howard: on the buzz meter this sunday, as house democrats impeach president trump without a single republican vote, the media are consumed by praising or puzzling the process. >> after countless hours, oh, my gosh, so tedious, these speeches and panels of liberal academics and hearsay witnesses and bitter foreign service officers, fewer americans -- not more -- believe that donald trump committed an impeachable offense. >> donald trump will wear the scarlet letter i forever in history. the impeached donald trump. >> wait until he's the first president impeached by house democrats, this is a very important distinction, to then be reelected --

>> by the people. >> it's an indelible mark on donald trump's legacy, and he knows it, and that's why he has been so crazed. >> the 2016 election has now resulted in one of the most, if not the most pathetic,ty vice e, disgusting, repulsive and, frankly, political stunts in american history. >> it's also a night that is going to not only leave a stain on president trump's presidency, but i wonder what it's going to do to his psyche. howard: pundits baffled by nancy pelosi as she refuses for now to send the impeachment articles to the senate. >> hard to really see what the benefits necessarily are of dragging it out. >> this might be the end of impeachment. it'll be kind of half an impeachment. howard: why the press, which usually praises pelosi, says she's paralyzed the process. news outlets pounce on the president for calling the speaker a partisan whose process

is less fair than the salem witch trials. >> i am incapable of expressing how crazy this letter is, how unhinged in its rhetoric, in its claims, in its factual inaccuracy and lies. >> it's going to go down as a letter from a two-bit dictator. howard: rudy giuliani gets hammered on the airwaves with most conservatives avoiding the subject after he admits that, yes, he tried to get ambassador marie yovanovitch fired. plus, 2020 democrats beat up on mayor pete and he punches back, but are these faceoffs utterly overshadowed by impeachment? i'm howard kurtz, and this is "mediabuzz". ♪ ♪ howard: it was yet another split

screen moment with sky high stakes. nancy pelosi bringing down the gavel on the two articles of impeachment her democratic members approved, and president trump denouncing that vote along with the media at a rally in battle creek, michigan. >> article one is adopted. >> this lawless, partisan impeachment is a political suicide march for the democrat party. crazy nancy pelosi's house democrats have branded themselves with an eternal mark of shame, and it really is. it's a disgrace. howard: nbc's kristin welker asked the president about being branded with what he's called a very ugly word. >> what does it feel like to be the third president in u.s. history to be impeached? >> well, i don't feel like i'm being impeached because it's a hoax, it's a setup. it's a horrible thing they did. howard: joining us now to

analyze, mollie hemingway, fox news contributor, susan ferrechio, chief congressional correspondent for the washington examiner and jessica tarlov, a fox news contributor and "outnumbered" panelist. how are the media covering the party-line vote to impeach president trump, and do you see some spike of the political football. >> well, this was technically a vote done by democrats, but really always it was a media-led impeachment. within hours of president trump's inauguration, you have "the washington post" beginning the drum beat saying now the march to impeachment begins. and the idea was clearly to use the russia collusion narrative as a means to impeach, and when that fell apart, everyone quickly rolled into this ukraine situation. even though it was only democrats voting, it really was a media-led effort -- u. howard: why does the democratic party do whatever the media wants? >> you have to be joked that the media were the pr arm of the democratic party, and i think some people would say the media

leads that party more than anything. they did feel they had no other choice because of the way the coverage had been, their people were so needing this impeachment. howard: susan, all but three democrats voted for impeachment with one independent, not a single republican vote. is that as big a story, and do you agree with molly that media climate was a factor here? >> i think the media and the political parties field off each ore -- feed off each other, and i think mostly the mainstream media is liberal leaning. so there's some truth to that sort of ecosystem where i think feed off each other and that they had to go forward with impeachment because the media stories surrounding it would have been too hard to back down. the media always grabs on to the inpeachment story no matter what president it is because it's an exciting story, it's a major political story. and so that is true. i think the fact that only three democrats voted for it and that it was a very divided impeachment just reflects what was going on in the polls where

it's a very divided support in the polls. republican supporters don't like it, democrat supporters do, so that was part of the story. howard: only three democrats voted against it. first, let me play a sound bite from that battle creek rally because the president, in defending himself, also is beating up once again on the press. >> how do you know "the new york times" is totally dishonest or "the washington post" or abc is so bad, cbs, is so bad. nbc. i made a lot of money for nbc with "the apprentice," right? howard: your reaction. >> he says the same thing no matter what. i really don't think we can find any circumstance where the president wouldn't say it's a hoax, it's a witch hunt, it's a disgrace. he has, like, ten words that he loves to put out there, and that's the way he's going to do it. it was obviously intentional to have a rally going on at the same time. i mean, the split screen was really profound, right? to see nancy pelosi up there

gaveling that impeachment had gone through and the president bashing john dingell at the same time. but i would say about the media coverage that i disagree that this was media led insofar as there were democrats that came around to this, especially those who had worked in the intelligence community and served our country, the veterans who wrote that op-ed in "the washington post" about the ukraine case specificically and said it was a very hard road to get here. this was not something we thought should have been done about bob mueller and his report, but the times have found us. i don't think anyone can accuse max rose or mikey sheryl of being pushed to come to this decision because of media coverage. the ukraine case was unique, expect fact that it had a national security element to it made it very different. howard: let me turn to the post-impeachment battle or argument or debate because as everyone here nose, nancy pelosi told reporters that she's not ready to send the articles of

impeachment to the senate, she called mitch mcconnell a rogue lead arer. is the press buying her argument that she's trying to pressure mitch mcconnell into a fair senate trial? >> i think this is the first time you actually did see some break from the media, seeming to think she was embarrassing them with this approach. she had said the impeachment was urgent, claims there of obstrucf congress, it was not the best line of argument for what they had been saying all along leading to that. howard: jessica, for the press because trump's between and one of the several white house reactions to pelosi's maneuver, pelosi feels her phony impeachment hoax is so pathetic that she's afraid to present it to the senate which can sent a date and put this whole scam into default if they refuse to show up. it seems to me she provided a talking point. >> i don't think anyone realistically thinks nancy pelosi is afraid of what donald

trump is going to be saying on a twitter field or a rally. i personally think this should move as quickly as possible because no matter what you want, you're not going to get a fair trial in the senate, and mitch mcconnell and lindsey graham have both been clear about that. howard: so the media are public because they don't think she has any ability to influence mcconnell. >> what they're looking for is four republican senators to say, yes, we would like to hear from witnesses as well which is a key element to having a trial. >> tail, that's a really good point though, mcconnell was saying he wants to do the trial in the same way they did the clinton trial where you hear the cases made for and against, and then you decide whether to have witnesses. the idea that you would jump the ship there and move forward without having first had the cases made would be an outlier from how -- howard: as we heard at the top of the show, susan, a number of pundits ripped the president for that six-page letter to nancy pelosi, she's elfish, salem --

selfish, salem witch trials. how should the press deal with such personal political rhetoric? >> first of all, if you're just part of the press, you should cover the letter, coffer what his defense is of sending a letter like that. he is a president who people have been trying to impeach, talking about impeaching him since the day he was sworn into office. and i think that was reflected in the letter he sent to pelosi, that this has been a witch hunt and an attack on my presidency. that's the way i read the letter. you have to be a little bit objective in looking at the letter. i agree cover it, but, you know, the witches in salem, they got burned, right? that ended up a little bit worse -- howard: in 1989 i wrote a story about donald trump writing a blistering letter to hotel queen leona hemsley, calling her a disgrace to humanity. so he has been doing this for a while. look, the media argument now is, well, impeachment was inevitable. is anyone really surprised president trump is impeach end? his -- impeached? his defiance disregard for red

lines arguably make him an impeachment waiting to happen. >> i actually do think people are surprised. when he was elected, it was surprising for a lot of people. we are on year three plus of a temper tantrum where norms are being violated. this is the first time we've had an impeoplement with no crime. -- impeachment. you have a resistance that has done everything in its power whether fighting the electoral college, trying to do a 25th amendment -- howard: and you think the media's part of that resistance. >> of course they are. proudly so. howard: the flipside of arguing the democrats wanted to impeach -- >> the fact they voted against it numerous times? al green and maxine waters have been pushing that, and democrats have waited until a clearly impeachable offense. >> that's actually not true. there have been so many investigations -- [inaudible conversations] >> no, no, no. you can't look at -- the six committees in the house have been investigating trump for everything, and his family, for

years. howard: let me, let me -- >> hunting around, finally, finally they got something. [inaudible conversations] >> that's what's been going on. they're watching him. howard: the argument here is that many in the media believe that he deserved impeachment for the last three years going back to russia, stormy daniels, all the other things that were thrown at him. and when you crane came -- ukraine came along, it was like, a that, now we're aha, now we're done. >> i understand that argument. i give weight to it. i think people are entitled, obviously, to their opinions, but it does matter that democrats have not brought articles of impeachment before, that there were outliers in the party who have been running around saying that, and frankly, when the mueller report came out, there were a number of people who were not members of the media, but lawyers and constitutional scholars who said you could make a clear case that there was obstruction of justice from the special counsel report. and if not for the olc

guidelines, robert mueller would have actually recommended -- >> he said he won't do that. he said it had nothing -- howard: all right. i want to close on this, which is that a washington post appropriator posted a tweeted photo of her and some colleagues right after the impeachment vote. the headline was merry impeachments from the wapo team. a lot of people online said this looked like they were celebrating impeachment, she said it was misinterpreted, they were just getting a break for the holidays. marty barron told cnn that the tweet was ill-considered but also misconstrued. >> appropriators go out for -- appropriators go out for -- reporters go out for drinks after the end of a big story. there is the perception that the media is biased, that's a bad mix. >> not the misperception, there's just the reality. of course t fine to go out and have a drink, nobody thinks if barack obama had been impeached there would have been this tweet with this festive hash tag. howard: they might still have

gone out for drinks, but this probably would have been a different caption. i've got to get a break here. when we come back, rudy giuliani makes a striking admission about his ukraine work. and later, a look at cable interviews with andrew mccabe and lisa page. did they get off easy? ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ howard: rudy giuliani went to ukraine with a reporter for one american news, functioning almost as a cohost. language not usually heard in a news report. >> we talked to witnesses who destroy adam schiff's base lis impeachment case. -- baseless impeachment case. democratic 'em peoplement delusions and nefarious charms against giuliani. giuliani debunks some central premises. howard: giuliani acknowledged he led an effort to oust marie yovanovitch because he viewed her as disloyal. he confirmed to the new york times he gave his information to mike pompeo and believes she should have been fired. as for the new yorker story? >> now, this hit piece -- and it's a hit piece -- also has you on the record admitting that you forced out marie yovanovitch. you said you needed her out of

the way, but you're personal attorney for the president, why did you need her out of the way? >> i forced her out because she's corrupt. howard: so was rudy giuliani confirming he forced her out? doesn't this show at least on this one point that the media were right? >> first off, i just want to say that that language in that news report is exactly what you hear in a lot of news reports, it's usually not done in favor of a republican. but as for what he's saying, i feel like he said stuff like this before. it definitely matches some of the testimony that we heard about his opposition to this ambassador. but really it just gets back to the main issue, does the president have the right to handle foreign policy, to have people in positions as he wants them or not. some people seem to think that the bureaucracy should be in charge of foreign policy, and that is not constitutional, and that's what this whole debate is about. howard: but, jessica, giuliani's detractors say this was a smear campaign, there's no evidence

that yovanovitch was corrupt or disloyal and that he needed -- it was an on the record quote from the mayor, that he needed her out of the way. >> rudy giuliani goes on tv regularly and confesses to -- i'm going to say crimes, but confesses to the things he's been accused of, and then he -- [inaudible] i'm saying whatever he's being accused of, there is a t clip of him admitting to do it. he does this regularly. he did it with ed henry a few weeks ago. howard: he's transparent. >> he's transparently corrupt, yes. and the president's personal lawyer has no business doing this. it is important that it was a central plank of the intel committee hearings where adam schiff was overseeing and the conversations we're having about marie yovanovitch about their being a back channel that rudy giuliani was running, which is wholly inappropriate. he's not a government employee, he is a personal fixer for the president. howard: right, okay, but oh presidents -- other presidents is have had --

>> administration officials were involved in that. howard: not just liberals have said why did giuliani take an oin camera crew to ukraine because regardless of whether you liked the report, he was generating more press as president trump was in the process of being impeached. >> i don't know. i don't know why his interview to the new yorker, it's baffling. what's really important for the media, this is really crazy how he just, it's all about what rudy giuliani is doing and not about what he's talking about which, i think, deserves more scrutiny. as you just said, he's being transparent. about what? that he thinks there was something there with yovanovitch getting them in the way of examining potential corruption in the 20 16 presidential campaign. that gets no attention from the media. it's dismissed outright as a fabrication when there's been reporting saying there may be truth to that. and that is the neglected part of this -- >> this is a dangerous road to

go down. this is why senator kennedy had to apologize after -- >> then he came back on -- that's actually not true. >> and marco rubio and everyone who was on senate intel -- [inaudible conversations] lies about what happened in 2016. howard: we're short on time. giuliani blames the media for, he sees their out to get him, and he blames the media for not sufficiently covering the hunter biden scandal, so he says he has to push it out there. >> it's not about the hunter biden scandal. everyone knows what happened with joe biden carrying out the foreign policy by the u.s. and our allies in the west to push out a corrupt, and if i hear you breathing heavily when i say this. joe biden was executing western foreign policy here. the president of the united states of america leveraged the united states' power, congressionally-appropriated money, for personal gain. joe biden was his rival. howard: i'm going to bring molly n. new york daily news headline, rudy giuliani hatched the scheme

that got trump impeached, and he's not done yet. >> it's clear the media do not want to deal with the underlying issues in play. one is the role that ukrainian officials played in 2016, how they did not want trump elect ld, how they had something to do with the manafort ledger -- howard: in dispute. >> the other thing is just the corruption of the biden family. the biden family benefited financially while joe wilden was the point person -- biden was the point person in ukraine. there's been a little bit of reporting but nowhere near what we need to have for someone who could be the next president of the united states. howard: on that note, have a great holiday. ahead we'll talk to a top republican and a top democrat about the coverage of inpeachment. but up next, two normer fbi officials -- former fbi officials talk to cnn and msnbc, we'll take a closer look. ♪

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♪ ♪ howard: two former fbi officials who were at the center of the russia probe have now stepped into the cable news spotlight. lisa page -- who wrote those incriminating anti-trump texts do -- has been repeatedly attacked by trump and got a very sympathetic hearing from msnbc's rachel maddow. >> why speak now on your own to terms? >> when the president finally did that vile sort of simulated sex act in a, you know, rally in minneapolis, i just finally had to accept it's not getting better. howard: mad dow did ask about the infamous text message to page from strzok who said they would provide an insurance policy against trump's election. >> can you explain to us tonight what was meant by, for example, the insurance policy text message? >> we're using an analogy. we're talking about whether or not we should take certain investigative steps or not based

on the likelihood that he's going to be president or not. do i wish he hadn't sent it? yes. it's been mutilated to death, and it's been used to bludgeon an institution i love. howard: page was rather fortunate to be questioned by maddow. andrew mccabe who came under criminal investigation is now a cnn contributor. so after the i.g. found many instances of fbi misconduct in the fisa warrant process, wolf blitzer had some hard questions. >> very serious misconduct on your watch. this wasn't just sloppiness, these were brutal mistakes, deliberate errors, concealments involving search warrant surveillance activities of an american citizen. >> the biggest mistake, i think, is the process that was in place essentially left so much responsibility on the lowest level of fbi agents and supervisors. howard: wolf asked very solid questions, but it didn't last long. a few segments, a few questions, maybe, at the end of a segment.

wouldn't cnn have done a long interview with mccabe if he wasn't on the pay fellow and now that "the new york times" is reporting that a federal prosecutor is examining the role of former cia director john brennan in the probe, will he be grilled by his network? not so far. he's an msnbc contributor. ahead, elizabeth warren and pete buttigieg mix it up one day after the impeachment. but first, tony sigh yesterday with the white house view of the battle oh impeachment. ♪ ♪ bringing families together. this time of year, that's really important. so we're making it easier than ever to become part of our family. man: that's why our chevy employee discount is now available to everyone. the chevy price you pay is what we pay. not a cent more. family is important to us. and we'd like you to be part of ours. so happy holidays. and welcome to the family. the chevy family!

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♪ ♪ howard: joining us now from new york with the president's perspective is tony sigh yesterday, senior former white house adviser and one-time fox news contributor. tony, nancy pelosi, as you know, has been holding back the articles of impeachment saying she wants to pressure the senate into a fair trial. even the press has been skeptical, not clear what she's

trying to accomplish. how does this affect the president and your planning? >> howie, it's good to be with you. thanks for having me. look, i think it's two things. number one, she's exposed what we've been saying all along, which this is a complete sham, and impeachment's been weaponized on a hyperpartisan basis to be a political tactic against the president. not what the constitution and our framers had all intended for impeachment, number one. number two, after completely controlling the process in the house, completely depriving the president of any rights in that process, no rebuttal evidence allowed to be introduced by our side, they controlled all the witnesses, okay? they still could not prove their case. they advanced two of the weakest articles in the history of impeachment that don't even is have in them the crimes they alleged throughout the entire hearing in the house that he admitted bribery, torsion -- extortion, quid pro quo. so now she's stalling this after completely convincing her caucus that they have to rush to vote

by christmas x., you know, howie, i heard on wednesday from house democrats that no one is above the law, but they're treating the president like he's beneath the law. nobody deserves this type of unfair treatment. howard: the president said, we played this earlier, that it doesn't really feel like he's being impeached. each though it was clearly on a party-line vote, the media certainly acting like this is a crucial and historic moment and democracy is at stake. is so is the president trying to create an alternative reality? >> look, i think he's expressing what a lot of americans are saying, which is that people understand this is unfortunately a completely hyperpartisan sham process. not what impeachment should ever have been. it's an abuse of congress' power that nancy pelosi and adam schiff have put on the country. and the president's focused on doing his job, serving the american people. think about the last month alone, howie, what we've had by way of the job market record stock market, wages and paychecks going up for the first

time in ten years, two major trade deals with our biggest trade partners. and when you talk about the media a coverage, there was an analysis done in november that showed 96% of the coverage on the evening news networks were negative stories on impeachment. okay? there was a poll of morning -- howard: hold on. it's kind of hard to write a lot of positive stories when a president is being impeached for the third time in american history. which is not to say there's not another side, and certainly the republicans need to be covered. but, you know -- >> we're not talking. howard: -- it is a huge story. >> they don't have to be positive, they have to be fair and balanced, and they're not. it's completely skewed. and in another poll in november, 60% of americans -- this is important to the media if they want to have the credibility to be able to deliver news to the american people -- 60% of americans said that impeachment was more important to the media than to them. in that same poll, 36% said -- 66% said it was important to politicians more than them. so they basically they the media and the democratic politicians are basically together on this.

that's a very are bad way to be perceived by the american people who of to have the credibility with to deliver the news. howard: that might explain why the president continues to beat up on major news organizations whose coverage he believes to be fair, and sometimes he's taken some shots at fox as well. i want to turn to something that the president has said that's drawn a lot of criticism at the valuely in michigan where he talked about -- rally in michigan where he talked about debbie dingell and reference to her late husband, late congressman john dingell. this is the president describing a phone call they had after john dingell's death. >> thank you so much. john would be so thrilled. he's looking down, he'd be so thrilled. thank you so much, sir. i said that's okay, don't worry about it. maybe he's looking up, i don't know. >> i love my husband, as you well know. we had a love affair most never have, and it's going to be -- it's been a hard holiday season. he said what he said, and it hurt. i'll leave it at that.

howard: brit hume said the comments were gratuitous and politically dumb, neil cavuto said beyond crew, even some of his supporters in politics said he should a apologize. lindsey graham said it wasn't funny. so why did he say this about a congressman who's no longer with us? >> well, howie, let's not forget what he was talking about. he had the flag flown at half staff to honor the death and the legacy of congressman john ding el. we, obviously, respect his memory and his legacy. we respect the service of his wife who now has his congressional seat. howie, you see what's happening. the president's been attacked relentlessly for over five -- since he came down the escalator at trump tower. we say the last three years, it's actually been longer than that. and, you know, he was at a rally, and the president speaks his mind. that's what we've come to expect of him. you don't have to like everything he says, but he's authentic. that's why i think so many american people feel a connection to him, and they know he's always been able to speak

what's on his mind. howard: you know, the press halls also been very critical lately of senator mitch mcconnell for saying he's working very closely with the white house and people like you on the senate trial, that there's not going to be any difference between the two sides. and the criticism from the media is he's hardly an impartial juror. your thoughts. >> look, i think it's going to be pretty hard to believe that chuck schumer's an impartial juror either. clearly, there is going to be an opportunity in the senate to grant the president a fair process that he was deprived in the house. i believe we'll get there. don't forget in 1999 the precedent set by the clinton impeachment had 100 senators voting for it. and i do think leader mcconnell wants to have a bipartisanly-approved process, something, again, that did not happen in the house and one that gives the president his real rights and ap opportunity to have a fair trial. howard: and finally, tony, with the president -- and, of course, he's had this battle with what he calls fake news pretty much from the campaign on, but the continuing attacks on the media

and the media coverage of impeachment u is he now running in 2020 as much against the media as he is against the democrats and against impeachment, which the campaign is advertising about? they think it helps your side. >> look, howie, i do think i would turn that question on the other side. you have to really look at the media coverage of this president since the very beginning and really try to figure out is it beyond just bias. has the media given the president and his supporters a reason to believe that they're part of the resistance against him? in some instances i think that could be an argument that the president certainly could make. at the end of this whole thing, what donald trump does z is directly communicates with the american people. that's why he's as successful as he is and that's why you see the support for him increasing throughout this entire process. people know that the president is fighting for them, and what a they say is democrats and only members of the media who are attacking him.

that's not the way you get support from the american people is to attack a guy who they think is standing up for them. howard: i think some try to be fair, and that's where the debate lies. we very much appreciate you being here, good to see you. >> thanks, howie. howard: coming up, a liberal radio host responds on nancy pelosi's slow-walking maneuver and the president's swipe at debbie dingell's husband and more. stay with us. ♪ ♪ ♪ everything your trip needs for everyone you love. expedia.

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♪ ♪ howard: joining us now from new york is chris hahn, radio host, former chuck schumer aide whose podcast is called the aggressive progressive. chris, welcome. the president constantly deannounce impeachment, the coverage -- denouncing. you heard tony talking about. that they basically say that major media outlets are partners with the democrats in pushing impeachment. your thoughts. >> i mean, look, they gotta coffer impeachment, right? it's a huge story. this is the first president -- this is a president who got impeached by more votes in congress than any other president in american history. of course, there were fewer members of congress. it's a huge story. it has to be covered. it's not going to be a positive story for the president, and i see a lot of pounding of the chest of the president and his supporters and how this is going to be good for them. i don't think it's going to be good for them. when we look back at clinton, it wasn't really good for him

either. the impeachment happened after his last midterm when he was president, and then he could not get al gore elected president despite a good economy and a good record of accomplishment for bill clinton. so it's not always a good thing. howard: let me ask you about this editorial in "commission tanty today," circulation are about 90,000. it's created a bit of a storm, coming out for the president's removal saying he is morally lost and confused, saying his actions on ukraine were profoundly immoral, and president responding on twitter calling it a far-left magazine, the magazine, by the way, founded by billy graham. and then the president says would you rather have a radical left non-believer, who wants to take your religion and your guns? does that hurt him in the evangelical community? >> yes, it definitely does. i grew up as a evangelical. here's the thing. the president needs all of the evangelical vote, and any crack

in that vote hurts hill. the margins of error for him and the margin of victory is very, very small. so this absolutely will hurt him in the long run. but i don't know what their saying -- they're saying about saying a far-left person9 if the president is removed, mike pence gets elected, becomes president. his evangelical credentials are far superior to donald trump's evangelical -- howard: let me just jump in. now, the editor who wrote this editorial who's stepping down, it turns out, says he doesn't think he changed many minds and with sport from franklin -- support from franklin graham and others, there is still overwhelming support for this community for the president. >> yeah. it i amazes me the support the president has in the evangelical community. we need not look further than his response about congressman dingell, the president is

casually cruel. that is not the evangelical community that i grew up in. that is not what christ would have put up with. so i don't understand how they are still so supportive of this man. they have sold their soul to the devil for a couple of votes on the courts. howard: well, that leads me to a larger question. when the president says something, and he says a lot of things that makes the press go haywire, like the comments about john dingell, the letter to nancy pelosi, it never seems to shake his standing with his support earth. it's almost like they're immune to almost anything the president says probably in part because most of them don't trust the press. >> i think the president has done a pretty good job at getting his base to not trust the press. i think that's bad for the republic. i think it's bad for the future of our country. the press is supposed to be -- is not supposed to be calling balls and strike, it's supposed to be putting the facts out there, and that's what they do. when the president says something ridiculous, the press calls him out on it. even fox news and some

conservative media outleapts will say things -- yacht lets will say things are off. but his supporters in both congress and the general public refuse to acknowledge any wrongdoing most of the time -- howard: chris, i've got 20 seconds. you think that none of the coverage of this president is unfair? that none of it is hostile to him? >> i think that any politician could judge any coverage hostile towards them. that's what they do. look, i worked in poll tibs for years. -- politics for years. we used to be upset with the press sometimes. you know this, howie, you know that the politicians always hate their coverage in the press. howard: that part is true. the president, it seems to be particularly vociferous. chris hahn, happy holidays. >> thanks for having me, howie. howard: still to come, pbs asked the democratic debaters about the lack of minority candidates and candidates of color, a slew of liberal issues. that's coming up next. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ howard: democratic debate sponsored by pbs "newshour" and politico got zero buildup because of of this impeachment thing that happened the night before. elizabeth warren did mix it up with pete buttigieg. >> the may corps just recently had a fundraiser that was held

in a wine cave full of crystals and served $900 a bottle wine. >> i am literally the only person on this stage who's not a millionaire or a billionaire. this is the problem with issuing purity e tests you cannot yourself pass. howard: joining us now from charlottesville is larry sabato who runs the university of virginia's institute of politics. first, would you agree that pete buttigieg has generally gotten very positive press, and the pundits were waiting to see whether he could take a few punches and hit back? >> that's absolutely true. in fact, it's been true since the beginning, howie. if you go back to his announcement in the month or two afterwards, it was almost completely positive which candidates rarely do, particularly ones who don't have much of a thick resumé, and she certainly does not. howard: just for the record, elizabeth warren was wrong when

she said it was a closed fundraiser, and it was not quite as expensive as it sounded. want to go to another sound bite where andrew yang was asked about the lack of diversity on the stage. >> it's both an honor and disappointment to be a lone candidate of color on the stage tonight. i miss camilla, i miss cory. >> i want to get back to the issue of climate change for a moment because i do believe this is the existential issue. >> senator, with all respect, the question is about race. can you answer the questions as it was asked? howard: what did you think of bernie trying to change the subject and in a broader way, this whole media debate among democrats that somehow perhaps racism and sexism isn't involved because these are the candidates that have made it this far? >> look, the democrats have sold this year's group of candidates as most diverse ever. they mention it constantly are, both as individual candidates and as a a party.

don't be surprised when it comes back and bites you as it did at that debate when they didn't have but one person of color on there. and the other thing, howie, they forgot the lesson of 2016, the democratic party did. they have got, i think, a ridiculous polling standard which they change constantly to get on the debate stage. hey, what did we learn in 2016? polls aren't gospel. these precise distinctions they're making between and among candidates probably aren't accurate. howard: well, standards or no standards, it's not the press that forced kamala harris to end her campaign. i'd just make that point. and also, i personally thought bernie sanders was tone deaf in trying to duck that question and turn it back to climate change. >> sure. of course. howard: overall, this debate was seen by six million people, the lowest of the season for these debates. i thought the moderators did a good job, but almost every question -- a couple of exceptions -- seemed to come from a liberal checklist; helping the dreamers ors helping transgender people, providing

free college, climate change. your thoughts on that and whether it's been overshadowed by impeachment. >> well, it certainly was overshadowed. look, the democratic party is the liberal party. the republican party is the conservative party. i guess they asked most of those questions because they're the ones being debated by the candidates in iowa, in new hampshire and in other states. tim alberta was on the panel, and he was with national review for a long time. he's with politico now, but he was with national review. i think he added some diversity to the panel. the key thing is, howie, in the general election it's really important to get balanced questions. some should come from the left, some should come from the right, some from the middle. howard: i think it's a more provocative debate. harry sabato, love having you on. thanks very much. that is it for this edition of "mediabuzz". i'm howard kurtz, merry christmas and happy hanukkah to all of you. check out my podcast, subscribe at apple itunes, google

play. we also hope you like our facebook page. we post my daily columns there, but i'm going to take a couple days off in the next week. hope you have a great holiday, see you back here next sunday with the latest buzz. ♪ ♪ . .

♪. ed: fresh off what he likes to call impeachment light, president trump rallying young conservatives in a fiery address, putting democrats especially speaker nancy pelosi on notice ahead of the new year. he focuses in on the economy appears to be humming right along in time for the 2020 re-election battle. welcome to "america's news headquarters." i'm ed henry the president airing frustrations at turning point usa conference in west palm as nancy pelosi delays sending impeachment articles to the senate. the president