service. See how much you could save at geico. Com. Its too hot. Oh, this is too hot, mate. Each unique piece comes to life in the same way. Er business with her own two hands. Its too hot. A messy, sloppy, splattery way. But now shes 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, 4,628 in tax savings. Smarter Business Tools for the worlds hardest workers. Quickbooks. Backing you. Moving . 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