the victory. now let's do it again next year. that's it for today. have a happy father's day. for all of you kids out there, especially mine, call your dad and we will see you "fox news sunday". howie: on the buzz meter, ladies and gentlemen, your white house press corps. [all talking at once] howie: president trump besieged by questions on the white house lawn after he says he's been exonerated on the firing of james comey. and devastating texts from a rogue fbi agent saying we'll stop donald trump's election. >> james comey launched the greatest october surprise in the history of the player can

politics and it ripped to shreds hillary clinton's campaign. >> the bias was against donald trump and his campaign and there is a lot of it on displ in this report. >> this unfounded conspiracy against the president that is touted by the white house actually seems to have worked in favor of the president. >> there really was a scheme to protect hillary clinton from being indicted and smear and slander then candidate and president-elect donald trump and now president at all costs. howie: but the report claims comey wasn't influenced by political bias. the president said fake news is our country's biggest enemy as liberal leaders denigrate his diplomacy. >> these are awful people and he

wants to be best friends with them. >> i found it rambling and incoherent and giving away more than we got. >> we have never seen a more trusting acan president in a summit with a foreign leader of any summit in american history. >> we have to have nuclear war to get trump to fail. i think half of america are in favor of that. i'm not exaggerating. howie: the president punches back a robert de niro who dropped the f-bomb on him at the tonys. my debate with actor and activist rob reiner. after the election you called the outcome the greatest attack on democracy since world war i. rob: i not only agree with that,

i would go even further. howie: i'm howard kurtz and this is "mediabuzz." [♪] the justice department's inspector general ripped james comey in that report finding that he broke many rules. and the text between peter strzok and lisa page. page says trump is never going to be president, right? and strzok says no, we'll stop it. steve doocy was the first to interview the president, then followed by a scrum of reporters. >> what you have seen so far, should james comey be locked up? president trump: i would never

want to get involved in that. certainly they seem like very criminal acts to me. i think the report yesterday more than anything totally exonerates me. there was no collusion. there was no obstruction. howie: joining me to analyze the coverage. mollie hemingway, sara fischer and marie harf, former spokeswoman for the obama administration. howie: that scrum looked like an out of control kindergarten that needed a time out. the press saying the president was wrong when he said he was totally vindicated because the report didn't examine whether there was obstructioner. >> collusion with russia. mollie: this is focused on the hillary clinton email probe. but there is a lot.

the same people investigated the hillary clinton email probe as the donald trump probe. you have people openly talking about breathtaking bias they of hillary clinton against donald trump. and pledging, promising they will prevent him from getting elected. at the same time they are ramping up this investigation. that is exonerating. one of his main arguments is the department of justice and fbi have had widespread problems with bias against him. howie: i think pro-hillary commentators must be happy. he sat on the anthony wiener emails for a month. marie: i think there is something for everyone in this i.g. report. these fbi officials do have text

messages that look terrible. the i.g. report also found no evidence those political leading impacted the investigation. jim comey comes across very badly as a democrat. reading what he did which did hurt hillary clinton politically. reading this san sang i decisiog is difficult for me. the president said a number of things about the report that are not accurate and it's on the media to call those falsehoods out when he does that. howie: the i.g. said i couldn't even dig into all the leaks because there are so many of them. them -- dozens of fbi staffers having meetings with journalists and accepting meals and drinks

and going to sporting events. sara * are they supposed to be funding these? the media is given sources to take out sources. i have never taken a source out golfing. mollie: the justice department went after a congressional aide d reporter because they care about leaks over there, when they have a huge problem underneath their nose. the i.g. said it's such a big problem they don't know what to do. howie: a reporter who now works for the "new york times." let's come back to these

iminating texts with peter strzok and lisa page. we hadn't seen this text. i guess was somehow held back. i think it made a lot of headlines because it's so over the top whether they were able to carry thatut these people hated donald trump. mollie: the i.g. said they couldn't determine whether waiting to handle the wiener laptop was based on bias. it's also true these weren't just about peter strzok and lisa page' texting their extreme bias. there were five different people in this probe texting insults against people who voted for trump. the attorney who was actually asking hillary clinton questions during that interview said i am

with her when he did that. it's not necessarily -- the i.g. is careful to say, there is not hard evidence saying i am with her, therefore i'm letting her get off. this level of bias is problematic for two investigations. howie: journalists and pundits are cherry picking the evidence. i think the only common denominator is jim comey had flawed decision making. so that enables each side to say here is evidence that supports our contention. marie: right, this is the system we live in. what jim comey did was hurt hillary. howie: he didn't bring charges against her. marie: which the i.g. said was not good practice.

the i.g. is non-partisan and they have bench more conservative if not republican leading. these text messages look terrible. i.g.'s conten that theythe didn't find bias. mollie: there was an example where they did say bias affecd that decision. marie: they cannot determine why they waited so long to look at the anthony weiner laptop. howie: minutes after this report was made public, "new york times" published an op-ed by james i'm that was ready to go. it strikes me as close to collusion. sara: it was minutes after. it gives the appearance the "new york times" was willing to take james comey's op-ed. you had people o right say

would go they have done this for a republican? what is james comey's strategy? couldn't he have just put out a statement? howie: and his leaks earlier. we'll talk next segment more about this. the president comes back from north korea and puts up this tweet and really harsh word from the media. so funny to watch thee news. they are fighting hard to down play the deal with north korea. our country's biggest enemy is the fake news so easily promulgated by fools. when he says biggestmy i think it's too much. mollie: he said fake news is an enemy. just speaking -- we need to make sure we are telling accurate

facts. on this i.g. report we had two major story lines that have been if you are the last year. one that it was wrong to fire james comey. this i.g. report confirms everything he said about rod rosenstein's bad decision making and failure to adhere to authority and usurpation and the like. we are told you are not allowed to criticize the fbi. they are beyond reproach. and this report shows they are not beyond reproach. criticizing the fbi and caring what they are doing is important. howie: biggest enemy? marie: the president uses fake news to go after media organizations to report stories he doesn't like. there is a problem with fake news. but to link the north korea summit and his flowery talk about how great kim jong-un is,

calling the american press the greatest enemy in our country. that should disturb everyone on the right, on the left and in the center. it has consequences. howie: i see distinction between fake news and biggest enemy. sara: you have to look at this as part of trump's playbook. he knows that helps drive that populist movement that got him elected. if he can diminish the fake news mainstream' media he can get the american people on his side. howie: media coverage of the much-awaited north korea summit. surprisingly negative. how much of that is personal. ahh... summer is coming. and it's time to get outside. pack in even more adventure with audible.

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howie: there is no question kim jong-un is a brutal ruler. president trump's detractors in the media were quick to criticize the praise he had for the dictator. president trump: he's got a very good personality. he's fun crane very very smart. he's a great negotiator. he has a great personality, a very smart guy. he loves his people. howie: several journalists pressing him including bret baier. bret: you call people sometimes killers. he is a killer. president trump: he has done some really bad things. president trump: but so have other people done some very bad

things. howie: some people on the left are upset that he met with this guy. mollie: it's hard to hear the president praise somebody like this. but it's worth keeping it in context. we had a president who was bashing kim a year ago when he was in seoul when he gave the speech that took him down a notch. flattery is a tool when dealing with something likeuclear disarmament. even if that require sos flattery of a dictator rather than make this the time to talk about human rights violations. howie: president obama wasn't criticized for his relationship with cuba. marie: the relationship cans in the press were critical of the

obama administration during the iran negotiation. some of those same commentators are not saying anything about donald trump. howie: it sounds like to is hypocrisy on both sides. marie: his language was so extreme, little rocketman, fire and fury. flattery can be part of diplomacy. but it's so striking, especially coming out of the g-7 with our allies. howie: aren't there lots of legitimate criticism being made. all to bed, the president didn't get much of a turn. >> i think the question journalists are asking is worth

diplomacy. howie: having a meeting no other president has talked to is diplomatic. sara: it says they are going to denuclearize. that was not point of this. it was to get north korea top denuclearize. howie: the president said it was the first step. some of this criticism comes from the right. blogger eric erickson wrote that trump an tagnized the g-7 then made kissy face with kim jong-un. if obama had done that the republicans would be demanding his impeachment. mollie: the difference between the interventionist type and those tired of that approach to foreign policy. you saw people criticize obama meeting with castro. there is another stream that

doesn't get a lot of coverage which is a more realist approach to foreign policy. one thing about the media's criticism of the praise of kim. it would be much easier to believe they were genuine if they hadn't spent the olympic praising the sister of kim. howie: some of the president was just personal. trump was incoherent, trump was naive. trump was hoodwinked. it just reminds me how visceral some of the comments are. marie: we have to separate out commentators. you can criticize the statement for being vague, short on specifics. we need to be careful not to get into personal attacks. donald trump makes so much of his attacks and commentary very personal. we are living in this age where

his language feels so personal. we in the media have to make sure we are focusing on substance. >> does the media fall into the trap of using extreme terms. >> we need to make sure. at the end of the day we saw a lot in the way the president was handling diplomacy. howie: the president had a light moment in which he was talking about kim jong-un. >> he's the strong man. he speaks and his people sit up at attention. i want my people to do the same. howie: that was a joke, yet it became the lead in the "washington post." he was not serious.

let's -- there he says a lot of controversial things, you don't have to pick out the jokes. a little editorial there at the end. the media have a new four-letter word for the republican party, they are calling it a cult.

howie: kimberly guilfoyle co-hosof "the five" is dating donald trump, jr. they say they haven't hidden the relationship. kimberly is a commentator, a long-time friend of the family who is free to date whoever she wants. it might have been better if she disclosed it on the air.

but what is absurd when a mean spirited piece that describes guilfoyle as a reporter demand that she be fired. she wrote guilfoyle would be better off picking grapes saying she didn't know guilfoyle is part puerto rican. even his estranged wife vanessa tweeted, the length people will go to to attack a woman simply because she is dating don. the deal that disney had to buy the entertainment properties of 21st century box is being challenged by comcast. this was the outcome of a federal judge denying the government's opposition.

maybe it's just a coincidence that word leaked that's jeff zucker has a contract that runs through 2020. a company that controls the pipes that control the web and the content means fewer voices for consumers. rob reiner is throwing out word like treason. but first robert de niro drops the f-bomb on the president.

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howie: the media have a new term for the republican party and donald trump. >> it has deinvolved into a cult. >> the primary voters in the

republican party deinvolved into a cult. >> this is jonestown? >> donald trump is accused of leading a cult. to believe that cnn is more a threat than north korea. howie: senator bob corker said this could reporters. >> it's almost becoming a cultish thing. it's not a good place for any party to end up with a cult-like situation. howie: joining us, emily jashinsky, and cathy areu. emily, many in the media adopting this label that the republican party is a trumpian cult. what does that tell you about the journalistic mindset.

emily: i think there is some glee that bob corker gave them the word. do i believe there is too much deference to the president? absolutely. i think it's tooer to say there is some sort of cult around donald trump. i think it's short-sighted. howie: cathy, even well before corker i did a google search. the "new york times" last week the cult of trump. national journal last year, trump's cult overwhelms the gop. cathy: i guess the press did it first, but the gop jumped on it so the gop is owning this word. trump does have followers. journalists -- right-leaning journalists as george will was

talking to bill maher about this and saying it's not so much a cult as a culture of fear. they are dissecting it and analyzing it and take it to the next level. is it really a cult? we are moving away to the c-word and moving to another word. howie: i don't have any problem with the underlying analysis that most of in the gop follow the president because they agree with hip or fear him or fear losing their jobs. but think about this word cult. it suggests it's spooky. a cult of people who are in it must be mindless and delusional. they are using this in relation to trump. >> it's what it implyings to the republicans. this is a president popular with republican voters.

they are just -- i think there is too much deference sometimes. the media is too excited to use this against republican politicians. howie: i think turning to black magic is not a good look. cathy, i want to talk about the fallout of robert de niro saying this at the tony award. >> i'm going to say one thing [bleep] trump. [cheers and applause] howie: it's almost like he's a caricature of a hollywood liberal and comes out with crude things to say. no sophisticated analysis. is that because the award show are routine for trump bashing? cathy: de niro used to be so quiet you would call him shy. it seems like with the trump

administration he has come out of his shell. this is the latest. howie: i will stop you right there. this renowned actor goes on national television and uses the f word against the president of the states and you say he's come out of his shell? cathy: i think cussing on tv like that is a little extreme. then the president writes and says was it dumb? howie: the president tweeted that de niro is a very low i.q. individual who received too many shots to the head by real boxers in movies. let me turn to you emily. cbs bleeped the word. but everyone knew what he was saying. what i find disturbing is he gets a standing ovation. emily: i thought of course. this is one of our award show. hollywood is trying to trump

each other with the award show. when i read there was standing ovation. i was surprised they were able to muster that amount of enthusiasm knowing what this is going to look like for the rest of the country. howie: there has been a big debate about immigration and separating children from families. a local newspaper editor, "playboy" columnist and cnn contributor. take a look. >> don't you have any empathy for what these children are going through. >> brian, i know you want to get some more tv time. >> they have nothing, they come to the border with nothing. around parent of young children. don't you have any empathy for what they go through. howie: cnn put a contributor on

the air who said he was passionate. about her kid a lot in a talks political context. this was theater and much less interested in substance than attention for brian karem. howie: karem said i was hearing b.s. if you want to be inhe press room as an accredited journalist, ask a polite question. cathy: rule number one ofjournaf into the story. you are there to collect facts and give facts to your reader. he broke every rule of journalism making it about him self and making it about the press secretary.

sarah sanders was very professional. howie: a rare moment of agreement. i go toe to toe with rob reiner on his harsh criticism of president trump. man: i got scar tissue there. same thing with any dent or dings on this truck. they all got a story about what happened to 'em. man 2: it was raining, there was only one way out. i could feel the barb wire was just digging into the paint. man: two bulls were fighting, (thud) bam hit the truck. try explaining that to your insurance company. woman: another ding, another scratch. it'll just be another chapter in the story. every scar tells a story, and you can tell a lot more stories when your truck is a chevy silverado. the most dependable, longest-lasting, full-size pickups on the road.

howie: rob reiner is an unabashed hollywood liberal who

uses harsh language about the president. we sat down to talk about that and his new film "shock and youd awe." robert de niro goes on the tony award stage and says f trump and gets a standing ovation. can you see where this would be offensive to the 40% who support the president? >> yes, and i can see how it's offensive to the 40% who don't support the president. i don't think that's particularly helpful for those of us who don't want to see trump in office and don't want to see him continue to be in office. howie: you tweeted when an american president attacks our closest allies and embraces

enemy powers, he's in a conspiracy to commit treason. >> i don't say he is, i said one can only conclude. and there is a difference. howie: that's fine distinction. >> i don't know whether or not he committed treason. that will be something we discoverr don't discover as mueller's investigation which unfortunately the house and senate investigations are not moving along. so we'll have to see what happens. howie: you don't see that as an overly inflammatory word to use against a president? >> it is a very inflammatory word. but if it turns out to be -- let's put it this way. if. let's put it this way. from what i see right now, there is a lot of blanks that need to be filled in for sure. howie: after the election you called the outcome the greatest

attack on thisemocracy since 1941. you are comparing the lawful election of a candidate through the electoral college to the attack on pearl harbor. >> i not only agree with that, but i would go even further. we are not talking about when we start looking at what happened to america, people have to understand this. this is one of the mostf difficult parts of understanding the russians. howie: we had an election. you are comparing it to 2,000 americans being killed at pearl harbor. >> i'm not talking about that. what i'm talking about, it's important to understand this. this is the key to us here. we are talking about a foreign enemy power influencing an election. in the world of cyber warfare,

it is insidious. and we don't necessarily feel it. we do know the capacity. we are learning the capacity. not just from a disinformation campaign and active measures. the soviets and russians have been doing it forever. howie: let's talk about the press. you call it state-run media. i presume you know fox has a thriving news division with chris wallace and bret baier. >> i also tweeted out about shepard smith and by the way, i have met shepard smith and he is reporting the news. there is no question by the. he's telling the truth. and so is chris wallace. i haven't seen as much of bret

baier. and i know there is a difference between a news reporting and opion and editorial and all of that. but what i'm saying is the editorial part of fox news which is, you know, hannity, and tucker carlson, and laura ingraham. those shows not -- they are really in support of trump. and that is -- fox news has a good array -- has strong ratings. there is a chunk of media that is verbally and overtly in support of donald trump. that's just true. howie: there was a chunk of media that was in support of barack obama. let's talk about the runup to the iraq war. you are playing john wolcott.

an old colleague of mine. in terms of name i.d., would you think tom hanks was would have an easier time. >> alec baldwin was set to play that part. we had been shooting for a week and on the saturday before he was supposed to shoot on monday he called and dropped out. i said what do i do? my wife michelle suggested i play the part. i thought i don't know, i don't like directing and acting. i said i'm available so i will do it. the one bit of direction i got, she said try to be less jewish. i thought -- i don't know, i'm from the bronx, i will see what i can do. howie: more of my conversation with rob reiner in a moment as

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howie: more now with rob reiner as we turn to his film about the press, the bush administration and the press. you say the media weren't tough enough and nonexistent. in one scene you playing wolcott call the. inquirer and complain they are not running your stories. >> that was the case. that actually happened. knight ridder news service was supplied to a number of

newspapers around the country. they were supplied by a lot of military bases. my character says we don't write for people who send other people's kids to war. we write for people whose kids get sent to war. we were concerned the knight ridder stories were not getting out. many of these papers did not print. they didn't print them. howie: were they not getting a lot of pickup because of the mindset in the mainstream media? bob wood ward told me afterwards he was part of the mind think. >> we were swept up in patriotism, 9/11. and people went with the group think. the bush administration in a smart way from their standpoint, they never responded to these

articles. they gave them no oxygen. they didn't rebuke them or talk about them. so it never got any attention. howie: the underlying attention, the bush administration was lying about iraq. but that as opposed to cherry picking intelligence as opposed to not being sceptical about the intelligence. even john wolcott to this day says he doesn't know people are lying. >> we are saying cheney lied. we are saying cheney lied at this one thing about the idea in general because he had -- he talked about a connection between mohammad atta and iraqin tell jones which didn't exist. they talked about them being on the vernal of getting a nuclear weapon. howie: one thing that turned out to be untrue as terrible as it is is not the same as lying and

deliberately peddling falsehoods. >> that's true. but if you know you made the assumption you want to go to war d you are crafting bits and pieces of intelligence to make that case, and ignoring the vast amount of intelligence. because we haven't been inside iraq with weapons inspectors in four years. howie: in fairness -- >> he got a lot of negative coverage in noise question about it. primary season and even during the general he got the kind of -- there is one thing to say negative coverage and one thing to say due diligence and scrutiny. real scrutiny.

i don't think he got that. howie: you had a civil debate with anthony scaramucci. are you going to do an odd couplew? >> i didn't know. they said scaramucci i didn't know he was going to be there. are we going to do a show like crossfire? no, i don't think so. howie: you are giving it a thumbs down. >> probably not. howie: thanks very much. >> thanks for having me. howie: that's it for this edition of "mediabuzz." i'm howard kurtz. happy father's day to all you dads out there. i'll chang out with my girls later. let me know what you think on twitter @howardkurtz about any aspect of the show or the coverage in the news. you can dvr the program and we

would like to get to you check it out. we'll be back here next sunday. see you then with the latest bu. and it's time to get outside. pack in even more adventure with audible. with the largest selection of audiobooks. audible lets you follow plot twists off the beaten track. or discover magic when you hit the open road. with the free audible app, your stories go wherever you do. and for just $14.95 a month you get a credit, good for any audiobook. if you don't like it exchange it any time. no questions asked. you can also roll your credits to the next month if you don't use them. so take audible with you this summer... on the road... on the trail... or to the beach. start a 30-day trial and your first audiobook is free. cancel anytime, and your books are yours to keep forever. no matter where you go this summer

make it better with audible. text summer10 to 500500 to start listening today.

heather: monday june 18th and this is "fox & friends first". happening right now 4:00 a.m. headed to hot seat michael horowitz hours away from testifying in front of congress over scathing report over clinton e-mail probe. what republicans hope to uncover? president trump pushing congress to pay for his long promised wall. what stands in his way as law makest kick negotiations into high gear. kathy griffin strikes again. first this disgusting picture of president trump's severed head and now attack on america's