he would always say, what's a big deal to crash a plane on a mountain to save a friend. jesse would have done it for me. >>chris: last saturday, the u.s. may be welcome to the newest ship and its flipping the uss thomas huttner was commissioned in boston. that's it for today. have a great week and we will see you howie: saturation coverage of prosecutors accusing paul manafort of repeatedly lying, and the press seizes on details tied to the president. >> prosecutors have for the first time accused the president of involvement in two crimes. >> donald trump must be impeached because of the crimes prosecutors say he committed in the michael cohen case. >> to watch the coverage on the networks, you would have thought donald trump came out in a hammer and sickle t-shirt and said i'm a russian. >> a tough myself.

>> we have no evidence of wrongdoing by the president of the united states. howie: president trump is claiming vindication. how much of robert mueller's sentencing memos is really new? john kelly leaving as chief of staff is the latest white house shake-up. anthony scaramucci will be here. as george h.w. bush is laid to rest, some pundits can't stop themselves from making it about trump. >> we are honoring a great president. howie: why do the media have to make any story about donald trump.

prosecutors found les moonves lied'. '. i'm howard kurtz and this is "mediabuzz." it was according to the media a bombshell of epic proportions. robert mueller finally reveal something of his evidence against paul manafort. there are alleged affairs with very little evidence on russian collusion. donald trump's conclusion? totally clears the president, thank you. you could see the sense of deflation when there were no new

revelations and robert mueller said the ex-national security advisor should go to jail. >> i said really? because it's so redacted. >> the frustrating part of this for those interested in the case is the core of his cooperation is blacked out. >> i think this is a big zero. i think this mueller thing and what they did to flynn is disgusting. howie: joining me, mollie hemingway. sara fischer media reporter for axios and richard fowler. michael cohen the memos say was contacted by a russian who wanted to set up a trump-putin meeting which never happened.

mollie: that detail was a wrestler who reached out to michael cohen and cohen didn't respond to that offer of help. sometimes when these things are written, they are written in dramatic style. and when you dig into them, there isn't a lot of there there. there are two competing theories about the mueller investigation. that there was collusion on the part of the -- the russians to steal an election. running informant, having wiretaps. the other theory is this is a witch hunt. an attempt to bring down trump through any means possible. michael cohen was being looked into because our government believed he was the central linchpin. he had gone to prague and met with russians. none of these documents say any

such thing. when you have the theories that this is a political means to get trump. i think that needs to be part of the conversation. howie: there were two prosecution memos on cohen. the u.s. attorney's office called for substantial jail term saying trump directed the hush money and that's damaging. but didn't everyone in america basically know that? richard: i think it depends upon which american you are asking. we know there is more work to be done by mueller and his team. but we don't know if there was or wasn't russian collusion because it could be in blacked out parts of the memo. but what we do know, and i think it's important that we do know this. the president of the united states asked his lawyer to pay off a porn star and a playboy

playmate. for a party who says it has the moral high ground, it's important for the media to cover that. howie: it's not russian collusion. what got lost this week is trump nominated william barr, president bush's attorney general to run the justice department. i don't see the press giving trump a whole lot of credit for picking a guy who is well qualified and not a crony. sara: he's lauded in washington. howie: does it not squelch the trump media narrative. the prosecutors say manafort told repeated lies even when he

was supposedly cooperating with the special counsel's office including about a meeting with a business colleague in ukraine. mollie: paul manafort has his own trouble and he seems to have knead poor decisions. but this is another one of these people who is supposed to be a central figure that shows there was collusion between russia and trump. he has been investigated to the end of his life and we don't have evidence of russia collusion. other people might think this really doesn't seem like they had legitimate reasons about russia collusions. some of the principles involved in setting up the special counsel, they said they didn't believe there was russia collusion. but they were seeking to rein in the president. that's problematic for people who want the russia collusion

investigation to have credibility. howie: what do you make of some conservative commentators including here on fox saying while lying to investigators is a process crime, there is no other lying crime. richard: in mike flynn's case he has to be held to a higher standard. he's going to be national security advisor to the president of the united states of america which is one of the highest positions in our government. he lied to the fbi and he lied to the vice president. it's disheartening to see conservative commentators' say that. he belongs behind bars for that. howie: democrats are accused of lying, too. mollie: people should not lie to federal authorities.

it's also true the investigation itself produced these crimes. someone in the obama administration made a criminal leak of that phone call. certainly no one was held accountable. that set up the russia hysteria people fell for. nobody has been held accountable. sara: just to say if it wasn't for this investigation he wouldn't have committed the crime. mollie: if the investigation is producing its own crimes. people were promised treasonous collusion with russia. richard: it's not that he called the ambassador. it's that he lied about it. mollie: that's not true. when it was first reported -- richard: why would you cover it up? howie: earlier on the flynn

business, john kelly, it seems like it's been a year of stories, dead man walking. the president confirmed the general will be leaving as white house chief of staff next month. "the washington post" story said how much difference can any white house chief of staff make with an impulsive head strong president who isn't interested in reading briefings and is happiest at his rallies. mollie: that's a news story? that's a tremendous amount of opinion for a news story. >> like a stopped clock, sometimes it end up -- howie: his demise has been

predicted so many times, and the president said he'll be staying through 2020. clearly their relationship deteriorated and that's why -- richard: i think it's ironic if you look at 8 years ago, the third year of obama's term. howie: let's close with this new york times story. an investigative piece on two women who worked at the president's golf course club in be'new jersey. they are both illegal immigrants. one said she made his bed and cleaned his clothes and he gave her a tip. but she was offended by his

anti-trump narrative. sara: i think that plays into the political narrative that's he doesn't care so much about these illegal immigrants. howie: he says he didn't know. sara: the president hasn't said anything and the reason is he doesn't think that's such a big deal. i group close to that golf club. there are people who come in through that golf club and go on to get papers. it plays into a story that president trump is going hard after illegal immigrants. howie: the white house has not responded. anthony scaramucci will be here on the president's rough week with the press. big time fireworks on the view

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past anything that stands in its way. ...well almost anything. leave no room behind with xfi pods. simple. easy. awesome. click or visit a retail store today. >> george herbert walker bush was america's last great soldier statesman. a 20th century founding father. howie: bush biographer jon meacham paying tribute to george h.w. bush. but some couldn't resist using the death to bash 45. >> under donald trump the office of the presidency has been

debased in a way that's unimaginable for people who served every past president. howie: then on "the view" meghan mccain objected against joy behar turning the death into a bash against trump. >> we are honoring a great president. i am not interested -- >> i'm talking -- >> we'll be right back. howie: that is called cutting to commercial. what do you make of joy behar arguing with meghan mccain. hijacking the discussion of george h.w. bush's legacy to beat up on trump. mollie: we did see a lot of this. and it's disrespectful to both presidents. this is a time to remember all the great things the first president bush has done.

he had a one term in a significant period of time. his role in the end of the cold war alone gives you enough to talk about. howie: meghan mccain wasn't having it. the "daily mail" reported that off the set behar continued to rage. richard: thanks to whoopi for cutting to commercial. we celebrated the united states of america and respect for the institution which george h.w. bush did until his dying day. it's beyond what he said about his family, it's about the presidency of the united states. howie: i understand some comparisons are inevitable given

their different style. but it's been going on for days. the trump denegration seemed to me to be just out in the open. "the washington post" had three different headlines criticizing trump on a day that was supposed to be devoted to george h.w. bush. sara: you want to celebrate the legacy of george h.w. bush. i can see why wallace will highlight the difference from the two. you are talking about a world war ii veteran versus someone who never served. howie: megyn mccane just went through this with her own dad, john mccain. molly, it didn't seem to matter in this case that trump did make racial remarks about george h.w.

bush. he went to the hill to view the casket and went to the' memorial service. mollie: the proper thing to do when a previous president dies is to invite the president. to not do something like that is to break the norm. george h.w. bush was someone who was gracious with dignity. i think our world today shows we can all learn a lot from him. howie: george h.w. bush was president in far less polarizing times. richard: i will say i think there was a lot of coverage of the entrance of donald trump into the row of president. there was a lot of conversation about him being out of the

commander-in-chief club. i think the day was less about donald trump and more about -- should have been more about george h.w. bush and his legacy. howie: jon mech am read the eulogy to george h.w. bush. there was a lot. meacham. thank you so much for being here this sunday. appalling revelations about how les moonves tried to cover up his sexual misconduct at cbs. the next u.n. ambassador used to work here at fox. today is the day you're going to get motivated...

get stronger... get closer. start listening today to the world's largest selection of audiobooks on audible. and now, get more. for just $14.95 a month, you'll get a credit a month good for any audiobook,

plus two audible originals exclusive titles you can't find anywhere else. if you don't like a book, you can exchange it any time, no questions asked. automatically roll your credits over to the next month if you don't use them. with the free audible app, you can listen anytime, and anywhere. plus for the first time ever, you'll get access to exclusive fitness programs a $95 value free with membership. start a 30-day trial today and your first audiobook is free. cancel anytime and your books are yours to keep forever. audible. the most inspiring minds. the most compelling stories. text "listen16" to 500500 to start your free trial today. howie: the media has been critical of the president for

refusing to accept at mbs ordered the murder of jamal khashoggi. some republicans broke with the president after the cia briefing. >> you have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of mbs. >> there is zero question of what mbs did. there is still a question of what the united states does about it. howie: i get the president has to weigh the diplomatic and financial consequences. president trump named heather nauert the state department spokeswoman to be the u.s. ambassador to the united nations, and some pundits are disparaging the choice. >> in terms of what we look for at the united nations, her

experience is very thin. her experience in diplomacy is nonexistent as far as i can tell. >> choosing her as u.n. ambassador makes no sense. >> all the skeptics lining up on the left, bring it on. when she goes before them for confirmation she'll knock it out of the park. howie: it's easy to say she is just a tv personality. but she has done a good job. and trump may see this as a communications job. some of her predecessors have had tremendous credentials such as george h.w. bush. but others were academics and even journalists. samantha power was a terrific journalist when she worked for barack obama's campaign then got

the u.n. job. so this question. would the reaction have been different if say heather nauert worked for the "today show" instead of "fox and friends." the parent company is exploring options for "the standard." it has lost circulation while being highly critical of donald trump. and it has been a tough time for print magazines. kevin hart is blowing off the oscars after revelations of his homophobic tweets. sara: *

howie: the president ripped by the media over the mueller investigation and another shake-up. joining me, anthony scaramucci, author of the book "trump," a blue collar president. word is that john kelly will be leaving next month as chief of staff. scar. >> i respect his time in the military. but the president needs somebody who likes him, likes his agenda and wants to work with him on his agenda, and he needs somebody who can public back on the president the way the president likes to be pushed

back on. the big misnomer is the president likes sycophants. he likes a rigorous debate. but he wants everyone to know he's the boss. howie: is it a misnomer that his management style is chaotic? anthony: i don't find it to be like that. what i find it to be. he had a good folks system and one guy at chief of staff who really liked him. then he had fortification of those other people things would run seamlessly like they did during the trump organization. the trump organization, 15-20 years of management. once he trusted everybody in those seats, he did well and the company did even better. he needs to get somebody in the

seat that likes him, that can talk to him in a way he likes to be talked to, recognize there is numeros dos. and get people in there who want to help the american people. think about the sacrifices the president made to take this job. he had an unbelievable life before he entered the american presidency. let's pick somebody to be chief of staff to help him prosecute this. howie: rex tillerson is talking to cbs saying the president is undisciplined and doesn't want to read and sometimes told him to do things that are illegal. the president tweeted back that tillerson is dumb as a rock and

lazy as hell. anthony: i am not in love with that tweet. i think it's unfair for rex to say he's trying to get him to do things illegally when the president is trying to push the envelope. he's a guy who brainstorms a lot and makes a lot of suggestions. if some of those suggestions are you will legal of course he does the want to be doing them. he shouldn't be calling him dumb as a rock. if i was there i would tell him not to do that. he would laugh at me and tell me he's going to do it any way. howie: is the president helping himself with these constant tweeting attacks on mueller accusing his office of mccarthyism? does that help him in terms of the way the story is perceived? >> it probably doesn't help him in the way the story is

perceived. he's trying to send a message he hasn't done anything wrong. if you analyze what took place. there is nothing on the edge of illegality that relates to the president. even if you are trying to surmise weren't reactions, i think the president is in the free and clear on all that stuff. he's exhausted by this. howie: with the guilty flees by manafort, flynn and gates. people would say the president is involved in a culture of lying. i don't think that's fair, but he did higher these people. anthony: some of these things that happened outside of the campaign, maybe there noted to be more vetting of what these guys were actually doing. but i don't think you can tag on the president something that

happened 10, 5, 8 years ago, in michael's case, i'm a friend of michael's and i wish him and his family well. as it relates to the taxi medallion stuff, i don't see how that can be pinned on the president. if you are going to tell me you are hiring thousands of people and you don't have a few rogues in the system. at skybridge i do a background check on every single person. at the end of the day, people are imperfect. so at the end of the day you are going to have situations like this. howie: finally, there is an emotional outpouring in the media of gratitude and affection for george herbert walker bush. the president acted graciously and praised bush even though he

was at odds with the family. do you think he may have learned something after what happened in terms of john mccain's death? >> listen. the stuff i don't understand. he handled that thing like a chapel. he lent the plane out. they asked him not to speak. he was gracious and said okay. at the end of the day he beat the pant off the media in november of 2016. they still can't believe it and he's still driving a hard wedge against him. they made themselves the story and they pounding back. i thought he looked great yesterday at the army-navy game. he got a rousing ovation from the army and navy at that game. at the end of the day look at his record and what he's doing

for the country and dial it down. my guess is they will cut a deal with the democrats going into 2019. my guess is he'll have a very good narrative for the 2020 election. howie: we'll see. anthony scaramucci good to see you from new york. internal emails she a cut throat culture at cbs. charlie gasparino has been doing some investigation involvi

>> thera is a report les moonves tried to destroy evidence against him. howie: before he was out of as chairman, he deleted hundreds of text messages of his attempts to silence bobby phillips. four women work for cbs. another cbs employee was said to be on call to provide oral sex

in his office. but they said they were consensual. joining us from connecticut is charlie gasparino. charlie, you have been doing some reporting on the cbs board and how it aloud his conduct to go on for a long time. charlie: a lot of the board members interviewed, particularly some of the independents are saying they had no idea this was going on. they weren't friend with les moonves. it was not something openly debated until recently, his alleged sexual misconduct. a lot of the allegations are before his contract. i think his last contract was 2017. these are allegations that happened before he was married. so we are talking 10 years ago. what's interesting, when this

stuff first surfaced, the board doesn't want to pay him the $120 million. how do you get not to pay him the $120 million. you have to so a lie, a violation of his contract that is contemporaneous. howie: that's where the cover-up comes up. the lawyers, investigators asked him to bring in his ipad to be checked for messages and he brought in his son's ipad to deceive the board. charlie: that's been his modus operandi since the beginning. i reported on fox news that everybody thinks he's going to get this golden parachute, he probably isn't because of his investigation and whatever he tells investigators that might be lies.

basically denying compensation because of some contemporaneous indiscretion about lying. howie: it would look awful for him to get that kind of money. but the "new york times" seems to have a pipeline. it sounds like somebody at the cbs board or close to the cbs board wants this out there to make sure in the end moon versus doesn't get the golden parachute. charlie: as someone who loves leaks and i made a career out of them. these leaks blew me away. there isn't a lot to gain on the board for leaking this stuff. there is confidentiality that is supposed to be in place when this investigation is going on. if there is ever a place where

it could happen is not at the cbs board or management, but at national news. the sherry redstone and her people who might leak this. howie: one step away. a second report in the "times" that cbs was right to fire jeff faeger, and 20 years ago cbs paid a woman who accused don hewitt, the long-time executive producer of "60 minutes." that continues to this day and the woman received $5 million. charlie: i wonder why these aren't discloseable events. something that is that material. the fact that it affects a major

player like don hewitt. why that isn't some hugh discussed at the board level. this is where this gets really tricky for cbs. this is where law enforcement officials might come in and say why didn't investors know about this. howie: i found this to be really struggling. should kevin hart have apologized for years old tweets today is the day you're going to get motivated... get stronger... get closer. start listening today to the world's largest selection of audiobooks on audible. and now, get more. for just $14.95 a month, you'll get a credit a month good for any audiobook, plus two audible originals exclusive titles you can't find anywhere else.

if you don't like a book, you can exchange it any time, no questions asked. automatically roll your credits over to the next month if you don't use them. with the free audible app, you can listen anytime, and anywhere. plus for the first time ever, you'll get access to exclusive fitness programs a $95 value free with membership. start a 30-day trial today and your first audiobook is free. cancel anytime and your books are yours to keep forever. audible. the most inspiring minds. the most compelling stories. text "listen16" to 500500 to start your free trial today.

the most compelling stories. yeah, i've had some prettyeer. prestigious jobs over the years. news producer, executive transport manager, and a beverage distribution supervisor. now i'm a director at a security software firm. wow, you've been at it a long time. thing is, i like working. what if my retirement plan is i don't want to retire? then let's not create a retirement plan. let's create a plan for what's next. i like that. get a plan that's right for you. td ameritrade. ♪ howie: kevin hart bowed out from

hosting the oscars after it was demand that he apologize for a tweet he made 10 years ago. >> i'm 40 years old. if you don't think people change, evolve as they get older, i don't know what to tell you. if you want to hold people in a position where you always have to judge them from their past, i'm the wrong guy, man. howie: hart later said in the statement it's not the first time it has come up. i have spoken by the and addressed it. emily jashinsky, hart said i have dealt with this before, i'm not apologizing to you suits. emily: what's particularly interesting is that he's not standing about what he said. he says he changed. he says he evolved so he's

essentially being punished for something he doesn't believe and his mind has changed on. i'm disappointed he stepped down because i thought this was a huge missed opportunity for thee academy and kevin hart within one of the middle east successful comedians in the world and the most of powerful'' could a ceremonies. howie: the tweets can't be defended. he wrote 7-9 years ago, if his son played with his daughter's doll house he would break it over his head. or i am not passing on a picture of a naked man because that would make me gay by association. emily: he used a slur in some of these tweets. he said not all this can be

defended. and he's not standing by it. you can go back to any comedian. there are examples of other comedians using words like this. i don't care if it's kevin hart or sara silverman or chelsea hander. or stephen colbert. you can't hold them to the same standard. howie: he did apologize to the lbgtq community for his insensitive words from the past. howie: nobody can pass muster because in the past they may have said something similar and somebody will dig it up. emily: if we purge all the

comedians who said something offensive in the past, we'll be left with jimmy fallon. i think this was a missed opportunity. the saddest thing is he couldn't even apologize it away so we could move on. that wasn't good enough. howie: he wanted to apologize, but not to the academy. he thought he was being put on the spot. thanks so much for joining us. still to come, inside info on how facebook tries to crush competitors. (client's voice) remember that degree you got in taxation?

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howie: the british parliament

unveiled emails that shows facebook to be another cut throat corporation. facebook collects data on its competitors. when the company wanted to restrict access top facebook friend through its rival, zuckerberg said go for it. we reported before on google executives decrying the election of donald trump. now the "daily caller" obtained emails that shows some staffers wanted bury search results on trump. how often did you see them elevated like breitbart and daily caller elevated next to legitimate news organizations.

it's partially what got us into this mess. msnbc is not more legit than drudge, just bus rachel maddow may be more educated, less deplorable and closer to our views than, say, sean hannity. this is contrary to the whole reason people use google. i'm howard kurtz. thanks for watching. check out my podcast "media buzzmeter." we kick around the days fascinating stories on my podcast. we post a lot of original content on my facebook page. and let's continue the

conversation on twitter. we are back here next sunday morning. remember the time, 11:00 eastern. we'll see you then for >> it's all about what you can do for me. it's a fear -based leadership and that just begins this journey that is entirely about logics. see mac. >> it is monday december 10. happening right now at 4:00 a.m. president trump blasting leaking james comay. democrats are now taking out the pitch forks pushing for jail time for the president. they are expected today. as president and manual mccrone