row the memory of our adventure together. unlock savings when you add select hotels to your existing trip. only when you book with expedia. >> the media seizing on the democratic meltdown in virginia. justin fairfax says both accusers are smearing him. >> democrats, don't they have to believe all women? they told us that countless times. but this time they don't believe all women. >> the charges are beyond serious. unlike the kavanaugh accusations they actually recount a specific time, date and location. >> for a woman to come forward now and risk exposure of her entire life, to risk humiliation

in talking about this, you have to go with the woman. >> i don't know if he's guilty or not but if he quits, he's admitting guilt to a rape charge. howie: is there a double standard with the media pummeling brett kavanaugh. the "national enquirer" is accused of extortion by jeff bezos. most of of the press dismisses president trump's calls for unity and bipartisanship in the state of the union saying his governing style is very different. >> i saw this as a psychotically incoherent speech with cookies and dog. >> . and -- dog poop.

>> everything he said in the speech will be overshadowed by the fact he said there cannot be investigations. >> it was quite effective as an opening speech for the 2020 campaign. howie: i'm howard kurtz, and this is "mediabuzz." virginia governor ralph northam seemed on the verge of resigning days ago for wearing black face. but the media narrative changed after the lieutenant governor was accused of unconsensual sex. >> he went into hiding. and laid low. the second this issue popped up in virginia, crops back up with

the same false allegation and uses others to get information out to the media. howie: tyson says it's been extremely difficult to relive that experience. mr. fairfax has tried to brand me as a liar. another woman says he was premeditated and aggressive in raping her. news organizations are gathering corroborating evidence. joining us. mollie hemingway. gillian turner and mo elleithee, former democratic party official and fox news contributor. mollie, two accusers are saying justin fairfax raped them in the

early 2000s. do you see a difference between this coverage and the wait media handled the coverage of the brett kavanaugh hearings? mollie: this is a sad story. but from the media angle "the washington post" comes out looking very poorly. you have a person making an allegation with a specific time and date an concedes there was a sexual encounter between the two. but having said that, that's fine if they didn't run it. but then to run the brett kavanaugh allegations when there wasn't any corroboration. you didn't have the specifics of a date, location and year. it makes "the washington post" look bad and that they are willing to go with allegations for political reasons. howie: we have meredith watson.

"the washington post" has been able to interview object the record friend they told about these alleged assaults in the past either verbally or by email. isn't that important corroboration by the press? gillian: that's everything and it's been the gold standard for many many years. if you have people willing to go on the record or speak to you on background or on the record. that's everything. when there is no one coming forward to corroborate any of the stories as was the case with brett kavanaugh, that creates tension and difficulties as it should. howie: justin fairfax is being urged to resign. there is no statute of limitations in virginia where the alleged attack took place. but many journalists with a few exceptions are saying we don't

know what happened. far different than the kavanaugh case. mo: a lot of the folks i have seen with the black face with northam and the allegations against fairfax. it's interesting to see the unanimity on folks calling for their resignations or at least positing that the situation might be untenable. with the second allegation with fairfax, that's when the dam sort of broke. what's interesting to me -- i came up through virginia politics, i worked there for about a dozen years. i called on both gentlemen to step down. what is interesting is the disconnect between all of us, the pundit class, the media class, and voters. the washington pole shows

voters -- "the washington post" poll shows 60% of black virginians urging the governor to remain. to me that's a fascinating disconnect on how we are talking about it. howie: the lieutenant governor says he's being smeared by both of these women. what possible incentive do they have to come forward and put themselves in this situation? they are not suing or asking for money. mollie: one of the accusers is in the same political party should mean something. people come forward with stories for any number of reasons. due process means you do believe someone is innocent until proven guilty. it's important for the country to remember that allegations are easy to make and proving them is much more difficult. to the larger point of the media

coverage. you don't have to work that hard to imagine what would be happening if the three top people in the state government were republican and going through a kkk scandal. these are all happening. you would see protests and you would see narratives. the coverage in virginia seems to be treated as if it's localized. you are not seeing those national discussions about what is the democratic party's problem with race and power. gillian: when it comes to the black face and kkk photos, the media overall i think played a positive role in moving that story forward. when media coverage broke the tidal wave of the political class. >> that is not something you get when there is a republican involved in that type of scandal. that's a privilege you don't see

from democrats. mo: every major national media outlet. the number of people who called me at my office who said what is going on with the democratic party, has it imploded. when it comes with issues of race and sexual assault. both parties have had to deal with difficult conversations and the national media has played a very large role in opening up these conversations and picking at some scabs. howie: justin fairfax looked like he was on the verge of becoming governor when these allegations came out. there were people demanding ralph northam resign. thin we learned the attorney

general also wore black face. as despicable as those black face images are -- mo: i think all of us are grappling with how to atlanta these situations. the entire democratic establishment in virginia and nationally have called on northam and fairfax to resign. you see now virginians saying let's maybe not go that far. black virginians seem to be more open to forgiveness than a lot of us in this town are. i agree with gillian. the media has played a huge role furthering a conversation about not just race and sexual assault. but conversations about redemption. are we digging too deep at times? what is appropriate and what is not? howie: justin fairfax says yes

he had sex with these women but he claims it was consensual. the media seems consumed now by these allegations from 15 years ago, 25 years ago. are we at a zero tolerance. mollie: we used to say what you did in high school or college, we had an understanding about it. the entire controversy got started because of something happening right now. it's that the governor advocated for the late-term aberg bill and advocated the killing of children even after they are born. they changed the conversation about what happened 35 years ago. but you shouldn't leave the policy items on the table. howie: some sources did not like the government's statement.

here is a interview in "the washington post." northam says he'll focus on race and he's not going to resign. his interview with gail king. he says he wants to deal with issues of equity. even though the "relationship mond dispatch" editorial page says he should go. gillian: the tidal wave has already washed everything ashore in response to the media's overwhelming coverage of this issue. what we are watching here is everybody grappling with the question, is there a statute of limitations on bad behavior? because there is no answer in the law, everyone is turning to

the media to see what pundits and politicians are saying about it. howie: jeff bezos and the "national enquirer." the state of the union and democratic investigations next. 't to make you everybody else... ♪ ♪ means to fight the hardest battle, which any human being can fight and never stop. does this sound dismal? it isn't. ♪ ♪ it's the most wonderful life on earth. ♪ ♪

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and the army taught me a lot about commitment. which i apply to my life and my work. at comcast we're commited to delivering the best experience possible, by being on time everytime. and if we are ever late, we'll give you a automatic twenty dollar credit. my name is antonio and i'm a technician at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. howie: president trump got mixed media reviews from the state of the union. but most of of the coverage focused on his statement that's they can't have cooperation if they keep investigating him. president trump: we must resist the politics of retribution. an economic miracle is taking

place in the united states and only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous partisan investigations. howie: adam live, the new intel chief in the house. president trump: he's just a political hack who is trying to build a name for himself. it's called presidential harassment, and it's unfortunate. howie: the media said he gave a good speech but he doesn't know anything. mollie: the media didn't get what they expected. they said spit would be mean and angry and it turned out to be one of the best speeches he has ever given.

howie: this occurred after a 35-day government shutdown over a national emergency on the wall. and the media focused on the bruk-back page. -- the brush-back page. gillian: the media brushed off all his comments about work together as embroidery. i think it is baits was coming from the there are. a lot of folks thought they could wholesale this as biased. the other under current on social media the day of the speech and the following day, we all know the state of the union is an out-dated thing that doesn't mean anything anyway. it's not and coincidence it's

president trump's second year and he's coming on the heels of this shutdown that everybody decided that. howie: news outlets were quick to point out investigations burg the obama administration were also criticized as being highly partisan. mo: i think one of the reasons why there was confusion into the speech about what it was going to be was because the white house was doing a good job to sow that confusion. he had some leaks saying he'll throw a warm and fuzzy, but other leaks saying he's going to come out swinging. i think the white house did a good job of creating media discord. but the investigation thing was probably the newsiest thing he said. everything else he said with the exception of the one moment he

had that spoke to bipartisanship was his applause for the democratic women in congress. but before that it was pretty much everything he had said up to that. howie: the democratic women in white actually did stand up when he talked about women. mollie: the most of interesting thing about that line, endless investigation. i thought he said we can't have endless war. that was as conscious today rebuke he received. he's trying to end the war in afghanistan. i think that's the interesting policy subtext. you heard people say during previous investigations you have been investigated for benghazi other irs. the thing that nation things different is those were investigating administration

issues. investigating someone's personal life in the decades before they become president is different. mo: the bill clinton administration might disagree a little bit about that. they were starting -- it was launched over decades old financial questions and turned into something entirely different. both sides can yell about partisan investigations. but this is one that i think we have seen has had -- howie: we'll see if the democrats overreached. up next. jeff bezos accuses the "national enquirer" of blackmail as the tabloid threatens to publish naked pictures.

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howie: jeff bezos, the owner of the "washington post" was embarrassed with it was revealed he was having an affair with l.a. news anchor sanchez. but bezos is accusing the "enquirer" of extortion. the owner of the tabloid was grants immunity after agreeing to talk about hush money. money. the parent company american media inc denies pursuing this

story because of outside sources. he said they said they have more text messages and photos if we didn't stop our investigation. there is a below the belt selfie and sexy shots of lauren sanchez. babezos says he was told the pictures would be run unless he ended the investigation. he said of course i don't want personal photos published. but i won't practice in political blackmail, political phase, political attacks and corruption. the "national enquirer" said it should promptly and thoroughly

investigate the claims made by bezos. whether david pecker was doing this to please donald trump, that kind of threatening letter from a newspaper is extremely unusual. next on "mediabuzz." i have new reporting on this whole mess and behind the scenes sniping. the mooch is here on the ongoing warfare between the president. 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.

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the strategy. sanchez who knew about the affair praises bezos as a brilliant man who doesn't bow down to bullies. sanchez told me while he was negotiating with the "enquirer" airport american media inc pat becker launched world war iii calling on bezos. everything has only amplified the magnitude of the scandal. he says it's a disgrace that filthy rich and uber powerful men are using the media to take shots at each other.

the truth is jeff and lauren fell madly in love and risked everything to be together. becker is traveling overseas and declined to comment. being investigated sometimes deflects attention. sanchez says it's irrelevant that he's an acquaintance of roger stone who has pled guilty to witness tampering and he once did a small business deal with carter page, a former trump campaign advisor. he consulted page about the leak. sanchez is friends with bill howard. he says my friendships have been used as a weapon against me.

sanchez urged bezos and his sister to stand down. he says becker risked exposure of the affair by allowing them to appear together in restaurants and on private jets. to beck more has decades of experience in protecting big celebrities claim there are no lapses in security. the photographers were tipped off about the outings and it's not his job to prevent that. he says they are in a forced separation. they agreed not to be together for one month in this hot atmosphere. joining me, buck sexton and jessica tarlov. there is a heated disagreement over p.r. strategy.

sanchez says no way i would be involved in a leak that would be bad for my sister. buck: there are a lot of layers you can dig into here. bezos coming forward and showing the legal exchange between the lawyers raised questions about the tactics of ami and the "national enquirer." as to whether bezos was poorly advised to get ahead of this story, it's tough to tell. because we don't know how did the photos get out there? whose hands did they get into. and jeff bezos decided to declare war. howie: and chets is saying the bezos security team didn't stop the affair. isn't it up to the couple to decide how public they want to

be? jessica: you would think two consenting adults have decision-making skills of their own. we were talking about how much bezos would be making in the divorce. jeff bezos was saying things like i can't wait to see you and kiss you. we don't know yet how these pictures got there. so the analysis i have read so far who worked in vip security. they are look at lauren sanchez's phone as the one that would have been hacked or the leak would have come from. ronan farrow, terry cruz, the daily beast says am issued the same tactics were used against

them by a.m.i. and it's something the media should be discussing. howie: when say there was involvement in the hush money payment. jessica: over the affair with playboy play mates didn't make it. howie: a.m.i. said this was a negotiation about naked pictures, not blackmail. they said the source to his was close to both jeff bezos and lauren sanchez. that's the line a.m.i. is taking. what's your take calling out the extortion for what he seize as extortion, and for trying to pressure him into dropping his

investigation -- "the washington post" investigation into this mess. buck: people have mixed feeling about bezos' decision make on a number of levels. we saw this with peter thiel when he decided to go after gawker. a lot of conservatives believe it was a great service to the public. when you play games with billionaires and decide you are going to ruin their reputations and use your media outlet to do that, you open yourself up to this kind of retribution and counterattack. i think bezos understands once the photos got out it was likely somebody was going to leak them. but you can't allow people to hold this over your head. i think the perception of how damaging this is, consenting adults. that's changing, too. howie: the federal prosecutors

are looking into bezos' claim of blackmail. so we'll see -- there is a lot of layers here as buck said to unravel. and we'll see whether -- i don't think it's helped by all this behind the scenes stuff. it was an effort to have a truce and that fell apart. ahead on the program. we'll bring you back in a little while. liberal anchors can't get enough as a white house source leaks president trump's private schedule. when i say, "drivers who switched from geico to esurance saved an average of $412," you probably won't believe me. but you can believe this, real esurance employee nancy abraham.

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howie: with the state of the union pressure off. the president warned the house democrats not to speak about ridiculous partisan investigations or he won't cooperate. many in the media. does the president believe the democrats are not going to hold hearings and issue subpoenas and investigate his administration?

anthony: i think he's resolved and resigned to the fact they are going to do that. but i any he likes saying those things. he knows the base doesn't like these investigations. just by tweaking them every once in a while, he sends them that galvanizing message. one of the main reasons that's always overlooked by the pundits, the reason he shut the government down and aloud it to stay closed. to get those 30% to return to the polls in 2020 with the same participation level. howie: it seems like you just across knowledged that he shut the government down for 35 days so he could energ -- so he coule his base? is that way just heard you say?

anthony: it's a combination much things. it has three layers to it. he promised the wall and he wants to deliver the wall and he's concerned about border security. layer number two, he knows he has to bring those people out, he has a message he's fighting for them. the third layer is because of the shutdown i believe there will be an intersection of a deal where he can really start building. i think it will prove to be a winning strategy. when the president has won reelection you will go back to december 21 and say that was the day. howie: let me ask you this. your book is "trump the blue collar president." the media handicapping donald trump will have a hard time in 2020, the shutdown, getting above 40% in the polls,

appealing to women, all the energy is on the deputy crack it side. these are things i read in every news analysis. why is that wrong? anthony: if you go back to the rhetoric around president trump, he had similar numbers to president trump. the economy is doing quite well, despite the volatility in the stock market. i'm a trained economist and believe the market will trend higher into the 2020 election. it's hard to unsit a putting president then. he was 69 years as a business person, and every single flaw of the president was out there. one of the problems somebody like elizabeth warren has is they are sitting at the podium when they are lying on their bar applications they get blown through the door.

but the president has been out there as a business person and not a politician for the greater part of his life. i think people have accepted whatever his flaws are, he's very effective. it's very hard to unseat a sitting president in a thriving economy. if he continues with that messaging he'll attract the independents he needs to win the election. howie: he does not like jeff bezos, and accusing the "national enquirer" of blackmail. everybody points out, was the "enquirer" trying to help the president because his clone friend david pecker runs the tabloid? the media raised the question about whether the effort was to help the president. anthony: people are leaving out the fact that mr. pecker got

immunity a couple months ago. howie: we mentioned that earlier. anthony: you did but most of people don't. i don't understand why people might think there might be a strain there as a result of that immunity situation. i don't know jeff bezos. i think it was an aggressive strategy. sometimes at the end of the day you are putting a propane tank on top of a duraflame log. i have been in the media cross-hairs. i took a month or two off then went at it aggressively. i don't like people defining me. but the way jeff is going about this is creating too much unseemliness around him. he's a very rich guy, if i were his advisor i would have said go

slow. but a lot of people are praising him for this saying he has courage and think it's a good idea. but i'm sort of against it. howie: he inflamed the story once again. i have got to play a sound bite for you. >> surprise! i am actually not a big brother houseguest. howie: there you are celebrity big brother. >> you have a reality tv star that's the american president. all you elites wake up, the american people are watching that sort of stuff. if you get invited on "celebrity big brother," i recommend you go it was one of the most of fun things i have done in my life. howie: great to see you, mooch. anthony: if you were my

houseguest i would keep you on. howie: after the break. another off-the-record trump meeting leaked out to the media. it's time for the ultimate sleep number event on the sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses your movement and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus, 24-month financing on all smart beds. only for a limited time. i can't say it's the highlight dadof fatherhood.... but i'd rather be here with my little man than not be here because of migraine. i have three words for migraine... "i am here." aimovig, a preventive treatment for migraine in adults, reduces the number of monthly migraine days.

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howie: the liberal pundits are saying he's lazy and sits around watching tv. buck: there are people in the white house with access to his schedule that he can't trust. there are people out to get him and that's problematic for the whole country. the pundits have no idea. they don't know what goes on. they don't know enough about the scheduling process to know what they don't know. he could be on the phone. they just look at an opportunity to trash the president because that's what their viewers want to see. howie: can be pundits say he's wrecking the country but at the same time he sits around and doesn't do much. jessica: he's powerful when he's at rest? i don't know. i think the president does have an issue with people in his orbit, and not being able to trust him. this is something we have seen since he took office in all

levels in all departments. perhaps he can get people who are more interested in working for him and the betterment of the country. it was a bit of fun to say when he's tweeting live cable news that he's sitting there watching cable news. howie: the president is reported to have said off the record he called joe biden dumb, and called chuck schumer a nasty s.o.b. and criticized john mccain. was this a betrayal? buck: it was. it shows once again that journalists are willing to discard the ethics they pretend to care about when it comes to this president. and i think now the american people know we are not getting the old media back. the neutral press corps is a joke and it's not coming back.

if there is something the president really wants to say and it gets out there. howie: whoever was in the room, obviously somebody did violate that agreement. but the president having been very blunt in an off-the-record luncheon with reporters. i suspect he's not all that upset. jessica: these are just iterations of things he has said publicly. he has been feuding with the mccain family for years. we know it's crying chuck. his base loves it. howie: it came a few hours before he gave the speech to the country and the congress about unity and bipartisanship. howie: i was listening to your earlier panel. no one believes that was really genuine. a couple days later we have his attacks on elizabeth warren and talking about the trail of tears.

this president calling for unity and saying we should get away from revenge politics. nobody is buying it. howie: it's a two-way street. the democrats beat up on him every single day. buck: absolutely. the president is keeping in place all of his rights to fight back. i think his outreach is in earnest. buck sexton, jessica tarlov in new york. thank you very much. that's it forking this edition of "mediabuzz." check out my podcast media buzz meter. we hope you will like our facebook page. we post my columns and original

video. follow me on twitter. lots to pack into the show. we'll see you next sunday at 11:00 a.m. with the latest buzz buzz. smile dad.

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arthel: we are learning congressional negotiators may have hit a roadblock over the number of i.c.e. detention beds. this as the white house refuses to rule out another partial government shutdown. welcome to "america's news headquarters," i'm arthel neville. eric: i'm eric shawn. more details about this potential funding deal. we are told a proposed deal would give the president a fraction of his $5.7 billion for are wall funding. garrett, where do things stand right now at t