♪ ♪ howard: kevin mccarthy, the former house speaker, will join

us in the studio in just moments. in this saturation coverage of donald trump's first criminal trial, it's clear that the manhattan prosecutors are trying to cram in every last salacious details. now, that's breaking news. portraying trump as a playboy? nobody on the planet if had any idea, right? young juan merchan gave the trump side a couple of minor victories, he barred prosecutors from playing the infamous access hollywood tape, but they can talk about it. and the judge won't allow accusations by women that he calls rumors while it focuses on stormy daniel, another woman who got catch and kill money through the national inquirer, karen mc mcdougal, will be able to testify. trump denies both encounters. with mainly sketches from the courthouse and reports by journalists, the former president has a shaped the narrative by frequently addressing the media mob. >> i should be right now in pennsylvania, in florida, in many other states, north

carolina, georgia campaigning. this is all coming from the biden white house because they can't put two sentences together. howard: but the former president also discussed the indictment which says he reimbursed his former lawyer, michael cohen, for the $130,000 passed to stormy daniels, and that could be used against him. >> i was paying a lawyer and mark if it down as a legal expense, some accountant i didn't know marked it down as a legal expense. that's exactly what it was. and you get indicted over that? howard: after one day-long session, trump campaigned at a harlem bodega, the scene of a terrible crime. >> alvin bragg does nothing. he goes after guys like trump who 40 did nothing wrong. howard: some shows actually debated whether that should be covered. but the media were hungry for something more scintillating, and maggie haberman, of "the new york times," provided it. >> he appeared to be asleep.

repeatedly, his head would fall down. howard: and that reverberated through the media echo chamber. i'm howard kurtz and this is "mediabuzz." ♪ howard: in the battle over jury selection, there's a deep ideological divide among the pundits. >> show me a juror who says they can be unbiased towards trump, and i'll show you a liar. that's why we don't have political trials in america. fairness is impossible. >> make no if mistake, this is no ordinary trial, this is a taxpayer-funded, media-promoted political smear campaign against donald trump. of. >> he went on another posting spree on his social media grift this morning scream ising about how his trial is an assault on america. >> the crime isn't just being friends with the guy that owns "national enquirer," it's the change of money, it's the fabrication of the stories.

howard: joining us now to analyze the coverage in nashville, tommy lair, fox news commentator and host of tomi lahren is fearless, and in phoenix, lucy caldwell, an adviser to -- renew america. with the judge giving prosecutors broad leeway to talk about donald trump's past tabloid life and this is, after after all, about a porn star, is the media coverage going to change many people's minds about who the former president is? >> i don't think neb is confused about donald trump, his history. i mean, he's a former reality star, and they really tried this already, in 2016, and and it failed. they thought that their big moment was going to be that access hollywood tape, and it didn't hurt trump. and, in fact, it maybe in some circles got people talking about trump and made him more relatable to some groups. and that's okay. but they've been trying to put him on the line for morality. the media has done this. they clutch their pearls about donald trump, meanwhile, they

look the other way while actual crimes that are hurting actual people go right under their nose, and they don't seem to be clutching their pearls over those things. but if they're trying to make donald trump this bad guy, this playboy, this womanizerrer, it didn't work in 2016, it's not going to work in 2024. sorry, guys, try again. howard: not exactly breaking news on that front lucy, the nitty-gritty detail it is are kind of boring, falsifying expense records to reimburse michael cohen for passing money to stormy daniels, but is hearing from the "national enquirer" and a former playboy playmate and talk of the access hollywood tape, is that going to boost the coverage on the ratings -- and the ratings just into the stratosphere? >> i don't think this is a question of rate ratings, right? whether or not you think this trial should have been gone forward or not, whether or not you think it's boring, that ' not the standard, whether it's boring or scintillating, for whether or not this case should have proceeded. we can have a conversation an the case on -- about the casen on its matter merit, and when

you say they, who is this they? there is not some massive, coordinatedded approach on messaging among the left coordinating with prosecutors and media. i mean, if there were, the left would be a lot more effective in its efforts, right? so i think that we have to be clear about who is doing what. there is a case, there is coverage of the case. the coverage of the case may not be that interesting. it may be about whether or not he's sleeping while he's, you know, in trial. it may be about a whether or not certain things are admissible. but how the coverage plays out versus how the case is proceeding, those are two different -- howard: well, i agree with you that it ultimately comes down to the evidence and the testimony, but there is no way this would be virtually wall to wall on some channels without any cameras in the courtroom9 if the media weren't putting up the numbers. tomi, the media keeps saying, oh, trump can't campaign, he's stuck. hasn't he been able to get his message out in we showed you some clips at the top of the program talking to reporters

from around the world, by the way, outside the courthouse, going to the bodega where the clerk killed a robber in self-defense and alvin bragg initially charged the clerk with murder. seems to me the former president's on tv a lot. >> he is an earned media mastermind. and going back, again, to 2016, he mastered this, and a lot of other candidates have followed his lead. he is making lemonade out of lemons. he's been put in this situation, i would argue it's political persecution, but he's making the best of it. and i think the really big point that he's making is, meanwhile, you guys are going request after me here in manhattan, alvin bragg going after me. welsh i'm going to go to this bodega where people are actually being impacted by crime right in if their own neighborhood. i'm going to go there, and you're going to follow me because you want the ratings because donald trump is the obsession of a lifetime for the leftist, main 12r50e78 media. so he's doing everything that he can to make lemonade out of the lemons that he has been given, and i think he's doing an excellent job of it. i'd also point out the left's

really interesting approach of trying to make donald trump seem like the sleepy donald trump or donald trump is not cognitively aware because he fell asleep. i think that's really interesting, that they're trying to december tract from joe biden. i don't think -- distract from jee bind. good job, media, but i don't think it's resonating when you've got the current guy, joe biden, in the office who quite literally falls asleep. howard: so you don't think the sleepy nick fame is going to stick. look, when the former president talked about the case and legal expenses, this is stuff that can be used in court against him. lucy, i want to play a sound bite to make this point. donald trump, after one session, came out with a thick stack of printouts of various articles, and he said, you know, virtually all legal experts agree on this. let's roll it. >> this is "wall street journal" editorial. look at this, national review. another national review. jonathan turley, gregg jarrett,

andrew mccarthy. every one of them saying -- [inaudible] meaning there is no case. howard: so mostly right-leaning commentators. but nicole wallace on msnbc says we're not going to play this for you. we'll let you mow if he says something we think you should hear. you know, they bash him all a day long on msnbc, he speaks for about 4-5 minutes and suddenly, oh, we couldn't possibly expose our viewers to this. >> well, i mean, that's an editorial decision of a network whether they should or shouldn't have played it, i don't know. i do know that donald trump is a lawyer's nightmare as a client. having your client go out in the middle of a trial and free wheel about what is and what is not the opinion of legal scholars or experts about the case is not helpful. but that just shows that we're really doing two things here. one, there is a trial of a person who happens to be a former president who is on trial in manhattan. separately, that same person is running for president again. and so he is going to the, as

tomi said, use the tools at his disposal, for example, media following him around to, you know, free wheel and have campaign stops along the way. i do think this is not hurting trump in terms of being out on the campaign trail because one thing everyone knows about the guy is he doesn't even really like campaigning. he likes to have massive, controlled rallies. he's not out in diners eating doughnuts with people or knocking doors. i don't think we need to feel too bad for donald trump because of i what this trial takes away from his ability to do here. howard: he was supposed to have a rally last night, but it got rained out. quickly, lucy, you say you don't have an opinion on whether or not a major network should give the former president, who is on trial, never happened before, historic is and all of that, four minutes to give his side whether he wants to cite a bunch of experts who agree with him? >> i don't think that one show's decision to not play a clip of

donald trump outside doing a quick press gaggle outside of a trial in a break, i don't think that that is, i'm not prepared to indict all of m if snbc because of one host's decision to not give him that air time. howard: okay. >> he gots -- gets a lot of air time. howard: okay. and other msnbc shows have played -- >> right. howard: so, tomi, are some prospective jurors lying when they say, oh, i can be fair about trump and then the trump lawyers dig into their own social media posts, and in one case somebody who wrote lock him up and in another case reposted an anti-trump video? >> yeah, it's wild to me that anyone could think that this trial could be, you know, any semblance of fair to the former president given the area. i mean, i think we all know that the cards are stacked against him. i would just hope that some of those people that maybe even have some deep-seeded trump

derangement syndrome within their bones, i would hope they would take their duty as a juror to heart and give this man a fair trial. i'm not going to hold my breath for that. but the fact that some of these other networks, they failed to discuss this. and we know that if the situation had been reversed, a lot of these anchors on other networks would be up in arms if joe biden was in the same position and somebody had tweeted something about joe biden or lock up hillary. we know there would be mass hysteria oh that. but given the it's donald trump, the unfairness doesn't seem to boor them. howard: lucy, judge merchan admonished the press about undermining the jurors' anonymity, and i think he was right. this is where a person work, they've got three kids. sometimes it's not that hard to figure out. >> yeah. i mean, there's been conversation about whether or not this jury needs to be sequestered because they are being exposed in ways that are unprecedented. but to the point about whether

or not this jury can be impartial, yeah, we should hope people can hold in their minds of knowledge of this defendant and having opinions about him and being able to carry out their duty as jurors in a way that is fair. but if you do this both sides saying things like don't hold your breath, your setting yourself up for a situation where either way you're going to start casting doubt on these jurors and doing a thing that contributes to making them unsafe, especially if their private information is being exposed. howard: all right. ahead, kevin mccarthy will be here, but when we come back, a misdemeanor npr editor who says the -- senior npr editor resigns under pyre for speaking out. ♪ -- under fire for speaking out. ♪ ♪ mike had a heart attack a year ago. but he's still living in the red.

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howard: npr's award-winning senior business editor, the uri berliner, has resigned under pressure after accusing the network of going off to left-wing activism is. he bowed out after making the case that the lurch to the left began with donald trump's election. >> we started covering trump in a way that, like a lot of legacy news organizations, that we were trying to damage his presidency. even to find anything we could to harm him. howard: during the russian collusion probe, npr echoed the talking points of democratic congressman adam schiff. >> we really latched are on to adam schiff. he was, like r our muse to the trump collusion story. we had him on constantly. howard: -- took aim at catherine mayer who became ceo recently saying i cannot work in a newsroom where i am disparageed by a new ceo whose divisive

views confirm the very problems at npr. tom,, so he does this devastating interview with free press, and the company suspends him without pay, says everything's fine, no need for introspection, and he resigned. >> i think n npr made his point perfectly. i mean, that's really the icing on the cake there. but i would say, you know, npr has been woke for a long time. i don't think anybody's shocked to hear anything that he was saying about npr. i think a lot of folks are shocked though that our tax collars are still -- dollars are still going to fund that organization especially when you've got a ceo who has come out in a speech and said that the truth could possibly be as distraction, talking about white guilt and other sentiments. i think that none of us are super surprised to hear that the person running npr would be woke. but it should be an outrage whether you're on the left or the right, you shouldn't be funding something that's quite obviously liberal indoctrination at its best or worst depending

on who you are. howard: npr is partially funded by the -- funded by the feds. whether you agree, lucy, wouldn't npr in a pr sense say, you know what? he raises some good questions, we're going to have some internal discussions rather than just circling the wagons in. >> well, npr did not fire him, and he did something that was unprecedented and very abnormal, which was to go free wheeling, sort of like self-directed, go right to a different outlet, go do a media tour trashing his employer. that is not normal. he's not a media reporter, he's not a media ombudsman. this was obviously by design. a lot of the things he's saying about npr may be correct, but this was not his beat. he's not a person whose beat is to cover npr, and certainly his beat was not to cover his own employer in a different outlet. as for the funding thing, i really want to double click on that because, look, you can take aim at the fact that a there are lots of things that are funded

federally that you don't like, but if you're going to take aim at npr, you should take aim at voa, radio-free europe and all the a other things that are funded by the federal government that are also a partisan. you know, christian-funded crisis pregnancy. let's be honest here about this and not just sort of pick and choose, okay? howard: let me circle back, tomi, to the new ceo, catherine mayer. some of her old tweets, she criticized hillary clinton for erasing non-binary if language because she used the phrase boys and girls. the urban riots of 2020 not defending looting, but she brought up slavery, placing the value of property over the value of people's lives is a moral failure. and she posted a picture of herself, we've got that, in a joe biden campaign cap. >> yeah. you have woke and then you have the queen of woke which is what she appears to be. and i think after the fact too in talking about the coverage of this, after this whole

resignation, if you want to call it that, when you spill if date someone and they resign is, i don't know if that's necessarily on their own or because they don't feel comfortable in the newsroom, but saying i wish i would have had the chance to have a robust dialogue, well oring you did have the chance, but you waited until after the fact. and now all of a sudden you're interested in diversity of opinion. hay want diversity. in fact, they mandate diversity of everything, but thought? not always included in that a category. and it's really a shame. howard: lucy, if you ran n npr and you wanted to combat at least a perception of liberal bias even if you didn't agree with it, would you put somebody who did get out the vote for joe biden in charge of the company? >> well, look, i think that a we're conflating a lot of things because of the fact that npr has a target on it back all the a time because of his connection to -- [inaudible] and the fact that it is federally subsidized. lots of media companies have people at the helm who are political. lots of media a companies have a

bias. fox news, roger ailes was a person who was a media consultant to republican presidents -- howard: that is true. and that criticism was often raised. >> absolutely. now, the ceo -- >> [inaudible conversations] >> okay. again, conflating those two issues. howard: okay. >> the ceo of npr, her politics are way to the left of mine, but that doesn't mean it's inappropriate for her to be at the met -- helm of a liberal news outlet. howard: "the washington post" finally covered this, there hasn't been a word on msnbc or cnn, and the "wall street journal" reports "the new york times" is conducting an invest about leaks of israel coverage. this is going on in lots of newsrooms. lucy, tomi, thanks so much for joining us. up next, the media portray house speaker mike johnson as barely hanging on to his job as rewins approval for aid to israel -- he wins approval for aid to israel and ukraine. ♪

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howard: the house yesterday easily passed military aid to israel and ukraine thanks largely to pike johnson and the speaker's gop critics are extremely unhappy. >> this is the third betrayal by mike johnson, and then he did this [bleep] here on on the house floor, foreign war package that does nothing for america? i -- it's, it's unbelievable. >> we turn our backs right now, the consequences could be devastating. i understand that it is not a perfect piece of legislation. we're not insured that in a a time of divided government and at a time where there are lots of different opinions. u. howard: joining us now, olivia beavers who who covers the hill for politico. the press pushed very hard for the house to vote on ukraine aid as well as israel, and in any other circumstances, perhaps would be praising mike johnson for his political courage. but didn't he fix the problem he created by keeping this off the floor for six months?

>> i mean, i think he certainlies has faced some criticism for not moving or coming up with a plan. it's a little bit of a tough job to jump from the number 7 to the number 1 is house republican and figure out how to lead. you're dealing with a bunch of dynamicsdemands demands, and he had to figure out how to do these policies that he previously didn't is have to lead on and also deal with members and their tempers. at the moment, we're seeing that come to a head. howard: so as we saw, mtg attacked him for, i don't know, the eighth or tenth time but said she wouldn't pull the trigger on her motion to vacate until after members have gone home for a week-long recess. we don't know the timing. but with two other republicans joining marjorie taylor greene, how much jeopardy is mike johnson in? >> i think when she decides to make the bill privileged, basically force a vote on the floor -- howard: yeah. >> -- he's going to have to probably rely on democrats, three of them or more even end up deciding to vote against him.

and that a leads to a predicament because when you have a gop lead leader receiving help that that will mind mine him with his -- undermine him with his right flank, and you saw that with former speaker mccarthy, and he did not seek democratic aid and he ultimately was ousted. johnson's in that same situation, and we're going to see if democrats do help him, and some say they will -- howard: in exchange for? the. >> that's the question. howard: the democrats got what they wanted which was -- because there's a much greater split within the gop, at least the house gop, over aid to ukraine as opposed to israel was passed overwhelmingly. so this shows it was bipartisan support all along. there is a consensus that mike johnson is a lame duck and can't win the job next january. >> i hear more and more from republicans that they don't expect him to survive especially if house republicans lose the majority. at that point, you're going to see a race with several of the front names we've seen before.

but if he keeps the majority, that becomes less clear depending on how many seats are won and especially if donald trump sort of weighs in and says i want to get my agenda going, if he's the one that wins the presidential campaign. but there's a lot of up in the air on that. howard: yeah. he did back mike mike johnson early -- earlier, but they got kind of lukewarm, i think. i know the press loves these republicans in chaos stories, but if johnson does lose his gavel before the next election, aren't we in for another crazy period of a house without a speaker? >> certainly. and i think the mood from republicans is if this happens, they are going to be so down, feeling like they don't deserve the house. that's usually the sentiment i hear. why would voters put us back in if we can't even govern ourselves? but, you know, i think that's their -- there's also this mood where some of them will be more inclined to resign. it's a pretty kind of heavy feeling on the hill -- howard: been a number of resignations, yeah.

>> there'll be america i would assume. howard: yeah. there's about17 "america live"sing parts to this, and that's why we wanted you on. olivia beavers pg thanks so much. up next, former speaker kevin mccarthy on the trump trial and house republicans struggling to govern after he lost his gavel. ♪

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or abnormal movements. seek help for fever, stiff muscles, problems thinking, or sweating. common side effects include inflammation of the nose and throat, insomnia and sleepiness. ♪as you go with austedo♪ ask your doctor for austedo xr. ♪austedo xr♪ howard: joining us now on set is kevin mccarthy, the former speaker of the house. welcome. marjorie taylor greene was a key ally of yours -- >> uh-huh. howard: says our republican majority has completely failed. if you took a snapshot right now, would you agree with that? >> i i think they're in disarray, but it stems from those eight working with all the democrats. if there's no -- howard: the eight, you're talking about -- >> the gates eight, but they work -- gaits eight, but they worked with all the democrats to decide who could be speaker, and i now the conference is broken because they never dealt with those eight. and and until they do, it will

stay broken,. but to marjorie's point, she didn't do what matt gaetz did. she didn't make this privileged, she's making it ap an issue for debate. now, i think they should keep it internal, they should have their discussion. look, being speaker is not easy, otherwise maybe i'd still be there. [laughter] howard: i figured that out. it's kind of a thankless job. if you were speaker today, would you have voted with the 101 republicans, which was a bit less than half, who backed the desperately needed aid for ukraines which is running out of ammunition and suffering -- >> welsh to be fair, if i was speaker, that's not how it would come to the floor, but i would have supported ukraine. i've always supported ukraine. you've got to think strategically. you've got to use the power of the speakership. if the border's the number one issue, don't sit back. we passed h.r. 2, but they, in essence, let the senate republicans negotiate. they're in a minority if position. howard: right. >> the speaker should negotiate directly with the president. now, see, that's what we did on

the debt ceiling, and we were able to get $2 trillion in cuts, welfare reform, $20 billion from the irs. the democrat leaders will never give you that unless the president -- so after october 7 evident they never should have put a paid-for on israel money. it sent the wrong message to iran and the rest of the world. but once you put that money out, you could have used you know directly with the border, and i believe those who are complaining on east side, you'd have more -- either side, you'd have more input on how the yeah money should be spent. there's people who support ukraine but don't like what the president's doing. what's our plan for victory. and you could patch patch it directly with the border, you would have won the majority of h.r. 2, and you would have put those two together. and on that vote it would probably be overwhelming,, less democrats voting for hit. howard: mr. speaker, a major theme has been democrats bailed out mike johnson. it's something you could have tried, and you department k. and you've gotten -- you didn't. doesn't that weaken the speaker, when he can't provide the votes from his own party, and was

yesterday's vote a rare defeat for the maga movement? >> look, people read into that. the challenge is you're asking what if, and mike hasn't done that. but if the democrats come in and they save you, remember, a motion to vacate could happen every day. it won't happen every day, and they'll extracting something. they'll want something more. i say just govern fearlessly. don't worry about the motion to vacate, don't worry about what the press says. i could never win speaker. i went 15 is rounds -- howard: i remember. >> you look at those first 9 months, not just the border bill, the energy bill, the parents' bill of rights, the biggest cut ever voted in american history, more than $2 trillion. you could go bill after week after week what we were able to accomplish. when you work together even in a small majority, it's the same rules committee. it's pretty much close to the same majority. you can achieve a lot, but you have to use the majority for that benefit. if you're playing defense, you're going to be torn up inside. howard: so hillary clinton on a podcast, i gotta ask you about this, trump was just gaga over

putin because putin does what trump would like to do, kill his opposition, imprison his opposition, drive journalists and others into with exile, particularly don't like that last part. what do you think of the former presidential candidate's remarks? >> i think she's upset that she lost but also let's think about what she said. she said putin drives to opponent away. what are today doing to president trump today? they put him on trial. and let me ask everybody in america, does anybody in america believe president trump would be on trial today if he wasn't running for president? nobody believes that. what are they trying to do? they tried to remove him from the if ballot, to even have the opportunity to be -- howard: which was -- [inaudible] >> now what are they doing? they're spending all their time trying to remove kennedy from the ballot. these people talk about a democracy -- howard: danger to democracy. >> they are the dangers to try to deny democracy to in this country. this is really concerning to me what the biden and the democrats

have done. howard: but i want to get into the trial -- >> but has hillary ever said she lost the 2016 election? howard: yeah. she called donald trump and conceded. >> but she never in the press -- howard: she did call donald trump and concede. let's get back to what happened nearly seven months ago. you were ousted because you tried to work with democrats to keep the country from folding and to -- >> that's not why. howard: okay. so you're going to say it's all because of matt gaetz. what exactly did he do -- >> matt came to me, matt has an ethics complaint9, and if you watch abc news apparently i'm not a liar, it's true, he has a challenge with a minor and paying her money. it was asked, put into place an ethnics before i -- earth they cans before i ever became speaker. he wanted me to stop the challenge, i wouldn't. of so he got some other people who wouldn't vote for me and partnered with the democrats -- howard: he calls you a liar, he denies having sex -- >> so does he deny what mark if

wayne said about a him, the ethics testimony that was about what was said? does he deny he told other people from your same network to call me about a it? i don't know if all these people are liars. i don't believe that to be true. i know what transpired. even if you look at byron donalds' latest quote this week -- howard: yeah, lord of the flies. >> what matt gaits did has broken the republican may noter he's now created lord of the plies -- majority. -- flies. ask anybody inside our conference, they actually know it. howard: so you're saying all the things press wrote about it, and certainly the congressman was part of that, well, of course, it had partially to do with the fact that any single member, and you had to make that concession, could offer a motion to vacate finish. >> this isn't -- let's talk about the motion to vacate, okay? that has been around for more than a hundred years. every speaker has had to live with that except nancy on her second time, she changed it.

i don't get to determine that. 218 people determine what the rules package are. the democrats wouldn't support doing the difference, so i had to to to live with what is there. that's part of the job. that's fine. but i never woke up any morning worried about the motion to vacate could it happen? yes. howard: marjorie taylor greene staunchly defended you -- >> look, i don't believe the motion to vacate will come into play -- howard: i didn't ask the question yet. la. [laughter] >> i know, but i know the direction you're going. howard: so the timing is unclear. she doesn't have to full trigge- >> she didn't make it privileged. listen, i think republicans have learned from that, that that probably wasn't the best idea. i think the outcome that they have now, they realize it wasn't a smart idea. that's what byron and others are saying. i think going in this close to an rex, i think -- an election, i think what helps the current speaker is tell me this, if he is not the speaker, who can win it? howard: i don't know.

a pretty thankless job. [laughter] have you advised marjorie taylor greene on this? if because the point i was going to make was she descend fedded you -- defended you against a motion to say tate, and now she at least is pushing one, whether she follows through, we shall see, against mike johnson. and the controversy is many of the same things; cooperating with democrats, spending too much, you know, he's part of a minority -- >> you know what's interesting on the spending, if you look at a those who claim to be conservatives, the matt gaetzs of the world, they continue in a continuing resolution that actually spent $50 billion more as they moved through. they locked in pelosi's policies. they denied the ability to have a border bill. i think if the country really sits back and looks -- remember, our whole government is designed to have compromise. i don't think it's a bad thing that a democrats vote with republicans. i like to get more democrats to vote with me, that my idea's so strong that i even got them too. so to me, that's not, that doesn't make sense. i just think let's govern and do

what a you said you're supposed to do. and i've watched a lot of people on both sides of the aisle make that happen. howard: right. and i've watched a lot of republicans, marjorie taylor greene, isn't the only one saying we haven't accomplished much in recent months since you left. i do need to get a break -- >> the press can write more of that. howard: more with kevin mccarthy in a a moment as joe biden talks about his opponent's criminal trial. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪♪ ♪ you were made to find inner peace. we were made to track flight prices to paradise.

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howard: and we're back with former speak iser kevin mccarthy. let's turn to the donald trump hush money trial which i would agree with is least important and most openly partisan of all the criminal cases. but when you suggest that joe biden is behind this because he can't win the election, i raised this with the former president as well. he has denied it in a tv interview. he says his lack of ethics has nothing to do with me. i have not once talked to anyone in my administration if about a trump's legal problems. what proof do you have to the contrary? >> he even in his own words proves that's not true. he was complaining to his staff the about trump and the legal issues. howard: complaining privately to your staff and actually trying to meddle with -- >> well,, listen, i think fairness is a word that's probably really a powerful word in america. is it really fair that the nominee for one party is now within, is in a trial this close to a presidency? also is it actually fair to the

voters? think, for instance, how would biden handle this? when a new york post newspaper came out during the last election running a story about his family, what did he do? the well or, now the secretary of state the wolfs part of his campaign went and got 51 people, former cia directors and and others, to put a notice out to say this is russian propaganda. then they put pressure on companies to say you can't repost that. so the most powerful companies that get news couldn't repost a story. howard: right stwhcht so why -- howard: twitter was involved in that. >> to be fair, why wouldn't the president take a different position? if why wouldn't joe biden caring about the voters say, you know what? this is wrong. if i had nothing to do with this, they should not have this trial right now so the american people could actually spend time on what the issues are. howard: hold on, you're finish. >> that would be the real position -- ward: yore saying you did want president biden, you do want him to meddle to the justice system, just in favor of donald trump? >> no. i want his opinion to be fair.

i want his opinion to look for the american people in fairness. who in america thinks it's right that if joe biden was on trial right now beforehand or that president trump? and really they've already looked at this issue how many times? and really from the standpoint -- howard: a lot of people passed on bringing those charges. that's why i said what i said. all right. >> and think about it, their number one witness has already proven to be a liar in the process? cohen, the attorney? howard: we will see what happens when he testifies. >> so everybody knows -- howard: let me get to -- >> but it goes back to one question, does anybody in america believe president trump would be holding this trial now if he wasn't running for president? if that's the number one issue. so even if you dislike president trump, you should stand up for fairness in america and say this is wrong. howard: all right. >> this should not go on. howard: briefly, let me get to alejandro mayorkas. let me ask my next question -- >> in fairness, where is this trial being held? if this is the second most

democratic county in the entire country. and if he's going to -- if president trump's going to be held by his peers, biden won this county by 87%. howard: i get it. it's an anti-trump audience. it's in new york where he grew up. >> but that goes against everything we know for our justice system and about america. that's what's wrong. howard: should donald trump be calling january 6th inmates hostages when they were convicted by the justice system? you denounced -- >> look, i think what happened on january 6th is wrong, everything about a it is wrong all the way through. howard: all right. >> we have a difference of opinion. howard: alejandro mayorkas, the impeachment articles were dismiss pd, media attacked them as a symbolic. no trial, story vanished. why did the press let it go, and is this something that could come back to bite the dems? >> i think so because they love impeachment for no reason. [laughter] and now they go and do this. who in america believes your secretary of homeland who says

the border is secure? howard: okay. but is that that an impeachable offense? >> well well, we wouldn't know because we never if had the debate in the senate. shouldn't it at least have been debated? does that mean every democrat says the border is secure? if what's concerning to me in one month, last year in february, we caught more people on the terrorist watch list in that one month than in the entire last four years. so when a terrorist attack happens in america and those democrats think they shouldn't have even had a debate about it, that's going to haunt because who got harmed in america because of their lack of holding up -- howard: yeah. everybody knows the border is an absolute mess. kevin mccarthy, thanks so much. >> hey, thank you. howard: still to come, israel hits iran with limited airstrikes. why both countries are playing it down. ♪

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howard: cbs struck a very sour note after heavily promoting a special on billy joel's 100th concert at madison square garden. you heard him there, he was into the last verse of his iconic hit piano man, this was 11:00 1:30 at night when the network cut away. the fans went nut if9. the network apologized to billy joel, it stations and audience and reaired the music special friday night. ♪ if. ♪ howard: howe we're joined now by fox news correspondent trey yingst in tel aviv. trey, israel struck these targets in iran. everybody was saying what would the retaliation be of a military base, and the only reason the american people -- media were able to report it is because it was an unnamed official who confirmed it. what's your take on that? >> reporter: absolutely. routinely, the israelis avoid commenting on strikes across the middle easts, and this has been a policy of the israeli

government and military long before this current conflict started on october 7th. the israelis for years would strike inside syria, hitting targets linked to the iran and never taking credit for them. it's part of the mysterious play they want across the region, trying to insure that their operations remain secret and also they want to keep the regime in tehran guessing. you can contrast that to the iranians who after the threats they made following the strike earlier this month in damascus, syria, that a killed one of hair thop generals -- their top generals, they basically projected what their plans were going to be, and the israelis doesn't want to make that same mistake. howard: they also wanted no casualties, but the media coverage in both countries has been muted. so do you think both sides are now looking for deescalation? >> reporter: absolutely. the israelis with this strike in the province just south of the crepe -- iranian capital of tehran gave leadership in iran

the ability to walk away are from this. they are not threatening to retaliate against israel. they're actually saying they don't know who was responsible for the strike. so they have an offramp, and the israelis have the ability to send a message to iran saying we're able to target the air defense around your natanz nuclear facility and, thus, target the facility itself if we want to. and so this was a calculated maneuver by the israelis, also coordinated with the united states ahead of time to not drag the region into a broader conflict. howard: yeah. the fact that it could strike at that area where iran works on its nuclear program was sending, i think, a very clear message. there was a report that israel was going to fight back that night against the iranian missile and drone barrage. but informed the u.s. about it and ended up with the more limited strike. does this mean, and i've got about half a minute,, the biden administration is now back after some tense times to having more leverage with bibinetanyahu's government? >> reporter: certainly.

and we've seen that over the past several weeks. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu publicly saying that the israelis won't be swayed by the american administration or the president himself. the reality behind the scenes is much different. the israelis rely on the united states not only for military equipment, but also a intelligence support in their battle against hamas and islamic jihad inside gaza and against iranian proxies across the region. and so they're certainly taking some direction from the president -- howard: right. trey, always appreciate your analysis. sorry, didn't mean to step on you there. that's it for this edition of "mediabuzz." i'm howard kurtz. you can sin screen to media buzzmeter, it's usually about a half hour, sometimes locker, sometimes shorter. that's a part of the fun out. and we are here next sunday, 11 eastern, with the only media analysis show on national television. ♪ ♪

arthel: today former president donald trump's legal team learn

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