it for today, have a great week and we will see you next fox news sunday. ♪ ♪ howie: in an extraordinary interview with "fox and friends" president trump defends michael cohen. rips the media and slams his own justice department. president trump: when you look at the corruption at the top of the fbi it's a disgrace. the justice department i try to stay away from. but at some point i won't. our justice department ought to be look at that kind of stuff, not the collusion with russia. >> he has created a world of hurt in exchange for an hour of free psychotherapy on "fox and friends." >> it makes sense for the

president to talk to "fox and friends." in many cases the president is his own best spokesperson. howie: the president's pick to run the va bows out after a flood of accusations to the press. >> dr. ronny jackson is desperately in need of the credibility he threw to the wind since the day he praised the cheeseburger lifestyle of the president. >> anybody you nominate, if you think about taking a job in this administration, we'll wreck your life. we'll wreck your life with very specific allegations from unnamed sources. howie: have news outlets been unfair to the doctor by pushing these allegations?

a former nbc correspondent accuses tom brokaw of sexual misconduct. >> i'm linda vester. for a decade i worked at nbc news and an anchor and correspondent. i was groped and assaulted by tom brokaw. howie: brokaw denies the allegations and calls it a drive drive-by shootings. this is "mediabuzz." i'm howard kurtz. there has been an avalanche of negative headlines after ronny jackson pulled the plug on his run for the va secretary.

less than 40 hours after the president suggests he might want to bow out. president trump: i told admiral jackson just a little while ago. i said what do you need this for? this is a vicious group of people. i don't want to put a man through a process like this. it's too ugly and too disgusting. what does he need it for? to be abused by a bunch of politicians who aren't thinking nicely about our country? howie: he decided he didn't need it. >> these are all false accusations. they are trying to destroy a man. >> joining us to analyze the coverage. mollie hemingway.

and shelby holliday, and juan williams. the larger media is donald trump employs people and possibly they aren't properly vetted. mollie: we don't have a cabinet secretary at the veterans administration. this is a very important agency that serves the health of our veterans. that's an important story how he's nominating people. but that larger narrative misses the point. a lot of americans voted for trump because he does things differently than people in washington. howie: shaking things up has positive and negative effects. the media take was how can jackson be named to run the va, no management experience. trump likes him because he praised his health.

and the media pounced. juan: i wouldn't say the media pounced. initially it was the basis of reports to the senate. what are these allegations? then subsequently the reporting comes out based on leaks coming out of the senate that military people have gone to senator tester and the allegations, the glad started. howie: it turns out some of these allegations about wrecking a car or being so drunk he couldn't be roused aren't true. juan: we don't know. how report secret service said that. juan jr. the secret service came back on he was banging on a door. the white house said these reports of drunken behavior and handing out pills lik -- like a

candy man aren't true. howie: there were a whole bunch of nominees put up. but there is a "new york times" story that says for many life on the trump team end in a crash. that working for the president isn't good for your reputation. it's not that it's not true in every case, but is it overstated? shelby: i don't think it's overstated. does ronny jackson stay on as white house doctor? i think he'll. a lot of people feel when they leave their reputation has been burned. or they left on their own accord. something they disagreed with in the administration. it's a tough place to work. there are still questions about

this doctor. dose hand out pills like candy? is he drinking on the job? >> this is the whole problem here. senator john tesser went out with anonymous allegations that in some cases have been disputed and not verified. the media are talking about it acting like it's no big deal to destroy a man's reputation. journalistic norms are being thrown out the window. you don't say this could be true and that could be true. you make sure something is true. a report based on anonymous sources. in the same way credence was given to harry reid when he made up information about mitt

romney's tax returns. howie: are republicans leaking on committees. it's not only democrats. the president calling for tester to resign. the thing about tester, the republican chairman johnny iverson says he has no problem with what tester did. juan: i think there is a lot of concern about the issue you raised at the beginning of the show. qualifications. does he have the management experience to run the second biggest agency in washington. howie: that's now moot. what about the media running with allegations, many of which were not confirmed. juan: to me that's not the issue. howie: devin nunes? juan jr. devin nunes has been

all over the papers. somebody put their face and name who is an elected american official, u.s. senator putting his name to it and says here is what is coming. howie: initially some of this was leaked and he went public. the spectacle of the leaders of north and south korea and possibly moving ahead with the denuclearization process. donald trump was criticized for taunting little rocket man. do you think the press is giving him some credit for the apparent progress on north korea. mollihem. mollie: i saw on cnn they wrote

the story. we were talking about how the media said donald trump was bringing us to the brink of nuclear war. i think it's important to give the same kind of coverage over what appears to be a success so far. howie: last night for the white house correspondents dinner the president went to washington, michigan and had unfavorable things to say about the press. president trump: they don't have sources. the sources don't exist in some cases. i could be up there smiling. they are hitting you shot after shot. these people hate your guts. howie: comedian michelle wolf was cursing with bombs on television. personally cruel to sarah huckabee sanders and kellyanne

conway who was there. juan: i thought the level of acerbic commentary directed at sarah huckabee sanders, she is sitting there as a representative of that organization. and i think she honored us with her presence. it was a difficult relationship. and she decided to make herself available and present. and i think it was rude, just as a human being if i started speaking about howard kurtz in that way. howie: riesd an understatement. the president tweeting it was a big boring bomb. he wants greg gutfeld to be the comedian next year. this came to define what would have been a nice bunch of award for journalists.

shelby: she took it too far, some of her attacks, especially with sarah huckabee sanders. journalists were most of critical of this stand-up routine if we want to tal -- ife want to call it that. but there were good parts of the dinner, students were honored. those things were overshadowed by crude jokes that didn't need to be involved. mollie: i feel about the white house correspondents dinner with utter disdain. it was uneven comedy. attacks on one group of people and light attacks on the media. it needs to be more heavy hitting against itself.

howie: let me get a break here. i am getting new online feedback for mother's day. media madness, the press and the war over the truth. later, a former reporter's sexual misconduct allegations against tom brokaw and how nbc is struggling to address it.

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comey. president trump: he's have much guilty of crimes. if we had a justice department doing its job. >> you are the republican in charge and you have a republican running it. president trump: what he did was terrible. he leaked classified information in order to try and get a special counsel. >> you said it -- he said it wasn't classified. howie: the president said he's staying out of justice for now. shelby: he keeps playing the idea he might do something. hence, meddle in the investigation. you have control over this, mr. president. what people were surprised by were not so much the words, but his tone. you can hear how amped up he is.

some people described it as hysterical. howie: it wasn't hysterical. it was amped up, and he was ticked off. "the federalist" dug up some information about the whole dossier affair that had to do with james clapper who was the director of intelligence mollie hemingway he said in that memo the house select committee on intel members had information showing he had been talking to jake tapper in early january. he lied by the and gave

conflicting information. we are starting to see pieces of the puzzle put together that there was high-level contact between journalists and top officials during the obama administration. howie: you are not saying cnn shouldn't have reported it, by the was done to push the story out. mollie: when you have anonymous sources wanting you to push things out. you have to have why they are doing that and whether your coverage reflects the whole story. howie: it was a big story for cnn to report. but it's pretty damning about clapper if he didn't initially tell the truth about cnn. juan: when you are a reporter in washington and trying to get sources, if you can get to clapper or jim comey as fbi director or andrew mccabe,

mccabe was found to have lied about contacts with reporters apparently unauthorized. but the idea that anderson cooper or whoever is going at the sources, and the sources calculate about the impact of media exposure for information that was so explosive. it's not crazy. >> we know the man who wrote the dossier was briefing cnn. >> according to this report and getting it to cnn raises a whole set of questions. shelby holliday, mollie hemingway, juan williams, thank you for coming out this sunday. the president blows off the white house correspondents dinner. tom brokaw is angry and hurt over allegations he sexually harassed a former nbc reporter.

but linda vester says she was scared and traumatized.

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of online sellers. go to shipstation.com/tv and get two months free. >> troubling allegations. a former nbc correspondent accuses tom brokaw of making unwanted advances towards her two decade ago. howie: linda vester is making gripping allegations against brokaw, allegations he strongly denies. he said in two separate cities he got physical with her. >> i grabbed the pillow to show with all the body language i can muster. i'm terrified, i don't want him here, i'm not underred. he reached behind my head and

tried to force me to kiss him. i pulled up with all the strength i can muster and stood up. i said, tom, i don't want to do this with you. howie: joining me, marisa guthrie. when you look at that emotional it view with linda vester who formerly hosted a show on fox news. >> it's very detailed, graphic and specific. and the allegations were substantiated by friends and journal entries. she paints a troubling picture, absolutely. howie: i want to be fair to tom brokaw. you obtained a letter that he wrote to friend and colleagues at 4:00 in the morning.

she unleashed a torrent of unsubstantiated attacks on me. not really any conciliatory language in that note. >> he tore her down in that letter. he's entitled to defend himself. this an allegation from more than 20 years ago. there is a second anonymous allegation from the same time period in the "washington post" story. a woman who is not named. what the letter represents is somebody desperately trying to -- afraid they are going to lose their legacy. it represents

a 20-year-old correspondent. i think that's what a lot of people are grappling with. >> i was deeply trauma tighted by being groped and assaulted by tom brokaw. i was silent. there was nothing i could have done to seek recourse. to have done so at nbc would have been the end of my career, full stop. howie: nbc doesn't have an outside investigation.

they are using in-house. against matt lauer. >> i think that a lot of this is the man inintroverting it different than the woman.

i think a lot of this -- i think it's good we are having this conversation. i think the letter all the women signed is an interesting inflection point because everybody has been terrified to talk about this, and we need to talk about it. howie: a "new york times" campaign reporter says hillary hated her, but she still wanted hillary to win. ed henry is on deck.

howie: last night's white house course cents dinner turned into a travesty when a median trashed sarah huckabee sanders and kellyanne conway. >> if a tree falls in the woods. how do we get kelly under that tree. i'm not suggesting she gets hurt. just stuck. howie: joining me, a past president of the white house correspondents association. she was dropping live f-bombs. ed: she was joking about abortion.

i understand it's a tough job. you are up there, you pick the comedian, and there is a first amendment in this country whether you like it or not. however, i think it's long past time for the association to put out a simple one statement sentence saying we do not agree with this. these personal vile attacks on sarah huckabee sanders who is a good person. if hillary clinton had been elected and jennifer palmieri had been up there, it's ridiculous. the association should apologize period stop. howie: you know who else agrees with you is andrea you mitchell. she said sarah huckabee sanders

was personally insulted. ed: by the way, i'm hearing this on social media. i'm not letting the president off the hook. when the president said the press is the enemy of the american people months ago that was not right. he should not have said that. i'm not letting him the hook about that. but we should show respect to the president. i shouldn't even have some to say that. that's elementary. and people are not doing that. she is a professional woman. attack her for what she says about syria, attack her on substance. but not personally. howie: michelle wolf is not apologizing. she went on twitter and said i was complimenting sarah huckabee

sanders's eye makeup. ed: the white house correspondents association can be and should be better than a gutter comedian. howie: let me move to the president's "fox and friends" interview. one thing that drew a lot of attention is what he had to say about his personal lawyer. president trump: michael would represent me on some things. he represents me like with this crazy stormy daniels deal. howie: now he's saying michael cohen did represent him. ed: i don't think it's a shock michael cohen represented him. where the president continues to misstep is from a media perspective, i have never seen any public figure comment on a legal matter and have it go well for them. your lawyers tell you let that

play out in the courts. i think he pours gasoline on a fire. he told me, i was on fox and friends for a half-hour and every other network played the whole thing. he said everybody was talking about everything i had to say, and he told me he's going to do more of it. howie: it was object all the cable networks. let's put up the banner from the don lemon show. president trump's unhinged interview. ed: i'm not giving him a pass, i think his comments on cohen didn't help him. but you see this with banners, crazy, unhinged. the idea of fair and balanced coverage i'm just laughing. it's not even close.

howie: the banner is supposed to be a neutral headline. take a look at nbc's jonathan carl. >> what about michael cohen. president trump: thank you very much. stupid question. go ahead, any other -- anybody else? howie: pardon for michael cohen. stupid question. ed: the president has first amendment rights to say what he wants. i know john carl, i worked with john carl. i respect john carl and he's a fair journalist. howie: ed henry good to see you. joy reid under fire for some ugly anti-gay writings years ago. and after the break, amy chozick covering hillary clinton while resenting her own

howie: the intense focus on donald trump's war with the media, hillary clinton had some tense rewhraitions her press corps. one reporter said she really hates me. joining me, amy chozick, the author of the book "chasing hillary."

you wrote in the back it felt damn good to bass next girl power when she got the nomination. then you say when you wrote your last story after the election, you finally cried. did you feel compromised as a reporter covering this candidate who you passionately believed in. >> i cried because i was absolutely exhausted. i make clear it's not because hillary lost. if you read the book you know there was an incredibly contentious relationship between hillary clinton and the press and my position as the lead beat reporter. she called the political press big egos and no brains. i think that tension carried over and spilled over into that u.n. press conference where she had to address the private email server for the first time. howie: you say the email scandal

broken by the "new york times," you thought it had no more national importance than bristol palin's pregnancy. but you said i would regret and resent it became the only story. >> i didn't compare it to bristol palin's pregnancy. this is not specific to the "new york times." the email server payment only story, and i think there were plenty other things the public should have known about hillary clinton. positive or negative it's just the fact there were probably other things. howie: since the book came out, chelsea clinton says you got a few things wrong including she was popping the champagne cork on election night when she says

she was home with her baby. >> i identify with chelsea since i have my 8-week-old baby at home right now. they were attacking the book before it even came out. and i have a lot of respect for chelsea. i covered this family for a decade. i kept copious notes. so i think, you know, some of the fighting over champagne and hair treatment speaks to the broader themes of the book. howie: you write that hillary clinton's male coterie of mostly male aides. but why didn't you name them in the book. you give them nicknames. it's like you are protecting them. >> i didn't give these guys nicknames because i was protecting their anonymity.

you made a connection that you think one of them is hillary's you aide. howie: i know who it is because said he played into the base. >> this wasn't about granting anonymity. my mom's book club in texas. these guys all have similar descriptions. they all played the same role in my life, controlling coverage and trying to get in my head. they became a tragic greek chorus. i thought it would resonate with readers to give them monikers. howie: i adopted hillary's mood, i went around the world december upon accident and aggrieved for not being likeable enough. doesn't sounds like fun. >> there is an instinct as a female to be likeable.

if you pick up the mood of the campaign, that was a particularly joyless period in hillary clinton's campaign. when you are traveling everywhere she is and going to these rallies you can't help but adopt that bus. my colleagues on the bernie bus were exuding the confidence of a bugged insurgency. howie: you were on this program four years ago. after roger ailes died, you say fox gave you all this makeup and this was part of roger ailes plan for sexting up females. any regrets about the cheap shot? >> i love the fox news makeup artists. i'm getting very little sleep with a newborn and they turned me into being almost tv ready.

that was not a shot at the makeup team. they are good at their jobs. howie: but i will say you are very candid about your tortured relationship with hillary and even your feelings about your newspaper. after the break, a cultural milestone as one of america's entertainer's is found guilty. . . vo: gopi has built her business with her own two hands.

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howie: bill cosby's retrial was getting little attention until a verdict was announced. >> bill cosby has been found guilty on all charges against him. >> we are under kaitd,

validated, and we are now part of the tsunami of women, power and justice. we are not shutting up, and we are not going away. get over it. >> i thank you all in the media. you are the pillars of democracy. without you none of this would have happened. howie: joining us is carley shimkus. there has been almost a universal media coverage of this. what makes this such a cultural moment? carley: symbolically this trial is important because bill cosby is the first famous man to be found guilty of sexual misconduct following the #metoo movement. i would like to think he would have been found guilty regardless. but everything that happened

with harvey weinstein and kevin spacey was in the back of their minds. howie: he wasn't found guilty the last time. there was a different this time. it's a different climate. but also there was several other cosby accusers who were allowed to testify as opposed to just andrea constand who was the focus of the prosecution. carley: the d.a. called those women the difference makers. prosecutors could create the narrative that andrea constand was part of a behavior cosby used. cosby used a different legal team where they attacked the witnesses. suggesting andrea constand wassed a gold during and calling

another witness as a woman who slept around. howie: an had made a settlement with andrea constand. there was little attention, was that because it was seen as old news or was it a misjudgment by the press. carley: there is so much news coming out of washington. this is a retrial. also bill cosby is 80 years old, he's in poor health. his legacy has already been destroyed. the impact of a guilty verdict is much less than at the peak of his career. howie: looking at this, i think there has been a tendency to think that this is now the precedent for other kinds of cases when it may be rather unique to cosby as opposed to

when you have a defendant who is not particularly famous. carley: i do think every trial will be judged fairly and equally. people call this a precedent. i don't think you can make that case. but i'm sure harvey weinstein did look at this verdict. there are so many similarities between these two men in how often they used their power to assault women. wherever harvey weinstein is right now, he's probably very nervous. howie: is msnbc's joy reid telling the truth about telling the truth about embarrassing posts from

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apologized over homophobic web posts she wrote years agree. but when more posts were revealed, she came up with a far-fetched explanation, that she had been hacked. which would have to have occurred when she was little known. >> i genuinely do not believe i wrote those hateful things because they are completely airien to me. but i can understand based on things i have tweeted and have written in the past why some people don't believe me. i have not been exempt from being hurtful or cruel to the very people i want to advocate for. for that i'm truly sorry. howie: i give her credit for the apology. that's it for "mediabuzz." check out our facebook page, post my daily columns there.

give us a like. and look at our new home page, heather: it is monday april 30th and this is "fox & friends first". hope you had a great weekend, happening right now at 4:00 a.m. here on the east coast. showdown at the border. hundreds of illegals on the verge of pouring into the country but border patrol says we are at capacity, so where do we go from here? >> directed the administration to try to fix it and if we can't fix it, he will withdraw from the deal. heather: tough talk with mike pompeo as he wraps up trip. president trump