today. have a great week and we'll see you back fox news sunday. watching. i'm maria bartiromo. i'll see you next week on fox business network. on the buzz meter, donald trump at the border. donald trump leading in new polls today. donald trump dominating the coverage. donald trump ripping iowa's top newspaper. even as some pundits attack him, dismiss him or struggle to figure out his appeal. >> some of the political media is great and really honest. even if they don't want to be they are really honest. i find that 60% of the political media is really really dishonest. >> i think what this really shows is donald trump is a political fraud because donald trump isn't playing by the normal rules of political combat. he's not backing down here. he's not giving an inch. >> people don't trust you and if people don't trust the media,

and i understand why. >> why is the donald still driving the news coverage and is the media boosting his campaign. we talk about whether john mccain a war hero with the senator's daughter. two federal investigators seeking a justice department probe of whether hillary clinton's private e-mails revealed classified information and the paper changes the story after her campaign pushes back. we'll take a look. those disturbing planned parenthood videos. why have some avoided or minimized the story? we'll have a report card and the last love fest between jon stewart and president obama. >> the media, you love them. they love you. are we focused on the wrong things and demanding too much of you and demanding too much of government? are we too inflammatory. >> the media is a bunch of different medias.

there are some that get on my nerves more than others. it gets distracted by shiny objects. >> how much will the president and the left miss stewart's "daily show." i'm howard kurtz and this is "media buzz." we can now measure the campaign news cycle which which donald trump controversy the media are fixated on. trump accused the media of distorting his remarks about john mccain's war record but he did retreat a couple inches with bill o'reilly m. >> you do think john mccain is a hero. i know you do. >> i said it. certainly there was a misunderstanding i would totally take that back. >> and trump went to the border at laredo texas. fox, cnn, msnbc, all up with live coverage and he squatted

away a question. >> many feel that what you said when you said that people across the border are rapists and murderers. >> we are talking about illegal immigration. you know what? that's a typical case of the press with misinterpretation. they take a half a sentence -- by the way, they take a half a sentence and they take a quarter of a sentence and they put it all together. it's a typical thing. >> the other 15 republican candidates when they got attention at all found themselves watching coverage of trump or fielding questions about trump. >> i can't help it. we have to start with donald trump. >> what is it specifically about donald trump that is tapping into many americans at the moment senator? >> it could be the free billions of dollars of publicity he's

gotten from being on every channel all the time. >> is that true? joining us to examine campaign coverage amy, susan, and n. amy, trump visits the texas border. fox, cnn msnbc, cover it like a presidential visit. >> a larger than life guy willing to say anything and take that criticism. i actually think that trump and media are frenemies. he loves them as much as they love him. >> we shouldn't feel bad when he bashes us. >> absolutely not. when you look at the laredo visit, a quote i don't think got as much play as if it would have been another republican is when he said when it comes to latinos that thousands of them work for him and they all love him. can you imagine another republican saying that? the media would have been all over him. >> on that point, with a typical

candidate they would say he offered no solutions not with donald trump. >> they are feeding off each other. he's talking about something the public is feeling increasingly about the media. they don't have trust in the media. we rank lower than members of congress in poll numbers. he's fueling his candidacy because people are fed up with coverage and that works in his favor and then the press is giving him so much attention. he starts every newscast all the time. that's a phenomenon. it's huge. i think they are fueling each other. press and donald trump. >> what did you make of the way that trump slapped down jose on the question? >> i actually saw jose talk about that that morning. i was watching msnbc and he was upset. the whole segment that then he was very tough on trump in the

segment to try to get into the data on what had gone on with immigration. >> he wasn't precise in his question. he made it sound like trump said that all people crossing the border are criminals. >> when trump said it the first time it was clear that he was not talking about undocumented immigrants the first time. he actually changed that over time and that's part of what's going on with trump now is he's calibrating. i think that he has a big choice to make. will he become a more cob conventional serious candidate or will he be a media phenomenon? i think that's one of the biggest questions as we go forward. >> is the press going to start covering him as a serious candidate? i don't get the sense right now that he's being treated as incredibly serious candidate in terms of questions being asked of him and the way he's being written about as a novelty. >> i have to point out as media phenomenon as you put it, he's continuing to lead in polls. a new cnn poll this morning which has donald trump ahead in a lead nationally and two points

behind scott walker in a poll in iowa. you got to ask trump a question on msnbc. he was complaining that "morning joe" spent two minutes talking about some other candidates and not him. talk about the exchange you had with trump. >> trump's regard for himself is bottomless. in terms of questioning him to your point, i did get to ask him, i thought, an important political question which he's quoted as saying he identifies more as a democrat and believes the economy has done better under democrats. i think where you see the critical analysis of donald trump in terms of substance is in right-wing media bloggers and so forth who were all over donald trump's answer to me and said over and over that donald trump is not a conservative he's an opportunist and pointing out with his positions flip-flop flip-flopped as we put him forward as america's great leader. >> some news organizations have

pointed out the way in which he's moved on issues like health care and so forth. it doesn't seem to matter. i want to play you a bite of donald trump in iowa yesterday. the backdrop is des moines register had called him names and he should get out of the race. let's see how trump handled that. >> i just want to thank you and actually "the des moines register" is standing outside, too. that's sort of funny. you know it's a super liberal rag. >> so trump wouldn't grant credentials to the reporter who has nothing to do with the editorial page if you know how newspapers work. >> that's a great move for him, for publicity and for like i said people that don't like the media and are fed up with the media. as a reporter i will tell you editorial side and people out covering the news there's a wall between us so when someone writes an editorial that's unfavorable to a political candidate, it's not supposed to affect the way a reporter covers that candidate. the public doesn't care about that anymore it seems.

that was a point on trump side. >> at least he didn't round him up with a rope. >> trump picks fights with the media. he said you kept bringing up negative things and i thought it was a fair interview and he saw the same thing to anderson cooper and same thing to katie tur and he tells the hill he's considering a third-party run because republicans don't treat him fairly and he backtracks on that and all generates more stories and more news cycles. >> i think he's in this for the long haul. when he emerged, i said right away that he's a serious candidate. he's going to be in this thing for the long haul. i think he's having a lot of fun. i think the other thing is that he's interesting. it's fun. politics is boring most of the time. i think if you're the other republican what's happening is that the republican field is now in two tiers. walker bush and trump in the upper tier. other 13 are sucking wind and

not able to break through this media storm for trump. it's a big problem for the republicans in terms of these other very talented candidates trying to get air time and so it's becoming a self-reinforce thing for trump. >> you look at some of the spectacle spectacles. rick perry calling trump a cancer on conservatism. it seems like the only way other republicans can get air time is tangling with trump. >> there are three tiers. there is the trump tier serious candidates and others in single digits. it's news that trump is gaining traction among republicans and republican leaning voters and i think you can attribute that to his celebrity, et cetera. the media is focused on the horse race there is nothing they love more than republicans fighting and warfare on the right. again, the media isn't really putting a feet to the fire when it comes to what is his agenda

beyond trying to get mexico to pay for a wall which is completely redikidiculousridiculous. >> you say the media aren't doing it. i'm saying that he defies convention by not really answering many questions. it does not seem to matter. >> you don't see stories about flip-flopping and who he really is but stories about trump is leading the other republican contenders. >> after the john mccain furor, comments about he's not a war hero which he says he took back all of these pundits came on and said this is the beginning of the end. he's going to implode. and they were all wrong. they've been consistently wrong about trump. >> the scant coverage has been given to why he continues to do so well. at the heart of that is really talking to people who support trump. i have been very surprised at the endurance and level of support for donald trump. that in itself deserves a lot more coverage than it's getting. it has to do with problems within the republican party

itself. i think really examining what's going on here amongst the voters is really the responsibility of the media right now and it's being largely ignored. >> we're seeing signs of it now. simon, this gets to the million dollar question. this was a colossal failure of journalism. you had smart political reporters and analysts and commentators who consistently dismissed trump at the beginning, who mocked him and said he's going to blow up. he's now leading most republican polls. how did the media blow it so badly? >> it's amazing. they blew it not only in the beginning but on the mccain thing. everyone in washington immediately said it's over. he's done. >> he's gone up in the polls. >> he's gone up in the polls and part of this as my colleagues said here, there's tremendous frustration and anger in the country about what's going on in america and a sense things aren't going the right direction and angry at the media and there's this big frustration that he's tapping into that's durable and powerful. i think it's also a sign of how

weak the other republican candidates are that he's been able to surge this far. he's in it for a long haul. he's now got to not just show but show well the rest of the way. >> i think that anger you hit on something really important here that we need to do a better job of exploring that. i know you have opinions about this because i see this all the time on twitter and facebook. send me a tweet. we'll read some later. when we come back "the new york times" scoop on a possible criminal probe on hillary clinton's e-mails is scrapped after pushback from her campaign. and

>> "the new york times" broke the story saying that two inspectors generals asked whether sensitive government information was mishandled in connection with the personal e-mail account hillary clinton used. "times" reporter is saying that the clinton campaign is pushing back. >> i also question how the justice department handled it. they first came out and did call it a criminal referral and then they came out later and said it's not a criminal referral. >> speak to the question of -- >> "the new york times" had a responsibility to come out and change their headline based on changes in how the justice department responded to this. >> didn't tell readers about this until almost a full day and it became a correction. on this point about the

inspectors generals say it wasn't criminal. hillary clinton took questions in iowa yesterday. she said i did not send or receive anything that was classified at the time contradicted by the igs. is that whole thing just semantics? >> yes. particularly in changing to this passive voice. who was writing these e-mails? if it was an assistant or housekeeper or dog walker we should know this. i think "the new york times" was playing semantics here. i don't remember them issuing a clarification on marco rubio's luxury yacht that was a modest fishing boat. you can't blame clintons for asking "the new york times" to make these changes but you can blame "the new york times" for acquiescing. >> my problem was not leveling with readers we made this change and here's why. there's a second correction about this criminal referral thing. i used to cover the justice

department. any time a civil agency sent something to justice it's potentially criminal no matter what it's called or labeled or phraseology is. the clinton campaign is going against the "times" hard saying the incident shows dangerous of relying on inaccurate leaks from partisan sources. the "times" didn't mention the hillary campaign went against the paper. >> the "times" will have to better explain what happened here. the fact that we're still talking about this on sunday and there's lack of clarity and this is a big issue and particularly important because the way that the e-mail situation is set up is there will be releases every month for the next few months. it won't go away. all other news organizations will write about this. constantly in the media. >> not to drag trump into this segment, he called into cnn this morning and said what hillary did was criminal. that remains to be proven. >> i think that this is -- the

"times" needs to since they'll write about it a lot over the next six months, they need to get their act together quickly to make sure they have credibility to stay with the story. >> hillary's practice of not taking too many questions from too many news organizations, does that hurt her on this story as it continues to unfold? >> it has and it hasn't. it is hard to believe that the secretary of state did not traffic in classified information. that's ridiculous. on the other side, it's kicking up dust and making it confusing. the public is saying i don't understand this story anymore. >> she scored one against the media on friday when "the new york times" came out with the correction and she could talk about inaccuracies and media making mistakes. >> "times" did not get the better of that exchange. as always, thank you for joining us. ahead, jon stewart tells barack obama that the media loves him but the president

complains about his coverage and the man who challenged donald trump on john mccain's war hero status will be here.

at a forum in iowa last week frank luntz criticized trump. >> referring to people as rapists -- john mccain a war hero 5 1/2 years as a p.o.w. and you call him a dummy. is that appropriate in running for president? >> you need to let me speak, frank, because you interrupt all the time. he's a war hero. he's a war hero because he was captured. i like people that weren't captured. >> joining us now is frank luntz. so you interrupted trump.

you pushed back with the phrase war hero. this whole controversy is your fault. >> i had to do my job. i know about which questions i would ask because i wanted to be fair to the candidates and informative to the audience and i wanted the press sitting in the front three rows to get something out of it. i had no idea that would happen. >> did you sense it would become a defining moment? >> you can tell by the audience. there's a gasp. this is what i don't understand. donald trump absolutely is credible with the voters. he absolutely has a message but he doesn't see and hear what's going on. frank, i got a standing ovation. every one of the ten candidates got a standing ovation. frank, they applauded me. they interrupted ted cruz and bobby jindal with multiple standing ovations. >> i didn't read or hear a

syllable about other candidates. it was about donald trump. you did a focus group where you asked people about donald trump. let's play a little bit about that. >> what are phrases to describe donald trump? >> he's a sensationalist and media whore. >> best thing that ever happened to jeb bush. >> he never had a chance. clown. >> is all of the nonstop coverage that we've talked about and that you see on every news channel and every newspaper, is that boosting trump? >> absolutely. he absolutely is the front runner. he's walking into that august 6th fox news debate number one. i never dreamed that could happen. that's partially the media's fault. there is so much outrage among people who sit at desks like this about what he says when there should be accountability. >> you say fault as if we're responsible for donald trump? >> partially, yes. if you will put it on me because i asked him a question -- >> that was half in jest.

i would say in terms of underestimating donald trump never have so many gotten it so wrong about one billionaire. >> it's been print media and on television because they don't understand the voters. republican primary voter wants a consistency and they want to know where candidates stand. instead of being outraged or predicting he'll drop out, which he's not, this guy is in it to stay then you should be showing what he's said on tv what he's written in his books about abortion because that's changed and about health care because she's changed. stop yelling i say to the media and instead start reporting. >> you also in that focus group asked people their opinion of credibility of the american media and you heard something surprising. >> they had more faith in bbc than they did in american media outlets. i said wait a minute. this is a foreign outlet. their response was but that's because they're not bias and because they're not ideological. i believe they are. but to the average american the

bbc tells the truth and they don't trust media because they think they've got some sort of bias either left or right. that's a real problem. >> it's not just the british accent. >> you speak british when you have a college degree people think you're smart. >> does that reflect a deep seated unease and distrust with those of us in the news business? >> it's deep. there's a cynicism and anger and distrust. american people are asking for a simple concept. the truth. >> people might define truth differently if they're on the left or right. >> the truth is still the truth. they want it from you. they want it from the candidates and they feel like they're not getting it. the reason why donald trump does so well is because they think that he's telling them the truth at least as he sees it. that's why he's in first place. >> all right. frank luntz, great to see you in washington in person. ahead, why are those disturbing planned parenthood videos big

news for some media outlets and nonnews for others. was

. barack obama made his seventh and final appearance on "the daily show." it's no secret that jon stewart likes the president and doesn't like republicans. they did have an interesting discussion about the media. >> have people in government people in administration your office have you yourself become too guarded in the way that you speak to the american people and to practice in the art of spin? >> the problem with our interaction with the media is probably overstated.

i think what's understated is the splintering of the media generally so it's hard for us to get one conversation. you have folks who are constantly looking for facts that reinforce their existing point of view. >> joining us now to look at jon stewart's 16-year career is television and media critic for "the baltimore sun." jon stewart isn't hard on barack obama but was that a good interview? >> it was 22 minutes and 13 seconds of letting obama spin his spin. jon stewart is an important cultural force. he engaged young people in political process. what comes with it is an ideology. he has an ideology that is left wing ideology and it's there. so he gave him a clear run. you know he asked a good question about should we have three years of college and then one year of service of some

kind which is a big policy question. obama said that would be interesting meaning i'm nevada going to take that and then he said you know what i really like young people to do and he looked in the camera i like them to really think about this iran deal. it's a good thing. i would like you to contact your elected official in congress. it's in there. >> political commercial. >> i like that he asked the president are you too guarded and too full of spin. we showed at the top of the show not all of the media love obama. he said media love you and you love them. obama resents some of his coverage and jon stewart talked to journalists in the beltway, they complain about not having enough access and doing interviews with regular reporters opposed to youtube stars. >> this was astonishing to me when he asked about the media. obama loves to talk about media. most of his analysis is wrong or it's 10 years old or it's a

politician who hates the media. stewart should have asked him, this is the administration that has changed the rules of white house imagery. you can't take pictures. you only get to control pictures. what about the reporters, won here and one at "the new york times" that he went after. this is one of the most hostile press administrations in the world and for him to let him get away with things the press is interested and gets distracted like we're a bunch of fools. we're not the fools. we have an administration that is as hostile as richard nixon's and we've tried to push back and it's guys like jon stewart who let him get away with it. i was so angry when i saw stewart not even -- he could have gently and respectfully followed up. >> is this you being angry? it's your normal voice to me. >> from february after obama took office i have been screaming this guy hates the press and he's done nothing but

try to take power away from the press. >> you have some company in that now some 6 1/2, 7 years later. how much did stewart, using video to expose contradictions did that have an impact on tv news itself? >> i don't know if it had be aan impact on tv news but a profound impact on culture. the college students that i encounter now really think jon stewart is what it means to be politically smart. he has taught -- this is profound. he has not just taught him to care about politics but he taught him a way to look at the world. republicans are fools. remember his last comment, he and obama sharing the laugh about trump is typical of those two together and everyone else is a fool on the right. >> jon stewart went on cnn and got the network to cancel

"crossfire." i've been on the show. he's funny. >> he's brilliant. >> he can be mean and use clips to distort and says it's just comedy. in an interview stewart says now that he's leaving, he won't watch fox news anymore unless there's a nuclear winter. he's not exactly hiding his view. he did have a bromance thing with o'reilly. >> you look at things that jon stewart did with anthony weiner when he defended him and attacked the press. he protects his friends. he's not an honest broker. >> as we finish this up why does jon stewart get such glowing press most of the time even though you say he's tilted and he's in bed with the left and that he's giving college students an unrealistic view of

the world. >> i think one of the reasons is a lot of the field of media criticism today is not filled with first rate intellects. they see jon stewart make -- >> we're too dumb? >> we're going to do what stewart and obama did. everyone else is dumb. seriously. they see him and he's a smart guy and they go that's brilliant what he said but they didn't think of it. it's their job to think of it. they're supposed to think of it and not watch a comedian who has a totally different agenda. >> he has done something that journalists should have figured out. good to see you as always. coming up meghan mccain's take on donald trump and bill cosby sends a lawyer out to make tv rounds and why that's too little and way too late.

i don't care if you're pro-choice or pro-life the undercover videos of planned parenthood officials talking about crushing babies for procuring organize answer for tissue procurement are downright disturbing to watch. >> i'm not going to crush that part. i'm going to crush below, i'm going to crush above and -- >> and there's been a great variation in the media's approach. a prominent story on fox since july 14th since the pro-life center for medical progress released the first video. >> startling revelations tonight that could put some in the abortion industry in a most uncomfortable position. >> the next day cnn did a couple of stories. msnbc talked a little bit about the video, sometimes dismissively and the "washington post" carried a front page story but look at the lead of "new york times'" inside the paper piece. abortion opponents renewed their campaign with immediate impact among republicans in congress

and the presidential race and as republicans called for investigation cbs' morning and evening news those shows were alone in the big three networks in airing full reports. >> today house speaker john boehner called for an investigation into planned parenthood and its handling of organs from aborted fetuses. >> with the president of planned parenthood apologizing nbc "nightly news" got to the video four days after the video was released. >> it's put planned parenthood in damage control mode apologizing for one of its officials caught on that tape. >> last sunday the controversy was covered by "fox news sunday" and ignored by "meet the press," face the week" and "state of the union" and when a second video was released lots of coverage on fox and a full report on the "cbs evening news." >> today the group released a second video to back up its claims. >> haggles over the price and jokes about buying an expensive

sports car. >> i want a lamborghini. >> but nothing on nbc's "nightly news" abc's "world news" or all three network morning shows and very little on cnn or msnbc. liberal outlets and planned parenthood itself have accused the center of deceptive editing but the group released the raw video for everyone to look at. there's no proof that planned parenthood broke the law but what was caught on video is by any definition news. still to come your top tweets, high-level resignations at gawker over a spiked sex story and why i'm buzzed off about the latest twist in the bill cosby melodrama.

i am buzzed off about the whole cosby story. now that bill cosby's only

domning words in a deposition have convinced most americans he's a sexual predator now his camp sends out a lawyer to argues could which did nothing wrong and is being defamed through the media. >> we have heard from the accusers that he did give them a powerful sedative so powerful that they could not consent to sex with him. what is your response to that revelation? >> and it's -- it's not really a revelation that quaaludes were used in the '70s. they were commonly used as a partying drug and also knowns to be used to increase sexual arousal. >> some claim they were drugged. is it your position that mr. cosby never gave a woman drugs without her knowledge? >> in fact what we're looking at now is a situation where we started with a man who had not been charged with a crime, who has not been convicted of a crime but instead has been accused of criminal activity. >> you know what? i'm done with this story. i've heard the more than 30 accusers and interviewed one of

them. i'm not interested in narrow legalistic language from attorneys. when bill cosby himself will sit for detailed interviews about whether he used drugs to rape or assault all these women i will pay rapt attention. until then stop blaming the media for reporting the evidence. time for your top tweets. donald trump's trip to the border deserve such heavy media coverage? let me think. when does he ever deserve such media attention? trump media overkill that's the hashtag. all outlets know the donald moves the dial when it moves the eyeballs and he's the republican front-runner for now. who else is doing anything else media worthy? trump and media are symbiotically related. he performs and they recklessly mask his narcissism by making it look like it matters. two top gawker resigning in

protest taking down an article. a non-editorial business executives were given a vote in the decision to remove it is an unacceptable and unprecedented breach of the editorial fire river wall and turns gawker's claim to be the world's largest independent media company into essentially a joke. nick denton who is openly gay said he made the decision with support of his business colleagues and this could have cost him $1 million in lost advertising but this is the company i built. i was ashamed to have my name and gauker's associated with a story of the private life of a closeted gay man who some felt had nothing to warrant the attention. that post wasn't what gawker should stand for, and it is symptomatic of a site that has been out of control for editorial management. that's it for this edition of

"media buzz." check out our facebook page. hope you'll like it. we post a lot of digital content there, including our digital download series and check out our home page as well. we'll be this is "the fox reporter." good evening everyone. i'm julie banderas. high stakes and high drama in a rare sun session on capitol hill. the senate gaveling in this afternoon to vote on several amendments to the federal highway bill. lawmakers face a july 31st deadline to approve a plan to replenish the highway trust fund. it has been running on deficit for years, and if things don't change washington could actually be forced to cutback on payments to states for vital infrastructure projects. now just a short time ago lawmakers defeated an amendment to repeal obamacare and advance