howie: president trump calls' the media america's greatest enemy. corey lewandowski and dave bossie will be here. media mania as michael cohen pleads guilty to lying to congress over the planning to build a trump tower during the campaign. the president calls him a threat. president trump: he's a weak person. he's trying to get a reduced sentence by lying about a project everybody knew about. >> the president is lying that

he was never doing business with a foreign power which was committing criminal acts. >> the president's history of. michael cohen's history of lying to congress. is he lying now? >> the trump organization has no buildings in russia. >> it was in the works at a time when the president said he had no business with russia. no investments. not doing the deal doesn't excuse the president from trying to get a deal done. howie: are the pundits siding with michael cohen against his former boss. the media say the president has signaled a possible pardon as

manafort's plea deal blows up. >> there is the president of the united states. there he is. committing the crime of obstruction of justice in plain sight. he is willfully obstructing robert mueller's pursuit of justice in the manafort case. >> robert mueller's prosecutors are threatening elderly men with life in prison. the whole thing is a grotesque joke. howie: is the media chatter justified? plus, the legacy of george h.w. bush. in the end, he was celebrated by the media. i'm howard kurtz and this is "mediabuzz."

there is a lot to get to on' michael cohen's guilty plea. it was treated like a bombshell on television. >> we begin with the report that president trump's'' campaign manager met with julian assange. howie: that was weeks before the release of' emails. manafort is calling the story totally false. assange said the meetings never happened. the guardian aloud a serial fabricator to destroy the

paper's reputation. joining us to analyze the coverage. gillian turner, a fox news correspondent, emily jashinsky, and jessica tarlov. gillian, i have a lot of respect for "the guardian" which won a pull itser. but this story with the fierce denials seems a bit thin. gillian: even if the guardian * was "us weekly," the believability and trust are between paul manafort, wikileaks and outlet three. no matter who outlet three is, i'm going with them. howie: i bet we'll see this million dollar bet with julian assange. should the media have been more

cautious with this. if it's true it ties the trump campaign to wikileaks. but you have all the people involved saying it's untrue. gillian: paul manafort is not the most of honest man in washington. if it is true, there should be video footage and evidence of travel. there should be evidence so if you are doubling down this hard there should be evidence. the "new york times" reported that they are trying to confirm the story and the guardian * softened the story. gillian: i'm not saying i believe paul manafort went into the embassy. i am saying if my choices are

between the three of them i think the guardian has the most of credibility. howie: i can't figure out how he could get three times into the ecuadorian embassy without anybody knowing it. jesse: there should be records of this on ctv. they have been fighting terrorism effectively for years. "the guardian" is an incredibly reputable outlet. they softened it a bit but they say they do have sources. the journalists reporting it saying according to the guardian *, it wasn't cnn reporting it. on the same week we find out paul manafort violated his plea deal. howie: let me turn to this media

mob scene in manhattan. michael cohen pleading guilty to lying to congress. the media is saying the former fixer lied in pursuing the trump tower project in moscow. the conservatives are following the president's lead. saying he lied twice so how can you believe him. jill rrp they are all over this like white on white. it's a very compromise order vulnerable position tore president trump to be in. his defense is michael cohen is a liar. it's hard to backtrack going from somebody you once called a trustworthy terrific guy to calling him a liar.

howie: cohen's version is he decided to stop lying when he decided to cooperate with mueller. if he's telling the truth, then we already knew the trump organization was pursuing a real estate project in moscow before january 2016. now supposedly through june of 2016 when he's winning the nomination. buzzfeed has additional comment that's vladimir putin was promised a $50 million condo in the building. emily: while he's calling michael cohen a liar he's saying this deal was widely known at the time. if we have the president on tv saying i have no deals in

russia. i think both those things can be true. howie: the media consensus is he would have a motive to cooperate with russia. but the president says, look, i was a businessman, there was a good chance i wouldn't win. so what's wrong with my pursuing such a project. jessica: there are two issues. we have pictures of the whole trump family out there in moscow. we know this deal was happening. there was a $50 million apartment. it was a violation of our laws. this email talking about an architect. everyone was involved when they weren't supposed to. nothing in russia gets done without vladimir putin on that level. it's not like doing a deal in the america and the president of the united states note being

involved. vladimir putin controls everything that happens in russia. emily: we don't have evidence that the trump campaign was colluding with the russians. howie: it comes down to the question of do you believe michael cohen now. not all the reporting on this has been accurate. npr reported that donald trump, jr. is on record as having discussed they were pursuing this in 2015 and 2016. npr kind of pulled it back, no correction. emily: the update theyed ad to their story was ridiculous. it should have been redacted. the information in the follow-up

was in the transcript they were reading. npr's narrative was easily disputed. the reporter who put this story together didn't bother to read through the whole transcript. howie: don, jr. called this a desperate attempt to smear me. i am not saying it's a smear, but, man, it was a bad mistake. coming back to paul manafort. there was a media explosion when mueller said he violated his plea deal and he's lying to us. then it really intensified that while he was supposedly cooperating with mueller his lawyer was briefing the trump team's lawyers. some in the press characterizing him as being a double agent. >> it was a deal where somehow paul manafort's attorneys were continuing to ingratiate him and

also continue to lie to mueller's team. it's have your cake and eat it, too. it's also goints the debate on the pardon issue. howie: the president spoke to the "new york post." he was asked about this about reporters. president trump: the question was asked by the "new york post." i said i'm not offering any pardons. they said would you? i said up not taking anything off the table. howie: the media is saying he's obstructing justice by even talking about this. jessica: president trump has been very nice to paul manafort in public.

but judge napolitano last week was making the case that what bob mueller has done is make paul manafort pardon proof by having state and federal crimes. the president can pardon him on the federal level but not the state level. howie: do you think it's a fair reading of the president's comments? emily: i think the comments with obstruction of justice is too far. this is a president who clearly values loyalty, and to the extent he's treating him differently, that's a real story. gillian: i think the media is saying it's unethical for a president to comment about a presidential party.

howie: the president could have deflected the question, but it's not his style. he's taking a lot of flack for retweeting this picture. when does the trial for treason begin it was rob rosenstein, bob mueller, kind of a unique thing for a president to do. thetheythe tone was very differn george h.w. bush was president. -here comes the rain. [ horn honking ] [ engine revving ] what's that, girl? [ engine revving ] flo needs help?! [ engine revving ] take me to her! ♪ coming, flo! why aren't we taking roads?!

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howie: the papers are filled with glowing tributes to george h.w. bush. "washington post," public servant and statesman. "new york times" using the same picture. a jeaniawhat do you make of thet between just bipartisan praise across the political landscape and that's famous bumper sticker from 1992. annoy the media, re-elect bush. brit: the media were very hard on him when he was president. even when he was running for reelection. there was an issue, it was a reverse snobbism. george bush was the blue blood

aristrocrat from a new england family who went into politics. he was looked at with condescension because he had been such a loyal figure under wray began and he wasn't a terribly talented public speaker. he paled in comparison to reagan. though there were times when he was extremely articulate. but think what he inherited. what happened when he became president, the vision of many before him was coming to fruition. the collapse of the soviet union and the fall of the berlin wall, and this job was to manage that skill any which he did. howie: when george h.w. bush was running there was a 1988 interview with dan rather, it

got testy or iran and iran can extra. >> it's not fair to judge my whole career by a rehash on iran. how would you like it if i judged your career by the 7 minutes when you walked off the set in new york. would you like that? howie: bush could be feisty if he was provoked. brit: he didn't have a mean bone in his body, but he was a competitor to deal with the ts can at -- with the task at hand. he wanted to show the republican base he had some steel in him. when he took him on in that interview encouraged by our foundinger the late roger ails. the people in the republican base really likes that.

>> that came up in this ina news "newsweek" cover, the headline was fighting the wimp factor. he was a world war iu hero and this was the meme "newsweek" immortalized. brit: he was the youngest naval aviator when he enlisted prior to going to college which he could have done. he was shot down over the pacific and rescued in the nick of time by an american submarine. that's not the behavior of a wimp. even when he was out of office. maureen dowd described him at wooster, the british character of the comic novels by p.g.

woodhouse. this was after he managed the collapse of the soviet union and mounted the coalition that won the gulf war. he achieved quite a lot, but nonetheless it resisted. it's that reverse snobbism about class that permeates the media. now, you see the media exactlyifying it against donald trump. howie: what was it like to deal with george bush personally? brit: he knew us all because he had been around forever. he was exceedingly friendly to us as he was to everyone. he had a blessing in a way because he has a forgiving spirit. he endured the slings and arrows. he was forgiving about it. he didn't stay mad at people for very long.

his press relations weren't bad. his news conferences were fairly frequent and orderly. he basically did fine. it was during the run-up to the gulf war, he had a lot of meetings with the press, and he became in that moment extraordinarily articulate and precise in his discourse. we had not seen that in him before. it was a remarkable display of what he could do when he had to. and he was nice. howie: brit, thanks so much. ahead, corey lewandowski and dave bossie are attacking never trump conservatives. the media debate changes dramatically. george woke up in pain. but he has plans today.

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howie: media consensus was that the president hugely hyped the migrant caravan to rile up his base for the mid terms. but last week some of the migrants attacked the boished agents with rocks. >> if you caught any news about the border crisis the last 24 hours, you have been subjected to a blatant emotional attempt at manipulation. >> there is no reason to assume donald trump believes it's bad to use tear gas on children. >> i'm ashamed. this tear gas choked me. we treat these economic refugees

as if they are from the walking dead. howie: that -- that roiter's photo gave fuel to the president's critics. gillian: that this is near the american border is quite frightening. but the border is something that the media gets wrong on all sides. it's either an epic threat or humanitarian crisis. it's difficult sometimes for the media to accept the idea that more than one reality or one truth can be effort at a time. sometimes things are not so clear-cut. howie: on that point, it's not wrong to say president trump

heavily pushed the caravan to get his voters out in the mid terms. that may be true. but doesn't this attack show the media's dismissive approach that the caravan was nothing wasn't right. >> that narrative fell apart in an upsetting way. you cannot blame the press for disseminating them. but at the same time there were several years over the course of the obama administration where tear gas was used 20 times. and people have thrown rocks and bottles at the border patrol before. but the narrative that the caravan posed no threat to the u.s. border and would never arrive and it would only be a few people did not come to pass. howie: border patrol agents were

using the tear gas after they were attacked. but others fudged it. jessica: it's a difficult position to be in. i know that for myself as a liberal opposition voice often surrounded by conservatives. and that's why i think that the gang of 8 and the gang of 6 has so much trouble getting their bills passed. the partisans say we can't have compromise because that lets down our base which is reflected a certain way. i think it's absolutely the case. for a while when they were arriving around christmastime in december, i felt perfectly fine saying you guys are crazy, this is a humanitarian crisis. then you see law enforcement being attacked by a small

minority. no one should be getting rocks or bottles in their face for doing their job. howie: thanks so much for being with us. cnn fires a contributor calling for israel's destruction. come * and dave bossie and why they say most of of the made jails allied with the democrats. that's why quicken loans created our new, exclusive rateshield approval™ first, we lock your interest rate for up to 90 days while you find your new home. then, if rates have gone up, your rate stays locked. but, if rates have gone down, your rate drops. either way, you win! it's the kind of thinking you'd expect from america's largest mortgage lender. if you're thinking about buying a home, call quicken loans or go to rocketmortgage.com today.

and back pain made it hard to sleep and get up on time. then i found aleve pm. the only one to combine a safe sleep aid, plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. i'm back. aleve pm for a better am. howie: the war between the president and the special counsel heating up. we turned to two of the president's advisors. joining us, corey lewandowski, former campaign advisor and chair of mike pence's pac, and dave bossie. the book is "trump's enemies."

after the michael cohen plea and the manafort business, some media said trump may not finish his time in office. are they depicting a prosecutorial noose around the president's neck. corey: cnn does not have one on-air talent that could be considered conservative. what michael cohen pled to was lying to congress. cnn ran wall-to-wall coverage about a meeting paul manafort supposedly took with julian assange and now we find out it never happened. the mainstream media and cnn have trump derangement syndrome. howie: dave, isn't it also true

the president how admire, hired michael cohen and paul manafort and michael flynn and rick gates. dave: the crimes have nothing to do with the president. the cnns and msnbcs and the wall to wall trump derangement media want to make the narrative that these have something to do with the russia collusion investigation. they do not. this president has nothing to do with paul manafort prior to his campaign. michael cohen pled guilty to wire fraud and bank fraud related to a taxi company in new york city. but nothing to do with the president. michael cohen hiding money

overseas 10 years before the campaign. howie: corey, in your book, you both sat for an interview with the president, he said to you that fake news is the greatest enemy in this country. greater than terrorists and gang members? corey: there is a cabal of the fake news. when i look at jennifer ruben in "the washington post" who claims to be a conservative which is such a farce. bill chris toll attacks this. bill kristol attacks this president. the fake news has stirred up the american people. what this president has done, he has point out how fake their stories are. the media members don't want to report the news, they want to be

the news. we have seen that with jim acosta. jim acosta went on tv and said this caravan was never coming. these guys are the fake news and this president has done a good service by calling them out. howie: the president said it's hard to defend yourself with an overwhelmingly negative coverage. but he has the biggest bullhorn in the world. so it shouldn't be that hard. dave: he does it every day. the vast left wing conspiracy that is out to destroy this president, they tried to defeat him during the campaign, and now they are trying to run him out t of town through impeachment. it's going to be a very tough next two years. the american people instead of being able to get things done for the american people, the president and the white house

will be under siege by this left-wing congress. howie: we haven't gotten to impeachment yet if we ever do. but you wrote the press trades on the emotions of their audience. the more they stir them up, the more they get them to buy their papers and click on their website. that's true. but doesn't the president play on the emotions of the voters? why single the press out. corey: the press is in this to make money. the more salacious the story, the more the president reports on it. "the guardian" story about whether paul manafort went to london. paul is a bad guy to spent a lot of time in jail for something that had nothing to do with the campaign. because they want click bait,

that's what happens. so the president has to use his megaphone to push back on these stories. dave: this story is days old. nobody in the mainstream media, the garbage they continue to put out there on this julian assange story. howie: it's hard to prove. dave: the embassy where this meeting was supposed to happen, security cameras. the media stakes this out all the time. there would be one shred of evidence if this happened and not one person a week later has been able to say it happened. howie: you guys write the media is nothing more than the public relations arm of the democratic party. i get there is bias and stories that are wrong. p.r. for the democrats? dave: the new york times, cnn,

msnbc, they are super pacs for the democratic party. howie: they broke the hillary clinton story. that doesn't sounds like a super pac to me. dave: if you look at the totality of their coverage, they have been so predominantly negative. 95% of the coverage in the "washington post" and "new york times" are negative. howie: you guys have a lot to say. let's continue the conversation after the break. a cover-up of alleged misconduct with an actress 23 years later. i am not for colds. i am not for just treating my symptoms... (ah-choo) i am for shortening colds when i'm sick. with zicam. zicam is completely different. unlike most other cold medicines... ...zicam is clinically proven to shorten colds. i am a zifan for zicam.

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howie: corey lewandowski and dave bossie on their new book, "trump's enemies. ings are corey, you say the white house leakers, they are stars for the first time in their lives. is that why the white house is such a leaky place? corey: that's part of it. they get courted by the media, they become stars and they think they are the show, and they are

not. what woodward's book points out. gary cohn was literally taking documents off the president's desk. howie: you say the fake news refuses to report the stock market is booming under trump or about record low unemployment numbers. what i think you are really arguing is you don't think donald trump gets enough credit. dave: you look at his list of accomplishes the last two years of his presidency. it's not an overstatement. this president does not get the credit he deserves. the mainstream media's narrative is all about the fake russian collusion story. they don't talk about the good

things that this president does on a daily basis for all americans. when the economy goes up, that helps all americans. when we are safer at home and abroad, it helps all americans, and they play divisive politics every single day. howie: turncoat republicans and former republicans you say have flood our airways. jennifer ruben you mention, george will, nicole wallace desperately wants to be loved by the trump-hating viewers at msnbc. why can't you just say they are ex--republicans who disagree with trump instead of disparaging them in such a harsh fashion. corey: because they have such a hatred for the president they can't get past that's hatred.

calling jennifer ruben a con is such a scam. they shouldn't called out for what they are. hypocrites. donald trump has been the most of conservative president since ronald reagan or even before. the non-partisan heritage foundation says what he has accomplished the first two years puts him on par with ronald reagan. bill kristol, jennifer ruben, they are using their hatred of donald trump to further their agenda and have their own political philosophy put out. howie: they would say donald trump has a different view of conservatism. i'm struck by the way that you just personally disfairnl -- die them. dave: i have known bill kristol a long time.

i look at him as a mentor. as a conservative myself, i don't understand how you look at the supreme court and the federal judiciary, deregulation, tax cuts. you look at the policy agenda across the board. if this name was bill smith, they would be fawning on him. but they hate donald trump and they put their hatred above the ability for them to give him credit for even the smallest thing. they hate his style and they can't get over that style to get to the politics or the conservative agenda that he has been so successful in determining for the american people. howie: next time tell us what you really think. good discussion. dave bossie, corey lewandowski, thank you both. howie: a firing at cnn, a disciplinary action at fox news.

and an actress who says he ruined her career. hings can be . that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats moderate to severe plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla,75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. (man) don't ...go...down...oh, no! aaaaballooned your car. call meeeee! (burke) a fly-by ballooning. seen it, covered it.

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>> these sites have uranium and lead, posing great risk to the people near the sites. howie: the matter is being addressed internally for those involved. it's not unusual for producers to discuss pitches, but providing scripts in advance is journalistic breach. cnn fired mark lamont hill for a u.n. speech where he accused is rate of an ethnic cleansing. >> it will give us what justice requires, and that is a free palestine from the river to the

sea. howie: that phrase "from the river to the sea" echos hamas. he says. howie: that speech cost him his cnn news contract. howie: moonves allegedly assaulted an across stress 23 years ago, then tried to buy her silence. she says he ruined her career by promising movie parts, then briefly forcing her to perform oral sex. but moonves was so desperate for fighting for his job. he says if bobby talks, i'm

finished. the episode prompted cbs board members to finally turn on him. i don't see how they can possibly pay him $120 million in severance. joe scarborough and mika brzezinski? >> they are off today. they got married this weekend. howie: they tied the knot at the national archives presided over by elijah cummings. that's it for this edition of "mediabuzz." i'm howard kurtz. i'm glad we had a chance to pay tribute to george h.w. bush. history and the media is finally recognizing what george h.w. bush did.

let's continue the dialogue on twitterality howard kurtz. check out our facebook page. we are back next sunday morning. 11:00 eastern. we'll see you all then with the latest buzz. he'd be stopping for more pills right now. only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. aleve. all day strong. - [narrator] this is an urgent message from the international fellowship of christians and jews. there is an emergency food crisis for elderly holocaust survivors in the former soviet union. - this is a fight against time. what we're dealing with is coming out, meeting someone who's 85, 90 years old, can't get around, has no food, has no water, and just wants to give up and die.

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eric: the nation bidding farewell to president george h.w. bush. he will receive several tributes before he's taken to his final resting place, including a special honor from president trump. it's noon in the east, 9:00 in the west. arthel: president trump said he'll send air force one to