howie: republicans pass tax reform. even as the pundits rip the bill, they admit it's a major victory. president trump: it's the largest tax cut in the history of our country. >> what president trump called a major christmas gift. >> when your family taxes go up because of this gail, you can take comfort knowing that's what you are paying for. >> 80% of americans will see tax cuts. the reason why this is polling so poorly is largely in part for

the media. they carry the water for the democratic party. >> this is a great thing for wealthy families like the trumps who can pass on millions more of their wealth tax-free. >> this is a big, big win for him legislatively. howie: is there a change in the media narrative? what about the "new york times" report that trump disparaged immigrants which the white house calls lies. fox news was attacked as some commentators attacked robert mueller and the fbi. >> we have a right to report on any abuse of power in any branch of government. something democrats used to

favor. howie: tavis smily is fighting after after his show was suspended over sex allegations. pope francis says media bias and sensationalism is a grave sin. this is "mediabuzz." with president trump getting this big win on tax reform days before christmas. the media is starting to reassess a man they spent 2017 telling us wasn't accomplishing much. joining us are mollie hemingway and joe trippi. new york times quoting six

unnamed officials who attended a meeting with the president or briefed on the meeting, the president reportedly said haitians all have aids and nigerian immigrants won't go back to their huts. rex tillerson and others deny this. it seems like a classic confrontation. the white house calling it lies. mollie: the "new york times" used two anonymous sources. two for the haitian immigrants. one who was in the meeting, one who was not. people who didn't feel con fir dent enough in their claims to put their names behind it. then you have general mattis, general kelly, secretary nielsen and the white house saying

that's not true. it makes you wonder what the standard is in getting something like this published. howie: it's always fascinating to me. if you assume the sources did tell this to the "new york times,'" we can debate. but some number of people continuing to leak against the person they presumably work for or work with. >> that's why they are going to stay anonymous. because they want to keep working there. the story reports some of them at the timed told other people this happened. it isn't just something they had told the "new york times" today. you have six anonymous sources telling you this happened. you have the white house denying it and cabinet members i think

you praised the president and say nice things about him. mollie: one wasn't at the meeting. cnn had a story about two sources who were supposedly crop raritying and it turned out they are completely wrong. anonymous sources can be completely wrong. joe: i think in a case like this you have to let the american people read the story and keep hearing the anonymous sources. >> there should be a higher standard for something like this. if it's true, demonstrate the truthfulness of it. >> what makers it real for people is the evidence the president has repeatedly done himself in public in speeches against immigrants. the american people can see this story and read it the way they

want. mollie: "the washington post" had a story, despite white house denials, some people finds it believable. howie: let me move on to tax reform. no matter how you slice it, this is a major victory. the media continue to criticize the bill as a disaster. mollie: it was interesting to compare the media coverage and the public perception of this bill with actual facts. there juan a juan was a monmoutk that showed people think their taxes will go up. even though journalists knew of the people had the wrong idea about this. howie: journalists pointed out

that some middle class families, their tax if may go up. here is the lead headline in "usa today." government headed for $1 trillion deficit. it's part of the debate that's been overshadowed. joe: the impact on the deficit is a real news story. part of this is -- i think the republican majority did a bad job of selling this. it's a huge victory for them. howie: the white house would say they were up against news medias. that they were in a hostile media environment. joe: permanent tax cuts for corporations, middle class tax cuts expire after a few years. that coverage of that is what

set the bar in terms of what the public was feeling. mollie: there are two ways to deal with that. one is to cut spending which apparently nobody cares about anymore. the other is to growth economy. but massive corporate tax reform. the first time anything like that has happened in decades. the idea is to jump-start the economy and grow ourselves out of our problems. howie: "politico," con fiewns chaos ahead. chaos for accountant

the judges and things like that that he's been able to do, the regulations he's taken on. often it's trump in the white house that creates the disruption and the chaos that masks some of those accomplishments. mollie: i think that's true, but just report what's going on and it's important for americans who are going to experience policy

changes. howie: joe points out those shiny objects are sometimes rolled out by the president. i don't think presidents should get all the credit or blame for the stock market. but if the stock market was down 5,000 points you would see that more often. one of the president's messages on twitter. major tax cuts which the fake news media is desperate to write negative about. soon their possibles will be kicking in. joe: i don't know what to make of the tweets sometimes. howie: it makes perfect sense. he thinks there is a hostile media that leans to the less. mollie: one way to respond would be to hold ourselves to greater

accountability. i think in 2017 the media somehow got worse than they were in 2016. howie: we are seeing some news organizations say, after all our focus on big bills the president has done a lot. but the vast majority of republicans like and even love those policies. >> as far as policies go, things are going well for conservatives and republicans. but also i think the deregular -- the deregulatory efforts. those are things that make people extremely happy. joe: that's why this approval numbers are so low. everything he accomplished has been aimed at his constituents.

howie: in total last week you wouldn't see the accomplishments. you would see basically his first year was a flop. he has accomplished things. joe: he has. but so did barack obama in his first year. howie: he most of live got good press in his first year. joe: a lot of the executive orders and things trump was railing against in the campaign is working for him and what he accomplished. howie: there is a christmas tweet for the president. cnn, you see the shoe at the bottom. he crushed it with his shoe. a growing chorus on the russia

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7. howie: a number of media outlets are attacking fox news because several commentators have attacked robert mueller. >> i doubt an american presidential history there has been as great a crime or as large a stain on our democracy than that committed by a criminal cabal in our fbi and department of justice. >> they are fomenting a

constitutional crisis by suggesting to people watching fox news in middle america that somebody is attempting to coup. a coup against our government. >> when you do have the president's network, fox, talking constantly about how corrupt and politically motivated the fbi is, this starts to have an impact. >> the democrats smear machine can run 24/maligning president trump. but the special counsel is beyond reproach? howie: it's been a chorus. mollie: they are focusing on opinions being spoken on opinion shows to avoid the hard journalism that's been done at

this outlet and elsewhere about problems at the fbi and justice. coup language is pretty extreme. but what do you call it when what we are learning from news reports, intelligence agencies working to undermine a candidate. that's a huge story and needs a ton of resources devoted to it. howie: joe, jesse watters and sean hannity are paid for their commentary, but you see fox news says this and fox news says that, as if they are speaking for the entire network. i don't believe there is a coup. but this is important to talk about. when don lemon says something outrageous you don't see, cnn

says. the same with the "new york times." there is an effort to brand all fox news as having this view. joe: one of the things i think -- i have been talking about this the whole year. there has become a blurring of the way people treat opinions as news. it's not an across the board attack. it's confusing to viewers. howie: i think viewers are smart. i think viewers know when they tune into sean hannity they are paying somebody for his point of view. the russia probe by mueller and the understand policy are legitimate and under played by other outlets. joe: i think scrutiny and the press on all side pushing against public officials and challenging them is an important part of what makes the country work and makes the media so

important. i think there is a blurring that's going on. part of this with social media, you have the president, his tweets are fact that have no reality. mollie: there is a scandal in the coverage of the fbi and doj. sally yates was fired for refusing to do her job early on in this administration. bruce ohr was just demoted. peter strzok the chief investigator was reassigned after it was found he was tweeting about the russia probe being an understand policy against trump. andrew mccabe just gave testimony where he said the only thing they could corroborate was the trip to moscow.

this absolutely needs to be covered and people aren't covering it. howie: mccabe was the fbi director. the media covers the probe every night. there are segments on impeachment. i think everyone should be held to the same standard. joe: opinion is opinion. but now networks can take clips of opinion and say it's news reporting. that's the confusion for viewers. if you are not watching the network all the time. mollie: what's going on is peel don't want to cover the real story they should be covering. instead of looking at the hard facts coming out of these investigations that need

coverage. howie: thank you for the contributions you made to this show and the network. you are moving on to your new role. joe: thank you. howie: up next on the sexual harassment front. tavis smily and the media sniping at each other. no matter how the markets change... at t. rowe price... our disciplined approach remains. global markets may be uncertain... but you can feel confident in our investment experience around the world. call us or your advisor... t. rowe price. invest with confidence.

howie: tavis smiley mounted a media offensive after reports that he had inappropriate sexual relationships with women who worked with him who said they felt their jobs were at stake.

>> i certainly understand people who have a viewpoint that any consensual relationship in the workplace is wrong. >> you have been accused of quote sexually explicit messages and unwelcome banter about women's body. what are we talking about here? >> i have no idea. i never sent lewd messages to anyone. howie: mr. smiley acknowledged he had numerous sexual encounters with his employees. then he cite only one previous relationship with an employee.

pbs says while smiley praises women to come forward with complaints, his company requires them to sign non-disclosure agreements. mika brzezinski apologized for saying she tried to bring halperin together with his victims to talk to them. this update. the "new york times" who suspended glenn thrush over allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior is being removed from the white house beat. rush had been aggressive with several women including unwanted touching and kissing when he was at "politico." he was a reporter there and the women didn't work for him. thrush was in substance abuse rehab.

they say while we believe he has acted offensively, we don't think he head be fired. vice media has apologize r jiesed after the "new york times" reported on case and they say from the top down we have failed to create a workplace where everyone especially women to feel comfortable and thrive. carolina panthers jerry richardson moved after "sports illustrated" spent weeks investigating allegations that he sexually harassed female employees and used a racial slur

against a black employee. coming up. frank luntz on the partisan spin on the media. if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis and you're talking to your rheumatologist about a medication, this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further irreversible damage. this is humira helping me reach for more. humira has been clinically studied for over 20 years. humira works for many adults. it targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores.

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[♪] howie: it's hardly a shock the media playing a front and center role in our politics. a frank luntz poll on who's to blame for partisanship. two-thirds of democrats and four in ten republicans point to racism. 56% of republicans blame the news media, only 14% of democrats feel that way. frank lunlts, welcome. why are so many republicans blaming the media for stirring

up public anger? frank: because donald trump blames the media and they following him. back then they thought it was just media bias, and they saw things from a different perspective. now they believe it's malicious. intentionally getting it wrong and make them angry. democrats see the opposite. the democrats sight as not giving trump enough accountability and not pushing him hard enough. howie: trump wasn't in your poll question. is this thing a proxy for people who like donald trump or don't like donald trump? frank: i think it's deeper than that. in my polling of journalists they tends to come from the left of the political spectrum and

most of of them do try to adjust for that. but you have 40% of americans who will never trust the media long after donald trump has left. if you don't have an active, accountable, but credible fourth estate, you don't have a democracy. howie: donald trump is the least popular president at this point in his presidency. but don't medial play a role for these record high levels of disapproval? frank: absolutely. they could still report what they report. but you do it by letting him speak. you do it by letting the listener and viewer decide what they believe. what happens is the media starts the -- starts the reports with

support or condemnation. if the media was intelligent. they would show the press conference. show what trump has to say. howie: we have this ongoing warfare. when president trump says media outlets are fake news potentially making mistakes and a stain on society, and at the same time you have journalist analysts saying the president is a serial liar. does that blacken the reputations on both sides like in a campaign where you have two candidates denouncing each other? frank: which makes it impossible to govern. this is happening every single day, every hour. there is no 24-hour news cycle. it is constant. but there is an extra

responsibility on the media to get it right and not make mistakes. and there is a responsibility on people outside of trump himself to accept that no one is person effect. people make mistakes and the administration can learn from them and be better as a result. this administration takes every challenge as a criticism and that's not good either. howie: isn't there a lot of liberal distrust of the media for not being aggressive enough. train * they complain that the media is owned by corporate and they don't showed wall street sufficiently accountable. those on the left want to beat up on donald trump. so you make no one happy at this point.

the key was trust. i may disagree with the tone. but do i trust the basic facts? howie: you think this is not a temporary phenomenon. the truss likes to think of itself as a fair arbiter. is that role lost because too many people don't trust the referee? frank: there is a big difference between the daily news networks and newspapers. for a couple million people breitbart is news. it is factual, it's a presentation. for millions of people it's simply opinion and commentary without that substance or accountability. so we don't even agree on the definition of the news media

anymore. howie: you have them on twit errant blurring of opinion when reporters act as pundits. what is the intensity of this. anecdotally in my life i hear from people who never used to talk about politics who talk about how much they like or don't like donald trump or how much they like or don't like the press. frank: we talk about it at thanksgiving and christmas. it's unhealthy. we want people to watch and listen and read and understand the key issues, but we don't want them to approach everything with such a bias they can't hear the other point of view. that's my fear. if you are on the left you have read the "new york times." on the right you read the "wall street journal." howie: the people with a

trump-like attack on media bias and sensationalism. the press reports trump may fire the special counsel despite the denials. growing up,

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no intention of firing robert mueller as one reporter did at the white house. are you considering. president trump: no, i'm not. >> we have no intentions of firing bob mueller. we look forward to seeing this hoax wrap up very soon. >> i want to ask you personally what your reaction would be if the president did try to fire the special prosecutor. >> there would be an uprising and a revolt. howie: why all the coverage of speculation about firing mueller when the president and his top people have said it's not a consideration. susan: days of coverage over a claim that's unverified, built on a raw more that he's going to fire robert mueller. people on the cable saying this is going to bring a

constitutional crisis to this country. we are going to take to the streets. this will and march on america, calls for impeachment. howie: it's a rallying cry. susan: absolutely. on the other hand, the congresswoman who made the claims jackie speirer is a ranking democrat. it's not outside the realm of possibility the president will do something different than his aides say he will do. there are people telling him to fire mueller because they feel this whole investigation is nonsense, and it's politically biased. if you look at the reporting coming out. it looks like they are out to get him and people are saying

stop the investigation. howie: mueller was appointed by the deputy attorney general who was appointed by donald trump. but i see the press refusing to take no for an answer. susan: the president has contradicted himself and contradicted his staff so many times. he undermined his staffers at times and that's why this is going on. howie: i think journalists want this to be true. the president has been talking about the republican civil war for years. we had two cases. roy moore lost in alabama. but it did seem to deeply divide the republican establishment. how much of this is real and how much of this is the press liking to stir things up? >> all majorities fight amongst themselves. whenever they have full control of the government, that's when

you will see the fighting. there is going to be infighting. everyone will try to get what they want in legislation. you had marco rubio fighting for increased child tax credits. this is normal legislation. i see no evidence of a deep republican divide and i'm on the hill every day talking to lawmakers. i don't see it. howie: you could say this was a moment of republican unity. susan: it absolutely was. howie: by the was portrayed as this was a party line effort that rolls over the democrats, and the deep divisions remain. susan: where was the celebratory headlines when the healthcare law passed. it was all about the tax cut implications and it was about trying to portray the republicans falling apart ahead of the 2018 race.

howie: which is as subject we may be discussing on this program for some months to come. susan: the republicans still have to get themselves together in 2018, pass legislation. howie: you have the biggest tax cut in history. and the president is saying this will be a disaster for republicans which politically we'll have to see. susan: 80% of people will get a tax cut. howie: people don't believe that. susan: because of the media coverage. howie: pope francis called out the media and said bad journalism is a sin.

howie: pope francis is joining the debate over the media saying bad journalism is a serious sin. this includes disinformation, what taking old news that's been dealt with and bringing it back to light today. pope francis isn't just saying these are seasons, i agree with him on the substance. should he be turning these into religious pronouncements? mollie: it's an ancient thing to talk about lying being a sin. it's in the ten commandments. but putting the best construction on things and make sure you are presenting all side of an argument and being as accurate and fair as you can be. it's interesting he point out because it's not just fake news. a lot of people think about people willfully and maliciously

making things up. howie: this feels close and personal for pope francis. do you think he's driven in part over resentment in the way he's been covered? or covering of the church? mollie: absolutely. the roman catholic church has had a lot of experience with unfair and inaccurate news coverage. it was a major theme of pope benedict. how the media can force us to a totalitarianism of conformity. this pope is following on the heels of the previous pope. and interestingly they received critical coverage, they are not always opposed to that. they praised some of the critical coverage about their scandals. howie: no matter who you are,

your own experience informs what you think about media coverage. i find this to be nuanced from this pope who is on twitter. he says bringing back old stories, scandals that died down. he talks about one-sided reports. some of these can in the eyes of the beholder. mollie: if you think there is a religious component and understanding there is redemption and forgiveness. people are always having to face some old news story, that doesn't allow the forgiveness to take place. howie: you may have done something terrible 20 years ago and the media exacerbate that by bringing it back, it can feel unfair. mollie: he is talking about journalists. and he's talking about everybody. he announced a world

communication day would be howie: he talks to reporters a

lot which i like. great discussion, merry christmas. thank you so much for being here. still to come, rosie o'donnell and bette midler flirting with illegality. work to do. so he took aleve. if he'd taken tylenol, he'd be stopping for more pills right now. only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. aleve. all day strong.

-oh! -very nice. now i'm turning into my dad. i text in full sentences. i refer to every child as chief. this hat was free. what am i supposed to do, not wear it? next thing you know, i'm telling strangers defense wins championships. -well, it does. -right? why is the door open? are we trying to air condition the whole neighborhood? at least i bundled home and auto on an internet website, progressive.com. progressive can't save you from becoming your parents, but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto.

i mean, why would i replace this? it's not broken. howie: rosie o'donnell was so determined to stop the tax cut bill that she put her money where her big mouth is. donald treated. i promise to give $2 million to susan collins and $2 million to jeff flake if they vote no. no, i will not quill americans for the super rich. there is a bigger problem than the overheating rhetoric. it's a crime to offer lawmakers money to vote a certain way it's bribery. but it's nice to know you have

got $4 million to spare. bette midler lark out on twitter. hard to believe is there not one single patriot at the irs to release trump's tax returns. but that would be illegal. wouldn't you be upset if an irs agent released hour tax returns or one of your pal's? they hate the president so much they are willing to embrace law breaking against him. merry christmas. hope you are enjoying this holiday weekend. we post a lot of my daily columns and facebook. i respond. continue the conversation on twitter. you can write to us as always.

mediabuzz@foxnews.com. we'll be back here next week. new years leave live. 11:00 a.m. eastern. see you then for the latest buzz buzz. [♪] reporter: a fox news alert on the fbi shakeup that may in the works for the new year. the agency's deputy director andrew mccabe may be getting ready to step down as growing bias allegations turned him into a lightning rod for criticism. reporter: the fallout after word mccabe is set to leave the fbi next year after he's eligible for retirement. andrew mccabe is