chris: stay tune to the station and fox news channel to the latest on potential end of year government shutdown. and that's it for today, have a great week and we will see you next fox news sunday. ♪ howie: on the buzz meter. a war of words between president trump and michael cohen. many pundits accuse the president of masterminding the hush money scheme. president trump: i never nexted him to do anything wrong. he was a lawyer. he was supposed to know what he was doing. >> a federal judge who has a finding of fact agreed president trump directed michael cohen

commit those crimes. >> if michael cohen were not connected to the president of the united states, he would not be in this situation today. >> why would sending money to women be considered a crime. it not against the law to employ a bad lawyer. cohen pleading guilty is not the same as trump pleading guilty. howie: whatever happened to the media's focus on so-called russian collusion. what about the "national enquirer." the president threatens a government shutdown in an extraordinary televised meeting with nancy pelosi and chuck

schumer. president trump i'm proud to shut down the government for national security. >> i say oh, my gosh, nancy pelosi is a boss. >> he pulls the veil to show how petty and unreasonable the democrats have become. howie: don't feel sorry for us. donald trump canceled the white house holiday party for the press. do journalists deserve? michael cohen has been dominating the headlines not just because he got a 36-month prison sentence. but because he says he was doing trump's bidding. trump disparaged the case with

harris faulkner. >> why did you hire michael cohen. president trump: in retrospect i made a mistake. what he did was unrelated to me except for the campaign finance charges they put on to embarrass me. howie: cohen says trump directed him. >> he directed me to make the payments and become involved in these matters including the one with mcdougal which was between him and david pecker. and david pecker's counsel. i gave loyalty to someone who truthfully does not deserve loyalty. howie: emily jashinsky, susan

ferrechio, and capri cafaro, former democratic senate leader in ohio. is the media embracing michael cohen as a truth teller? emily: obviously he has valuable information. but i don't understand why everyone is take what this man said with a massive grain of salt when he previously said he would take a bullet for trump. howie: it's called flipping. how did michael cohen come off in the interview? >> i thought it was full of leading questions to implicate president trump. howie: he asked, why should we believe you now. >> he did, but most of of it was

leading questions. it felt like a slam dunk for cohen to trash the president. howie: how does the press deal with it? hogan gidley said to give credence to an admitted liar is laughable. capri: for someone who admitted they are liars. there is a lot of love for other folks that have pled guilty in the white house like paul manafort, for example. so i think there is -- for hogan to say that, there are some questions there. howie: the president tweeting michael cohen became a rat after the fbi broke into his office.

by the way the fbi had a legal search warrant for that entry. the president has shifted his denials. first he knew nothing about the hush money payments. then he admitted rei am burgs the $130k. then he says i knew about the payment. but my lawyer handled it. have those shifting stories eroded the president's credibility with the mainstream media? emily: that's sloppy. there is no question about that. there is a serious conversation about whether this is a legitimate campaign violation i only saw in conservative outlets this week. but the conversation should be more widespread and the mainstream media should be asking questions about that as

well. howie: there are dozens of prosecutors on other channels saying he helped cohen commit a felony. this this an overreaction given where we are in the investigation? capri: what frustrates me is there is no investigative journalism investigating this. you have two camps. one convicting trump by association with michael cohen who pled guilty, and the other camp saying co-' is a liar -- cohen is a liar and trump is being railroaded. the media decided to decide on their own. howie: some of the facts that have come out confirm some of the facts have been brought out by aggressive reporting. but what you are saying is the

color -- the coverage is so partisan it colors it. do you agree with that? susan: campaign finance laws are murky, people's eyes glaze it over. howie: i'm not minimizing the importance of this case brought by the attorney's office in new york state. not mueller. susan: cohen also was cooperating with mueller about contacting the russians about building property there. they are clinging to that. the media is hanging on to that saying there is collusion. but if you look at the language, it expanded to other problems had. they are fishing around look for more. the clinton administration, the

whitewater administration dragged through his whole presidency. it became and i expansion to find any crime. howie: as un -- as unsavory as this is, the underlying problems, allegedly suppressing stories about sex, does it rise to the level much indicting or impeaching a president. emrequire's disappointing to me. it's not appropriate or acceptable behavior. i expect house democrats to do it and i think it will be a mistake. howie: many in the press are doing that as well. rudy giuliani told "the daily

beast" and said nobody got killed. he also called cohen a pathological liar. capri: remember the bumper sticker, clinton lied, nobody died. maybe there is a resurgence. i tend to agree with emily on this. democrats in the house and senate would make a mistake to pursue impeachment because i think the american public -- howie: are they making the case or insinuating or suggesting either indictment or impeachment is the remedy. capri: i think they are trying to convict the president on a pattern of conduct.

howie: kellyanne conway, and minutes later her husband tweeted that trump repeatedly lied about these payments, he lies about everything and it got a lot of attention. susan: something people did not pay attention to is the exchange between nancy pelosi and the press. she said maybe you would have more readers and your ratings would improve if you asked about something other than donald trump's legal problems. that's all you talk about. let's talk about things americans care about. howie: in a way she agrees there is not enough focus on substance. so finally i mention the president has been tweeting this morning. let's put it up on the screen. a real scandal is the one-sided

coverage, hour by hour with networks like nbc, and government spin machines like "saturday night live." i think he's frustrated by the coverage and alec baldwin. but suggesting it's not legal and should be reviewed by the courts. emily: he never seriously pursued anything, he just asks the questions. when he asks the questions, i never like it. i always think it's going against conservatism, and i don't think it's appropriate. howie: you have a remedy. you can file a libel suit. >> this is exactly what -- he's

playing into the media's hand and left's hand by saying they will point to this tweet and say see president trump wants to silence the press. he wants to silence the first amendment and present himself as king of america. howie: great discussion. ahead. the pundits nancy and chuck outfox donald. trump in a rare.

howie: melania trump rarely doesn't views.

but she made news with sean hannity by take on her critics. sean: what is the worst you have to deal with. >> the opportunists and comedians, journalists, performers, book writers. sean: does it hurt? >> it doesn't hurt. the problem is they are writing history, and it's not correct. howie: does she have a point even though she calls media opportunists peddling bogus stuff about her? emily: oh, yes. when you watch the full interview. people pulled some of the moments. she talked about when she met

the president and what it's like having come from her childhood to where she is now. it was a good interview. she comes across very well. she deserves better coverage. howie: don't they weigh in on every first lady. susan: michelle was on the front of a magazine cover 12 times by this point. january 2017, standing in the aisle of the grocery store in did you see melania? from everything that comes out of her mouth to comparing her and write being her as an accomplice to the president who the media has an angry relationship with. howie: cnn says her approval

rating has gone down from 54 per where. >> they like to focus on the gossip, and i would like to focus on the substance and what we do. not just about nonsense. howie: there is a lot of chatter about her marriage. why didn't she take the trip with the president and why did she swat his hand around. capri: she is human. unfortunately the press doesn't treat public officials as human. they analyze every movement and word that comes out of their mouth. i think she has a point. not just her for people analyzed in that manner. way noticed in the coverage of it, people weren't necessarily talking about from a media

perspective, her visit with military families. it was all about her appearance. people look at her, when she swats the president's hand they like her because she stands up to the president. they are more fixated on the fact that she had blond hair than anything that came out of her mouth. howie: "usa today," melania's lighter hair shocks. what does melania's lighter hair mean? emily: they say is it a message to trump. she is very well dressed and i don't think she has any problem. i wouldn't have a problem with her clothing and hair being the news coverage. but they are putting her on the

armchair saying she is conveying some message. susan: the press was mad when she wore high heels to a flood zone. howie: i think she should do more interviews because she is good at it. doesn't she also just leave a vacuum that's partially filled by the critics? emily: why should she do more under views when the coverage is always going to be inherently unfair unless she criticizes her husband. she is in a no-win situation. she gives a lot of interviews and they talk about her hair, her coat. howie: thanks very much. ahead, the "national enquirer"

avoid prosecution with a plea deal. the huge blowup when i reported the white house cancelled the white house christmas party

howie: there was a media eruption after i broke the story the president had canceled the white house party for the press. the story was picked up just about everywhere. >> sadly, john, some people aren't having a holly, jolly christmas. the white house press corps. president trump canceled the white house christmas party for the press. howie: some you said there is no way the president should invite to his home a bunch of vipers

who have been so mean to him. it's a tradition that stretches back decade. the great perk is the president and first lady pose for pictures with the press. also it's nice to be able to roam around the decorated mansion with your spouse or guests and the food is pretty good. no one has feel sorry for them. but the parties were useful as a way of building relationships with top officials. i chatted with chief of staff john kelly and soon other reporters joined in and we learned some things. but some reporters sympathetic to trump have been included. trump has every right not to hold a party with a press corps

he views as fundamentally unfair to him. ahead on "mediabuzz," the demise of "the weekly standard." is it folding because of its anti-trump stance? the press portrays the choosing of the new chief of staff

howie: just as the media was declaring nobody wanted the job of white house chief of staff, president trump gave it to his budget director as acting chief of staff. jim geraghty and adrienne elrod.

reporters said chris christie was the leading candidate. an hour later he dropped out. here is what "the washington post" said. trump was deeply disappointed nobody of high value wanted to be his white house chief of staff. jim: when you have a couple of names floated it's like the president wants an apprentice setup. everybody is leaning forward to see who the next person is going to be. but there is a lot of turn in his administration. you get the idea maybe this president is tough to work for, a little erratic. howie: it took the press 9 seconds to dig up that mick mulvaney had called president trump a terrible human being. the washington post said he wasn't under consideration.

i was getting whiplash. adrienne: i think the criticism is fair. a lot of it has to do with the fact that oftentimes and as we have seen with high-level members of the trump administration, they come in with stellar reputations, john kelly led the southern command for the united states of america, and they come out of the administration and their reputations are in shambles. i can understand why somebody like nick ayers who made it clear he wants a future political career in his native state would have trepidations about being the chief of staff. howie: let me go to the chuck and nancy and donald show that extraordinary televised confrontation in the oval office

about border funding for the wall. >> 0 times you said you will shut down the government if you don't get your way. you said it. president trump: i will take it. i will say yes, if we don't get what we want one way or the other, whether it's through you, or military or anything you want to call, i will shut down the government. >> he got outplayed by pelosi and schumer. he was cutting them off. holding off pieces of paper. nancy, nancy, nancy. there was an extraordinary physical performance. howie: a deep divide. those 17 minutes. the consensus was the two democrats had the president. jim: president trump put out his

red line. he said it's so important i am willing to shut down the government. this feels like the was a year ago it was one of the better moments for the president kind of overtaken by the michael cohen interview and the chief of extra drama. howie: it happens every week. but look, donald trump proudly said he would shut down the government to get the $5 billion in funding he wants for that border wall. and even straight news stories point out usually you try to pin the shutdown on the other guys. >> usually you don't want to be the one who declared in front of people on national television, i won't blame. i think we have to look at the broader picture. this has become a reality show. this is a lot at stake.

there is a lot of policy at stake. a lot of important policies that have resorted to a reality television show. howie: it's valuable and refreshing to see political leaders debating substance while the cameras are rolling. adrienne: i don't think that was a substantive debate. give and take. but it exposed the government a little bit more, sort of like makes it something you can understand. jim: you can score trump with having a win when nancy pelosi said we'll make a deal when the cameras aren't here in was a time on gun control and the first budget fight. trump loves these oval office i'll argue in front of the cameras. we are now two years into this presidency. this isn't new and surprising. they were ready for this.

howie: then democrats leaked to reporters that privately nancy pelosi told her fellow democrats this is a manhood issue for trump. that's a trumpian tactic. leaving aside this moment that will probably fade into history. the president is history because he broadcasted to his base that he cares about illegal immigration. and he'll fight for this wall and he's willing to shut down. from his point of view it might have been a win. adrienne: from his point of view it is a win, because if you are trump you are trying to play to your base. but the problem is, this is not expanding his base. what hurt in the mid terms and what will hurt him in 2020 unless he finds a way to bring in independents and swing voters.

there is not going to be a shutdown. nobody wants a shutdown. both parties want to leave this town and go home for christmas. i could be wrong but in the end they find some kind of compromise. so a lot of this could be flying their respective bases. the "national enquirer" avoids prosecution but admits it tries to cover up trump's allegations by two women. women.

howie: michael cohen will be spending time behind bars. prosecutors let the parent company off the hook overpayment to karen mcdougal. >> you are saying ami suddenly came back to you. >> yes. >> why do you think it was after donald trump was the republican nominee that they came back? >> they wanted to squash the story. howie: american media inc said they couldn't corroborate the affair and paid her for cover

shots. now they say they acted in concert with trump's campaign to buy and bury mcdoudoug -- mcdoudougal's story. how much damage is there to david pecker or ami. >> a couple decade ago you would have said very little. because 10 years ago it was next to the magazines talking about all stories nobody else chased. you should not put that much faith in what you see in the "national enquirer."

it's anti-journalism. it's the one place you know you will not read stories if people reach out and write a check. it's journalism for sale. howie: it sound funny to say a supermarket tabloid and chequebook journalism. but the stories with john edwards and his love child. i take the "enquirer" seriously in those kinds of stories. can the "enquirer" rebuild trust with its readers? >> i think some people do believe space aliens and whatever else they put -- howie: edwards denied it for months. adrienne: there have been a handful of stories the

"enquirer" has broken. how do we consider this? i don't know what trust they ever had with their viewers or readers. i'm sure there are plenty of people who want to buy it because it's juicy and fun. howie: the media angle is this implicates trump because it's not just michael cone saying these things about the hush money payments, it's his pals at the "national enquirer" who say he was in the room when we talked about karen mcdougal and stormy daniels. jim: it's unethical but possibly accurate. it is worth noting the jury question did not come back with

john edwards nailing him for using money from a wealthy donor. a wealthy backer said i will throw money around to make sure it goes away. howie: edward did this while he was a presidential candidate. but trump did this in 2006. cone said he would reimburse the "enquirer" rsh. "enquirer." so when you get into the dirty details it doesn't sounds like a news operation. it sounds like a bunch of guys doing donald trump's bidding. that practice in the tabloid world didn't originate with donald trump. adrienne: it didn't. but this could be a campaign finance violation. if the story had come out it

would have influenced the decision of the voters whether to support donald trump. but that's a hard thing to prove. is this legal, is it illegal? that's what's hard to prove. but the optics look terrible. the president of the united states as a candidate had his cronies paying off stories that would have negatively affected him. howie: after the break. one of america's most of influential publication is shutting down. that's next.

howie: "the weekly standard" is shutting down. the current editor-in-chief steve hayes goss the word friday along with his staff. the parent company says it was a business decision. circumstance st. louis kept going down. but let's put some of the standard covers up on the screen. bill kristol is a well-known never trumper and steve hayes a critic of trump. how much did that hurt among its conservative readership? emily: probably very little in terms of why it shutdown. i don't think it had much to do with the business decision to shutter "the weekly standard." that's been echoed by david

brooks. howie: both of whom used to work there. emily: i think a lot of conservatives took issue with the coverage of the president. i don't think that necessarily ended the magazine. howie: circulation was down 10% in the first year of trump. another person who apparently agrees is president trump. he tweeted yesterday, the pathetic and dishonest "weekly standard" run by pathetic bill kristol is flat broke. a lot of people didn't like that he was dancing on the grave of this publication. emily: people losing their jobs. i am use this time to mourn and remember some of the incredible and beautiful journalism "the weekly standard" produced the last decayed. i had a problem with the

coverage the last two years. howie: one of the founding editors with it was launched by rupert murdoch. he calls it an intellectual crime. they shut down efforts to sell the magazine. it was given pretty coldly. staffers were given until 5:00 friday to clean out their desks. >> i know they are revamping the "washington examiner." they are revamping that magazine. you can see as a business decision, you can see where they would be able to justify that to grow their list for the new magazine they are launching. howie: occasionally they took on newt gingrich. some big conservative

intellectual names over the years. but i thought the website was an afterthought. there wasn't much content there. it's tough to compete in the trump era if you are conservatives and not on the trump train in the digital era. emily: i disagree with that. people who are supportive of trump, i don't know the standard always nailed that. howie: the "national review" criticizes the president. emily: i encourage people who are looking for fair criticism or support of the president to check out those outlets. i think the standard may have struggled to move into this era, but it's sad to see it go. howie: i hate to see any publication go under. still to come, mika brzezinski's apology for slurring mike

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howie: mika brzezinski stepped in it on "morning joe." she was talking about a fox interview with mike pompeo when she went off on the secretary of state about the khashoggi killing. >> why doesn't mike pompeo care. are the pathetic deflections we just heard on "fox and friends." is that a patriot speak for a wannabe dictator's butt boy. howie: she a. jieds on twitter for her super bad choice of word. but cons wouldn't let it pass. if a conservative made the slur,

that person would have been banned from television. >> the term is crass and offensive and i apologize to everyone, especially the lgbtq community and my colleagues for using it. it was a mistake. my father would have found it so you be becoming and disrespectful. and he would have told me, i will work hard to be better. but i wanted to say on camera, i'm really, really sorry. howie: it was a mistake. it would have been better if she included pompeo in her apology. i think she didn't consider the implications of that rather hours after tyler murray won college football's heisman

trophy, a paper decided to ruin the celebration by digging. you homophobic tweets when he was 14 and 15 years old. but he was a teenager. this was way out of bounds. a mean spirited case of gotcha journalism. this is exactly why people hate the media. big celebration, the biggest day of his life. it gets picked up everywhere. it made me ill. i'm howard kurtz. hopefully you will check out my podcast. we kick around the day's most of interesting reports. you can subscribe at apple itunes or google play or tune in at foxnewspodcasts.com. everything is moving to the net, right? we had a lot of interesting

discussions about the coverage of these investigations and the way the president and michael cohen portrayed the media. i would love to hear from you. we'll see you then, 11:00 eastern with the latest >> good morning, it is monday september 17th and this is fox and friends first happening right now at 4 a.m. here on east coast in the hot seat, fired fbi director james comey ready for round two on the hills today. as the president legal team takes aim at the so-called perjury trap. laid by the special counsel. >> special counsel doesn't want with the president. what they did to flynn over my dead body. >> live in washington with lawmakers are are armed with new allegations of