surf's up. earn a fifty-dollar gift card when you stay just twice this summer. or.. badda book. badda boom. book now at choicehotels.com howard: a fierce and emotional media debate over a new alabama law banning almost all abortions and whether it's part of a grand scheme to overturn the roe v. wade. >> under other circumstances, maybe they wouldn't have gone for such a full challenge to roe, but they would have been aiming toward the same thing anyway, which is depriving people of their reproductive autonomy. >> it's incredibly extreme. it's even caused some division in the pro-life community, the idea of not having exceptions for rape and increst, something that close to -- incest, something that goes to 80% of americans support. >> i think this is an important, one, a legal conversation to

have -- >> the rights talk actually keeps us from all-out war. because if you think that this is actually murder, you don't say i respect your right to murder. it would be like saying i'm against slavery, but i respect your right to have a slave. >> right. howard: with so many pro-choice voices on the air, are journalists covering both sides? chris wallace moderates a town hall debate tonight with pete buttigieg, and he's here to talk about why more democrats are coming on fox while others slam the network. and why is mayor bill de blasio drawing so much media mockery? the attorney general orders an investigation into whether the fbi's early surveillance of the trump campaign and russia was improper. >> this is huge news, a colossal step forward for equal justice and equal application under our laws. >> this whole idea that the president's going to demand investigations of the investigators, demand investigations of his political

enemies, it's, you know, not the distaupic future anymore. we're living through it. >> now the president's saying, well, i never asked him to do this, but when barr announces, the president says i'm so proud of im. everyone understands exactly what's happening. >> so it's a normal question to ask, why was this investigation launched when there was no evidence, what evidence did they base the investigation on? howard: and how journalists are reacting to the president calling that early fbi surveillance treason. plus, if you surveyed the landscape and had to picking the best interviewer in broadcasting -- >> i was in college in the '80s, and i found your show so offensive -- >> thank you. >> i think i may be a convert, howard. >> you're going to listen, and and you're going to be a big fan -- [laughter] and who knows what's going to happen with us. howard: would it be howard stern, king of all media, at one time shock jock? hey, now.

i'm howard kurtz, and this is "mediabuzz." ♪ ♪ howard: it wasn't hard to figure out where msnbc stands on alabama's new abortion ban which was signed into law. nine of its guests in the first 24 hours were current and foreman officials of such groups as -- former officials of such groups as planned parenthood. media reports warned of a growing effort to overturn roe v. wade. joining us now to analyze the coverage, molly hemingway, senior editor at the federalist and a fox news contributor, beverly hall burg and juan williams, co-host of "the five." abortion is an issue on which people of both sides feel deeply about. are much of the media giving a shake to pro-life as they

feature -- side. >> the whole reason i became interested in media criticism was watching how the media covered this topic e. as you say, people very different ideas about whether it's okay to take a human life after it has begun or not okay, but i the issue is coverage, and there is no question that the media are horrifically biased in favor of the pro-choice side. they don't cover the arguments made by pro-lifers. they freak out over a bill like in the. you didn't see this freakout when there was a similarly extreme measure from new york that allows children to be left to die if they survive abortion or other extreme measures way outside of the mainstream of american thought. and you just point out that all the people that they host from the pro-choice side of things without ever giving a voice to pro-life side, even though this is a very contentious topic. howard: that was true. beverly, as i mentioned, even some pro-life conservatives have reservations about this.

here's pat robertson on the 700 club. >> i think alabama has gone too far. they've passed a law that would give a 99-year prison sentence to people who commit abortion. my humble view -- [laughter] is that this is not the case we want to bring to supreme court, because i think this one will lose. howard: if you're in the media, it is possible to be pro-life and also not like features of this law. >> even when i talk to elected officials who do identify as pro-life that don't support this actual bill, the reason is because they want to save as many babies as possible, and they worry the liberals are going to use this as a political tool in upcoming elections to potentially block even certain pieces of legislation that don't go as far as this alabama bill. so i do think republicans are in this hard position where personally they're pro-life, but they know some of their constituents -- while may not be as pro-life as they are -- they know that the issue is starting to turn towards a pro-life

position. i understand why some conservatives are fearful of going this far. howard: juan, you have to acknowledge that most journalists are pro-choice, they don't make an issue of state laws like in new york allowing third trimester abortions and that that is shaping the coverage. >> no,, i disagree. i think, in fact, i think of this, howie, like a language issue. you know how we use pro-life, pro-choice. i think that sets things up. if you not pro-life, that means you're pro-death? i don't think so. howard: but you say pro-choice and not pro-abortion. >> i think that language, again, it circumscribes legitimate, honest debate over a difficult topic. i think, my gosh, they say, oh, in new york you can have a late abortion or, remember, the governor of virginia was accused of talking about what you do post-birth to kill a child was murder -- howard: he did say that, this is ralph northam, but claimed he was misunderstood -- >> i think widely viewed as

misinterpreted because it's not honest discussion. so to have the someone -- and let's just say, pat robertson is not pro-choice, he's pro-life. howard: that's why i played the sound bite. >> pat robertson had previously e supported china's one-child policy. he's held up as the ash -- arbiter of pro-life issues, and he isn't. again, you can think it's okay to end a human life after it's begun, or you can oppose it, but just having that scientific understanding that this is what is happening when you have an a abortion, you end a human life after it has begun. there's a seriousness to that that the we're not seeing reflected in media coverage. >> i disagree on that point, molly, because i don't agree that -- i'm not even sure what the folks in alabama are talking about, because he says chromosomes, hormones, when they're mixing, before a woman even knows she's pregnant, they're saying she's -- >> scientifically -- >> when it comes to coverage, i think one of the things we're getting to is assigning motive

to people who have a certain perspective. if you're pro-abortion, you were thought of, well, if you said something about infanticide, you must have misspoke, or you're just for a woman and her doctor making a decision. but if you're pro-life, you're automatically assumeed as pro-woman. >> tens of millions of women think violence shouldn't take placen within the womb. those bills in virginia and new york do allow children to be left to die if they survive abortion. that is a real issue, and the media have not done a good -- >> see, i don't think that's true. i tell you what i think is the real issue, howie, i think that since kavanaugh and gorsuch are on the supreme court, you see a tremendous political effort by people who are in the anti-abortion movement to say this is our moment, and we're going to push this on the media, and we're going to force this down the eyes of the republican party. and you see kevin mccarthy, and you see other republicans

saying this goes too far. howard: some of the alabama sponsors say, yes, this is the idea, getting this before the supreme court to try to overturn or modify roe, but there's been a lot of speculation are about would john roberts go for up a sweeping overturning of precedent. beverly, just about every democrat presidential candidate have absolutely denounced the alabama law, similar laws in missouri and elsewhere. the president of the united states has been pretty silent on it and then tweeted yesterday -- not mentioning abby name -- saying -- alabama by name, but saying i am strongly pro-life except i support exceptions for rape and incest, which alabama doesn't have, and the life of the mother, same as ronald reagan. so even the president is kind of indirectly saying he has a problem with certain provisions here. >> he's lining up with the rnc on this. again, it's figuring out when it's going to be used as a political tool by democrats in upcoming elections. one of the reasons why we're seeing so many laws passed is

because republicans won in past elections. people are more pro-life, they want these bills, so that can't be ignored. howard: all right, to be continued. let me get to question of the investigations and investigating the investigators. another presidential tweet that made a lot of news, talking about the origins of the russia investigation. my campaign for president, says donald trump, was conclusively spied on. nothing like this has ever happened in american politics, a really bad decision. treason, and this was treason. i'll leave aside that treason can mean the death penalty. many in the media saying this is way out of bounds by a president. >> president trump was falsely accused of treason for years because he was a accused of being a traitor who had colluded with the russians to overthrow our system of government and to steal an election. i don't think the media have handled or responded properly enough to realization that that was a false accusation. treason is a very serious allegation. it was levied against the

president for years, falsely. he did not collude with russia. and now we have, now we really do need to understand, how was it that this crazy idea didn't just get into the government, but got believed by so many people in the media? howard: right, right. but the point here, beverly, is that if it is true -- actually, let me throw this to you, juan. people going on the air and saying this is a grotesque abuse of power, but a lot of people saying, well, it's just another trump tweet. nobody has been charged with this crime of treason, so you can say it, i can say it, politicians can say it, but the president of the united states, to be accusing his political opponents of treason, is a pretty amazing thing. >> to me, it's pretty amazing because, you know, he's the commander in chief. not just of the military, but of our law enforcement. howard: so is the media criticism justified of that term? >> you know what, because of what you said, it's true, people -- and i think part of the president's attractiveness is his authenticity, this is really what his heart feels, he

feels like he's being put upon -- howard: he's not holding back. >> right. this is not very presidential. howard: new york times reporting that house democrats are having a difficult time getting bob mueller to testify, of course, with a televised spectacle. there's a quote that says democrats' big fear is that public interest in the mueller report is ebbing. i would just cross out the first word and say this is also true the, the media's big fear is that public interest is ebbing. >> i think we saw political theater at its finest on thursday. you had the house democrats actually hold a hearing or at least an event where they read the unredacted version of the -- howard: with help from -- >> john cusack, the actor. it was an interesting spectacle, but with an additional investigation into the origins of the mueller investigation, you see they're still trying to get that media coverage to maybe get their story in the news. howard: right. when we come back, a new media uproar as bill barr orders a

probe of possible fbi misconduct at the start of the trump-russia investigation. and later, chris wallace on why some democratic candidates are coming on fox, including mayor pete in a town hall tonight. ♪ ♪ you ever wish you weren't a motaur? sure. sometimes i wish i had legs like you. yeah, like a regular person. no. still half bike/half man, just the opposite. oh, so the legs on the bottom and motorcycle on the top? yeah. yeah, i could see that. for those who were born to ride, there's progressive. or psoriatic arthritis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream.

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howard: the press is widely casting this as a probe with by bill barr -- >> right. i want to say at the outset the media are not in a position to cover this phase of the investigation because they were complicit in the russia hoax. they either fell for it or participated in the it. they're not in a good mace -- howard: what should they do? not talk about it? >> come to terms with how poorly they handled things, just becoming willful leak receptacles for a story that turned out not to be true. there were a few of us looking at the same sets of facts and information and were skeptical, but that does not describe the vast majority of reporters, and they haven't come to terms with that failure. howard: there may be serious questions of fbi conduct, we'll see, but i think that's being overshadowed. >> i think he's suffered, we

have the latest fox poll, people really have questions about his behavior here -- howard: since you mention that, who do you trust more on russia, mueller, 44. barr, 22%. >> right. and i think that there's an important point to be made here. molly's right, you could say lots of journalists went overboard, but here's my feeling as a journalist, the idea that russia interfered in our campaign, had more than 100 contacts with the trump campaign, if i'm a journalist and i'm working the street, i'm working that story. that's the president of the united states, that's a threat -- >> so just by way of example, there was interaction between russia and the hillary clinton campaign. >> not like this. not like this, molly. >> in fact, a russian source dossier was used at the highest levels of our government to secure wiretaps -- >> okay, we canning go down that road -- >> the idea that you would not investigate that is ludicrous. >> no shortage of coverage of the steele dossier. but that's not the issue. the issue is russia threatening

our election and our form of government, that's a big story. howard: i want to get beverly in here. is there a parallel universe aspect to this? conservative commentators have denigrated the mueller probe which, of course, trump calls a failed coup and have sort of hungered for this investigation, and on the other hand, liberal reporters are dismissing this new probe as just politics. >> i think the american people are trying to figure out what is what. this is the third investigation now that we're going to -- that's opened to look into what's happened. what's fun nebraska about it all is this attack about william barr. i don't think he cares, he's not doing this as representative adam schiff said, the trumpification of the doj. i actually really think he cares about the integrity of the doj, and he wants to restore the public confidence in this institution. >> presumably, spying or surveilling a political campaign should not be done routinely. we already know through some journalism because of "the new york times" reporting recently

that there were overseas intelligence assets run by domestic surveillance experts against the trump campaign. finish the idea that you would just say, ah, nothing to see here, we don't need to look into this is absurd. of course attorney general barr needs to look into this, and we need to be satisfied that protocol was followed. >> chris wray is the head of the fbi, he's a trump nominee, and he says he knows nothing of any kind of spying. james baker, who was the lawyer says nothing -- howard: you guys are going to have to take this outside. [laughter] i have one last question for juan which is the president again saying he's not going to come my with the house democratic subpoenas, for all the media spotlight on impeachment, even jerry nadler seems to be falling into line behind nancy pelosi in saying, well, we'll investigate but not impeach. was it too much? was it wishful thinking? >> no. again, i think even whether you're for it or against it,

it's so important, the idea that we would impeach a president, we don't do that very often. and the idea that the democratic base favors impeachment is without argument. it's liken 0%. -- 70%. if they did this, by the way, it would have been political dynamite because it would have inspired the republican base as well as the democratic base. howard: i think there's a lot of wishful thinking involved, but we shall see. juan williams, molly hemingway, beverly hallberke great to see you. ahead, howard stern is saying he's matured since his shock jock days. we'll be the judge of that. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ howard: president trump invokes the fake news mantra so often that the it may have lost some of its punch. he did it twice with reporters

just the other day. >> mr. president, did you tell dhs to round up immigrant families? >> i don't know anything about that, i read that, probably fake news. howard: the question was based on a washington post report citing seven current and former homeland security officials in saying former secretary kirsten nielsen and a deputy challenged a white house plan to arrest thousands of migrant parents and children in the ten major american cities. the story didn't say the president ordered this, but that's what he denied with his fake news comment. another correspondent asked about growing tensions with iran. >> [inaudible] >> i think it's fake news, okay? now, would i do that? absolutely. but we have not planned for that. hopefully, we're not going to have to plan for that, and if we did that, we'd send a hell of a lot more troops than that. but i think it's just -- where was that story, in "the new york times"? well, "the new york times" is fake news. howard: acting pent gone

chief -- .gone chief patrick san man presented ap updated military plan if iran attacked american forces or intensified work on its nuclear program. it was a contingency plan and one that was later confirmed. but the reporter botched the question by asking trump whether he would send those troops, which wasn't what the times reported. president was back at it on friday on the internal debate over iran. >> they never write e the names of people anymore. everything is a source says. there is no source. the person doesn't exist. the person's not alive. [laughter] it's bull [bleep] howard: we had to bleep that one. trump often makes the claims that these stories are -- ask the officials who asked to be quoted anonymously how they feel about it. but the president has found a silver lining. >> i was thinking today, i said,

gee, what must our adversaries think. and then i look and e say, you know, it's probably a good thing because they're saying, man, i don't know where these people are coming from. howard: well, at least journalists are good for something, we confuse people. ahead on the media tweeting the 2020 contest is a two-man trump/biden race. but first, chris wallace from new hampshire on his approach on tonight's town hall with pete buttigieg and getting democrats to come on fox. ♪ ♪ that's not a bug, that's not a bug! (burke) hit and drone. seen it, covered it. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ i was told to begin my aspirin regimen, blem. and i just didn't listen. until i almost lost my life. my doctors again ordered me to take aspirin, and i do. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

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with it, i gotta ask, is it true you hooked up with fox news at the start of your campaign? some may say that makes you a naughty boy. >> actually the, i'm proud to say that i was the first candidate to appear on fox news sunday, because i don't believe in leaving out an entire portion of the country. howard: good answer. for more insight into media and the democrats, i spoke to host of "fox news sunday" just moments ago from clairement month, new hampshire. chris wallace, welcome. >> good to be with you, howie. howard: you have moderated plenty of debates including, of course, the final 2016 debate between donald trump and hillary clinton. is it a very different challenge to moderate a town hall format with pete buttigieg? >> well, i don't know, we'll see -- [laughter] at 7:00 tonight eastern time. i will say i've never done a town hall, and i'm a little nervous about it. part of it is because i haven't done it and, secondly, you know, there is the x factor. i mean, the main thing here is people asking questions, not me

asking questions, and that can take on a life of its own. so i think you prepare as much as you can, but then you also kind of figure that you're going to be the going on a tight rope without a net. howard: without a threat. that's what -- without a net. that makes good tv. yesterday buttigieg sent an e-mail to supporters saying if we don't show up, meaning on fox, the conservative media will tell our story for us. but he also said i strongly condemn the voices on fox and the media that uncritically amplify hate. the mayor's rhetoric, does this concern you? >> look, when i covered the reagan white house, we always used to say you don't tell us how to coffer the news, we won't tell you how to run the white house. people are going to run their own campaigns. he's appearing on fox. there's some people who are saying they're not even going to appear on fox -- elizabeth warren, kamala harris. and both have tried to raise money off of it, which i find interesting.

they're going to run their campaign the way they want. obviously, we would like all of them to show up here. and, again, this isn't so much me, although i will ask some questions. this is to face the voters of new hampshire or iowa or pennsylvania or wherever the town hall happens to be. and, you know, i do the think it's a mistake for anyone, any candidate -- republican, democrat, liberal, conservative -- to voluntarily cut themselves off from millions of potential voters. howard: since you raised elizabeth warren, as you said, she's raising money off of her decision not to do a fox town hall. what do you make of that in light of the fact that senator warren appeared twice on fox last year including on your show? >> you know -- [laughter] as i say, i'm, obviously, i think that there is politics behind this. some of the candidates are struggling, and they're appealing to most active part of the left wing of the democratic party, and they think this is going to work for them.

they're entitled to do whatever they want. we don't have subpoena powers, unfortunately, so if they want to boycott us -- again, i don't like it, but that's up to them. howard: what is it about the previously obscure mayor pete that has enabled him to leapfrog all these senators and others into third or fourth in many polls to point where fox wants to do a town hall with him? >> well, and let me tell you, we're going to have more people here for this town hall -- i say this, we'll see if they actually show up, but we've gotten more people who have said they're going to show up than for any of the other town halls, including bernie sanders and howard schultz. there is just a real, you know, there's an old joke, and the punchline is they end up, dog food that doesn't work, they say dogs don't like it. dogs like pete buttigieg. they just -- voters are interested in this guy. they think he's interesting, he is smart as the dickens, he's got a fascinating background, rhodes scholar, veteran of the

afghanistan war, and he has a lot of interesting things to say. and i, you know, you could argue -- i'm not saying he's going to end up where they did, but it's a little bit like donald trump, like barack obama. he's different. he breaks the mold. and voters seem to be really intrigued by that at this point. howard: right. and you had him on "fox news sunday" when he was still an asterisk. what i find is the way in which he speaks very candidly, particularly about personal things, being gay and a small town mayor and all that seems to attract so much media attention with 23 democratic candidates. but on the other hand, isn't he to some degree the beneficiary of a media swoon? >> yeah. but, you know, again, i would say obama and trump were. trump's was a little more complicated because some of it was the negative, not a supportive swoon, but it was attention. and he played to and the fact that in 2016 i think we will all agree that we probably put his rallies on too much when he was

one of 17 candidates. but, you know, the problem we were all faced with in the media was that viewers wanted to watch him, and if we didn't have him on for a rally and cnn did -- and they did it more than anybody -- guess what? people would turn us off and tune them on, and it's the news business. so both of those play in it. i, there's no question that mayor pete is interesting, he's different than a lot of the other candidate, he doesn't seem like another politician, and that's to his credit. howard: right. >> you know, he's going to play that for all it's worth. howard: you're also doing a town hall with kirsten gillibrand, bernie sanders has been on, amy klobuchar, who you had on your program this morning, has done a town hall. increasingly isn't the rationale fox hall can't be fair, isn't that kind of falling apart this. >> i don't think that's what it was ever about. i think that what you saw was a -- and, again, they're entitled to do it, but i think

it was a cold, calculated decision by the chairman of the dnc that if he were to have a debate on fox, a fox news democratic debate, that it would create a lot of blowback among the left wing of the base, the folks that elizabeth warren and kamala harris are appealing to, and he just didn't want to take that on. he had a lot of other places that were offering debates, so why have that blowback. i don't think it had anything to do with the merits. he knew, he's been on and says that he likes appearing with me and bret baier. he knew it would be a perfectly fair debate. i don't think he wanted the political blowback. howard: chris, less than a minute. shortly before your show came on this morning, president trump tweeted this: or if all the fake news political sunday shows whose bias and dishonesty is better than the ever, please inform your viewers that the economy is setting records. your reaction to being lumped in with the fake news.

[laughter] >> well, i'd like to think maybe i wasn't included in that. [laughter] howard: okay. >> maybe he meant all the others. look, again, i go back to reagan, we don't -- don't tell us how to cover the news, we won't tell you how to run the white house. we've talked plenty about the trump economy and often put up stats to show how much it has improved from january 2017 until may of 2019. howard: yeah. and, of course -- >> but i'm glad the president watches. howard: and he did sit down with you at least qawns. good luck tonight, thanks very much. >> thanks, howie. howard: i'll will watching tonight. after the break, beto o'rourke says that glitzy "vanity fair" cover was a mistake. why his media honeymoon faded fast. and later, howard stern is trying to change his raunchy image with a new book. ♪ (ding) hey, who are you? oh, hey jeff, i'm a car thief... what?! i'm here to steal your car because,

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♪ memories. what we deliver by delivering. ♪ ♪ howard: from the campaign trail to his twitter feed, president trump has been aiming his fire at just one of the 23 democratic candidates, and each time reporters ask joe biden for his response which in turn kicks off the next news cycle. >> i don't know what the hell happened to biden. what happened to him? i'm looking, i said that doesn't look like the guy i knew. what happened to him? and bernie, you know, bernie's crazy. >> i'm not going to get down in the mud wrestling with him. i'm not going to stoop to his level. i'm not going to engage in the name-calling.

howard: joining us now, susan frisch cho with the washington examiner. so "the new york times" reports unnamed trump advisers are telling the president they wish he'd stop slamming biden because it elevates him in the democratic race. he's not listening, so they leak it. are the media, though, following trump's lead in basically treating them as a two-man race? >> well, they see it that way. biden's ahead in the key races that lead you to getting the democratic nomination. he's winning on both those fronts. howard: but it's so early. >> it looks pretty good, you have to admit. eight years as vice president from a very popular president, president obama's administration. he has clear advantages right now. howard: i do more than admit it, i have been saying this for months, and there was such a drum beat from the media, he's going to be a terrible candidate, he's too old, he's not liberal enough, he gets in the race, and reuters has a lead, can anyone stop joe biden. >> and if you look at the pre-polling, he was ahead all the time.

i think it looked that way from the beginning. howard: i think the media have trouble dealing with 23 candidates because fewer characters makes for a better narrative. >> that's true, but this whole thread with president trump stems from the fact that the president knows that biden's going to be the candidate he's running against, and those labels worked for him. he did it with little marco, lyin' ted, but he runs thes aring of actually actually helping biden by defining him as the leading candidate, as the nominee. so he's really, he's winning and losing by using the labeling. howard: all right. candidate number 23, new york mayor bill de blasio got into the race this week. here he is with george stephanopoulos. >> quinnipiac poll showed 76% of new york voters, 73% of new york democrats say you shouldn't win, so what should the rest of the country think? >> the poll that actually matters was the election. howard: there's been so much media mockery, you would think

he was the mayor of south bend instead of new york. >> you have to go back and see that the local media in new york and bill de blasio have never gotten along, especially "the new york post" which i believe he said shouldn't exist. not surprised to see that adverse relationship. but the general media in new york has not gotten along well with de blasio. the public has also criticized him for not fixing the transit system, the homeless problem increasing and all these other issues, exaggerating his record. but he is very progressive. he fits the mold of all these candidates who are running, so -- howard: i mean, he did get elected twice. and beto o'rourke, i want to play this sound bite where he talks about the launching his campaign with that "vanity fair" cover. >> would you say those are mistakes, being on the cover of "vanity fair"? this. >> yeah -- >> yes. elitist, what? >> yeah. i think it reinforces that perception of privilege. and that the headline that said

i was born to be in this, in the article i was attempting to say that i felt my calling was in public service. howard: so "vanity fair" was a mistake, the springsteen line born to run, that was a mistake. by the way, the editor says it was not taken out of context, the editor of "vanity fair." boy, the media pretty quickly fell out of love with this guy. >> he was a lot of flash, a lot of style but not a lot of substance, and i think the video, filming himself, you know, getting his dental cleaning and ear hair -- howard: there's a new one, the haircut video, because america wants to see this. >> there's the haircut, right? he's doing all these things, he's trying to invite the public in to see his life, but i think the public is looking for a more serious candidate like the one with chris wallace, candidate buttigieg, who's a small town mayor, comes out very earnest, has a campaign platform he can talk about. i think that's the big difference. not the "vanity fair" cover. he could have used that, he just didn't have a lot to follow

along with it. howard: yeah. he's got an interesting personal story, but he doesn't have much to say beyond platitudes. susan, great to see you. thanks so much. still to come, the king of media now does lengthy, intimate interviews with celebrities. what happened to howard stern? ♪ ♪ le things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats 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. ready to treat differently with a pill?

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donald trump the interview i had done. and in some ways i felt it was unfair to trump. >> do you feel in some way you helped make him president? >> absolutely. because donald would come on my show -- i mean, look -- >> does it make you feel bad or good? >> well, look, i did not vote for donald trump. howard: joining us now, emily e yo shin sky, and stern makes no bones about the fact while he loved all the locker room talk in all those interviews with donald trump, he was a big hillary clinton supporter and wanted to get her on in, and of course, she wouldn't do the show. >> there's an entire chapter called hillary clinton, the interview that never happened, where he makes the case there could have been, you know, contractors, store owners, truck drivers that heard her in swing states, wisconsin, ohio, and pennsylvania and were really impressed s and it might have changed the election. he makes the case in this whole chapter. it's very interesting. howard: yeah. he's still stunned, i think, that he became a factor in the campaign. now here he is with

stephanopoulos on gma having a little fun at george's expense. >> inevitably -- [laughter] allie will go george and i have sex every night. i'm like -- [laughter] and george sits there, george doesn't laugh. i never think of you as a sex fiend, but i'm like -- [laughter] i said can you picture george and allie every night? >> completely hijacked, right here. >> ali wentworth is george's wife. any sympathy -- >> look how uncomfortable he made stephanopoulos, and this book does chronicle a gradual and significant transformation, but that's not to say that the old howard stern is totally gone forever. [laughter] howard: sex comes up now and then. but people who knew only the old howard stern would be stunned because, you know, he will spend an hour, hour and a half with these celebrities, and they have these dinner party conversations. for example, i remember listening to anderson cooper with howard, very revealing talk about when he was closeted for

all those the years as a television anchor, coming out, how he got out of the teenage modeling business at the age of 13 because a man had propositioned him and stuff you wouldn't get in a traditional interview. >> no, absolutely not. and partially e the long form helps that, but this book really is a vindication in a weird way of all the people for years said howard stern is needlessly crass, because he kind of agrees with them and says he learned to be after a health scare, after settling into the sirius format to be more purposeful and spending these long interviews drawing information out of people like anderson cooper. one of the best interviewer, hands down, and that's very apparent in this book. howard: he also talks about therapy and how that a made himless angry. -- less angry. he has more empathy for other people now. he also says he's embarrassed by some of his earlier antics when he's constantly fighting with the fcc. was this a political relaunch, that howard stern wants people

to think of him differently? >> it's also just very honest, and people can make up their own minds as to whether he's still needlessly crass, because he's still crass, he just tries to do it with purpose now. and, again, you can make up your own mind as to he's accomplishing that, but it's his goal, and the book is very self-reflective. he actually tongue in cheek encourages people to burn his first two books. howard: that's right. he's not proud of them. for those who haven't heard of these interviews, reading the excerpts might be interesting. if it is a political rebranding, i think it's working. >> yeah. howard: at least with you. >> it's a great book. his interviews, conan, great stuff. easy read, highly recommend it. howard: put that on the back of the book. emily, great to see you, thank you so much. coming up, a may e your retirement on "60 minutes." stay with us. ♪ there's a better choice. aleve pm.

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♪ ♪ howard: steve croft is retiring tonight after nearly four decades at cbs, and high stakes interviews like this one back in 1992. >> you've said that your marriage has had problems, that you've had difficulties. what do you mean by that? are you prepared tonight to say that you've never had an extra the marital affair? >> i'm not prepared tonight to say that any married couple should ever discuss that with anyone but themselves. howard: kroft is a workhorse who's done some terrific investigative reporting over the years winning five peabody awards, but why is he stepping down when he's just a spry 73? the guardian, the left-leaning british newspaper, is changing its language under the new style guide, global warming is out.

global heating is in. and climate change is being tossed a aside as way too mild, it's now climate emergency, climate crisis or climate breakdown. the editor editor-in-chief sayss like climate change sound passive and gentle when scientists are talking about catastrophe for humanity. i happen to think this is an important issue, but make no mistake, words matter, and "the guardian" is mandating loaded language that tilts its coverage in one direction. that's it for this edition of "mediabuzz." my podcast out there, it's new, getting a lot of attention, 4.7 stars on apple itunes, you can subscribe there or google play. we have a great time doing it. we hope you like the facebook page, we put up my daily columns, original videos and let me know what you think on twist whether it's about the abortion -- twitter whether it's about the abortion debate, pete buttigieg or howard stern or any of the things that we talk about

or whatever's on your mind. and we are back here next sup morning, 11 eastern, with the latest buzz. ♪ ♪ arthel: new drama playing out on capitol hill over attorney general william barr's handling of the mueller report. one gop lawmaker breaking with the party over barr's bottom line conclusions saying mueller's findings are grounds for impeachment. hello, everyone, welcome to "america's news headquarters," i'm arthel neville. eric: i'm eric shawn. michigan congressman justin amash is a republican and has been a longtime critic of president trump, and he's now echoing many democrats charging that the attorney general deliberately misrepresented the mueller report, and he is the first member of the gop in congress to suggest that he could support the democratic effort to