howie: on the buzz meter, president trump sparks a media furor saying jeff sessions shut down the russia probe. >> how is that one guy's opinion? >> there is always a tape of donald trump saying that in the white house today, it would be the smoking begun in an obstruction of justice case. but rudy giuliani told him to do his obstructing in public as if he was standing on fifth avenue with a gun. >> people in the media are saying president trump

obstructed justice because he cite sized what is a witch hunt. telling the truth. >> the white house and their attorneys say this is what the president thinks. first amendment. he's not you. he's not me. he's the president. he has control over these probes. >> the president tweeting out to his attorney general that he should end this travesty, the mueller witch hunt. then you hear the clucking nasty voices from the left. howie: trump brings more attention to the manafort case by saying he's being treated worse than al capone. we'll talk to corey lewandowski. a war of words erupts between the president and a.g. sulzberger.

as the crowd screams at cnn's jim acosta. with cbs chairman les moonves fighting for his job. one of his own stars speaks out. >> i like working for him. but accountability is meaningless unless it's for everybody. whether it's the leader of a network or the leader of the free world. howie: i'm howard kurtz and this is "mediabuzz." [♪] president trump has been denouncing the mueller investigation for many months. but this week he caused a media explosion by ratcheting up the media on jeff sessions.

he said the attorney general should stop the witch hunt right now before it continues to stain our country any further. joining us. mollie hemingway. gillian turner and capri cafaro. a "washington examiner" contributor and former democratic senator in ohio. he's suggesting his attorney general blow off the fact that he recused himself for ethical reasons. is the media storm around this justified? mollie: it's good to talk about this. but we need media people who understand how donald trump speaks. after two years of seeing him speak in public and seeing his tweets you would expect them to understand him better. he's expressing frustration with a probe that sidelined his administration for a year and a

half. everyone else not just being politicians, but people in the media are not holding mueller accountable. they think their job is to cheerlead instead of ask questions. what is the scope of his probe? why is he not concerned with the hillary clinton campaign with russia. why hasn't he found collusion with the trump campaign which ways we were promised by the media. we are not seeing good understanding of how president trump speaks. howie: the president complaining about the witch hunt and the media. doesn't he create a tidal wave of coverage of the story he hates? gillian: there is an old adage something along the lines bad coverage is better to no

coverage. donald trump is an adherent to that rule. howie: he keeps coming back to mueller. gillian: this is where the media is doing a great job at large, pointing out to the president, why do you ever tweet about anything other than the economy. why do you tweet about anything other than 4.1% gdp. it seems you are derailing your agenda, you are already the most of widely covered president in the history of this country. mollie: we were promised we would find treasonous collusion with russia to steal an election. i think he likes reminding people of that. gillian: how long do we have to have an administration be sidelined?

he's asking good questions. capri: it doesn't mean they shouldn't continue to do the work they are doing. howie: i interviewed rudy giuliani this week, the president's personal lawyer. i asked him, i said he -- i said he named sessions. and he said he was talking about a generic attorney general. capri: i think there has been a lot of scrutiny on this. on one hand there are some in the media that understand sort of the nuances of donald trump. he gets frustrated. he sees something, he takes to twitter and reacts. but because of the nature of this. because there is all the

discussion sounding obstruction of justice and he is the president of the united states as we saw in that clip from cnn. what he says and when he uses his words, they matter. howie: we can all agree he's not you or me or anybody else. the paul manafort trial is taking place across the river. it's about alleged bank fraud and tax evasion and pretty much has nothing to do with donald trump or the campaign. mollie: everyone is interested in this trial as part of the collusion theory with russia. but the prosecutors say they are not bringing up collusion. we are not seeing anyone actually asking the difficult questions with the mueller probe. they seem to trust it

implicitly. howie: the president takes to twitter and he says, who was treated worse, al capone or paul manafort and driving attention to a trial that was already being covered, but maybe not being covered constantly. ill * that was an instant trump tweet. the president wants to do a sliding scale, everything is comparative, egg i -- everythins subjective. the first thing he did when manafort was indicted. he said well, what wall man for the has done is not -- well, what paul manafort has done is not nearly as bad pass what was done by hillary clinton. capri: should you not be asking

questions of hillary clinton who had a spy get sourcing from the kremlin to get sources into the election? capri: the manafort trial doesn't have anything to do with the russian collusion. one of the things trump put in his tweets. basically everything in this trial predates manafort's relationship with the campaign. i think he's trying to get that out there. one thing i do find interesting is how popular culture latched on to this manafort trial. breaking count al capone tweet. you see "says inquiry" talking about it. howie: this rally went on in ohio. president trump: msnbc is so

corrupt. it's so disgusting. so disgusting. the guys that we love, right? they are blowing them away in the race. hannity, laura ingraham, tucker carlson. steve doocy. ainsley, brian. howie: calls msnbc corrupt. i am not sure it helps fox when he brings in the opinion hosts like that. it suggests the entire network is allied with him. capri: it continues that narrative that there is a preferred network that may have a specific bias and everyone else is fake news. there was a recent survey of 4,000 viewers interestingly enough show fox news as number two as the most of trusted news by most of american viewers that

were surveyed. number 1 was [inaudible] howie: the president used the word disgusting at the pennsylvania rally. this morning he tweeted they purposely caused distrust answer they also cause war. they are over the top and sick. mollie: the best way to cover donald trump is to cover him straight. when you behave in such a clownish fashion where they are open about how they view their job as resisting him. it's a talking pointed that resonates with the american people. a recent poll shows 72% of americans believe the media regularly puts out fake, false

and misleading information. this is going to continue until such time as the media take their jobs more seriously and start covering him straight. howie: ivanka trump was interviewed by axios, she said though i do not like the inaccurate media about me, but i do not view the media as the ken any of the people. gillian: there is a reason the president gets pushback on comments from the left. and not from republicans, lawmakers on capitol hill. other government officials. it's because i think a lot of this comes from the idea the president is expressing a frustration the president has had since the reagan

administration. howie: let me get a break here. corey lewandowski weighs in. the president goes one-on-one with le bron james. -omar, look. [ thunder rumbles ] omar, check this out. uh, yeah, i was calling to see if you do laser hair removal. for men. notice that my hips are off the ground. [ engine revving ] and then, i'm gonna pike my hips back into downward dog. [ rhythmic tapping ] hey, the rain stopped. -a bad day on the road still beats a good one off it. -tell me about that dental procedure again! -i can still taste it in my mouth! -progressive helps keep you out there. -i can still taste it in my mouth! ♪ ♪ i can do more to lower my a1c. because my body can still make its own insulin. and i take trulicity once a week

to activate my body to release it, like it's supposed to. trulicity is not insulin. it comes in a once-weekly, truly easy-to-use pen. and it works 24/7. trulicity is an injection to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. don't use it as the first medicine to treat diabetes, or if you have type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. don't take trulicity if you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, you're allergic to trulicity, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of a serious allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck, or severe stomach pain. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. taking trulicity with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases your low blood sugar risk. common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and decreased appetite. these can lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. to help lower my a1c i choose trulicity to activate my within.

ask your doctor about once-weekly trulicity. get your groove on with one a day 50+. ♪ get ready for the wild life ♪ complete multivitamins with key nutrients that address 6 concerns of aging, including heart health, supported by b-vitamins. your one a day is showing. i know, right. we are seriously ikeeping up with the joneses..

i know, right. we are seriously keeping with the anderson's. we are finally keeping up with the ford's. keeping up with the garcia's. keeping up with the harvey's. keeping up with the wahh-the-wahh the romeros. carters. patels. the allens. wah... wolanske's. right, them. no one is going to have internet like this. no one is going to have internet like this. gig to more homes than anyone. not just the joneses'. over here. xfinity. the largest gig-speed network. howie: president trump throwing a body block at le bron james after the nba star said this. >> it's a new sport to divide. that's something i can't relate to. howie: trump tweeted le bron james was interviewed by the dumbest man on television, don lemon, ban he made le bron look

smart. is it smart to be brawling with an nba star? mollie: people don't like to see the president go after athletes and they don't like athletes to go after the president. he gave it to don lemon. the media and some of his colleagues only focused on what he said about le bron. howie: le bron says who is the real dummy, someone who puts kids in cages. capri: don lemon is always resisting against donald trump every night on cnn. if the tables were turned. don lemon is giving some trump to trump. people praise donald trump for saying if he has his back up

against the wall, he'll fight back. that's what don lemon did. howie: melania trump says it looks like le bron james is working to do good things. the first lady encourages that. "new york times" publisher a.g. sulzberger has an off-the-record meeting with president trump. and then sulzberger pushes back. the fact that he had this meeting does it suggest he cares about the opinion of his hometown newspaper? gillian: the more important thing with this meeting is it underscores what i love to talk. with regard to foreign policy. he believes fervently in the

power of his interpersonal skills. if he can just get these people face to face he can make them see the light. howie: i have seen him do that. suldulds berger said he warned t it's leading to threats against journalists and will lead to violence. >> there are two problems with his statement. if inflammatory rhetoric causes violence, the media needs to be thinking about their inflammatory rhetoric against republicans. we have seen shootings of congressmen and people getting arrested. i think people are responsible for their own actions and you can't blame the rhetoric. he says donald trump's rhetoric

is dangerous and divisive. this week the "new york times" hired sarah jeong and necessity testified it as if it's not a problem. howie: the president comes back with a series of tweets. when the media driven insane by their trump derangement syndrome, it puts the lives of journalists at risk. very unpatriotic. revealing the secrets of government has gone on since the founding of the republic. capri: i suspect we'll continue to hear trump derangement syndrome from the president in his tweets. the fact of what happened in this meeting between president trump and the new york times. who do we trust answer who do we

believe is telling the truth. the president of the united states or the "new york times." howie: if it's the epa or hhs. both leaders who were fired. it'it's -- jim acosta says the president is whipping up violence against him. john kelly is still alive and walking around the white house. and whiskers on kittens ♪ ♪ bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens ♪ ♪ brown paper packages tied up with strings ♪ ♪ these are a few of my favorite things ♪ ♪ ♪

when it's too cold for camping, we go camping. when it's too hot to work, we work. too wet to keep going? nah. this is the gator xuv835. with game-changing heat and air and three-wide seating. it's never too anything for anything. nothing runs like a deere. get $400 off the gator xuv835m at any participating john deere dealer.

and i'm still going for my best even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin, i'm up for that. eliquis. eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis is fda-approved and has both.

so what's next? seeing these guys. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. eliquis, the number one cardiologist-prescribed blood thinner. ask your doctor if eliquis is what's next for you. howie: anyone following the media coverage of john kelly would have been convinced the white house chief of staff was toast, he was history. i am told the president asked kelly what they were going to do about the stories and asked if

he would stay on for the rest of the first term and he said yes. what does that say about this media drum beat based on named sources. the a.p., it's leading trump staffers to believe kelly is work on borrowed time. abc, the president has once again started contemplating his possible replacements. >> a source telling cnn the president is talking to friends about possible replacements for john kelly. >> white house chief of staff john kelly may be ready to leave his job very soon. >> it could come this week or the mid-july trip to europe. >> the reports he was likely to leave by july 31. and that he repeatedly referred

to trump as an idiot. >> he'll be leaving by his own choice or by president trump deciding he had enough. howie: trump's decision to keep kelly doesn't knock down stories that kelly has vented to others about wanting to leave or he offered his resignation after the furor over rob porter. and kelly may not make it through 2020. the president could change his mind next month or even next week. those who work for this president don't always know what he's going to do. using sources to predict what he's going to do and dismissing the official denial is risky business. corey lewandowski has constantly been battling the press on twitter. with the crowd yelling and

cursing jim acosta, we'll talk to the reporter who pressed sarah huckabee sanders on the issue. (burke) abstract accident. seen it. covered it. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

howie: with so many media controversies swirling around the president from the manafort trial to the angry anti-press crowds. joining us is corey lewandowski, president trump's former campaign manager now with pence's pac. i covered the mutual warfare with the press. i have never seen the president so resentful of his coverage and using language like unpatriotic and enemy of the people. is this a strategy working for him? >> i don't speak for the president. but on behalf of him. when you look at the coverage of one historic thing that happened this week was almost nothing. we had u.s. soldier remains

returned back to hawaii after the north korean conflict. mike pence went over there. most of of the major media outlets didn't cover it. it's frustrating for the president to get so little credit on something so important. he has to talk about his own message. he knows if he doesn't do it, nobody will do it for him. howie: i said earlier it was a mistake. only fox news carried the care money live. when you say he has to talk about his agenda. beating up on the press, he has the right to do that if he thinks the coverage is mostly negative. what does he gain out of the pounding every single day? >> if you look at the recent numbers, the plurality of the people believe the press is not fair to this president.

90% has been negative to an unbiased source. this company delineated each individual television network and hot american people believe is the fairest. the bbc is number of one, fox is number two. and at the bottom is cnn. they have been so bias against this president. 4.1% growth rate in gdp. the lowest unemployment for hispanics and african-americans. the president is receiving almost 30% of the african-american you north this country. that's unprecedented. if that was barack obama and he was a republican, they would be touting this. he's up 15 points are covered.

but causing war? what's he talking about? >> when you go back and look at the meeting president trump did leading up to kim jong-un in north korea. the press said he would never be prepared. number two, this is a disaster, lit never happen. this takes months to negotiate. a tangible outcome of that discussion was with the return of american soldiers left behind after the korean war. moreover we are closer to the denuclearization of the korean peninsula than we have ever been and the media doesn't want to talk about this. can it cause war? sure. they are creating a narrative

that the president isn't qualified to have these conversations. other world leaders see that and they take exception to it. howie: the summit with kim jong-un got a lot of coverage. there is a way to go in the negotiations and the white house would acknowledge that. the mueller investigation the subject of many presidential tweets. the president is obsessed with the russia collusion allegations. but every time he tweets about it, and particularly the president tweeting jeff sessions should do something by the and shut it down, he just drives more coverage to this story. >> the president knows clearly jeff sessions has recused himself from this investigation. i heard newt gingrich talk about the fact that 90% of the items jeff sessions recused himself from he didn't need to.

i think that's probably true. the president knows jeff sessions won't end this investigation. but it's also fair, this has been going on for a year and a half. there is no collusion, coordination and cooperation between them let's have the country move on and prove there was no collusion between the trump campaign and anyone in russia to impact the election. that's a fair thing to do. howie: paul manafort, the trial began this week. he replaced you as campaign chairman in 2016. given what we know now, millions of dollars from ukraine and he was broke at the time and trying to retain a lavish lifestyle. do you think hiring paul manafort was a mistake? >> i think it was a mistake.

i think i should have stayed until the end of the campaign. i was doing a pretty good job in primaries and caucuses. i'm not a fan of paul manafort. whatever he did had nothing to .with the campaign or with his tenure volunteering or working for the trump organization. but is he getting the same treatment every other american would get if they were accused of the same thing? i'm not a paul manafort fan. but i look at this objectively. would somebody else be locked in prison in solitary confinement when they were never audited by the irs? and the media scrutiny around paul manafort is at the highest levels because for a brief period he was associated with the campaign. looking back on it, paul

probably realizes it was a mistake to come to the campaign. a federal judge appointed by reagan says it's not a crime to spend $100,000 on a vehicle or $1 million on a suit. you are entitled to do that but you have to pay your taxes. this judge is right by the book. he's very fair and i think paul is getting a fair trial. howie: i agree another lobbyist with the same charges wouldn't be getting this attention. the reason he's back in jail is because the judge ruled he violated the terms of his bail. corey lewandowski, good to see you. ahead on "mediabuzz," cbs chairman les moonves is challenged for his job by a guy he hired, stephen colbert. too cold for camping?

too hot to work? nah. this is the gator xuv835. with game-changing heat and air, it's never too anything for anything.

it's a pea-protein, gluten-free pâté.gman? (whistles) it's a burrito filled with plants pretending to be meat. here we see the artist making an attempt to bare his soul. it's just a gray dot. there are multiples on the table: one is cash, three are fha, one is va. so what can you do? she's saying a whole lotta people want to buy this house. but you got this! rocket mortgage by quicken loans makes the complex simple. understand the details and get approved in as few as 8 minutes by america's largest mortgage lender.

can make you feel unstoppable. ♪ but mania, such as unusual changes in your mood, activity or energy levels, can leave you on shaky ground. help take control by talking to your doctor. ask about vraylar. vraylar is approved for the acute treatment of manic or mixed episodes of bipolar i disorder in adults. clinical studies showed that vraylar reduced overall manic symptoms. vraylar should not be used in elderly patients with dementia due to increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, which may mean a life-threatening reaction, or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be permanent. side effects may not appear for several weeks. high cholesterol and weight gain; high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death; decreased white blood cells, which can be fatal; dizziness upon standing; falls; seizures; impaired judgment; heat sensitivity; and trouble swallowing may occur. you're more than just your bipolar i. ask about vraylar.

howie: the crowd at donald trump's rally in tampa was shouting at cnn's jim acosta. >> you can hear, there is a chore us of boos here in tampa florida. they are saying things like cnn sucks, go home and fake news.

you are hearing a lot of folks letting their feeling be known at his rally in tampa. howie: sarah huckabee sanders was challenged the next day. >> is the white house willing to say it is wrong for its most of vocal supporters to be menacing toward a reporter in that situation or any situation? >> the president does not support violence against anyone or anything. when it comes to the media the president does think the media holds a responsibility. we fully support a free press. but there comes a high level of responsibility with that. howie: joining us is david martosko, and sara fischer. david, why did you ask sarah sanders that question. she obviously didn't want to engage on this phrase enemy of

the american people. >> i asked the question not because i thought sarah sanders should side with the press. but our viewers are curious whether the white house has gotten tired of his pro wrestling atmosphere. clearly they haven't. the president wants to define his enemies before they define him. the first amendment of course is crucial to our republic. everybody has the right to scream and yell. during the campaign when we had the press charters and all the reporters would enter the arena at once. it had the feeling like we were the visiting nba team coming on the floor. but it part of the pagentry, part of the event. howie: let me play for you jim acosta asking a similar question

of sarah sanders the next day. >> but for the sake of this room, the people in this room, this democracy, this country, all the people around the world are watching what you are saying, sara. the white house for the united states of america, the president of the united states should not refer to us as the enemy of the people. howie: acosta gave a long speech there. i have been critical of him in terms of the way he interrupts the president. but then he walked out. how much of this was play together cameras, and how much is a serious issue, a point of visceral disagreement? sara: i think it's a little bit of both. the president on the campaign trail, the contentious relationship started there. jim acosta was not as contentious until the campaign at the time started to utilize

him as a symbol of what they were calling the fake news media. a part of this is a representation of this combative relationship getting out of control. but part of it is jim acosta taking issue with the fact that the president has called the news media the enemy of the people and attacked them in a way that could potentially bring danger. howie: she got a lot of criticism for not being willing to say we have a lot of problems with the way the press performs its job. but we don't approve of angry people giving press correspondents the middle finger and yelling angry word at them. >> what the reporters see is never asking what do we do to

make them angry. one said the reason they are annoyed is they look like they never changed their toil or walked into a walmart. the white house takes advantage of that and tries to drive that wedge. howie: they don't seem to look have much at their own side of it. a number of msnbc pundits likening president trump to stalin. enemy of the people is a phrase the soviet mass murderer used. sharisara: i couldn't agree mor. they are using a one will sided perspective in analyzing this relationship. if you are not look to be introspective, then it becomes harder to obtain the trust of the american people.

that's something the president recognizes and it's tapping into every single time he tries to paint the media as a disassistant establishment that can't relate to the average american. howie: san antonio hannity going after acosta. acosta coming back saying he's a prohe'spropagandist. >> when he started this, he was talking about 13 or 14 seats in the press room. he doesn't hate all of them. howie: after the break, stephen colbert says les moonves is my

guy, but criticizes him anyway.

howie: cbs tapped two outside law firms to investigate the sexual abuse allegations against its chairman, les moonves. but this week one of their biggest stars took them on. everybody believes in accountability it in's my guy. accountability is meaningless unless it's for everybody. whether it's the leader of a note work or the leader of the free world. howie: joining us is carley

shimkus. i have been tough on colbert for being relentlessly anti-trump. he didn't have to take on his guy. carley: stephen colbert calls out politicians he disagrees with all the time. but it's got to be different when it's someone in your inner circle. he made the comment about trump and putin that some said are homophobic. moon versus saihomophobic. moonves said don't worry about it, you will weather this. he does deserve credit for this. that must have been hard for him to do. howie: do you feel he felt compelled to take on the guy.

he's also championing the #metoo movement and he didn't want to appear hypocritical. carley: he says if you are going to hold one person accountable, you have to hold everybody accountable. les moonves could survive this and still be colbert's boss. but les moonves does have a lot on his mind, and colbert's monologue might be far down his list. howie: that brings my question about moonves. there was an investors' conference call. they were told you can't ask about the sexual misconduct allegations being investigated by the outside law firms. they went along, they were

wimps. i don't think reporters would have done that. is this giving the network a black eye? carley: if these allegations came out last year les moonves would have brand-new placed on administrative leave. i think he's benefiting that there has been some time since the harvey weinstein scandal. cbs has faced backlash from the times up movement. but we haven't seen the push for him to step down like what we saw last year. if there was an allegation you took a leave of absence or were fired immediately. howie: charlie rose left immediately when he came under

investigation. get your groove on with one a day 50+. ♪ get ready for the wild life ♪ complete multivitamins with key nutrients that address 6 concerns of aging, including heart health, supported by b-vitamins. your one a day is showing.

howie: a judge dismissed a suit against fox news by the parents of seth rich who was murdered two years ago. the network retracted a report that rich secretly provided documents to wikileaks. the judge dismissed the second suit against fox and the other defendants by detective rod wheeler saying the former fox contributor failed to prove had been misquoted and cannot avoid the consequences of his own

complicity. the "new york times" is standing up for its newest editorial writer. sarah jeong wrote how much joy i get out of being cruel to old white men not to mention f the police and white men are a-holes. she says she was responding with satire against tweets of hates against an asian-american woman. social media mobs on both sides dredge you can past writings conservatives and liberals to get them fired and it's pretty ugly all around. a museum has stopped selling fake news t-shirts. look at our buzz meter.

continue the conversation on twitter. you can subscribe to the podcast on apple itunes or google play. check out our facebook page. we post a lot of original content there. arthel: president trump is seeing red at a campaign-style rally in ohio ahead of a congressional election tuesday. the president trying to drum up support for the republican candidate in a contest that could show who has the momentum heading into the mid term elections. mike: i'm mike emanuel in for eric shawn. the president talked border security and took swipes at the media while stumping for troy balderson. polls show the race is