website, "foxnewssunday".com. have a great weekend and we'll see you next reporter: live pictures of the veterans day ceremonies marking 100 years since the end of world war i. the 11th of the 11 day of the 11th month. 11 bells tolling at the washington national cathedral. a wreath is being laid at the

tomb of the unknown soldier from world war i. >> your eternal and lasting glory. howie: the bell ringing ceremony. admiral mullen the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff will be leading this bell ringing

ceremony. 16 million soldiers and civilians were killed, trench warfare, chemical warfare, and it changed the present-day map of our world. on the right at aling to be ceremony, laying the wreath for the commemoration of this 100th year. [♪]

[national anthem ♪

♪ "taps"

howie: a very special day in arlington, 100 years since the armistice in world war i now to "mediabuzz." after the democrats won the house, president trump fired his attorney general and temporarily handed the job of the chief of staff. >> the shake up reaches bob mueller. >> what we saw today was a kind

of coup against the rule of law. the kind of action you see in a dictatorship >> it gives leverage to the president. it signals to robert mueller, i'm in charge, tough no control than you do. let's wrap this up >> the man in charge of the investigation offered a blueprint for ending it. >> impeachment is real now >> for a year the president publicly criticized and ridiculed sessions, so it was not very surprisinghow much * rt the choice of matt whitaker outside the white house. president trump: i don't know matt wit whitaker. he worked for jeff sessions. he's very well thought of.

the choice was met with rage. it's a shame, no matter who i put in, they go after them. howie: here to analyze the coverage, mollie hemingway. susan ferrechio, and adrienne elrod a democratic strategist to who worked for hillary clinton's campaign. howie: the president said he didn't know nawtd whitaker, and before he said he did know him but not well. mollie: it's not a secret in washington, the justice department has been planning for this transition. this is a typical thing for presidents to do right after an election. george w. bush did this with donald rumsfeld. howie: sometimes the press looks for hidden motives.

but the president has been attacking his attorney general for a year. this is about the original decision of the a.g. to recuse himself from the mueller investigation. adrienne: jeff sessions did the right thing. he had to recuse himself. but the criticism of matthew whitaker is warranted. i think he'll have a hard time getting confirmed by the senate. howie: he doesn't have to be confirmed unless he's named as the permanent head of the justice department. doing this the day after the mid terms when the democrats won the house. the president changed the subject. there is a legal argument whether whitaker can be named as the temporary head of doj.

susan: the question is, is this sort of a violation of the spirit of that law to make this person a place holder where whitaker will be there temporarily? if he keeps him in for 241 days is that a violation of the expert of that law. howie: do you think is is because the press doesn't like him, not that he's not qualified? susan: whitaker is a tantalizing target for the press. he's conservative, he said things about the mueller investigation that suggests he would side with the president. howie: whitaker on cnn talking about one way mueller could be slowed down substantially ike see a situation where the budget

is reduced so low the investigation grind to almost a halt. howie: now he could do that. but the press immediately went into attack mode. he was a fairly obscure figure until now. but there is a lot of criticism. likening a piece where he called it a lynch mob. mollie: rod rosenstein called him a superb choice to be a.g. he was jeff sessions chief of staff. howie: i'm shocked rod rosenstein was passed over. no, i'm not shocked at all. mollie: rod rosenstein has all sorts of conflicts of interest. he obstructed congress. howie: the president fired

comey. mollie: he set up a special counsel to investigate that. and he signed one of the warrants used to spy on the trump campaign. whitaker has none of those conflicts. howie: he has clear views on this. "washington post" called him a crack pot because he criticized marbury versus madison. but what the press really cares about is the impact on the mueller probe. adrienne: the press is looking into his background and what he said in the past. you have a press understandably biased against somebody who had such partisan leaning and partisan statements in the mueller investigation.

howie: you call it bias instead an objective look at this. adrienne: i say i understand where the media is coming from in terms of their bias. mollie: this is a way of saying the mueller investigation is legitimate. to say it doesn't have limits is the outlier perspective. he was saying as written, it's not limitless. howie: whitaker was an active board member for a company that worked on patents. it was shut down as a scam and still being investigated by the fbi. is that fair game when you are talking about the new acting head of the justice department? >> kudos to the miami "times" for writing about that.

100% legitimate. when someone is appointed to the highest law office in the land, it's our job to see who is this person, is he legitimate. all the investigations we are seeing are 100% our roll. howie: on the night it happened, there was a headline, "the plot to stop mueller." he hasn't done a single thing to stop mueller, impede mueller. he might and that would be big news. but the coverage is he could do this and could do that. mollie: people know he isn't one of these people who is totally supportive of anything the fbi might do or anything this mueller investigation might do. a lot of people at doj and fbi have been obstructing efforts to find out what's going on in the agency. he is an outsider.

that's a reflection of him understanding he's different than what they have been dealing with thus far. sessions was forced to recuse himself. the mueller investigation, but also any investigation into wrongdoing in the 2016 campaign. howie: the media furor is based on the donald trump did something terrible. even after all the indictments and the pleas we haven't seen any evidence. adrienne: the investigation is still going on. mollie: 20 years, maybe we'll see something. adrienne: the investigation is coming to even end. we heard that the mueller team is writing the final report. why can't president trump put

somebody in who hasn't have an historical partisan background. mollie: somebody like eric holder? adrienne: this is one of the biggest issues the department of justice has been investigating. we need someone who can be an independent arbiter and that is not whitaker. howie: when we come back. president trump drawing flack as he delivers harsh word to the media.

howie: jim acosta isn't the only journalist to draw harsh words for president trump at the same

news conference. >> you called yourself a nationalist. some people saw that as emboldening white nationalists. president trump what you said is insulting to me. it's a very terrible thing you said. howie: and the president unloaded on abby phillips. >> you want to rein in robert mueller? president trump: what a stupid question. but i watch you a lot and you ask a lot of stupid questions. president trump: after telling april ryan to sit down, trump brought her up as well. president trump april ryan, you talk about somebody who is a loser. she doesn't know what the hell she is doing. she gets publicity and she gets a contract with cnn, but she is

very nasty. howie: the president regularly rips the media, but calling the questions nasty, stupid, racist. mollie: he was in rare form this week. we have a president who is getting more personal in his insults against the reporters and a press corps decreasing its journalistic standards. the american public losses out. we are not getting questions that have fair assumptions. we know they hate the president. but do they respect the office at all? howie: i wouldn't say all journalists hate the president. but the president has every right to push back on what he

sees as unfair coverage. when he told abby she asked a stupid question, it wasn't. then he made clear he just didn't like her. >> i have had people chew me out based on the publication i work for, and i have seen it happen to other reporters on capitol hill. i think what he is saying is he's fed up with people questioning him about his efforts to control the mueller investigation. you saw the frustration the president had. i think what he's expressing is the questions seem to be questioning his integrity. i think that's what you saw at the press conference at the first question about mueller. there is a fed up quality to the way the president is responding to the press which is the most

of adversarial of any press we have seen in our time. howie: a former "new york times" reporter. here is what she had to say after that tough exchange with the president. >> what i was doing is posing a question which is what reporters will do. there is a white nationalist today tweeting about being at the white house today. my question was timely and fair and it is what i do. howie: plenty of critics pointed out these three women in three days are african-american women. obviously the president has slammed plenty of white males, but this was noticeable because it happened in a short period of time. >> these are three african-american women and they are all three very good reporters. i cannot say enough great things about them. it's hard to look at what the president did in his conduct

this week and decipher anything differently except for the fact he's attacking these women because they are black and they are women. mollie: the most of famous altercation he had was with jim acosta who is a white male. she was saying there was a white national tweeting from the white house. that's true, but it was a public tour. i have three problems with the question. one she doesn't understand what national interest is. her question of understanding of national interest, and there is the desire to paint everything that donald trump does. we have someone who cares so much about national interest. howie: i at least give her credit for asking the question

respectfully. she didn't say i believe you are a white nationalist. but you said something i can't let go. i understand why critics of the president will say he seems to get very personal when it comes to certain black people he doesn't like. you said he criticized them because they are black. adrienne: i don't know that. but why is he going after three african-american women. it's a bias that he has shown throughout his presidency. susan: april ryan has set herself up as someone who challenges the president constantly. she does go on tv and talk about it as a paid policy pundit. he's making a legitimate point. howie: abby phillips asked about the mueller investigation.

susan: i think that's the frustration. mollie: despite the fact we covered this for 2 1/2 years and have nothing. adrienne: robert mueller has the freedom to take as long as he thinks is necessary to complete the investigation. howie: loser, stupid. man * particularly when he has the upper ground by challenging the content of the question. howie: improving the tone, he thinks the media should go first. he might yank other journalists' credentials. democratic congressman adam schiff says on axios, he's planning an investigation of trump abusing his power. this is what happens or could

happen or will happen when you have a democratic house. left-wing protesters target tucker carlson's home. this is an appalling tactic for anybody who cares about free speech.

howie: the president summoned hannity on stage along with jeanine pirro. the network put out a statement of disapproval. fox news does not condone any

journalists -- >> i gave a tweet that was truthful. the president, i had no idea. i was honored by the president's request it was not planned. howie: he clarified his remarks about fake news. >> i was not and would never refer to my friend and colleagues at the fox news channel. they are such a cut above anybody else. if anybody construed it that way, i'm sorry in terms of the people i work with. howie: hannity and pirro are you be abashed supporters of trump. for an opinion host to praise the president on a campaign

rally stage cross the line. it creates a perception problem for a network that is often accused fairly or unfairly as being too easy on trump. thant is an important voice for conservatives. it would be better in my view to stick to making his views known on television. mow testers were outside tucker carlson's home chanting insults and demanding he leave the city. [we know where you sleep at night] howie: the protesters frightened his wife. his four children were not at home. >> what's it like to find out your wife is hiding in the pantry because people are

threatening her. you can see why i feel threatened about that this is a threat to free expression to all of us. howie: susan scott and jay wallace called the incident reprehensible. the group smash racism d.c. also made public the addresses of tucker's brother. carlson drew support even from liberal voices who don't like him. targeting his home and terrorizing his family is an act of man trowactof monstrous cowa. tucker carl somebody is a controversial commentator.

but everyone should denounce such intimidation tactics. leave people's homes, their spouses and their kids out of it. ari fleischer on the war of words over the trump team and cnn over jim acosta's suspension. today is the day you're going to get motivated...

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howie: a press conference confrontation between donald trump and jim acosta began with the reporter debating the president over the migrant caravan. >> that this caravan was an invasion. it was not an invasion. if i may ask one more question. president trump: that's enough. that's enough. >> pardon me, ma'am. president trump: cnn should be ashamed of themselves having you working for them. you are a rude, terrible person. you are a very rude person. the way you treat sarah huckabee sanders is terrible. howie: kristin tate, and jessica tarlov, we'll get to the suspension in a second. did jim acosta go too far?

kristin: yes. this was just the latest example of acosta derailing the briefings and making them into a circus. his goal is to derail donald trump and put the attention on himself. he said during the briefing as you know, this caravan is not an invasion. this is not a question. it's a statement. acosta specifically put himself in a contrarian position. acosta is wasting valuable time and he's rude. howie: let me set this up. >> he didn't like hearing that question. he didn't like being challenged on that point, and he doesn't like being called out for his falsehoods. howie: cnn is saying he's just doing his job as a reporter.

i had a serious problem when he kept talk and wouldn't give up the mic. jessica: he definitely wasn't following the rules. there are reporters who say, i have a follow-up. i think both of them were ill behaved in this exchange. i felt bad for the intern who was put in an uncomfort position. acosta is saying politely, excuse me, i am not done here. we have seen a drop-off on the caravan coverage after the election. i do think it was a question. howie: there are other things going on in fairness. and we had a mass shooting, too.

howie: kristin, did the white house go too far in suspending jim acosta's credentials? i think by doing that the white house made jim acosta into a journalistic martyr. kristin: acosta should have lost his trespass a long time ago. he's using the briefings to make himself fame owms and it's not fair. he should have been gone a long time ago. howie: cnn says trump's attacks on the press are dangerous and un-american. doesn't that feed the perception that this is getting partisan between the news organizations and the president. kristin: it has gotten partisan. and that's unfortunate.

the president can respond to the journalists like acosta that are out of control, or just not respond and do nothing. howie: what about the white house trying to make this about the briefing between acosta and the in turn saying he laid hand on her. is that really what the suspension was about. jessica: no, they doctored the video. howie: they the white house didn't doctor the video. jessica: it came off info wars. howie: let me put up a close-up. it's clear the contact was incidental. >> it was absolutely incidental.

they took his -- sarah huckabee sanders took this off info wars which is a propaganda site that has been banned by facebook, twitter and apple. the president is more comfortable with journalists from infowars than he is from cnn. to say jim acosta should have lost his trespass when he works for cnn is ridiculous. howie: here is the president characterizing the night on which the democrats won the house. president trump: i think it was a great victory. actually some of the news this morning was in fact that it was a great victory. howie: all politicians spin election results. but how does trump describe this as almost a total victory for republicans when we no longer have one party government in

washington. kristin: the gop picked up seats in the senate and the losses in the house were not as bad as they were expected to be. in 1994 under clinton they lost 52 seats and under obama 63. i don't remember the media calling a that a big red wave when it happened. howie: it was called a shellack and thumping. i get the president's argument that he thinks he can work with nancy pelosi. the democrats picked up 30 house seats. it could be 35. but the point is, the opposition party is in control of one chamber. jessica: it was definitely a blue wave. state legislatures, seven governor's seats.

we'll see what happens in arizona and florida. i feel like sinema will win and gillum and nelson will not in florida. this is what politicians do and they spin. he could recognize the fact that he'll have to deal with a strong democrat majority. kristin: he praised nancy pelosi. howie: thanks very much for joining us. with the battle between the president and the press reaching fever' pitch, we decided to call in ari fleischer. i spoke to him earlier from new york. welcome. ari: thank you. howie: let's start with jim acosta and the president's conduct. you were there in that room with president bush.

are these different than the kinds much questions bush got? ari: totally different. challenging the questions one thing. but to use the briefing room to espouse hire personal point of view, that's what acosta has been doing. that more than anything than that physical altercation which was a nothing altercation. howie: but then he kept on talking like i'm talking over you now. he wouldn't give up the mic. was it an overreach or misstep for the white house to suspend his credentials? ari: in the bush white house i would have tried to take advantage of that moment and say, jim, i hope you get your op-ed published tonight. i would deflect and try to use

humor and try to make everybody laugh at him instead of being an editorial writer rather than a journalist. i'm not going to defend jim acosta. it's not the role of white house reporters to express their opinions. it makes other reporters in the room look bad when he's out there expressing his opinion. ask a question, ask a hard question. you know what? what he could have done is say, it's a caravan, not an invasion. howie: let me move on to the media furor over president trump firing jeff sessions and naming on an acting basis this chief of staff, matt whitaker. is the media freakout justified? ari: i think it's appropriate to put scrutiny on i who is going

to be acting attorney general. the fact that he wrote opinion pieces. tony snow, the former white house press secretary wrote negative pieces against george bush, then was hired as his press secretary. there is a history of people in washington writing pieces and sharing their thoughts. howie: ari fleischer bringing his per spell tough from his years in the white house past. ari fleischer. the national media are realizing the full magnitude of the most of destructive wildfires in california history. a quarter million people evacuated. tens of thousands of acres devastated. thousands of homes and other structures destroyed. one monster fire' were too much in the' coverage.

and from the perspective of someone who has family there. what is not being captured is the fear. landscapes' filled with fear, and students trapped at the pepper dienl campus. unlike to hurricanes, reporters can stand out in the wind and rain or floods where they can get into boats and cover rescues. the human toll is no less real. after the break, fox was the first to project the democratic takeover of the house on election night. that was controversial. we'll talk about that.

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bret: the fox news desk can project democrats will take control of the house of representatives. howie: joining us from charlottesville, larry sabato. fox has taken heat for being the first to make that projection while voting was going on in the west. how do you sit on that news once you are convinced you are right the democrats are going to win the house? larry: you don't. on this i think they are completely wrong. this is not 1980 all over again when jimmy carter conceded too early because of the landslide and probably cost a couple

democratic congressmen in california their seat. this is a different situation. fox and a.p. spent a lot of money to get the second exit poll. now we have two sources of information. we can compare them. of course, you would go forward with it as long as you have confidence tonight, and they clearly did and they were right. howie: somebody gets to 270, you can't pretend it didn't happen. there was a lot of media chatter about a blue wave and blue tsunami. but toward the end i think the journalists felt badly burned by their own projections in 2016. do you think their perception was. larry: they were thinking back

to 2016 and didn't want to make a mistake. we kept our predictions cautious at the crystal ball and we hit the number on the nail. plus 34 for the democrats and we said we might be a few seats short. now it looks like it will be between plus 34-37. somewhere in that vicinity. howie: it makes sense to be cautious. of course, we have to caution that the republicans picked up a couple seats in the senate and won some key governor's races. the media universally expecting there will be utter gridlock on capitol hill and the democratic house. i understand there are dismissed pledges of bipartisan cooperation. could they be wrong? is this too of a knee-jerk reaction? >> the answer is always yes.

the answer is always yes. go ahead it's final jeopardy. they will agree on something. democrats have to have something to show for their new majority in the house. they will come together with president trump and the senate on something. i think it will be something substantial. howie: if it's going to be two years of investigations and subpoenas, it doesn't help the democrats. mr. crystal ball, larry sabato, thanks for joining us. that does it for this edition of "mediabuzz." i'm howard kurtz. you can subscribe at apple itunes. you can check out my facebook page. and continue the conversation on

twitter @howardkurtz. i'm glad we were able to bring you the moving ceremonies from arlington to commemorate the end of world war i. hope to see you back these folks, they don't have time to go to the post office they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps.com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the amazing services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again!

heather: it is monday november 12th and this is "fox & friends" fist, happening right now at 4:00 a.m. on the east coast, fox news alert for you, out of control wild fires in california ravaging thousands of acres claiming dozens of lives. race against time is happening right now as crews fight the fast-moving flames by raging winds, live on the ground. >> somehow came up with 93 votes after election night, we still don't know how they came up with that. heather: recounts underway overnight, new tallies being