Transcripts For FOXNEWSW MediaBuzz 20200301 : vimarsana.com

Fanning the flames, and by doing so, he is ultimately confessing to his own weakness. Stoking a National Coronavirus panic. The end is near, the apocalypse is imminent, and youre going to all die, all of you, in the next 48 hours, and its all President Trumps fault. Or at least thats what the media mob and the democratic extreme radical socialist party would like you to think. Howard the stock market plunging, is the press writing disparaging the white house response or just adding to a sense of fear and polarization . The trump camp sues the New York Times over an opinion piece on russia. Does the campaign have a case, or is this mainly a political statement . The media suddenly hailing joe biden for a huge South Carolina victory last night. This after a cbs debate that journalists called a train wreck, a shipwreck and a dumpster fire. Im not out of time. You spoke over time, and im going to talk. Heres the deal [cheers and applause] really messy, two hours . Kind of a slug fest that spun wildly out of control. It was really hard to eneven hear anyone talking. The moderators just gave up. Chaos descended on the debate stage. Howard now the pundits say biden has upended the race heading into super tuesday, but havent they been wrong all year . Im howard kurtz, and this is mediabuzz. Howard well get to our political calls, the resurrection of joe biden after his huge South Carolina win in a few moments. As the Coronavirus Spread around the globe, President Trump insisted it was not much of a threat here in america and singled out two networks. The president played down the threat of a virus at a News Conference saying he doesnt think a major impact here is inevitable. When a reporter asked about nancy employees is are criticism that the administration ifs response was too late and anemic. I think speaker pelosis incompetent. Shes trying to create a panic, and theres no reason to panic because we have done so good. Howard and he later returned to criticizing the coverage. We have a situation with the virus, weve done a great job. The press wont give us credit for it. Howard joining us now to analyze the coverage, Gayle Trotter, or host of right in d. C. the Gayle Trotter show, Susan Ferrechio with the washington examiner, and joe joe trippi, the veteran democratic strategist. Gayle, whats your reaction to News Coverage saying the president is undermined by past credibility problems and is deliberately downplaying the magnitude of this threat . He was initially criticizing for blocking travel from china, and now there was criticism of him jumping in, and now theres criticism of him underplague it. Of course the coronavirus is a serious matter, but were seeing the convergence of two things with the media. The one is the medias tendency to hype any sort of danger, and the second tendency is the very leftleaning medias effort to pin all blame on the Trump Administration. Howard susan, any president , obviously, has to strike a balance when theres a threat and not scaring people. Trump says that Nancy Pelosis trying to start a panic, theres been a lot of aha, hes politicizing this. In truth, arent both sides doing that . Its hard to say who started the politicization of this. I know pelosi and the democrats on capitol hill immediately took to criticizing the president and not being competent, as not approaching this in an evenhanded way thats going to keep the public safe. I feel like it began on capitol hill, and the president as he often does punches back twice as hard, and now you have the back and forth can we go to the way back machine of wednesday when the president in a press conference said that the reason the market had fallen 2,000 points at that point was because of a bad debate the night democratic debate the night before. Howard concern that a democrat, meaning bernie, would win the white house. Thats why it fell 2,000 points. Im not sure it calmed the markets, and it didnt address what the press conference was about, and it definitely politicized this crisis. Howard well thats your interpretation of it though. You dont know why the market crashed. Hes saying why he thinks it did, and that debate was terrible. I mean, the field was uninspiring, and the coverage was not senate enough to say this is actually kind of making my whole point here, is the fact of the matter is this was a press conference on the coronavirus oh, and they never asked questions completely unrelated to what the press conference and then you have the secretary of dhs show up at a hearing and not know the difference what the rates are between flu and coronavirus howard okay, let me reports that too. These are all accurate facts. If you wanted howard if you wanted to have one image of the new yorker cover, i think that about coffers it. Covers it. Gayle, does the president open himself up to media criticism when he offers a rosier view of this than his own federal Health Experts including saying the virus will probably be gone in the United States by spring . President trump is not getting coverage for saying its a serious matter. Hes taking action, his administration is restricting travel from iran which has been very seriously hit. Theres not coverage of that. Instead, we have dana milbank, a syndicated columnist e at the Washington Post who said remember this moment, trump just called the coronavirus a hoax. They have not taken that tweet down howard ive heard this from many people, and it is true. The president said that the criticism or the democratic response was a hoax. You can criticize him for that, but i do think that was misconstrued. What about him going after the Cable News Networks . I read the tweet, he said about cnn a very disreputable network, doing everything they can to instill fear. I dont see any evidence that the other Cable News Networks have covered this story more than fox, and on substance, i think the press has been relatively restrained. Well, its true about the media hyping up the latest, you know, if it bleeds, it leads. Thats basically the policy we all follow. And in this age of social media, youre reading little bits and pieces on twitter, and youre not getting a full picture of what this is about. The fact is its almost impossible in the way news is delivered right now to fully understand what the threat actually is. I would recommend everybody realize Anthony Fauci and other epidemiologists have an editorial this weekend that really outlines where they are on this. Theyre talking about a less than 1 mortality rate. No one is talking about that. And the numbers are actually interesting. You cant deliver that on cable news sound bites, and thats part of the problem. This is another sign of sort of three years of pummeling the press as the fake news and, you know, the lame stream media, the whole thing. When you call the press the enemy of the people for three years and now, right now you have a bunch of people in the country who dont trust anything the Administration Says or that trump says and a whole other group that doesnt trust anything the press says howard let me now you get [inaudible conversations] when the Washington Post has an updated article on 16,000 lives that President Trump has said that may lose their objectivity, and they cant trust howard for the sake of discussion, both sides have been pummeling each other. It even goes back to the campaign. But the question on whether the press is being restrainedded or hyping, it is hard to be restrained when every day theres a flood of new developments. International meetings being can eled canceled, school closings, and, of course, the dows worst week since the 2008 financial crisis. I do have the impression this was a serious News Conference by the president. You can criticize what he said, a minute later slamming him and now they have a new target, the coronavirus. Look, theres going to be people on both sides of this bringing the president , you know, and attacking partisans attacking. We only have one president. The one that has to be above all this. He has been, like yesterday he was. Come on. He clearly time and again in the last week, over the last week said and did things, his son has, other people, its been covered howard all right. The altercation with democratic congressmen saying if donjr. s with him. Howard i want to get to these questions. Trump media allies downplay coronavirus. Fox is being close to irresponsible because theyre defending the president. Telling viewers they have nothing to worry about. Now, we can debate the magnitude of the threat. I havent seen anybody who works for fox news saying theres nothing to worry about. No, of course not. And last night i think it was on the judges show had the Surgeon General and he was giving good medical information. Lets stop going to pundits, and fox is interviewing people who have actual medical information. Howard i am just depressed and troubled and theres a potentially serious situation, and were all involved and i include the president front and center the same partisan sniping. Susan, mick mulvaney, acting white house chief of staff, had this to say at the cpac conference. The reason youre seeing so much attention to it today is that they think this is going to be what brings down the president. Thats what this is all about. But its also a virus that is now in 60 countries. Hes right. He is partly right. I think there is the sentiment amongst people who dont like trump that perhaps this is an opportunity to lower his standing in the public eye as we head into a critical election period. But on the other hand, look, i covered the ebola virus through the Trump Administration very closely, and the handling of that and the handling of what, of this coronavirus, President Trump, theyre not doing anything very differently from each other. Its very methodical. Theres a lot of uncertainty. They are appointing people to oversee things in the same manner, theyre taking the same precaution howard thats true. The coverage is a lot different can, but ebola spread more slowly and had a or mortality rate of up to 90 percent. Howard another story, trump has a penchant for creating can chaos and confusion and saying this could be trumps katrina. Is that fair to bring in Hurricane Katrina on the part of journalists . Well, i think howard is it early . Its early, but it could be. I dont mean and im not talking about, you know, the question is when you, if this does become a pandemic and in the United States starts to really move, and if they dont start moving kits out there, testing kits faster, i mean, it could turn out that this wasnt handled howard well, it could turn out, it also would be a difficult crisis for any president to handle, unexpected as it is. When we come back, joe biden takes a shot at the pundits, and later Chris Stirewalt on how the medias conventional wisdom is dramatically changing in the runup to super tuesday. Dont just plan to retire. Plan to live. An annuity helps cover your essential monthly expenses, so youre free to live the life you want. Find out how an annuity can give you Lifetime Income at protectedincome. Org nondrowsy claritin cool mint chewables. Canfeel the clarity of newme the only allergy product with relief of your worst symptoms, including itchy throat. Plus an immediate blast of cooling sensation. Feel the clarity and live claritin clear. How we worship, or who we love. And the 2020 census is how that great promise is kept. Because this is the count that informs where hundreds of billions in funding will go each year for things like education, healthcare, and programs that touch us all. Shape your future. Start here. Learn more at 2020census. Gov howard joe biden is vaulting to life, the New York Times says this morning, after winning over 48 of the vote in South Carolina, clobbering Bernie Sanders with just under 20 . This after most journalists had virtually written him off. Just days ago the press and the pundits had declared this candidacy dead. Howard the press has made two major miscalculations, not taking Bernie Sanders seriousesly enough and predicting doom for joe biden and virtually burying him after iowa and New Hampshire. So, gayle, are journalists now scrambling to write the comeback story . Yeah. Were seeing a little whiplash on this. As you said, they had buried biden, and now they see him resurrected. Now, theres some validity in that. He had such a strong showing in South Carolina, but i think i hate to say this, but i think James Carville is right, its either bernie or a brokeredded convention, and either way its a disaster for the democrats. Howard joe. Biden got clobbered in the first two states, but theyre small predominantly white states. South carolina is the most diverse state to vote so far. What does it say about political punditry that so many people said biden is toast . I think part of the coverage is always the media wants to create a race, and they want to narrow it to two fast. Howard why, because its a better storyline . Easier and cheaper to cover that. Howard right. So what happens is when the frontrunner starts to evaporate and you have 24 people out there, you start even theyre creating races within lanes, right . And so thats what happened. I think people lost focus and just there is such a thing as gravity and laws of physics in politics too, and one of them is and what should have been obvious for anybody whos covered this for a while is that joe bidens going to do very well with africanamericans unless somebody ate into that. Howard theres a history of these kinds of comebacks when we write people off too early. Now, susan, could it be that the press wanted kamala harris, elizabeth warren, then it was mike bloomberg, but now theyre warming because they see him, as gayle suggested, as maybe the only one who can stop Bernie Sanders and what they would view as a likely Trump Victory . I think thats exactly what happened. I kept writing biden comeback stories, and kept telling me i was wrong. You have to look at the long game here, and he is able to get the prague mat ec wing, older voters, africanamerican voters. However, he still is not in position to go into the convention with enough pledged delegates to be the nominee. It could be a brokeredded convention. So its absolutely true howard lets not get ahead of ourselves, but with super tuesday two days away, even conservatives who dont like President Trump is are coming out strongly against Bernie Sanders and saying he could be unstoppable if he has a big day on tuesday. So some on the left and some on the right basically mobilizing as bernie, and that makes him attack the establishment and the media. Thats right. And theres certainly been a lot of effort at groundswell level to have people vote in primaries where republicans vote in favor of bernie because theyd rather see him with the contest with President Trump rather than biden. But, you know, given all of the guffaws and prattfalls that biden has had in a lot of the speeches they have, i think theres energy having him contest President Trump too. Two things that have been in the coverage just from being on the other side of it from a political campaign, what i said, horse race, get it down to bernie and biden and thats where were going and the only other possible coverage is more fantasizing or hope, hoping about a brokered convention. Howard right. Biden making his first appearance on fox news in this campaign, but, susan, moments after it was clear he was going to win big, i heard pundits say, you know what . Buttigieg should drop out, why is bloomberg sticking in this. Who elected the press to decide who should drop out and give that kind of advice . Thats not a good look. Its like theyre trying to pick a favorite. Oh, you think . [laughter] take down bernie, then he can beat trump. You cant help but see the pattern. But that is what the press, the press also tends to kind of become the Campaign Advisers too while theyre doing the reporting. Theyre trying to figure out whos going to win, theyre trying to strategize and figure out what the outcome is going to be. And you see a lot of that. And in this instance, i think its a good idea for the press to just stand back and do some neutral coverage howard Many Political analysts are frustrated Campaign Advisers. Joe trippi, Susan Ferrechio, Gayle Trotter, thanks for being here. Up next, an a apology from Chris Matthews, and should abc have suspended a top correspondent who was secretly caught on tape . G, o hey. You fell asleep with your sign again. You fell asleep with your sign again. No, i didnt. Okay. Switch to progressive and you can save hundreds. You know, like the sign says. Howard i went on the air and called for Chris Matthews to apologize to Bernie Sanders. This after the hardball host likened the senators victory in nevada to the nazi takeover of france in 1940. Matthews has now done just that, and to his credit, at the top of his msnbc show. I was wrong to refer to an event from the last days or actually the first days of world war ii. Senator sanders, im sorry for comparing anything from that tragic era in which so many suffered, especially the jewish people, to an electoral or result. I will strive to do a better job myself of elevating the political discussion. Howard look, i just want everyone left and right to stay away from nazi analogies, and that includes when the target is President Trump. Matthews has in the past said that trumps rhetoric is reminiscent of hitler. Its all just way out of bounds. Abc has suspended david wright after he was secretly recorded by James Okeefes group. The network said any action that damages our reputation for fairness and impartiality or gives the appearance of compromising it harms abc news and will be pulled off political coverage when he returns. But most of what wright said wasnt troubling at all. Yes, he describes himself as a socialist, but he also said this of President Trump howard thats fair and balanced. Wright said that commercial imperative is incompatible with a pretty champion criticism common criticism. Perhaps what rankleed them was the shot at the company. Howard well, not all selfpromotional, but there are certainly disney tieins, and that doesnt just happen at abc. I think the network really overreacted, and the punishment for what he thought were private opinions too harsh. Ahead, Bernie Sanders doubles down on his praise for fidel castro. Is the press going easy on him on that . But first, Chris Stirewalt weighs in. Lets get down to business. The business of family time. And downtime. And you time. And forgetting what time it is. Altogether. Modernized comfort inns and suites have been refreshed because when your business is making time, our business is you. Get the lowest price guaranteed on all Choice Hotels when you book direct at choicehotels. Com. Howard donald trump and his least favorite White House Correspondent went at it again when jim with acosta from cnn, following up on other questions, asked asked the president about media reports that russia is intervening on his behalf in this election. Can you pledge to the American People that you will not accept any foreign assistance in the upcoming election . I want no help from any country, and i havent been given help from any country. And if you see what cnn, your wonderful network, said [laughter] i guess they apologized, in a way, for didnt they apologize for the fact that they said certain things that werent true . Tell me, what was their apology yesterday . What did they say . Mr. President , i think our record on delivering the truth a lot better than yours sometimes, if you dont mind me saying. Let me tell you about your record. Your record is so bad, you ought to be ashamed of yourself im not ashamed of anything. Howard joining us now from new york is Chris Stirewalt, fox News Politics editor. Chris, jim acosta could have defended his network by saying, look, we ran a followup piece saying that the intelligence is murkier on whether russia is now trying to intervene or not. Instead, what do you think of the way he took on the president . Or just not. You could just not. You could just ask questions. Look, its a difficult job, im not saying its not, and im not here to say that everybody gets it right all of the time. But lets face it, this has been probably good for both trump and jim acosta. I dont know how his colleagues certainly at the other networks or even at cnn feels about it, but in terms of elevating each other, certainly its been helpful. Acosta signing autographs after being taunted the at trump rallies and stuff like that, so maybe this is on brand and works for him, but i dont think its helping us more and be better informed. Howard lets turn to joe bidens huge victory in South Carolina. Isnt in the same guy who many in the press, many of the pundits, many of the journalists utterly wrote off after he got clobbered in iowa and New Hampshire . Enter oh, i did. Joe biden was dead. There was no way that this was going to happen for him. And then really an amazing thing happened for joe biden. Two great things in the span of, one span of time. Number one, Michael Bloomberg was forced to debate, and when he did, the aspect, the wizard of oz became real. And if as soon as that happened, that was good news for biden. But then the next great thing was that bernie got real, and democrats and a lot of people in the Political Press like to pat Bernie Sanders on the head and say youre an adorable old socialist, arent you cute. But the reality, when democrats start thinking about, oh, my gosh, this could really happen, thats that makes them rethink their vote. There was a flight from bernie, both of those things added up to really good news for joe biden. And because he had invested so heavily in South Carolina, he was there to pick up on it. Howard campaigns always have twists and turn, so looking back so do you think therapy perhaps a little hasty that you were perhaps a little hasty . The. All of those tapes have been burned. There is no record of any [laughter] of the things that i said. You know, look, you always have and heres the thing that people forget in political analysis. There are no straightline projections. You cant say the way it is today is how its going to be in november. People talk about these headtohead polls between sanders and trump and or trump and whoever, thats all garbage because the world will look different when you get there. Howard and we shouldnt overreact, because bidens got a problem on super tuesday, he doesnt have that much money. But on the other hand, he now has what the press describes as momentum, and i think a lot of journalists are kind of rooting for joe because its basically going to be him or bernie, most likely. But its great copy. My goodness, the joe biden stories are just like you have to check them to make sure theyre not the onion sometimes. [laughter] howard all right. I want to get you in on the cbs debacle of a debate, because youre involved in most of the fox debates. You know what it takes to put these total. Its not easy to control candidates. Lets take a look at some of the lowlights from that debate. Mr. Steyer, mr. Steyer i think were done [inaudible conversations] first of all let me talk. Tom, i think she was talking about my plan, not yours. I think we were talking about math, and it doesnt take two hours to do the math. [inaudible conversations] lets talk about im not out of time. The here he spoke over time, and im going to talk. Heres the deal [cheers and applause] howard so enlightening. [laughter] how did the cbs moderators let this get so out of control . Look, its really hard to do. This is really hard work. They had they were hugely disadvantaged by the Democratic National committees rules and policies relating to debates. Cbs tried to do a good job. I think Margaret Brennan did an excellent job of trying to hold, hold it down and keep these guys in line. But the job of the network, the whole purpose of us in this setting is to create a fair game in which people get their rules applied to them. Cbs lost control of the situation. They need a buzzer. I hate it, but its true for everybody, and bret baier always says in our debates it does upset the dogs when we ring the bell, but youve got to have means to keep this stuff fair, and they lost control. I know they were trying hard, but they lost control. Howard yeah. In fact, they didnt mean to, but they rewarded the candidates who kept interrupting even while other candidates were talking. And this was the debate where now suddenly bernie was the front was the frontrunner, and he was going to be held accountable, and they did ask some good questions, but didnt all that get blunted . It was just so hard to follow at some points. And what it also does is incentivizes malarkey, as joe biden would say, right . So you can talk about the rules instead of the questions, you can talk about the process instead of what youre going to do. That helped sanders, it insulated him at several points because instead of the real focus being on him and his record and tough questions, the focus was on the process itself. And if youre the frontrunner, you dont want to talk about you, you want to talk about anything but you, and Bernie Sanders was helped by that. Howard its just two days now to super tuesday. What is more important once that voting is done, the number of delegates accumulated by bernie, biden and the others or the press pronouncements on who had a good day, who came back, who appears to be winning, who took the key states . So theres think about it in two different scenarios. Scenario a in which Bernie Sanders gets so many delegates, more than 300 delegates in california, he does surprisingly well in texas, he wins massachusetts and he gets so many delegates that the wind starts to go out of the sails of the bernie resistance. People say, oh, were not going to be able to catch him. In that case, it doesnt matter who finishes second. But on the other hand if its muddled, if its close, then the narrative starts to really count, and then the pressures on bloomberg or biden, whoever had the less good day to get out howard right. My point is, just briefly, how important is the press in shaping that narrative . Well, look [laughter] i mean, if its a muddle, then the press will say grace over whoever is second place and call it a twoman race. Howard all right. Chris stirewalt, great to see you. Thanks so much. You bet. Howard next on mediabuzz, a cubanamerican journalist on why shes outraged by bernieed sanders comments on castro. And later, is the Trump Campaign planning more lawsuits the press . App. Can the hilton app help us win . Hey, heywere all winners with the hilton price match guarantee, alright . Man, you guys are adorable alright, lets go find your coach, come on book with the hilton app. Expect better. Expect hilton. My agerelated macular degenso today i made a plan with my doctor, which includes preservision. Because he said a multi vitamin alone may not be enough. And its my vision, my morning walk, my sunday drive, my grandsons beautiful face. Only preservision areds2 contains the exact nutrient formula recommended by the National Eye Institute to help reduce the risk of moderate to advanced amd progression. Its how i see my life. Because its my vision. Preservision. Howard it when Bernie Sanders told 60 minutes that fidel castro had done some good things as cubas dictator. Came into office, you know what he did . He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing . Even though fidel cats troh did it . Howard and the vermont senator didnt back off during the cbs debate. You also have a track record of exes pressing sympathy for socialist governments in cuba and nicaragua. Of course you have a dictatorship in cuba. What i said is what barack obama said in terms of cuba, that cuba made progress on education. Yes, i think [inaudible] really . Really . [inaudible conversations] howard joining us now from florida, cathy areu, publisher of catalina whose family is from cuba, and since your parents did grow up there, whats your reaction to Bernie Sanders saying nice things about fidel castro throwing in its an authoritarian regime and then refusing to soften his remarks . I cant believe he said it, first of all, on 60 minutes. I thought the next day he was going to make an apology, but he did not. He continued. And if you fact check, its completely incorrect. Because in cuba you had Free Health Care and Free Education before the castro regime. Castro actually shut down the university after he took over. So the facts arent even right. And i dont know how you can compliment a dictator and a communist. This wasnt socialism, this was communism. People died, people are still in jail, were in jail, people lost their houses, my family lost everything, and hes saying that something good came out of a revolution that broughting a dictator onto an island that was fine before the dictator . Howard right. Yeah. Howard this is, obviously, very personal for you. But could Younger Voters look at this differently . For example, castro, obviously, has been dead for four years, the cold war is long over, and the u. S. Has diplomatic relations with havana. Yeah, uhuh know. Whats i know. Cuba is a strong Republican Group in the hispanic community, but cubans are 6 of all hispanics. Theyve usually been republican because they were upset about the bay of pigs which younger cubans dont remember, dont know about. But the younger ones are democrats. But bernie, by saying this, has helped all the cubans reeducate the new generations and explain the history. So i think he lost florida with this one, because there are cubans, one million in miami, theyre in tampa, theyre in orlando. Its all of florida. So he can cross florida off the list. Howard obviously a very big story in florida, as elsewhere. Bernie has also been taking shots at the media. Let me play you a clip of that. Yeah. Corporate media, to a large degree, is freaking out. As youre aware, some really horrific things have been said about me on at least one television channel. Howard hes talking about msnbc. When Bernie Sanders says corporate media, is that his version of President Trumps fake news . In other words, his cay of way his way of saying that the press cant be trusted because im a different type of candidate . Isnt that funny that once the press starts Fact Checking and taking candidates seriously, they immediately say its all fake news and you cant believe journalists . Hillary clinton said fake news, actually. Nixon started it, i think, with independent was it liberal media bias against him, and trump, of course, doesnt necessarily like journalists or says fake news all the time. And now bernies saying it. Howard yeah. On the other hand, he does get kicked around. For example, cnn asking him the question this weekend can either the coronavirus or Bernie Sanders be stopped. But last question for you is, look, remarks about cuba, what he said about the sandinistas, he honeymooned in moscow, this is all old news. Do you think the press has done a good job of vetting Bernie Sanders as a serious candidate for president . Now they are. Now they are. Before it was feel the bern, aoc, theyre very soft on him with Bernie Sanders. He seems harmless and okay. But hes a chameleon. So this chameleon was an independent when you want him to be, a democrat when you want him to be, and now hes not a straight frontrunner anymore. Hes a little scary for the cubans. This is scary, a man who sides with a dictatorship . Howard all right. Yeah, the press is Fact Checking, and theyre doing a good job right now. Howard cathy areu, nice to see you. Thank you. Howard the Trump Campaign suing the New York Times over an opinion case on russia, how strong is the case . And later, the decidedly missed missed mixed verdict against Harvey Weinstein. Claritin cool mint chewables. The only allergy product with relief of your worst symptoms, including itchy throat. Plus an immediate blast of cooling sensation. Feel the clarity and live claritin clear. Transitions light under control. Upbeat music transitions signature gen 8, available now in 4 new style colors. Transitions. Can you help keep these iguys protected online . . Easy, connect to the xfi gateway. What about internet speeds that keep up with my gaming . Lets hook you up with the Fastest Internet from xfinity. What about wireless data options for the family . Of course, you can customize and save. Can you save me from this conversation . That we cant do, but come in and see what we can do. Were here to make life simple. Easy. Awesome. Ask. Shop. Discover. At your local xfinity store today. Howard the Trump Campaign has sued the New York Times over an oped piece. Former executive eder matt spanking wrote last year there was no need to show detailed electoral collusion, quote, because they had an overarching deal, the quid of helping the campaign of Hillary Clinton for the quo of a new prorussian foreign policy. The Campaign Says thats 100 false and defamatory. The papers response . The Trump Campaign has turned to the court for trying to punish an opinion writer. The president addressed the haut at a News Conference. Is it your opinion our contention that if people have an opinion contrary to yours, that they should be sued . Well, when they get the opinion totally wrong as the New York Times did and, frankly, they did a bad thing, and thril be more coming. Howard joining us now from new york, mercedes colwin, an attorney and fox news legal analyst. So the Trump Campaign suing the times over an opinion piece saying the paper has extreme bias and animosity toward the president. Does this lawsuit have a chance . Hey, howard, great to be here. My maiden voyage, thank you so much for having me. Howard absolutely. This case is d. O. A. , dead on arrival. Why do i say that . When you have a libel case, especially against an oped editor, the very nature of an oped is that its opinion. Theres lots of wellsettled law that says when youre expressing an opinion, you are devoid of making a defamatory statement. So, and even when the president said at that press conference that, well, he got the opinion wrong, bell, by his own well, by his own admission youre talking and criticizing an opinion . The case law is very clear. If you express an opinion, youre not actually making a statement thats defamatory. Howard max may well be wrong, this was no evidence of a deal with russia, but why would the president want to open himself up to depositions and discovery on russia matters thats now, you know, old news . Thats a great point. But im not even sure its going to get to that point. First, im sure theres going to be a motion to dismiss by the New York Times expressing exactly what i stated. When youre talking about opinion, it is not libel. Now, there are, there are circumstances where theres, its nuanced. So if your opinion is that persons a thief, well, the underlying opinion is stating that that individual has actually engaged in criminal behavior. That completely is separate and apart, something of that nature would be considered libel. But this is not what were talking about. Were talking about an oped editor who simply said this is how i see it. Frankly, you dont need to show any detailed collusion because in my opinion, there was collusion to start because they wanted a prorussian president in the white house. Howard right, this is the im not sure its going to get to these depositions, but thats a great point, howard. If it does, thats a significant risk youre taking. Howard even the president has a right to sue, well see what the courts do, but when the president said more are coming, do you see this as him ratcheting up attacks on what he sees as the fake news in what happens to be an Election Year . Great point. If you make these types of statements that i, as president of the United States, believe is wrong, youre going to be facing this type of action. Youre going to be facing litigation wherever it is possibly venued. Thats whats more so of a deterrent. But hes not going to stop anything. Howard, hes the most powerful man in the free world. Your going to be scrutinized. Actions are going to be scrutinized howard let me jump in because were short on time. The president also went after two liberal Supreme Court justices. The backdrop is Sonia Sotomayor had criticized the court in a dissenting opinion in a ruling that clears the way for the administration to be more restrictive in issuing green cards. Ruth Bader Ginsburg saying that the president was a faker, the candidate was a faker. Heres what the president had to say. I always thought that, frankly, that Justice Ginsburg should do it because she went wild during the campaign when i was running. And i just dont know how they cannot recuse themselves for anything having to do with trump or trumprelated and what Justice Sotomayor said yesterday was really highly inappropriate. Howard weve got about half a minute. Do you have any problem with the president going after of two justices by name . Interesting because, frankly, i thought this was unprecedented, but there is actual precedent back in 2010. President obama did also criticize the u. S. Supreme court for their opinions and their ruling, so that was back in 2010. So i was very surprised. I think, frankly, these are my rock stars, the practicing lawyers look at the u. S. Supreme court, and they have changed the course of history in very significant cases. In my opinion, theyre pretty much off limits, but the president can express his opinion. But to say specifically that these two justices who have tremendous careers, tremendous opinions, have made some really howard got that go. The president and does express his opinion. Still to come, the Harvey Weinstein conviction and why it never would have happened without a few dogged journalists. There, pie insurance here to stop you from overpaying for workers comp. Try pie and save up to 30 . Its easy. Sweet get a quote in 3 minutes at easyaspie. Com. Howie Harvey Weinstein was convicted this week and the case would not have been brought if not for a few journalists. Even more was reveal by roland farrell, despite substantial evidence and published instead of new yorker, its easy to forget how much pressure the wellconnected weinstein brought to bear including hiring private eyes an how difficult it was for the women to publicly accuse him especially on the record. We wondered if wed ever be able to publish the initial allegations against him. If you had told us that 2 and a half years later we would watch Harvey Weinstein being the one sitting silently in court as these women took the stand to tell detail accounts what he had done to them, i wouldnt have believed it. Howie convicted of thirddegree rape and sex act but acquitted on more serious charge. Thanks to a handful of reporters Harvey Weinstein is a convicted rapist. We hope you like our facebook page, we post daily columns. We like hearing from you, good, bad, ugly. You can subscribe at apple itunes, google play, we have a lot to tackle in the wake of South Carolina and even more on super tuesday next sunday just a reminder that we will be back at 11 00 eastern and we will see you then with the latest buzz. Arthel new information on deadly coronavirus. Federal Health Officials saying that a patient in chicago tested positive last night which could make it at least 63 total confirmed u. S. Cases now. This comes as authorities investigate potential outbreak in nursing facility in Washington State where the virus has also claimed first life inside the u. S. A man in his 50s near seattle. Hello, everyone, welcome be americas news headquarters, im arthel neville. Eric thank you for joining us, im eric sean. The majority of cases that have hit us so hard come from people coming from china and the cruise ship in japan but they are now suspected community transmission