howie: on the "buzzfeed" the president launches airstrikes against syria. the change in donald trump's stance on syria and the surprising media coverage. >> u.s. military forces just waged a wave of cruise missiles against syria getting back at assad regime after that attack on women and children. >> it has fallen to donald trump to enforce the red line first enunciated by president obama

that he did not follow through on. by take that action donald trump has tree stored the credibility of american powers. >> but it won't get him into any real trouble. it was symbolic and a slap on the wrist. >> i feel like what president obama did was put us back on the geopolitical map. howie: is the press sceptical about getting us into another middle east war. slamming susan rice and others. '. devin nunes is forced to step down. neil gorsuch is confirmed for the supreme court. is the administration drenched in hypocrisy? this is "mediabuzz."

in the wake of the president's decision to launch tomahawk missiles against syria after a horrifying chemical attack. kellyanne conway joins me from new york. when the president calls upon civilized nations in the world to stop syria, it sounds like's calling for a long-term military effort against assad. >> he's saying the steps to reform the dictator assad have failed. he noted damascus and moscow assured the world committee that these weapons were gone. we know both countries have not gone along with u.n. resolutions. i think russia has vetoed them 7 times to denounce the actions of mr. assad against his own

people. he said it's incredibly important to note the president's address to the nation and the world was non-partisan. people note how emotional it was and empathetic it was, talking about the beautiful babies and talking about how no child should suffer these horrors. but he made this decision based on the information he gathered from his national security team, and he made that decision in a decisive, swift way to accolades left, right and center. i wanted to point out. the only thing missing from his statement was any time of partisan rebuke of the previous administration. everybody knows that syria was by and large a failure under the previous administration. but this president did not need to note that. he's looking forward and calling upon civilized nations to move

forward. howie: you had some of the president's fiercest liberal detracdetractors applauding this decision. donald trump was against any military action with president obama's red line. and as recently as october, trump told reuters when he was a candidate, you will end up in world war iii over syria if we listen to hillary clinton. this seems to be a major change in his thinking. should he give a speak explaining how his decision has evolved? >> i'll leave that to our commander-in-chief and president.

he's now the commander-in-chief and president. he gathers information from his national security team. he has done what he promised to do. he said he would consult with his generals, and by that he means literally his generals and his entire national security team. he of course gets his daily presidential briefing. he confers with his team on a consistent daily, regular basis. what somebody says or tweets long before they are commander-in-chief and long before assad goes and takes what appears to be a banned substance and weaponizes it and uses it against innocent people for all the world to see. he weighed the consequences and took swift decisive action. even nancy pelosi, chuck shierms

and others commended his action. they state was appropriate and justified and targeted to the incidents at hand. howie: it's different when you are commander-in-chief. hillary clinton before the attack said she would be in favor of striking assad's airfields. she said we can't talk about protecting syrian babies and close america's doors to them. >> the president believes there should be a safe space in syria for them. most syrians want to live at home. they deserve a safe homeland as all people do, as all mayor chance believe -- at all americans believe we do here. if you talk to syrians who are here, they wish to return home. when syrian babies come in, they come with syrian adults. and we can't be sure because the

vetting processes are not in place. we can't be sure what their intent is. so i know some people who would like to not credit the president and legitimize his actions and moving on to that issue as well. but the president has made his position on this very clear. he of course was responding to the information he was given and the images he saw. in terms of the refugee crisis, the main goal is they can remain at home safe from gases and all other types of torture. it's tragic women are choosing suicide over rape. howie: as you know syria resumed bombing that town from the damaged airfield. "national review" writes if this is a one-off this is a symbolic pin prick. if there is no military action

how will the president stop the slaughter in syria. >> that's not for me to say, i'll leave that to the president and his cabinet. but this is an evolving situation. sometimes under criticism, the president knows things that no one else does. he and his national security team have information and that's the way it should be for any president and his or her national security team. our treasury secretary has been talking about possible sanctions. you had secretary ross talking about commerce, it's his job to enforce sanctions if it happens. howie: even as all this is going on, there have been a flood of stories about infighting in the white house, stories saying steve bannon has lost influence

to jared kushner. one story that the president might reassign bannon or reince priebus. one story said kushner and bannon had meetings to work out their differences. you call this palace intrigue. but these are high-level leaks that seem to indicate serious friction in the white house. >> the president has a diverse group of individuals who have an incredible amount of experience in the private sector. they all have opinions, and the president has never side away from having intense conversations on public policy issues. he has people around him who you would not consider to be yes men. he is somebody who has always even ganged different opinions. howie: do all the leaks bother you? >> i think none of that helps the president.

so i'm always protective of that. i also think it's a waste of brain space and talk time, to be frank with you. -- 30 and 40 years from now no one will remember our names but they will know who neil gorsuch is. someone who has fidelity to the constitution. and is an originalist. and at the age of 49 was sworn in as justice of the supreme court. leader mcconnell did a masterful job of keeping that seat open and shepherding judge gorsuch through. it should not be a footnote on what has been an incredibly strong week for presidential leadership. howie: it did get overshadows by

the attack on sir a yeah. on the congressional intelligence probes. president trump told the "new york times" that he believes susan rice may have committed a crime in her role in unmasking him and some of his aide when they were picked up on intercepts. should the judge be prejudging the guilt or innocence of a former national security advisor? >> the most amazing thing about this story is it's conspicuous by its absence in network coverage. the american people don't have an interest in what masking means, the media are duty bound to explain what it means. is the nsa an investigative agency? miss rice gave interviews on pbs last month where she said that she doesn't know anything about it.

now she seems to be reversing course a little bit by saying she didn't do anything for quote political reasons. so i think there are many questions that have been raised of answers and non-answers. but that's the key here. if you have people so hyped up about let's have an investigation about this or the other. they aren't even willing to suggest maybe they need to know more information about unmasking of innocent americans through incidental collection. they need to know that. howie: we'll pick that up later in the program and weeks to come. kellyanne conway, thanks for being here. when we come back our panel weighs in. senate republicans we just spoke about going nuclear and confirm neil gorsuch. does the congress reflect the filibuster history of both parties. excuse me a minute...

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>> tonight i call on all civilized nations to joins in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in syria. howie: as the fallout mounts over president obama using airstrikes in syria. our panel joins us. erin, the report on this airstrike in the press is strikingly positive for donald trump. i think there is a rally around the president. >> in some cases maybe there

should be. he took decisive action. so he deserves the positive coverage he got. what i thought was interesting in the days that followed was you heard some from the white house complain that the coverage got negative. what's next. once you do launch a military strike, tough questions will follow. so the positive coverage is not going to last forever. howie: mollie, do you believe much of the praise for the president is because he was decisive in the moment that seemed to be a good thing in the eyes of the pundits. >> there was a lot of frustration on how things were handled in syria and this is particularly true with television media, that people in the media enjoy war. they enjoy military across. it's fun to cover, it's exciting to cover. and that's something people

should guard against as we have this discussion about the situation in syria. howie: so the drama of covering tomahawk missiles, you think the excitement over that might outway the -- outweigh the sober judgment? molly >> the american people know they don't have much appetite forget. howie: the koifnlings also driven by a sense of moral justification, strike out at assad after gassing his own people. >> it affects everybody, even the media. sometimes we are human beings,

as shocking as that might be. the pentagon gave out a piece of tape on the tomahawk missiles which showed in almost a connous loop. -- in a continuous loop. you have people who feel confident to talk about a war when it's drone strikes. howie: are we starting to see the beginnings of scepticism, the long-term strategy? where do we go from here? >> yes, you see that dominating the coverage this weekend. what is next. it was important to put out rex tillerson and h.r. mcmaster. but all of these officials spoke at mar-a-lago and the president made himself available to reporters. the "new york times" reported he came to the back of the cabin on

board air force one on the way down there. howie: and nikki haley as well. i think the president might consider addressing the nation. you say his decision to attack syria is at odds with his rhetoric. the media pointed this out, but it hasn't become a major issue. >> it's appropriately part of the discussion. there is a case to be made. he really did speak about making sure we don't get involved unless there is a strong national interest. and this is something i think his voters have much appreciated. you will have washington, d.c. pushing for much more military action, and this is something where it would be helpful for news rooms to be more in touch with that american attitude that

doesn't feel ready to go into a war we are not ready to win. howie: some of the dissenting voices have come from trump supporters. america first. we wouldn't get drawn in the way hillary clinton might have. i think the press is quick to cry flip-flop except when somebody is flipping in the direction of a position they support which i think is happening with this strike. >>th was a done tras with donala contrast with donald trump vis-a-vis his rhetoric on the campaign trail. they may not understand the budget going against them, they may not understand other things, but this war they do understand. howie: let me get a break. ahead the president says susan rice may have committed a crime.

neil gorsuch is in, the supreme court filibuster is out. were journalists quite as concerned when senate democrats did something similar? there's a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. try phillips' fiber good gummies. they're delicious... and a good source of fiber to help support regularity. mmm. these are good. nice work, phillips'! try phillips' fiber good gummies! ♪ everything your family touches sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox.

howie: judge gorsuch will be sworn in tomorrow as a supreme court justice once the republicans detonated the "nuclear option." let me read you from 2013 when harry reid abolished the fill buster for federal judges. republicans don't believe president obama should be aloud to have his nominees on the

bench. mollie: it's obvious they completely changed their mind on it. howie: sean hannity called reid's move one of the most lawless power grabs in the history of the u.s. senate. now most republicans and conservatives are saying they had to do this baits was unfair because the democrats were trying to filibuster a supreme court nominee. margaret: the shift is so obvious we almost don't factor it in anymore. howie: commentators should be -- margaret: if the press has a bias it's towards romanticizing "mr. smith goes to washington."

but as far as the actual parties themselves, they are going to do what's in their interest at the time and will be criticized with sean hannity or rachel maddow. depending on where they sit. erin: the press always acted like this when something comes to fruition like this, that's when they start to cover it. you had so many reporters saying this is the death of senate. howie: a little hyperbolic. do you think the press generally depicted neil gorsuch as a qualified candidate. erin: yes. howie: it moved to the process, tactics and the filibuster and then as kellyanne said it will have an impact for the next 30 years because of syria.

mollie: the media did depict gorsuch as a choir boy and a legal minds. i think that would have been something they could have provoked a little bit more. howie: ahead on "mediabuzz." what's driving all these stories about steve bannon at the white house. devin nunes recuses himself from the white house russia probe. z y282uy ywty

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but shouldn't it be about firsts?d in zeros. now's your chance at completely clear skin. and seconds... how about adding a third? we think there's a bajillion ways to measure success. and whether you have hundreds or millions... we think you deserve the financial freedom to sleep like this at night. this is the new success story. and at t-i-a-a, we're with you. start today at t-i-a-a dot org. howie: a report that susan rice unmasked the names of americans picked up in the surveillance campaign.

>> there is no evidence that they were spied on illegally. we'll not insulted your intelligence by pretending otherwise nor will reaid and abet the people who are trying to misinform you. >> what with dick cheny had asked for the unmasking of names for barack obama's incoming administration. it's a simple question to ask. howie: this appears to be a story largely ginned up. >> ways so striking about this is susan rice is a well-known serial prevaricator. howie: he said he's not going to aid and abet this story. how about aiding and abetting

journalism. mollie: we know a leaked campaign has gone on since trump was elected if not before. that information was sourced to anonymous people. but we were told they were high-level officials. you have to be collecting information and unmasking it and leaking it. we get major news. i thought the unmasking would have happened with someone much more low level. that is something a normal journalist would think to dig into. howie: we saw the national security advisor saying this was ginned up. what did you make of these major outlets, margaret, ignoring it or playing it down? isn't it a story? margaret: it's a story and it was covered.

it cannot be covered. howie: it wasn't covered on two of the three major newscasts initially. margaret: at all? don lemon brushed it off, but he's not a news person. he's an opinion person. but the idea of having susan rice back out for those on the right for the media, she can never be dismissed or disparaged enough. and it brings up benghazi again. susan rice is a radioactive target in which you don't have to explain anything more. if you don't kill her off with commentary, then you are not doing your job. howie: let me play for you two interviews susan rice did, one is with pbs, and.

>> judy is one of the most senior white house officials, i found that report a bit perplexing. i was not aware of any orders given to difficult accept nate that information. the allegation that somehow obama administration officials utilized intelligence for political purposes is false. i electricked nothing to nobody, and never have and never would. howie: she went from saying i know nothing to saying i did this. erin: she may have been well within her authority to unmask the names. susan rice's involvement here is news. what i think is important is you have richard burr who chairs the senate intelligence committee as well agriculture as john mccain and lindsey graham saying she may want to question her.

when you live in a country where you are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, we have to give her some benefit of the doubt but question her. margaret: she denied leaking. howie: i was struck by msnbc's david corn saying maybe it's because she is a black woman. erin: it has nothing to do with it and such statement like that should be condemned. the media have a conflict of interest here. we have been participants in this leak campaign. there is a difference between protecting forces and running interference. the investigation is going to get close to media they were the recipients of the leaks. howie: devin nunes, there was so much controversy around him.

the house intel chairman recusing himself from this whole russia, surveillance, investigation, when had this spectacle where he went to the white house grounds. he went back to the white house the next day to brief the president. do you think all the negative headlines contributed to congressman nunes decided he needed to get out of this thing? erin: i'm sure he did but he partly did that himself by rushing to cameras. you have the house ethics committee investigating nunes. howie: nunes blames that with left-wing activist groups that filed complaints with congress. but with the media this was a self-inflicted wound. margaret: it's obvious he kind of did it to himself and when

now have a play within a play. we have the side story about nunes. he is an agreeable guy. i think it's his agreeableness that led hip to do this unfortunate thing to please the white house. mollie: as soon as he came out with this amazing information, the media instead of digging into it decided to look at where he had dinner in a way they didn't go after adam schiff. everyone in congress is partisan. howie: you are saying the media chose to minimize the substance to what schiff was saying. >> they down played, denigrated and distracted. he's still in charge of the committee. he's just stepping aside for this investigation. howie: coming up, ed henry contrasts the coverage of

president trump's missile strike and president obama's refusal to strike syria. stay with us. new bike? yeah, 'cause i got allstate. if you total your new bike, they replace it with a brand new one. that's cool. i got a new helmet. we know steve. it's good to be in (good hands). guests can earn a how cafree night when theypring book direct on choicehotels.com and stay with us just two times? spring time. badda book. badda boom. or... badda bloom. seriously? book now at choicehotels.com briathe customer app willw if be live monday. can we at least analyze customer traffic? can we push the offer online? brian, i just had a quick question. brian? brian... legacy technology can handcuff any company.

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[♪] howie: president trump's decision to strike syria was a sharp contrast to president obama's reluctance to act after

assad crossed the red line. good to see you ed. you were at the white house when president obama declared that red line and did not enforce it. president trump is getting an unusual level of praise. ed: president obama deserved it. he even sent his secretary of state john kerry out there right before what was anticipated to be military action and something happened overseas. the british parliament voted down military action and president obama walked right to the line and said public opinion. then pulled back on military action. saying democracy, let's send it to the congress.

howie: maybe the media liked military action? ed: president trump will find the deeper he gets into syria there are no easy solutions. president obama didn't cause the syrian war but he made it worse by drawing the red line and not following through. with president trump, i heard you say earlier in the show, now that he started the military action, will the scepticism come in? yes, and it should. much of the mainstream media has been so anti-trump. the scepticism came before the military action. the scepticism is that he's not a legitimate president. in the meanwhile he does calm, strategic strike care. what about rex tillerson? he's going to moscow to stick it to the russians. howie: steve bannon, jared

kushner, reince priebus. how serious do you take these stories? it seems if you take them seriously it's a dysfunctional place. ed: it's real. the president in march alago friday said you guys -- at march at march mara-a-lago, work it out. howie: how is it we know the details of this? is this the leakiest white house we have ever seen? ed: it seems like it in that respect. i'm trying to report out from the facts i'm hearing that it's real. there is real strive behind the scenes, there will be some moves but far less crisis than it's

being portrayed. part of the portrayal in the media, all the leaks are feeding the media. howie: one question you had to grapple with given the racial abuse jackie robinson took when he broke the color bounds. he used the n-word. ed: with the first draft i didn't use the n-word. people looked at it and said you are sanitizing history. i actually spoke to an african-american journalist recently who after seeing all this it would have been more offensive if you didn't use the word. the whole point of my book is jackie robinson overcame a lot of that abuse, not just verbal,

but death threats because of his faith in god. if i had not shown how nasty fit was -- howie: after the break, former white house official on whether journalists are asking the right questions about syria.

>> this is an incredible message that should have been sent years ago by the obama administration. >> they did something proportional and immediate and connects have much with the chemical strike itself. howie: general praise for president trump's strike against

syria. when all these retired generals come on the air and say it may be a great move, it makes me nervous because they and so many others sold the press on how invading iraq would and cakewalk. >> it's good for the media to have a healthy dose of scepticism. i think the administration has been 100% clear about the fact that this was a limited engagement. this is a direct response and engagement for those chemical attacks. this is not the launch of a new wave of airstrikes in the country. howie: having worked for two presidents, you know how the media can quickly turn critical. >> absolutely. i think i would say to the president now this morning,

look, he launched these air strikes thursday night. sunday morning, the honeymoon is already over. today the attention is, well, there seems to be a consensus this was the rite tactical move to take. but what is the strategy for the country of syria. what is the strategy for the broader region? and i think this is good. howie: maybe wait a day or two? because there was the shock of this happening and generally positive coverage. but if nothing else happens and so the talk -- with obama there was a lot of dismissive talk of pin prick strikes. >> it will end up being entirely symbolic. the way the coverage of syria has gone the last five years over the course of the civil war

is we focus on what the united states and the international community's military role is. every once in a while when something gets particularly agree just we comment on the civilian humanitarian situation inside the country. a couple months ago everybody was talking about aleppo for a day and a half. then we move on and start walking about what should the u.s.'s role be. i worry that the media does lose sight of the forest for the trees. the real story is the human suffering on the ground. half a million people have died. howie: you are saying once the snow clears from the missile strikes, it doesn't minimize the size of the tragedy. by the may slip off the radar again. >> the media needs to return to that and grounds themselves in that reality and adapt based on

that. howie: a week of controversy for fox news and one of the greatest newspaper corrections ever. new bike? yeah, 'cause i got allstate. if you total your new bike, they replace it with a brand new one. that's cool. i got a new helmet. we know steve. it's good to be in (good hands).

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we know what you want from a financial company and we'll stop at... nothing to make sure you get it. one, two... and we mean nothing. ♪ ♪ howie: we all make mistakes. but this is a head-snapping one. because of an editing error an earlier article identified ivanka trump as president trump's wife. melania is his wife. have they not heard of google? it's been a rough week of media coverage for fox news. it has even drawn in the president of the united states. much of the criticism follows that "new york times" report on

bill o'reilly or the network paying out $15 million to settle five cases against him alleging sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct. fox said in a statement we value our partners and are working with them to address their current concerns about "the o'reilly factor." those ad byes have been reexpressed into other fnc programs. president trump said he doesn't believe o o'reilly did anything wrong. bill o'reilly said he wanted to put to rest any controversies that hurt my children. juliejulie roginsky says she wat given a permanent spot on "the

five" after refusing roger an a ails. fox dismissed the allegation as total nonsense. most of these allegations date from the roger ails era, but the echos of that era are til making news. i'm howard kurtz. thanks for watching. i try to respond and have a dialogue with people who post comments. same thing on twitter. let us know what you think of the kellyanne conway interview. i have to remind you now and then you can dvr the program.

also check out the headlines on the weekend. that's enough about me. we hope you have a great sunday. we'll be back next sunday with the latest buzz. [♪] arthel: we begin with a fox news alert. at least 3 people killed and more than 100 others injured in two separate bombing attacks at churches in egypt. isis claiming responsibility as it vows to step up attacks against christians this palm sunday. i'm arthel neville. eric: hello, thank you for joining us. i'm eric shawn. radical islamic terrorism has stuck again on a holy day at the heart of the coptic christian community. it