the nest. that's it for today. have a happy easter and passover and a great week and we will see you next "fox news howie: a media eruption that president trump's lawyer raised the issue of pardon and it's unclear if the president knew by the. >> if john dowd knew about this. did the president know about it? did he sanction it or direct him to do it? was it obstruction? >> if it's true, the president is not acting with a clean conscience. >> why would there be conversations of pardon if there was no wrongdoing? shouldn't the president want to

find that out first? >> one problem with this story, it's fake news, because one of trump's lawyers put out a statement. howie: john dowd strongly denied the report. the president fired his va secretary david shulkin in favor of his doctor. what if trump has perfectly good reasons to fire him. the president declines to the hype over stormy daniels. >> he tweets about me bleeding badly from a facelift. that i show up at mar-a-lago bleeding from a facelift. he punches back object everything. but on stormy daniels, absolutely nothing. >> why isn't the president fighting back? he has had no problem doing it

before. howie: the media tells us trump talks too much and tweets too many insults. roseanne makes a comeback 30 years later. now she is a big trump supporter fighting with her liberal sister. >> how could you have voted for him? >> he talks about jobs. he says he'll shake things up. >> this may come as a shock to you. we almost lost our house because of what's happening. >> have you looked at the news? things are worse. >> not on the real news. howie: how roseanne is connecting with viewers. i'm howard kurtz and this is "mediabuzz." we begin with president trump

expelling a record-breaking 60 russian diplomats. but the "new york times" based on three unnamed sources reported his former lawyer john dowd broached the subject of pardons for paul manafort and mike flynn. the white house is denying the story and dowd gave a flat discussion. as far as i know, no discussions. joining us, gail troasht. mara liasson, and jessica tarlov. so the "new york times" story would be significant if pardons were potentially being dangled in front of witnesses. how does it stack up against the expulsion of all these russian

diplomats? gayle: the people who were actually in the room deny it happened or those discussions were had. but we have action by president trump to expel these diplomats in connection with other countries. and we heard the main real media go on the offensive for many many months. they see that hanging. they don't give it that much reporting. howie: this pardon story was wall-to-wall coverage when it broke. jessica: i felt like this story wasn't as big as stories before it. john dowd would deny it and ty cobb would deny it. we know what president trump did for joe arpaio.

i believe that president trump would be talking about pardoning mike flynn. paul manafort i don't think is as important to him personally. i only remembered this for a couple of days. and the ex pull hun -- the expur diplomats was more important. howie: he says no. mara: cable news has 24 hours worth of news to fill and they don't have 24 news to fill it with. the expulsion story was on the front page of the "new york times." it's all our allies doing the same thing. it raised questions that were duly covered whether president

trump is getting tougher on vladimir putin. but it should be pointed out that it doesn't reduce the overall size of the russian mission. those 60 diplomats can be replaced with 6 other ones. howie: the president firing david shulkin by twitter. the story is this is chaos. everybody is getting fired. shulkin got himself in trouble with a lavish trip to europe and he accepted free wimbledon tickets. gayle: that should have been reported more. many of the stories don't go into it. the "new york times" said he was being replaced by trump's

doctor. prior administration appointed ronny jackson as the presidential physician. he's a war veteran and he's an admiral. you can't say a navy admiral does not have credible management experience. jessica: i think you can if you look at the millions of people he'll have to manage. howie: ronny jackson praised the state of the president's health. take a quick look. >> i told the president if he had a healthier diet the last 25 years he could live to be 100. he has incredible genes, i would assume. howie: i think it's fair when

you look at the sprawling va. jessica: when you look at the senators leading the veterans affairs committee. they are saying we need to know more and hear more about his experience. dr. shulkin was confirmed 100-0. howie: coming back to shulkin. not only did he have the va support. he says it was about privatization. he was resisting it. the president can fire whoever he wants if he disagrees with the guy who is doing his job. mara: that's legitimate. what's interesting is in the era of trump everyone has a direct

line to the media. shulkin had that op-ed piece we assume written in advance because it came out 4 seconds later. the thing about ronny jackson isn't that he hasn't managed anything bigger than the white house team. but where does he stand in this debate about privatizing the va. howie: there is a piece today saying trump is increasingly defiant. how is it with all of that that he has gone up to 42% in a cnn poll that seems to suggest a disconnect between the beltway coverage. mara: donald trump is looking at those numbers and saying what i'm doing is work. i'm operating from my gut and my numbers are going up and this

method of leadership works. gayle: i think president trump is in office because he threw out the washington established playbook. howie: this is not a smoothly functioning machine. it's a significant rise. is there a disconnect? >> the media want to play by the old rules and measure him against a set playbook. the voters who supported this administration, just like that roseanne piece, they want things shook up. they want the established playbook thrown away. they see this as a fulfillment of his promises. in a business you fire people who don't conform to the mission of the organization. howie: i love it that we are quoting roseanne.

the "times" has jeff sessions, nobody is above the law, that's a quote. sessions deciding against a second special counsel to investigate such matters as related to hillary clinton. the clinton foundation, the fisa warrant surveillance business regarding carter page and the u.s. attorney in utah. it seems like some of the mainstream media does not like or at least respect sessions because he stands up to donald trump. jessica: i'm sure if we have a whole bunch of i.c.e. raids that will fly out the door. you have people from ted lu and jason chaffetz both saying this was the right move. having a second counsel would have taken millions more

dollars. howie: it's not entirely bipartisan. the mainstream media praising this as a principled decision by the a.g. many conservative commentators are saying there needs to be another special counsel. gayle: when you get into the media coverage of it, they have never respected jeff sessions. you were saying liberal commentators are saying maybe he's a decent person. this is someone the mainstream media has gone against personally and politically. mara: jeff sessions has become a proxy for the rule of law. when he recused himself, he played by the rules.

jeff sessions is the essence of trumpism. he was for all those policies before trump was. he doesn't like him because he plays by the rules. howie: got to get a break. my book traces the origins of the president's anger towards jeff sessions and the press for its coverage. it's called "media madness." the press is up in arms as the president stays quiet.

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press has pounded the president for making reckless, unsubstantiated comments on twitter, but that has been turned on its head in the wake of the president staying quiet. >> why hasn't he punched back on this one. >> i didn't say he punches back on every story. he has a country to run. howie: there was a time when the president didn't feel the need to make news every single day. he has been in and out of mar-a-lago and went to church this morning. mara: there was a real tweet storm this morning on immigration. the legitimate news story is donald trump tweets a lot but he

hasn't on this story. he treats on everything, he does -- he tweets on everything, he doesn't let any punch or slight go uncounterred. howie: some people see their job as giving him advice. if the president responded to stormy daniels, that would magnify the story for days and days. they are shocked. how dare donald trump in the respond? we need copy. gayle: the mainstream media has been giving him advice about his tweeting. it's legitimate to note he hasn't tweeted about stormy daniels. i disagree with mara. he does not respond to

everything. jessica: he responds to everybody woman who says she had a sexual encounter. stormy daniels who had the highest ratings on "60 minutes." gayle: you see the ratings when they cover stormy daniels they go up. the mainstream media makes the point, this is not elevated conversation, how can you tweet about it. howie: isn't it true that media people have long said it will be better for the president if you didn't respond to every attack and every slight. jessica: i don't believe they are saying this is terrible.

i think they are saying this is curious. the infidelity, we are so far past that with donald trump. we know those things happen. but they are saying this is a story because of the implications of the hush money and potential threats this woman received in the parking lot. the fact that she doesn't say anything about it is the story. gayle: she wasn't able to back that up. howie: i think we agree it's news. happy easter to all of you. ahead. are the media covering donald trump's accusers the same way they covered

howie: look at live pictures the church service in palm beach. the president and the first lady and tiffany trump head to the church after taking a motorcade from mar-a-lago. abc brought back "roseanne" 30 years after its debuting. she and john goodman are still struggling from paycheck to paycheck. >> i guess i didn't mean to implying you are some right-wing jackass, i should have tried to understand why you voted the crazy way you did. >> i should have unyou want the government to give everybody free healthcare because you are a good heard the person who can't do simple math.

howie: 18 million people tuned in. i spoke earlier with charlie shimkus. welcome. carley: thanks for having me. howie: it was a bit of marketing genius to have roseanne a big fan of donald trump fighting with her trump-hating sister. carley:er november there are entire articles about how to navigate thanksgiving without getting into a fight with your family members. it shows what so many people are going through. abc after one episode renewed the show for a second season. so they clearly have a lot of con if i debs in it. howie: a lot of families like that fighting over politic, i think the show captured that. what about bringing back this working class family that

struggles from paycheck to paycheck. it seems like that appeals to people who don't often see themselves in entertainment television. carley: at its core this show is about a working class family struggling to get by. we haven't seen a lot of that on tv recently. historically show like that have done well in the past. think about the waltons and honeymooners. those shows are successful in part because people like to see them sells represented on television. howie: the themes like pregnancy surrogatesy. after the 016 election they sat around saying we need to understand the country better between the coasts. and clearly this show was more

popular in markets like tulsa and cincinnati. carley: this show was talked about a lot, too. not only did it get 18 million viewers. it got 15 tweets were second. and it was most of successful in tulsa, cincinnati, pittsburgh and chicago. i don't think it was so many of a political thing we are seeing, it's about location. middle america wanted to see themselves represented on tv. and so many other shows like the kardashians. howie: president trump raises roseanne at a rally saying it's about us. people who identify with donald trump he sees as part of the roseanne family. carley: democrats and

republicans made to watch it and cut back on the political jokes or agree to disagree like they did in the season premiere. and it was funny. let's not forget that. howie: jonah goldberg has a unique take on the battle between the president and the press.

howie: "60 minutes" may have scored its biggest ratings in a decade. >> isn't this the very moment she should come forward and put up or shut up if she has this evidence? do you have evidence he threatened your client?

>> i think people thought there was going to be a smoking gun. did we miss something? howie: stormy daniels said she didn't know who threatened her. >> they can make your life hell in many different ways. >> they being? >> i'm not sure who they were. i believe it was michael cohen. howie: what about her account of a man confronting her in a parking lot and telling her to drop the trump story. >> he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said it's a beautiful girl. it would be a shame if something happened to her mom. >> did you go to the police? >> no. >> why? >> because i was scared. howie: poll mollie hemingway is

with us. mollie: a lot of people watched his but it kind of ended up being a little bit of a dud. if they are using this story to go after the president they would like it to be more substantive. mollie: a lot of journalists are not huge fans of the president and they thought this would be a good avenue to pursue their less than happy feeling about him. howie: some news outlets said stormy was threatened instead of stormy saying a man she can't identify confronted her in a parking lot. mollie: donald trump is someone who bragged about his infidelity for decades. this is baked in to what people think about him. people had to make a decision when they voted for him, and people made that decision for trump. the threatening thing would be

new. though it's reminiscent of what we heard during the bill clinton scandal how people close to him threatened. howie: i spent years covering the clinton sex scandal. anyone who says the press gave bill clinton a pass has amnesia. many of the revelations were broken by news organizations. do you see any difference the way stormy daniels and the trump accusers are covered as opposed to the way it was covered in the clinton era? mollie: there were differences in how the women who made accusations were covered. a lot of the things stormy daniels said, whether they could identify things about his physique or they had been threatened. jennifer flowers had an audiotape of bill clinton. i don't think you saw the same level of interest in the

corroborating details these women had. when you have gone through it as a country and have come to a decision that private sexual infidelity doesn't matter to the people, unfortunately, it's hard to make it an issue for donald trump. howie: there was a special prosecutor investigation. so you say that we have come to a decision as a country having gone through the embarrassment, the clinton scandals that private infidelity when it comes to politicians, even though some people still lose their jobs is not something to get everybody all riled up. is that true? mollie: i think a lot of the people who voted for donald trump still believe it's wrong not to be faithful in your marriage and bragging about it like donald trump did for so many decade is not something to

emulate. but they see this story as the latest in a long stream of attempts to take down a president. but that doesn't mean they think the behavior is good. it's hard to know what's true about this story. but at the very least we know this is a man who has not been faithful to his wife. howie: during the impeachment, was it sex or lies. mostly these were consensual affairs. when you have misconduct, harassment. roy moore. i don't care what donald trump did 10 or 12 years ago. i'm not sure most of of the country cares. but then you get into this question of were there threats and hush money, the $130,000 from his lawyer. isn't that legitimate news

coverage. mollie: people are trying too hard to make something out of this story. they are painting this accuser who has been an inconsistent accuser. howie: she was denying the affair. mollie: you are seeing the media treatment of her like she is a credible source. i saw a focus group of people being asked what they thought this story and they said they are trying to impeach our president. howie: basically you think the country is willing to accept past behavior of this nature. you also think we don't have any hard proof about threats and things like that. but you are saying some journalists and commentators are so determined to get the president that they become fans, perhaps uncritical fans of porn

stars like stormy daniels. mollie: this is not a character by her own behavior might not be so great. but people committing infidelity in their marriage with women like this should not be held in high regard. howie: jonah goldberg weighs in on donald trump and so-called fake news. the first lady's office addresses media speculation about her marriage.

howie: conservative commentators who weren't big boosters of the president talk about him and the press. joining me is jonah goldberg. you write, the press exaggerates anti-trump narratives and is out to get him. and you say your sources tell you things are nutty behind the white house. could that be tied to your phrase, the press out to get the president. jonah: it's nothing new. i remember having arguments with you about media coverage 20 years ago. the mainstream media has always been antagonistic about conservatives. i think donald trump invites it

and fights it. he's afraid of could be front takes but loves controversy. he likes to exploit a sense of the chaos and the press often falls for it. howie: you say you don't like it when the press reports the president made a bad decision and his supporters say fake news. jonah: forget how many staffers openly or off the record, we had this conversation about the president firing his va secretary. he's 100% within his rights to do this. it's outrageous and bizarre that he does it over twitter. it's outrageous and bizarre the way he mew millated -- how he humiliated his secretary of

state. and he left him on the tarmac so he could find out about being fired over the phone. unlike a lot of the trump boosters out there, i'm capable of praising president trump when he does something right and criticizing him when he does something wrong. how where a number of these republicans you talk to, you say they are critical of the president but they do it off the record or in background. why is that? jonah: it's a well-established fact that the president responds well to flattery and badly to criticism. his hard-core supporters will brook no criticism of the president. whatever the president does they will defend on twitter regardless of what it is. and -- howie: you are suggesting some of these gop folks have problems with the president but they are afraid to say so?

jonah: they are afraid to do so publicly. donald trump's supporters see criticism as proof of disloyal i. which i see to be ridiculous. you look at senator corker. he dared to criticize the president verbally. even though these senators voted in lock step with trump's agenda. when folks say he's locking trump's agenda. howie: the "new york times" op-ed caused a huge ruckus. john paul stevens a former supreme court justice saying the second amendment should be abolished. i think that hurt people who want gun control. you don't agree with stevens on the accept amendment but you like the piece.

jonah: this was a gift to donald trump. donald trump is right to go after stevens and say look they want to take your guns. but at the same time i am one of these guys who doesn't believe in a living constitution. i don't believe in changing the constitution through judicious fiat. there is a process for change it. it's called amendment. lots of politicians would like to get rid of the second amendment but they know it's a political disaster to say so. i welcome honesty. howie: you were a major voice in the monica lewinsky story. do you see hypocrisy between democrats and republicans? >> everywhere i look i see hypocrisy. i have been relatively consistent that i think scummy

behavior by politicians should be condemned. republicans, evangelical christians used to condemn this sort of stuff a great deal in politicians, they changed their position and said why does it matter. liberals used say it doesn't matter, now, you say it matters a lot. howie: thanks for joining us. after the break, a headline news host says melania trump should leave her husband. are the media really going to have this debate?

howie: i'm buzzed off about the treatment of melania trump who has kept a modest position as first lady. but the media keeps trying to push her into the limelight. they are giving the president's wife free advice. >> melania hay not have a political career to consider. but women are watching, particularly young women. melania should do for this

generation of girls what hillary clinton did not do for mine and leave her jerk of a husband. howie: is it really any of our business to offer marital advice? isn't melania trump capable of making her own family decisions? should of any us be urging her to get a divorce because we think it would send a good political message? i don't think so. >> first of all, you have all the money in the world, you have your kid, parents have come over from one of the ssrs and you don't have to sleep with him, it's a win-win. howie: here is the cover of "weekly." i'm tired of the lies.

for people to -- we went through the same thing in the clinton era as some commentators demanded hillary leave her husband. but nobody knows what goes on inside a marriage. hillary chose to address her pain over her husband's affairs. melania trump has a different approach. i chatted with her a few times during the campaign. she . . behind-the-scenes role. her marriage, spay whatever you want about the president, but melania doesn't deserve all this vicious gossip. president trump goes after amazon and jeff bezos.

the laura ingraham controversy.

howie: president trump knocked amazon stocks out by $20 million. i don't have to rely on unnamed sources to say the president has a fixation with amazon and jeff bezos who owns "the washington post." the president says he should register as a lobbyist. president trump: jeff bezos bought "the washington post" and he bought it as a thing to buy influence so he doesn't have to pay tax on amazon, that's my opinion. he bought it privately so he can influence people not to tax amazon. the only reason i say this is "the washington post" treats me terribly.

howie: amazon does pay taxes. but bezos by all accounts takes a hands-off approach to the paper's newsroom. laura ingraham has apologized for taking a swipe at david hogg, one of the parkland students. ingraham said he was whining about not being accepted to some colleges. ingraham said in the spirit of holy week i apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of parkland. reporter: david, incredibly poised delivery of information to you tonight. >> i don't want this to be another mass shooting or something people forget.

howie: hogg doesn't want to accept the apology. laura handled the apology well even though some of fox's critics continue to stoke the controversy dismissing her words of regret. this embarrassing correction at the "wall street journal," an earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that moses brought water from iraq. he said the water was brought from a rock. iraq didn't exist 2,000 years ago. continue the conversation on howard kurtz. like our facebook page.

you can also catch me on siriusxm 24/7. >> president trump unleashing a series of fiery tweets, no more daca deal, then threatened to walk away from the north america free trade agreement. >> méxico has to help us at the border. >> chinese space station entering the atmosphere in early hours of monday morning. ♪ ♪