racing's triple crown. that's it for today. have a great week and we'll see you next fox news sunday. howie: the "new york times" says the fbi tried to in filtrate the trump campaign with an embedded informant. the president says that could be a big problem. >> for the "new york times" to do this a year and a half down the road to come clean and explain what happened over that consequential misleading article that may have helped sway the election which turned out to be an inaccurate headline about a presidential candidate. >> the "new york times" is

proving we have been right the entire time. and they are actually exposing them with their excuses. howie: . what about the new yorker's * handling of the handling of an informant who leaked michael cohen's banking record which is breaking the law. >> what is going on at the white house? it looks like the president can't entrust his own staff. >> i can tell you there are a couple of bad actors. it's the most disgusting, shameful behavior you can engage in. howie: when ivanka trump was representing the country in

jerusalem, new york's "daily news" ran this via -- this vilef the president's daughter and her husband. >> they have no reason to be at this event other than their blood lines and marriage. >> jared kushner was placing the blame on the palestinian protesters, some much whom were being killed, including children. howie: murphy brown is making a comeback. does every sitcom have to, against trump? i'm howard kurtz and this is bus *. there is a bombshell about a

government informant providing information about the trump campaign. >> the fbi came to the conclusion there was no evidence of collusion with russia. >> how do we know that? >> it was in the "new york times" yesterday. >> rudy giuliani, the president's lawyer is using the "new york times" as a good source. >> does the president ever get the benefit of the doubt with you on this network? >> i think he gets the benefit of the doubt much more often than we get credit for. >> do you know most of people think i'm crazy for coming on here? howie: joining me, joy benson, sara fischer and adrienne elrod.

the american academic living in london tried to get information from the campaign aides. by not naming him they say his safety could be jeopardized. now he's been i.d.'d. and this morning "fox and friends" though the mainstream media is not naming him. guy: we are past the point of protecting this man's identity. it's been reported a few places. major news organizations and quasi mainstream organizations have. so at what point does it become futile for prestige news organizations say we won't do it because it doesn't live up to our standards in the modern era. howie: certain outlets are

making the judgment. adrienne: the "new york times" headlines yesterday. the embed was not used to spy as trump claimed. they are saying the fbi got involved only after there were reports suspicious ties to russia. adrienne: they sent an informant, not a spy with this adversarial government, russia. howie: if someone is talking to you and he's just some guy and he's reporting back to the fbi, wouldn't you feel spied upon? adrienne: i think we are getting into a dangerous situation if news organizations start naming

informants. howie: sara fischer, the massive "new york times" story said at the end of the election in 2016 there was a report in the "times" the fbi found no evidence of colluding with russia. now the fbi says the tone was wrong, the investigation was just getting started. sara: you saw those clips. people are going to say the "new york times" is going back and trying to correct its report. but people on the right are going to take this, saying he's spinning for the fbi. the "new york times" is spinning. more things will come out. howie: same set of fact, very

different interpretations. let me ask you about a report by ronan farrell in the "new yorker." he says he leaked michael cohen's confidential records. he said she or he did it because suspicious activity reports were missing. >> there is a difference between being restrirkted or missing. if someone is going to come forward leaking someone's financial information, it's not right. it's hard to look at that report and not take it at a grain of salt where he's citing somebody outright who admitted to doing something illegal. howie: discussions i have seen on the air, oh, this is

fascinating, whistleblower, they were worried about corruption. it seems to me many outlets are missing the point. confidential banking records are okay to put out. guy: leakers generally aren't allowed to leak the things that they do. the problem is the person blowing the whistle was blowing the whistle with ignorance or limited knowledge about the actual facts of the case. she jumped to the conclusion because she didn't find the records here where she thought they should be. the records still exist and they have not been deleted. they have just been restricted. that takes a lot of the umf out of that story and calls into question whether it was worthwhile to broadcast or

publish the speculations or concerns of this particular leaker who turned to be wrong. howie: she or he. we don't know the gender. what would the media have do if this happened during the obama administration. say it was the confidential records of valerie jared. there would have been an uproar. adrienne: i think there is a lot to learn about these whistleblower. he gave it to ronan farrow who has broken a lot of news on the investigation. whistleblower, law breaker. howie: is it daniel ellsberg leaking the pentagon paper? adrienne: that's what we are waiting to learn more information about.

howie: mostly old news, but it's treated as new news in this cable information echo chamber. trump's financial disclosure form. shows he paid michael cohen somewhere between $100,000 to $150,000. rudy giuliani said the president reimbursed cohen for his payment to stormy daniels. sara: it's newsy, it's interesting and people like it. it's classic cable these days. guy: it's also just confirmation. rudy came out deliberately to set the stage. he said the records are going to come out and let's do it on our

own terms. this is a confirmation what he indicated was coming did in fact arrive in the report. howie: giuliani making news saying the mueller team said a sitting president cannot be indicted. that's bent justice department policy since nixon and bill clinton. is that recycled news? guy: maybe a combination of all of that. it was newsworthy enough to merit coverage. you have the president's personal lawyer divulging information supposedly about a conversation he had with the president's team. even if it relies on long-standing precedent. it's still relevant today. when rudy came out and said that, the point was to make

headlines, and he did. howie: i think all this should be covered and newsworthy, i just think the breaking news banners and the extent of the coverage makes it look like it's new bombshells. they released transcripts of the meeting with the russian in trump tower. donald trump said he hadn't told his father about the meeting before or afterwards. but largely a rehash and it dominated for a couple days. adrienne: there is so much information out there, sometimes it's hard to decipher what is newsworthy and what isn't. i don't know that they merit the newsworthiness. >> of the news media has given. howie: sometimes it's filling a vacuum. you have to have something to

put on. and journalists are drowning in this kind of information. imagine people who don't do this for a living, it would be hard to follow. guy: even those of us who do it for a living. it's tough. howie: we are just being candid here. lots of news outlets said the president was calling all illegal immigrants animals.

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howie: ivanka trump and jared kushner were in jerusalem to dedicate the new embassy.

palestinians charged a border fence and israeli fire left 58 dead. a tabloid front page in the "daily news" said "daddy's little goule." to frame this entire story being around ivanka trump celebrating this embassy reopening and there are a lot of deaths. howie: the "daily news" hates president trump and ivanka and jared. there were violent clashes. the news story said she was smiling. she was there representing the u.s. unveiling the embassy.

guy: she was smiling in a country that is a dear ally of ours following through on a promise her father made that was been law since the 70s. what i do take seriously is the media generally basically buying into hamas propaganda by juxtaposing these two things. hamas fomented this violence to elicit this type of coming. and 80% of the palestinians killed were members of hamas and other terrorist organizations. howie: they organized those protests knowing there would be violence and casualties. but the goal here.

saying what are ivanka and jared doing there? they are the highest raping jewish members of the white house. adrienne: the question is whether jared is an effective person. howie: this was about whether they should be representing the u.s. on that day at that he bassy opening. adrienne: that's the president's decision. i don't think they are the best people to be sent by the united states to than this. howie: the president talks about the amazon "washington post" owned by jeff bezos. the president has pushed the post office to double the postage for amazon and other countries. does this look like payback?

sara: of course. he's focused most of of his attacks on amazon because they own "the washington post" which has been critical of his policies. guy: the appearance is there because that's what's happening. it's not a good look for the president. it looks like bullying. and also in the process, let's say they doubled the rates. that would hurt not just amazon, it would hurt the american people who love amazon because it's affordable. this is a collective policy. howie: the postmaster general told the president the service benefits from amazon shipping. adrienne: to borrow a phrase, this is captain obvious. jeff bezos owns "the washington

post" and the "washington post" has been highly critical of many of trump's policies. there you see it. howie: thanks very much for joining us. ahead, president trump rips white house leakers as traitors. my name is jeff sheldon,

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howie: some news organizations have started making corrections. many outlets castigated president trump for his harsh language during a meeting on sanctuary cities. the a.p. tweeted, trump referred those crossing the u.s. borderer

illegally as animals. trump evokes an ugliness of dehumanization. here is what the president said. president trump: you wouldn't believe how bad these people are, these aren't people, these are animals. howie: but what some missed is he was responding to the california sheriff about her difficulties in tracking m.s.-13 gang members. >> i know about ms-13 gang members and i'm not allowed to tell ice about them. >> the ms-13 gangs are coming in. i'm surprised you aring this question because some people got it right. >> the white house says he was refer together criminal

immigrant gang ms-13, not to all immigrants. but he did make that -- he didn't make that clear. >> president trump claims he was only talking about members of ms-13 which is not true. >> i refuse to allow the president to define good immigrant, bad immigrant. simply because people who are not born in this country are animals. howie: the ap deleted its tweet saying it didn't make it clear the president was talking about ms13. >> he appears to be responding to a comment about members of a violent gang. howie: in this case some outlets went far beyond his words.

next on "mediabuzz" we'll get the white house view on the coverage of the leaks and more. twitter says it will retaliate against jerks. how will it decide who they are?

howie: we are joibd by hogan

gidley, the communications secretary at the white house. rudy giuliani has been purchase for a bit. the white house is willing to cite the "new york times." >> the "new york times" is a failing publication as we all know. but for reasons like this. they can't get out of their own way. the coverage on this president has been completely negative. we are entering into the second year in this investigation. countless hours from our own folks in the administration for conversations with the investigation. we have no collusion, no corruption. no obstruction. none of those things exist, yet it still lead a lot of newscasts. howie: the president called the mueller probe illegal and disgusting. do you believe the media in

general are over fixated on these investigation? >> absolutely. we had our secretary of state go to a foreign country and take three people, our citizens who are being detained, bring them back to this country. we got out of an iran deal that we now know didn't prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon. they weren't covered the way these salacious things are. the media takes palace intrigue 9 times out of 10. howie: i noticed the day of the freeing of the prisoners was heavily russia. does the white house have a position on whether the name of the informant should be made public? >> i can't get into this investigation stuff. but this has been two years now.

and we have nothing to show for it. we wasted taxpayer dollars. and in the face of all this, the president has had record-setting accomplishments and record-setting time. he often puts these things out on twitter that we all talk about. the so-called leaks coming out of the white house are a massive overexaggeration. with that being said, the president adds, leakers are traitors and cowards and we'll find out who they are. he has every right to be upset about leaks that damage him and the administration. but he often said the media makes up some of these anonymous sources. does he accept these leakers are real? >> these people are selfish and cowardly when they do leak information. he knows there are leaks. but so many much these leaks are made up. i get calls all the time from

reporters and i say i will tell you own the record. they say we have sources who are close to the meeting that have knowledge of. it's egregious. the first lady's surgery, the president was mocked and derided because we couldn't find our secretary of state when he was in north korea. we knew where he was. the "new york times" said we didn't know where he was. he was bringing people that are citizens of this country back to this country. howie: i try to check everything, sometimes someone says something happens at a meeting and i don't run with it. isn't it difficult to go to work when people will look for stuff that will hurt the white house, maybe about you. >> that happens in the work environment all overt country.

i have been in media for years and that's part of the job. but we have an amazing team of people who work for this president. but eve inevitably you will have people who are selfish. howie: i spoke how some news organizations and commentators said the president was referring to all illegal immigrants when he called them animals. do you believe it was sloppiness or intentional. >> they never mess up in favor of the president. every misreported report is against the president. this is a gang whose motto is

rape and kill. democrats have on multiple occasions. howie: the president's words were very clear in context. hogan gidley, thanks for coming by. michael avenatti is starting to make threats against reporters. is the media honeymoon finally over? ♪ most people come to la with big dreams. ♪ we came with big appetites. with expedia, you could book a flight, hotel, car, and activity all in one place. ♪

howie: michael avenatti is finally getting some media scrutiny. clawing dispute over a $160,000 bill at a coffee company he owed. he said if you and your colleagues don't stop with the hit pieces that are full of lies and defamatory statements. if i were you i would tell mr. trump to find someone else to fabricate things against me. >> i think you are talking apples and oranges. if we encounter journalists who don't get their facts straight

by design, don't follow basic standards of journalism. purposely skew stories to fit their purpose we'll call them out on that. howie: whether a hollywood reporter was work on a story on whether avenatti was promoting his own today prefer. he said he called me up and became somewhat menacing. at one point he called me an "a" hole. joining me is kristin tate and jessica tarlov. kristin: michael avenatti is addicted to tv like a drug.

cnn put him on their network 74 times in the last few weeks. he's been on msnbc 54 times. this media circus is a distraction. and i don't think it does any justice for stormy daniels or the law. this is about avenatti getting as much media coverage as he can. howie: a show had been pitched to msnbc starring avenatti and scaramucci. he acted offended that journalists would look into his own business records when he had made himself a player. jessica: it's what journalists should be doing at this point. obviously he's getting himself press.

but he's right every time i'm on tv i'm talking about stormy daniels, his client. and he's raising an important issue with the hush money and whether there was intimidation. he's continuing to vet them. howie: on that point, when he makes an unsubstantiated claim, there may be two more women who allege they had affairs with donald trump. they say tell us more. jessica: i personally would not have led with that. but for people to say he's just on tv to promote himself. he does have a specific agenda that relates to his client. he got the president to admit he had been lying. remember when donald trump said this didn't happen, i didn't pay, i don't know this person. rudy giuliani even said there

could be other women. we'll see what happens. he sound trumpian when he attacks journalists. he can go on tv and talk about his client and the real issues. >> it's irresponsible for this man to go on tv and talk about this unsubstantiated claims. and while they are talking to him they are glossing over the issues that matter to the country. this is more a story about the narrative they are trying to push in the anti-trump resistance movement. howie: let me come back to this question about the president's tweet calling white house leakers traitors and cowards.

this started with a leak about white house communications aide kelly sadler making the crack about john mccain dying. i can report exclusively that he asked her, are you done apologizing? do you want to apologize more. she said she did not want to apologize more and she agreed with that. but the president is acknowledging white house leakers are a real problem. jessica: he's been acknowledging this were quite some time. it's one of his favorite narratives that people are taking information about his administration and exposing it and getting it wrong. howie: he said they are unreliable sources, and some of them work at the white house.

jessica: i think the leaks are dangerous, especially when they relate to national security. when people are so disturbed by the content of the policies of what this administration is doing that they are going to the press. howie: i whereabout this in my book "media madness." journalists will gone up these leaks to advance a story to make white house officials or their boss look bad. >> the leaks are infuriating. but when trump talks about the fake news media he's misdirecting his anger. the leaks are not the fault of the media. they represent a major problem inside the white house.

a lot of these supporters come from his own hand-picked team. i love his unconventional style, but there is something to be said about discipline. howie: great discussion. jessica tarlov and kristin tate. after the break. murphy brown is making a comeback and retooling for the trump era.

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howie: i always loved murphy brown and her mad cap tv

newsroom. with television running out of ideas, cbs is bringing the show back. but candace bergen will be hosting a morning talk show come beating a conservative talk show anchored by her son. >> take on this crazy new world of alternative facts and fake news. . . . . pivoting off roseanne * and bringing a show back from the 90s? emily: i think that's whatting going on. trust the mass media when murphy brown went off the air, nearly half of americans had a fair amount of trust in the mass media.

i don't think a lot of americans see the murphy browns of the world as a protagonist in american politics. i don't think there will be a huge appetite for his rebought. howie: we'll see. is this -- is the president now affecting every form of entertainment? is every sitcom and do coul anda have this take? emily: roseanne * is a show for a lot of people in the president's corner. trust in the mass media spiked in 2017 among democrats. so with people in their corners the media and hollywood see

openings on either side. howie: the conservative character playing murphy brown's son. one on the are top -- one other topic twitter. the ceo says they will limit the visibility of your tweets if you game system or act like a jerk. how is twitter going to determine if you are a jerk. emily: they are using an algorithm. silicon valley is using a computer to police human behavior. they have to find a way to incentivize good behavior. howie: someone might seem like a

good satirist. emily: you can't interpret sarcasm. it makes it hard to do. it's not a perfect science. i'm not sure how well it will work. howie: emily jashinsky, thanks. big changes at fox news. tom wolf was a big journalist in ways you may not realize in final

howie: suzanne scott has been named the ceo of fox news and fox business. she also happens to be the only woman in charge of a major news network or network news division.

she takes the job that belonged to roger ails. rupert murdoch and his son praised her vision. also you may have known tom wolf who died this week as a novelist or dapper dresser in those white suits. but he had a huge impact on the news business. >> as a writer i'm perfectly delighted to have things remain way they are. the human comedy has never been richer. howie: he helped create what is dubbed the new journalism, marrying reporting to journalism.

wolf who dubbed the 1970s the "me" decade. wolfe joined the right stuff on his book. and in his brilliant novel "bonfire of the vanities." it was a fictional look at the rich and poor divide in the bronx. he was a dazzling writer. every essay and book ultimately was all about him. tom wolfe was 88. i'm howard kurtz. cop at me on twitter. check out our facebook page. post a lot of our original content. engage in dialogue, our daily videos. and dvr the show.

back here next sunday we'll see you then 11:00 eastern with the latest heather: it is monday may 21st and this is "fox & friends first". happening at 4:00 a.m., did obama administration send spy to infiltrate trump campaign, that's what the justice department is on the mission to find out? >> this is part of string of meritless allegations. >> i can't imagine if it's in the stories true. how can any american stand for this? heather: we are live in washington where the table can be soon be turned on democrats. secretary pompeo laying out the next steps for stopping nuclear iran. demands