♪ ♪ ♪ howie: welcome to media buzz, i'm howard kurtz in washington. let's start with headlines, with coronavirus death toll passing 67,000 in the united states. yale school of public health say the number may be under stated in report done to washington post, more than 1300 excess deaths in the first six weeks but not attribute d to covid-19. the senate returns to washington tomorrow but the house drawing criticism for staying at home. both chambers rejected white house offer to provide virus

test for all lawmakers. as president trump shifts his strategy on the pandemic dropping the daily task force briefings in favor of one-on-one sessions with the press corp., we will get to that in a moment. the media rolled out a new charge that he yelled at campaign manager over lousy numbers. >> the president i'm told that he erupted on brat pasquel. >> he's in a complete meltdown, threatening at one point. i think he was threatening to sue campaign manager. >> the president reportedly lashing over his reelection prospects amid the pandemic because right now the math looks bad. howie: washington post drew angry retorts from the president.

just told that cnn is falsely reporting that i was shouting at campaign manager. actually he's doing a good job. trump also called msnbc host nicole wallace a third-rate lap dog and a dog fired from the view. joining us to analyze the coverage matthew cotinetti. gillian turner and in fox jessica tarlov. these are leaks in which unnamed sources are telling president trump that they ripped over polls trailing him in certain states. is that enough to warrant the president melting down segments. matthew: i think the president has been melting down and hasn't

changing political fortunes all that much, though, i think president trump understand that he's taking a political hit in the response of coronavirus and you can see in the way they changed format of the briefings as you mentioned. howie: we will come back that to the that later. he ripped joe scarborough, called don lemon dumber, do these are resonance with the president's supporters. the problem that everybody knows, we are in the middle of the global pandemic so for the rest of the american people, i think it's sometimes a bit unsettling to see degree to which the president is focused

on slamming cable news when arguably much more important urgent things to be focused on. quick comment, howie on the other story, brad pascal story, the tale of 2016 polling but playing out in reverse. the story was one where hillary clinton was towards big loss to president trump but didn't see it because the polls weren't telling her that. this is the opposite of that so it's interesting. howie: right, supposedly internal polls involved. jessica, since all presidents occasionally losing temper, are the pundits sort of using this incident as a metaphor for in their view the president being overwhelmed by the pandemic? jessica: absolutely, this is just the flavor of the day. i'm sure that we will have a bombshell of the president going off on somebody in the campaign

or the administration. we know that he's been voicing frustration about the fact that he got caught back-footed or ignored intelligent briefings or dr. fauci himself through the month of february about what kind of toll the pandemic was going to take on americans and the preparations that he should be providing in advance for that so this just seems kind of par for the core for me. that's the president's style. i do think it's net positive for the american people that the format of the briefing has changed. i think that the president does much better and then hopefully we can hear from medical experts and the coronavirus task force. howie: well, i have more thoughts on that. the washington post reported that officials had warned on the president's daily that back in january, february, according to story that the virus in china could have deadly consequences for the u.s.

now that story got heavy play on cnn and msnbc, scan coverage on fox news, as former white house official how significant do you think that story is? gillian: covering intelligence reports is always very tricky, very thorny business and reporters have to thread very carefully and i say this because normally reporting is not based on firsthand information, reporters don't normally get to see the underlying intelligence documents, they are relying on what their source who is have seen them are telling them about them so there's always an added distance built into the equation. i also know from firsthand experience that interpretation of intelligence counters for a lot. i lived through this when people attacked condoleezza rice and george bush, that they should have known that 911 was coming because intelligence reports told them prior to september 11

that al-qaeda was planning something. there's a big gap of getting a heads up and implementing some kind of policy to prevent it. that's where you become, it's a slippery slope. howie: well, let's take a look, matthew at one one of the sharpr exchanges the president had this week with hunter walker. matthew: mr. president north korea has done 5 times more test per capita? >> you're going to apologize, yahoo. that's why you're yahoo. well, your facts are wrong. howie: hunter walker apologized he did get the numbers wrong. matthew: this is important for the white house and the press. facts are very important in a

national emergency, such as this. you know, trump's political strength is to define himself, howie, against the cultural or educational at least in this country represented by the media, so i expect him to do more of this to solidify his base in the coming months. howie: on the other hand, jessica, aside from the twitter attacks i mentioned earlier, the president was more restrained this week even when he was questioned by jim acosta and others, could this be a response to criticism including from his own allies that the on-camera dueling with journalists was not helping him? jessica: i'm loathe to say and to try to guess of what has caused the change. i don't know if next weeks goes back to normal, the heighten and hysteria that was the week before that and i think that matthew brings up a good point

that the press being hungry for the confrontations as well and it's 24-hour news cycle and there are people that are dying for click bait and then you the reality tv star president who likes to click bait and he likes to get into it and that's how vents frustration not only at the press who he has made, quote, the enemy of the people, from the beginning but how much more serious for the american public, the coronavirus has ended up being. i don't think he estimated that he would be looking at 65,000 person death toll at this point and we are not close to done. howie: yeah, we are picking up on your word, people are dying on click bait when many people are dying. matthew, why do you think the president ended the coronavirus briefings or at least for this week and substituted in a couple of instances solo news conferences, do you think that's an easier for hot for him without the medical experts there? matthew: somewhat easier but i also think that the white house

wanted to shift toward a positive message. you know, with the daily coronavirus briefings brought a lot of bad news and there's a lot of bad news in this country right now, but president trump always wants to think positively and that's why he's talking about possible curious and reopening the country and new shift allows him to get more shift-footed on his messaging even though he needs to confront the realities of both the virus and the economy. howie: jessica, the president did have dr. fauci in oval office event but by in large we are not seeing dr. fauci and deborah birx and others, is that because he doesn't want to be contradicted at times by medical experts or as matthew says he wants to move away and talk about reopening the economy and other forward-looking initiatives? jessica: i think

it would be both those. dr. fauci, he got snl from bad pretty who he requested to play him if he was ever on snl. i'm sure he rubbed the president the wrong way and now we have kayleigh mcenany, newly minted secretary, i've known kayleigh for years. we can pick apart some of the things that she says, he has her out there and she's been a fighter for him for years and i think he's -- >> howie: more on that. vice president getting hammered over visit to mayo clinic. >> you can look him in the eye wearing a mask, the governor wearing a mask, everyone else wore a mask but not mike pence. >> of course, it's not. they know it.

howie: so mike pence criticized for not wearing mask. he said he had been tested and he didn't feel the need. why was this such a media controversy? >> well, it was a media controversy because it was an unforced error on the vice president's part. the easiest thing in the world is to just put on the mask and that way he could have avoided the conversation and avoided the scrutiny and the fight that played out afterwards, there's also the argument put the science aside as to whether a mask 100% guaranties prevention against anything and if you want to lead by example then you have to lead by example. howie: very symbolic story, ahead something on the coverage of new eye-popping developments in michael flynn case. joe biden denying sexual assault allegations at msnbc. that's next.

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♪ ♪ ♪ howie: after weeks of silence and media coverage joe biden went on msnbc morning joe and questioned by mika brzezinski. mika: did you ever sexual assault tara reade? why do you she's doing it. >> i'm not going to question her motive, i don't know why she's saying this, i don't know why after 27 years this all of a

sudden gets raised. howie: gillian turner i got into a skeptical because mika brzezinski is liberal and friendly with joe biden, how did she do? gillian: that was no softball interview, howie, he opened that interview with a description of the assault allegation itself. she came at him with all of the facts and came with him with tough uncomfortable questions. i think she proved in this interview that against the detractors that it was going to be a liberal and softball interview entirely. i will also say that seems like the former vice president was lacking in the interview ironically was what brett kavanaugh brought to his defense, empathy for his accusers' experience. remember when kavanaugh said during hearings that he believed that something terrible happened to his accuser, he believed she

was sexual assaulted by someone, it just wasn't him. he got a lot of flak for that line but ironically that's a line that would have served vice president biden very well in the interview not just to say i give credence to this woman's experience but defend himself on top of that obviously. howie: let me pick up on that, i think mika was superb and i hope she could asked about papers. as gillian, joe biden was halting at first but never waived from saying that anything has happened, your thoughts? matthew: right now we are at an impasse and makes it important that biden open up archive at the university of delaware so we can at least try to see if

there's any documentary evidence for tara reade's claim. i think it's interesting too, howie that the liberal editorial board washington post and new york times have called for exactly this and puts the biden campaign in a delicate position while he did request that the national archives look through the material, still not opened up the university of delaware archive and i think that's the next shoe to drop. howie: right, well, tara reade has said that she filed a complaint and no one yet found 1993 and harassment complaint and now tells the associated press that there was no mention of sexual assault or harassment in the complaint because she was too scared. jessica, in television terms was joe biden caught in between he didn't do this, never happened, period, yes, of course, tara reade and other women should be heard, women should always be heard, was that a difficult dilemma for him? jess yes, sir i don't know that it was a difficult dilemma and that's consistently that joe biden has felt that we should

listen to women and believe them and also to investigate. it's a precarious position to be in. someone with joe biden's career having never been accused of something this serious. it wasn't until last year unless i'm missing something from the other decades that he has been in public office was the first time that we heard anything about him making a women even feeling uncomfortable because of the hair sniffing or holding onto shoulders too tight and the idea that we have gone on from an accusation like that to, you know, digitally penetrating someone in a hallway i'm sure has really shook him and dr. joe biden as well. i was thrilled that he came out and talked about it. i think we should do more interviews, actually, until this issue goes away if it is to ever go away and it'll be interesting to see what tara reade does. there's a rumor that she was going to be with chris wallace this weekend and then she pulled out of that. i do wonder if she will do a televised interview. howie: tara reade did plan to

appear in fox but she received death threats or his family received threats. it was so little media coverage, many outlets ignoring, it didn't force his hand so to speak as would normally be the case. matthew, tight on time, some pundits reactions to allegations against the former vice president has been o, yeah, what about the dozen or more women that accused president trump of harassment and the president telling i guess i'm been speaking up for him and turns it a little bit. matthew: yes, the trump accusations are in the media and he's asked about them and i think you raised a question point, howie, we went 5 weeks, 19 interviews with joe biden, 112 questions before mika finally asked him whether the accusation was true. i think the media did feel here

and i'm glad we are investigating the story. howie: we will have more a bit later in the program. thank you all, jessica tarlov, gillian turner and matthew continetti, when we come back more of interview with cooper with a protective shield to target weeds precisely and kill them right down to the root. roundup brand. trusted for over 40 years. and 24 hour relief from symptoms caused byn. over 200 indoor and outdoor allergens. like those from buddy. because nothing should come between two best friends. feel the clarity, and live claritin clear.

howie: politico has issued correction for egregious error involving president trump. the headline says trump owes tens of millions to bank of china and the loan is due soon except that's not true. the state-owned chinese bank told politico it sold off refinancing debt soon after the deal back in 2012, meaning the president's company has owed the bank nothing for 8 years. the correction took another 3

days, senator told staff that they committed basic and inexcusable and we didn't ask bank of china. >> covid-19 gave me a beating physically and mentally for 2 weeks and i took a third to recoup, body ache, chills, fevers and caused my husband a lot of tears. i never knew when it would end. itit was relentless. howie: well, at a time when we are losing so many people anderson cooper was able to announce a new life. >> on monday i became a father. i've never actually said that before out loud and it's still

kind of astonishes me. i'm a dad. i have a son and i want you to meet him. this is wyatt cooper, he's 3 day's old. howie: cnn anchor said that as a gay man he never thought he would have kids. he was able to hire a surrogate. congratulations. more ahead on how biden denials are rolling politics and the stunning revelations in the michael flynn case. stay with us. with personal care, housekeeping, and of course, meal preparation. oh, that smells so good. aw, and it tastes good, too.

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♪ ♪ ♪ howie: quick look at headlines. there was a growing backlash for china for initial botching and coverup of the coronavirus outbreak. president trump says the administration is conducting serious investigations, australia wants inquiry and some governments are threatening to

sue and beijing responding with tough tone that according to new york times. and george w. bush is urging americans in video message put aside differences and prevail after 911, let us remember how small our differences are in the face of this shared threat. why did joe biden finally agree to morning joe interview and denied tara reade's allegation, the tide turned after many weeks when business insider neighbor linda lacoste said tara told her about the assault in 1990's. >> you heard her, you don't believe her, you believe joe biden? >> what i'm say asking that "the new york times" investigation of her allegations, "the new york times" investigation does not support the accusations against

the president. i believe the biden i know. howie: joining us to analyze kat temp and leslie measural, kat has obviously addressed this in msnbc, what does that tell you the joe biden campaign was clinging to the point that new york times investigated this and found out that it didn't happen and forced the times to come out and say, no, that didn't happened at all, we had information that was favorable and unfavorable to tara reade. >> kat: yeah, i don't understand the move. it's not like people can go back and read the article and see that it did in fact, not exonerate him at all and he had to address it, i think, because it got to the point where people were saying, hey, you keep in the past you said believe all women and we never said you had to say that. that's the standard that you

voiced upon yourself and you need to explain because now you are facing these allegations from a woman, what say you about this. he really didn't have a choice but to address this. howie: right. leslie, what do you make of stacy abrams running for presidential nod, using discredited talking point and amy klobuchar and kamala harris say tara reade should be heard but we believe joe. leslie: i wrote an article that i believe joe biden, it's not "the new york times" but i as a victim believe any victim male or female that comes forward. you to investigate 2 to 8% of claims are false, over 90% of the majority are true. if you look at why they came out, doesn't have to be "the new york times", i'm tired of people saying quite frankly. he should have come out a long time ago. they were hoping it would go

away. in addition like "the new york times" washington post coming out with stories, now you are having women's groups coming out and pushing and from within the democratic party saying, you must address this. even president trump when he was running for president he did address it, didn't happen, boom, move on and joe biden should have done that. howie: it's interesting kat, because there was 19-day delay before new york times and washington post diddalses and it was crickets and business insider. the piece by rich mccue working on the harvey weinstein story, he took it to vanity fair, we are seeing developments in the story coming from not necessarily the nation's not top news organizations. howie: i wish we could see accusations of sexual harassment or any misconduct be treated as a political issue, but unfortunately a lot of people do

that regardless of party affiliation, people are more willing to believe something if it's against the opposing party and i just think that that's so wrong. i really think that in general we should see this as more of a human issue and, again, i think that we need to look at each individual allegations as a human issue. look at the evidence, look at what's been corroborated, look at -- don't let politics come into question here with what you cover or do not cover because that hurts all victims, because you don't want to say, okay, well, if i come out about my story then i will have my side on my team but i won't have the other side on my team. it's just a gross way to treat the issue and we have been seeing this happen for years. howie: but on that point, leslie. msnbc had exclusive friday morning, friday night, two different prime time shows and didn't make mention, including rachel maddow and cnn didn't have a word about the biden

allegations, they were focusing on the coronavirus and one msnbc host who did cover chris hayes, we have to grapple with this even though it's somebody on our side, he got hit with #on twitter fire chris hays for doing his job. >> you know what, howie, it's terrible, he was doing his job, a journalist is technically is supposed to report the facts and let the viewers decide, let the general public decide. that's what i was decided in broadcast journalism 101, journalism 101 of any kind o. it shows how divisive our nation but vitriol both left and right and that's just wrong. i would high-five kat on what she said, i'm a woman first. i believe some of clinton accusers, i certainly believed donald trump accusers and al

frank's accusers, if he didn't do it, he would get -- >> howie: if we weren't practices social distancing you could high-five kat. [laughter] howie: she appeared to plan on fox news this weekend and dropped the plans after online harassment and death threats, obviously that's terrible development but she also told "the new york times" that cnn and msnbc haven't asked to interview her. kat, even if you think the story is bogus, why not have her on, she would make news, you can press her, i don't quite understand. >> kat: it is clearly some motive other than reporting the news as should be reported. we are talking about allegation where there has been a corroboration against a presidential candidate, so it's not like there should be any question of should we or should we not cover this.

when you are a news anchor, you are supposed to ask the question how do i keep people informed on what's going on that's important. when people are coming out against chris hays, this is going to make it easier for president trump, you shouldn't be asking that question if you're doing your job correctly. howie: ap finding two more corroborating witnesses, tara reade told them about time, we still don't know, let me get a break, when we come back selective coverage of former white house security adviser michael flynn.

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it's for the well-being of your community and will help shape america's future. ♪ howie: newly released documents in michael flynn case showing agents debating how to handle security adviser who is now trying to overturn conviction for lying to the bureau. what's our goal, truth, admission or to get him to lie so we can prosecute him or get him fired, that prompted fiery criticism from the president and from some fox news commentators. >> do you still believe he lied to the vice president and the fbi, shouldn't hi be punished for that? >> i hope that cnn not only apologize which they should but cover fairly because he's in the process of being exonerated. you look at the notes from yesterday that was total

exoneration, that was dirty, filthy cops at the top of the fbi. >> anybody that believes that the laws should be applied fairly should be utterly scandalized and outraged by this. this is a classic case of the fbi setting out to entrap someone h. >> he was unfairly and ungistly targeted by deep state bureaucrats that clearly with all of the evidence now to prove it wanted to take him down. howie: kat tempf, looks awful, looks like a trap, not a legal term but it stinks. >> kat: this is something that shouldn't be talking as politically as it is or in the case of cnn or msnbc not really covering it, the silence is also saying something here. i don't think it's correct when president trump says that this totally exonerates him because

he still did lie, you're not supposed to lie. that to me truly pails in comparison to the fact that fbi agents are supposed to be public servants were abusing their power to not investigate a crime but cry to create one -- try to create one and it's not something that we should do but duty and job as citizens to stand up and say that this is an outrage because by saying that we are providing a check on that kind of power being abused in that way in the future which is totally unacceptable. howie: right, leslie marshall, mike flynn pleaded guilty to making a false statement, he went into court and said i did it, kat that is overshadowed by questionable fbi conduct, your thoughts? leslie: the questionable fbi conduct comes from sound bite or information taken out of context, look, does it sound like a perjury trap or smoking

gun, when you look at 2 or 3 lines, yes, it does, but if you read all to comments that the fbi had before that headline and after that headline, no, it doesn't. look, the fbi knew that flynn would lie. what they were trying to determine is whether they were going to show him the evidence they had against him or not. police do this all of the time. do we show them that we have fingerprints or dna or not. at the end of the day, flynn had the a choice to lie or not to lie. there's no entrapment there and the fbi already knew that he had lied an quite frankly he had lie today vice president pence about it and he knew they lied to him and they few that he would possibly lie to them again, so to me let's read all of the information. >> kat, he did plea guilty, he's not totally exonerated and also say comments are unacceptable and i don't think they are

mutually exclusive. leslie: i disagree. i think when you have -- when you're sitting there and you're debating, look, do we give the guy the evidence, we knew he lied, he's probably going to lie again. do we show him what we have or don't show him what we have, do we show him our hand or not. police have these conversations all of the time when they are going to interview witnesses. howie: the reason the fbi knew because of surveillance and consideration with russian ambassador. that's up to a court to decide? >> kat: right it absolutely is. i would be less and shocked if he gets pardon and he and his base would see a justification for that. again, you're not supposed to lie to the fbi. that's not something that's up for debate, but i just wished that it wouldn't be so political on both sides on the ones saying

there's nothing wrong with what the agent said or raises no suspicion but also not total exoneration but trump doesn't have to go that far and say that, look, i have been saying the whole time, it's politically motivated, look at what happened here. howie: got it. the president doesn't plan to get into the case any time soon but does have the pardon power. great discussion, thanks for joining us this sunday. leslie: thank you, howie. howie: on a lighter note a wide shot left him embarrass. >> but the companies do say they will scale up the program if it is successful. >> very cool, will, we love it, thank you. howie: they were shorts that he was wearing but he didn't realize he was showing a lot of side. first kayleigh mcenany with first briefing at white house secretary and we will talk about

and whether media companies should get federal bailout loans. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ howie: axios took a lot of flak or obtaining 5 million-dollar loan under the coronavirus bailout bill. founder of the new site is returning loan, he acknowledged there had been a backlash against axios over a program he called much more politically polarized and some critics say that mid accompanies like ours should not qualify. axios has pretty wealthy bakers, does giving back the money mean it was a mistake for axios to

take the loan in the first place. griff: i understand if you're a start-up company in the case of axios but van did what the employees would have happened. the first ppp companies below 500. he felt what he thought it was in the best interest of 190 employees and now giving money back after finding different source of funding and i just don't see how that unveiled how the 190 employees, i shouldn't take this opportunity to save you when i can. howie: well, broader issue here, you have 124 member it was -- members of congress republican and democrats, that media outlets could be eligible even though they are larger and we know local news has been

decimated but it would compromise if they are taking money? griff: the short answer is probably yes, let's not forget that the faa is trying to put guidance not favor companies that are better suit today survive this and investment overall in local journalism is an investment in first amendment, the problem is to what extent does it favor the government bailout over free market principals and that's georgia to be a problem as they figure it out. one of the things that after speaking with employee, the media companies are going to be decimated this go-around. howie: they are getting crushed. let's move to white house secretary kayleigh mcenany, she held briefing for reporters and officials told me they would be planned at least to hold on a regular basis, not every day. this was a big cause

when briefings were stopped, but does it matter as much now that the president is talking to reporters every day sometimes twice a day? griff: my personal opinion and n this observation i believe it does matter and i think she did fantastic, howie, she was calm, she said she came prepared and spent hours studying for it. and so there's, of course, the position of taking our questions, but the important role that that the press secretary serves is giving information to the press so that they have the information while maintaining the white house position and because of sanders ending those briefings it really hurt, i think, the relationship of that specific position. and you saw in the case of kayleigh, and she said she would never lie and at the end of the day she did what she needed to do. howie: obviously, we

would rather hear from the president and i also thought she did well, you did well also, thanks for joining us. [laughter] griff: thanks, howie. howie: final thoughts in just a little scoundrels. with roundup sure shot wand moment. draw the line. the sure shot wand extends with a protective shield to pinpoint those pesky bedfellows. it lets you kill what's bad right down to the root, while comfortably guarding the good. draw the line with the roundup sure shot wand. roundup brand. trusted for over 40 years.

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howie: andrew cuomo says while he wishes he would have blown the bugle earlier, the press isn't much better. >> where was "the new york times", where was the wall street journal, where was all of the bugle blowers who should say, be careful, there's a virus in china that may be in the united states, that was november, december. howie: news outlets can point to stories heres and there, their main focus wasn't virus and china, it was impeachment and biden. we can all use humility and as

we grapple as to how soon we reopen the economy the media cast one side as carrying only about saving jobs and the other about saving lives, that's a false choice, we all republican, democrat, independent care about both. it's off tough balancing act and none of us has a crystal ball so it would be helpful if pundits an politicians tone down the rhetoric just a bit. that's it for this edition of media buzz, i'm howard kurtz. rona mcdaniel saying on abc in week any outlet that conducted 19 interviews with joe biden and didn't ask a single question about sexual assault allegations should be disqualified from participating in presidential debates. could that be opening shot for picking out organizations. one million downloads in podcast media buzz meter, i hope you enjoy the crowd and we are doing a lot every single day on the

coronavirus pandemic, the economic and health impact. we will see you on facebook, we will see you on twitter, thanks so much for watching, we will be back here next sunday as we are every sunday 11:00 a.m. eastern with the latest buzz. ♪ ♪ arthel: slowly getting alabama -- getting people back to work and many states and cities remain under stay at home orders in an effort to mitigate coronavirus, more than a dozen new states are to ease restrictions tomorrow. florida is one of them. the mayor of jacksonville joins us minutes from now. hello, everyone, i'm arthel neville. eric: hello, arthel, welcome, this is america's news headquarters. lots of americans this weekend kicking cabin fever but the threat remains. data shows the number of