♪ ♪ howard: the hijacking of july 4th by yet another sick, twisted, rageful young man was an unspeakable tragedy that a dominated media coverage on a day devoted to patriotic celebrations, but i'm also profoundly disturbed by the police handling of the highhand park case. highland park case. journalists are asking the right questions. i heard a lot of mumbo jump bow about rules and procedures when highland park police reported and not much common sense.

the police were summonedded lee years ago by a family member who said the high school dropout had lettenned to kill everyone. -- threatened to kill everyone. the officers seized 16 knives, a cager and a sword, and that's about it. how is that possible? they could have arrested them for the threat, they can have slapped his name on a no-gun purchase list. instead, he was able to to legally buy 5 guns, a glock pistol and without that failure those seven people in a parade on independence day would still be alived today. what's more, the mass shooter posted violent rhetoric and images online that apparently went undetected by the cops and social media companies. look, the police have a tough job. no law is going to stop is every crazed shooter, but combined with what smells like an unraveling police cover-up of the school massacre in you value uvalde -- uvalde, everyone's got to do a better job of spotting these potentially heinous

killers. i'm howard kurtz, and this is "mediabuzz." ♪ ♪ howard: the heartbreaking spectacle of a gunman shooting parade-goers from a suburban chicago rooftop has reignited the fierce media debate over the guns or something else are at the root of the problem. >> the young, white male shooter who previously posted creepy videos -- >> the guy was suicidal, homicidal, had problems at school, had a social media footprint that screamed mass shooter, but the left saw all of this and decided they wanted to take guns away from law-abiding gun owners. >> we have a political organization that is promoting the selling of weapons of war. >> he assured us it was true, every worth of -- word of it. what they never mentioned was it was not only ridiculous and false, it was provably false because, actually, gun control does not stop bad people from using guns.

>> we have videos of this guy talking about violation. he's a failed rapper, a trump supporter. >> shootings happen every weekend, by the way, in chicago. they don't have that freaked-out view on their faces, but because it's the highland park, oh, yes. howard: joining us now to analyze the coverage in florida, susan ferrechio, chief political reporter for the washington times, and in connecticut, harold ford, former democratic congressman and fox news contributor. susan, i hate that the coverage of this mass murderer dominated the news for days when the rest of the country was start trying to celebrate independence day, but it's understandable. are journalists asking the right questions for what steams to be -- seems to be just an inexplicable failure by the highland park police. >> >> yes, i think the trend is so obvious that we have these mass shootings carried out typically by a young, deranged man where there were warning signs along the way that were ignored or not seen and failures on the

response of the police to the two most recent shootings at least. and i think the media finally is starting to broaden their inquiry into these events and look at really what was going on in terms of how the police responded, in terms of how people should have noticed these warning signs along the way rather than just focusing on the usual storyline which is what do we do about increasing gun control. so i did see, you know, a broadening of the media coverage in this past shooting, and i think that is a good trend for the police. howard: harold, is there enough media focus on the victims? a 2-year-old was orphaned. both of his parents were killed in this shooting, as opposed to reporters asking these questions about, oh, what was the shooter's motivationsome who cares what his motivation. this is insanity. >> first of all, happy sunday. i think you're right, and i would agree with susan, some of the questions that are being asked not only by media, but by public officials, i think, are

important. i think back to when columbine happened, two young men who clearly had mental health issues. we fast forward to where we are today, and one thing we've not done is to think more seriously and broadly about what kind of expanded investigative and even prosecutorial capabilities police officers and d.a.s alike have to insure that they can act on these kinds of things. two, we didn't have the social media platforms back in the late '90s z when columbine happened. a range of questions immediate to be asked, and i cohope we don't discontinue the conversation around guns. these are young men who are able to access big, big guns. this is not an all -- at all an affront to law-abiding citizens. i live in new york city, and i think about the fact that we may have in a few months people able to carry guns outside their homes in their cars, god forbid in new york if someone gets upset and uses a gun. these are serious issues. i hope we separate them.

and susan was right, what happened in chicago and the street violence is separate, i should say laura ingraham many your lead-in, it's separate from some of the things we saw in uvalde. howard: since you want to talk about it, let's do that right now. the shooting happened just about a week after president biden signed this modest, bipartisan gun safety and mental health bill that was hailed by the press because it actually got through congress. now, we have a number of people in the media including people who are, you know, liberal commentators, openly saying we've got to ban assault weapons, we've got to ban high magazine capacity the while media conservatives say, susan, that's not the problem. that's not the sole cause of the problem. >> well, going back to what you said at the top of the show, the gun control issue is not going to solve everything. there were, there's pretty good gun control, pretty serious gun control laws in place in chicago, and the very same weekend of the horrible mass shooting there were 68 shootings in chicago, 8 people were killed

in a city with very strict gun control laws and a state with strict gun control laws. that's not necessarily going to be the answer. and, yes, they did pass an historic gun control measure. there hadn't been anything passed in decades. and what it did was incentivize the states to impose red flag laws and broaden background checks for the very group of people who, sadly, have been involved in these mass shooting, young people under the age of 21. so this is an porn conversation. and if you -- important conversation. and if you looked at polling, this actually is a lot of support for completely eliminating the possibility of buying any gun under the age of 21. there's bigtime support for that even amongst republicans. however, there is not broad support for an overall ban on so-called assault-style weapons. that's not there. so i don't think that's going anywhere, but i think this issue about turned 21 possession of firearms is an important one, and we're going to hear more about it in congress. howard: well, you know, highland park has some of the toughest gun control laws in the country,

harold, and illinois as well, but a lot of guns come in from autoof -- out of state. also mitch mcconnell has made clear the bill that passed, compromise bill, is the only gun-related bill coming out of this congress. even though it hit us all in a very deep place because this happened at a july 4th parade, should the press just acknowledge there's not going to be further gun control and deal with other aspects of this? >> well, no, i hope not. i think that, first of all, i hope we don't have another precipitating event that would cause senator mcconnell to change his mind about what he said. he said you don't have hearings for supreme court nominations in election years, and he changed his mind. i agree with you and susan 100 percent, democrats need to understand. those laws are not working in illinois, chicago, d.c. and other places. we have to overhaul them. something is happening on our streets. these kids can't buy fresh fruit or books in their neighborhood,

but somehow they can access any kind of gun. something's wrong. and we ought to figure out as a community of leaders in the country what the laws need to be in place to prevent 13, 14, 15-year-olds, 6, 7, 5-year-olds from being killed and, for that matter, teenagers getting guns when they can't get a good education in those communities. howard: you're not going to get an argument the from me. we're all tired of this. by the way, a uvalde police officer in that texas school shooting said he wanted to shoot the guy who was going in there, asked for permission and never heard back. i don't even understand this. how do you not take a guy going into an elementary school when you have all these armed cops there? susan, as we saw after the buffalo mass shooting and after the texas mass shooting, there is an intense media focus right now. it seems to be a trend in the media not to name these people who crave this attention. on these mentally ill losers who want to kill random strangers.

is there too much focus on it? some people saying we should all cover this less. that's hard to do. >>, no i actually think there should be more focus on it because these are the people committing these mass shootings and, unfortunately, if you think, well, there's going to be another mass shooting, who's going to be the person carrying it out, and why is it young men who are derange ared, what is going on? -- deranged? i think people really are asking that question, people saying what is going on with these young men? look, i'm a parent of boys. i don't -- i would never believe would carry out anything like that, but, you know, i ask a lot of questions. i think we as parents, we as a society need to start taking a look at what's going on with our kids on social media, these gaming web sites, what's going on after covid where they were isolated horribly for two years, separated from their friends and their social networks. what's going on? i think we as a society need to talk about this, we as reporters need to write about it and look at it and not shy away from it

and just focus on the whole issue of getting half a billion guns off the street which is never going to happen in anyone's lifetime. i think it's a really important issue, we should keep looking at it. howard: we do, sometimes i ask where are the parents, and in this case the father of the highland park killer, you know, signed a consent form for his son to be able to get weapons even after that incident that i referred to at the top of the show where, you know, police came, he had all these knives and had made this threat. finally, harold, we heard one msnbc commentator i played at the top talking about the gunman being a trump supporter. did lawrence o'donnell or anybody else play it out when republicans were shot at a baseball practice? how does someone blame trump for this particular incident? >> first off, amen, i agree with everything susan just said there. i don't like the calling of just

balls and stranges when it's against -- strikes when it's against your team or the other team. when it's wrong, it's wrong. when it's right, it's right. i wish reporters would say more of what susan said. howard: well, we have a little bit of a coming together. when we come back, why are social media companies banning all sorts of people but not would-be shooters? ♪ ♪ meltin', breadin', bakin', shreddin'. slicin', dicin', spicin', ricin'. if you're swissing it, then you're missing it. fryin', flyin', savorin', favorin'. over rotini. inside a panini. egging, maining, siding, plain-ing. debunk the inglorious. one shape's victorious. kraft singles. square it. [sfx: ding] [message] hey babe, meet us at the bottom of the trail.

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howard: didn't take journalists long to discover that the confessed mass shooter in highland park had posted an image of an armed man walking into a school, just awful stuff. where on earth are the social media companies in these cases? susan ferrechio, this gunman posted repeatedly on instagram

but also on discord used by tens of millions of people as well as two music videos that depicted shootings. social media companies will kick off or suspend somebody who has a theory about covid or donald trump, but where are they when it comes to these potentially violent nutjobs who are posting this rhetoric about shootings? >> we in the media, the first thing we do when we hear about a mass shooter, we start looking for the trail on social media, and you're right. there's almost always something disturbing posted ahead of time that should have been a red flag, a warning. someone should have tried to intervene and stop this person. it's really incredible that it's right there laid out, you knowsome we were talking about the columbine shooting, and back then there was no social media, no way of really knowing that that tragedy was about to happen. but why is there not some kind of policing of this kind of

posting on social media? i think that social media companies need to develop some kind of system where they're not just policing the blue checks like conservative scholars, jordan peterson or the satirical web site babylon bee, ridiculously kicked off twitter while allowing this other stuff. howard: right. >> there's a lot of violent rhetoric posted on twitter all the time, the person is not a blue check, and that stays on the site. it's a great question and there's no answer to it right now. howard: yeah. people who don't know, blue checks are verifieded, highly visible users. harold, facebook, instagram, twitter, they all say they have rules against violent content, ask yet as susan says, took takes just a short time to kind the filler -- the killer's crazed talk. to me, we used to talk about the a paper trail in the preinternet days. now you have this video trail that's out there. >> look, this is one of those mornings where you're going to find, i think, more agreement

amongst all of us which is a refreshing thing. there, perhaps, ought to be more regulation because i think the only way you're going to get the social media companies to perhaps subscribe to one platform on these things, collaboration amongst public authorities -- howard: do you think government regulation, government intervention is necessary? because places like -- >> prosecute standpoint -- howely -- howard: i'm just asking. >> yes, sir. i don't think they're doing their job. the results, unfortunately, suggest they could be doing a much better job. first of all, they have a mechanism in place to police political content which we agree with when it's ours, we disagree when it's not our. what they don't have in place, the policing capability for what susan just articulated very well. we all are opposed to violence, to mass shootings, we all are to opposed to it visiting our own communities, so a collaboration, perhaps, between authorities and these companies because these companies clearly can't do it alone. i i think there should be some

further stuff done. i have a young daughter and a young son, how young women are depicted on there, but that's a different conversation. in this regard there should be collaboration between the two, and they should all be able to agree on it. howard: all right. last question for both of you, susan first. i mean, this murderer in highland park was such a frequent presence that as soon as the police apprehended him, a lot of people recognized his face. how come the tech giants and law enforcement folks can't step up their efforts? >> well, there's been a reluctance for any collaboration with tech and law enforcement. that's been going on forever, you know? they don't want to unlock pass codes for the fbi when they're trying to find out information on someone's iphone. there's always been a real reluctance or resistance to work with law enforcement for social media. i think that the string of incidents we've seen now is going to further raise questions about whether there should be collaboration, and i also think the police are overwhelmed.

i really do. i think they're overwhelm whenned right now, and that's part of it. howard: harold. >> i agree with. i know you're out of time. i agree with susan, we need to do these hinges and do them as quickly as possible. howard: well, maybe there's a consensus forming on that. by the way, on july 4th there was a case in the richmond, virginia, where acting on a tip from a citizen the police were able to stop another potential tragedy, found lots of ammunition and guns, somebody who was planning an attack there. and that's what we need more of, people to speak up when they see these flashing signs, these neon warnings and so forth. and i'm glad that we have some rough consensus here although, obviously, there's room for disagreement. harold ford, susan ferrechio, thanks very much for joining us this sunday. up next, elon musk backing out of the twitter deal. and later, president biden attacks the supreme court on abortion. ♪

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howard: elon musk sparkedded a fierce media debate with his bid to take over twitter now says he's backing out, and we're looking at a major legal bat. charlie gasparino, before we get into the legalities here, charlie, i mean, elon musk started a media civil war with this takeover. conservatives were embracing his free speech crusade, and most of media was attacking him saying he would increase disinformation, hate speech and bullying, digging up personal stuff on him, and musk said it was political hit jobs. is that whole thing now kind of a waste of time? >> i don't think it was, and i don't think it was just conservatives who were championing him as -- and his attack on twitter. remember, he was basically saying twitter is not inclusive enough. basically it cancels people who have divergent points of view. not just conservatives, you know, anybody.

alex berenson, a vaccine skeptic, he gets thrown off, right? he actually got put back on recently, had to take them to court. but the point is i think he sparked a debate about social media censorship where you really is are most people, and i tell ya, liberals -- i'm not talking about the progressives -- liberals, conservatives, moderates saying, you know, we need more free speech, not less. we need more speech. and, you know, listen, if there's a real problem with twitter, it's not that jordan peterson, as your previous guests were talking about, is mouthing off about something. it's that people use these social media platforms to start acting out their violent fantasy. that's where they should be -- howard: all right. let me jump many now. elon musk is claiming a material breach saying he's not getting real information on these spam accounts which twitter insists is under 5% of the total. twitter says it's going to sue him to enforce kiss agreement. this agreement. is elon being erratic here, or

could walking away just be another negotiating tactic? >> i mean, who knows. [laughter] howard: honest answer. >> nobody -- this guy is, you know, he doesn't read balance sheets. i know this from bankers who work with him. it's all gut, it's instinct. he wanted to buy it then, doesn't want to now or may still want to buy it but at a cheaper price. we don't know. this is a huge, huge story because if elon musk is right, if twitter since its ipo in 2013 has been lying about it bots, you know, those fake accounts, that it's not 5% or less, if they've been putting out public statements of that nature that are lies, man, that's called securities fraud. that means jack dorsey and and all the other guys that are running, have run twitter can go to jail. howard: if it can be proven to be the true. >> if that can be proven. if it's wrong, right, if elon is wrong, a federal judge, if he's just making this up and, you know, remember, he waived due diligence. he said last and final offer, he didn't do anything prebidding to

basically back up his claim. howard: right. >> if he is -- and if they're right about the bots being 5%, a federal judge could make him buy this deal at the agreed-upon, at the price he put up, $54.20 which was $44 billion, and if he says no to that, if he depies the coater order -- defies the court order, he goes to jail. which he has done in the past -- [inaudible conversations] howard: i've got to ask you this last question. [laughter] obviously, he wants to lower the price because twitter's stock went down about 30% making it much more expensive, and maybe he thought they would agree to that kind of deal. and the stock went down again after he said he's backing out. won't the company be able to make the case that elon musk has devastated its finances? >> devastated his finances? howard: now, has devastated the company's finances -- >> oh, yes, yes. that's part of the damages. i mean, they're going to come out and say, listen, he

disparaged us, he lied about our bots. and, you know, here's what i think is going to happen if it's logical. remember, elon musk is not logical. they settle somewhere in the middle. usually when people uninvoke these clauses to try to get out of the deal, you come to the table, you get a lesser price. this is elon musk, all bets are off. i mean, who the hell knows? [laughter] howard: charlie, you've been following this story for us, thanks very much. next on "mediabuzz," president biden responds to intense media criticism by denouncing the supreme court and republicans and issuing a somewhat vague to order on abortion. ♪ ♪

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control. -- got to get this under control. howard: a tidal wave of media criticism are coming prosecute left as well as frustrated democrats. >> they want to see him get angrier. >> there is a lot of frustration. they want more action out of president biden. they feel like days, weeks go by. one member of congress called the white house rudderless, aimless and hopeless. >> one by one, democrats are turning their backs on biden. howard: that prompted the president to denounce the high court for denouncing roe and the gop and sign a rather incremental executive order. >> the most extreme arely remember -- republican governors have taken the decision as a green light to impose some of the hash -- harshest and most restrictive laws. 10-year-old girl should be forced to give birth to a rapist's child? howard: joining us now in new jersey, alex wilkes, and here with me kevin corke, who coffers

the white house for -- covers the white house. in this executive order is really thin. the justice department convened meetings with a bunch of outside lawyers to provide technical assistance to states to help out of state women, women go out of state to get legal abortions. hhs will consider action. did all the media and democratic criticism of president biden prompt him to do this? >> i think so because if you look at some of the stories that were coming out just a couple of weeks ago, you know, in the middle of june are, we saw, you know, stories about sources from within the white house who worry about the readiness of the president's re-election campaign, who were worried about his -- [inaudible] even today we see below the fold on "the new york times" but front page on the left's story about concerns of the president's age. howard: yes. >> and so i think what he was looking for was to show that he

has real vigor on these issues particularly in light of other up and coming progressives like governor phil murphy and in new jersey, here governor gavin newsom making waves with his superpac and airing ads in florida to sort of tweak governor desantis. howard: let me get kevin in. he's been getting pounded by media. liberal atlantic, why biden shouldn't run in 2024. new york itemses, democrats want a fighter, and white house sources are saying the president's irritated by all this negative coverage which raises this media question, what does getting angry actually accomplish? >> not much, i mean, let's be honest about it. at the end of the day, we're talking about, i would say, competing interests within the party, howie. on the one hand, you have strident, hard left that's demanding action, forcible action, vigor, verve. then you have the moderate middle saying, hey, mr. president, be careful because if you're perceived at being too

far left, you'll lose suburban moms, minority voters and make an even bigger mess of the midterms and, ultimately, 2024. he's not doing a good job of straddling, and the criticism is simply added on top. howard: but in politics, isn't there something to be seen as a fighter, as going after the other side as opposed to being low key in biden often seems to -- he clearly was pressured into doing this, no question about it. >> no question about it. most of it was world salad -- word salad, but i do think at the end of the day he wants it to appear that he is engaged, he's active, he's making hard decisions. i'm just not so sure enough was enough for the left side of his party. howard: right. alex, you mentioned that new york times headline, biden shows signs of age. it's led by liberals who are saying biden can't rise to the moment, and this is fueling that earlier criticism about his age,

his mental acuity and whether or not he can run for a second term. so he didn't do it. he resisted doing it until he did it on friday. >> sure. i mean, look, he has been battered, as you mentioned, with this criticism from the media for a couple of weeks. of course, right at the beginning of his presidency the media seemed keen on protecting the age issue, you know? it was described -- howard: unspoken. >> i was reading a fair but not really accurate, that he had a plenty of fight left in him. and we also saw saw the a white house that at first was pretty tightly kept. we didn't see a lot of leaks in the way that a you saw with president trump's administration where it seemed like every day there was, like, a new story. but now you are starting to see, you are starting to see some release valves, if you will, coming in from the white house, and i think that part of that is

just some of these staffers kind of signaling to other people in the party that this white house isn't up to the fight. howard: but, you know, what the president did friday kind of worked in this sense, the on-screen headlines all said biden signs executive order. many journalists were positive, a relative few said there's not much there there, but "the new york times," i had to search for the story online, it said the order is vague about how the president hopes to accomplish these goals. >> no question. and i think what they're really trying to say here, howie, is at the end of the day they really believe a more forceful, a stronger, a more engaged candidate will be a stronger candidate in 2024. you and i have talked about this, the white house doesn't like to have these conversations, they don't want people talking about the fact that he may or may not run, but i think tea leaves are obviously out there, and people are beginning to read them. howard: on that point, alex, in my fox column picked up by drudge, i said the media are

pushing back against both joe biden and donald trump saying they can't win, they shouldn't run and kind of promoting alternative and younger candidates. why is it, why are many in the press against the rematch of the last two presidents? >> well, look, i think that the media is alls going to be spoiling for -- always going to be spoiling for an interesting story, and i can speak from experience on the republican side. certainly, there is always this appetite among the media to have, you know, a trump versus anyone conflict if even if it's not quite there, they sort of have to reach for it. so i think that there -- you know, much like in 2016 when they were looking to sort of shake up the 2016 primary and really promote president trump at his rallies and the excitement that he was getting, i think that they're also looking to sort of add in a little bit of, a little bit of interest by introducing new candidates into the mix. howard: well, yeah. but ken, the media in their -- kevin, the media in their

skepticism and has the tilt were so wrong about trump in 2016, what is the losses -- point of this predictive punditry? >> it's something to do, a. b, they're good at it. remember, they were good at it before 2016, and they feel like we're going to get it right this time. another thing about the age thing, if you'll pardon me? i don't buy that for a second. i think low unemployment, low food and gas prices, no one cares ability how old the president is. people will talk a lot less about misreading the teleprompter. howard: that's a good point. up next, after the july 4th rule network goes back to january 6th and trump information. -- investigation. ♪ ♪

howard: president biden actually gave a pretty forceful ohio speech on bailing out union pension plans the other day, but every msnbc hour for the next seven hours led with january 6th or a georgia criminal probe of the trump team. focused on former white house counsel pat cipollone who testify behind closed doors. alex, it was pretty much the same on all those shows the next two nights, so what happened to all the great concern about joe biden being more aggressive, the july 4th shooting, abortion rights? with all of these msnbc shows going back to the trump-bashing

playbook? >> oh, well, that is an msnbc specialty. [laughter] i think it's because the audience largely has the luxury of being pretty much insulated from are some of these economic pressures that the rest of the country are facing. so, you know, covering the president's economic speech in great detail whether or not we, you know, agree with the underlying policy conclusions that it came to, it's not really that important to them because what their audience wants is they want thed brooder-like coverage of the january 6th hearings and wassing out every -- sussing out every detail. if you talk to somebody who regularly watches msnbc, they quote from these hearings the way they did the mueller report and every, you know, investigation of day or hearing of the day, they quote from them, like, chapter and verse about what's going on. howard: right. >> i mean, it is true entertainment for them, and so

i, i suppose they're playing to their audience. howard: plays to the base often works, kevin. it kind of worked for msnbc, hay got a bit of a ratings boost. for a week of no hearings, it seemed like the network was trying to get a taste of thelating s they had -- the ratings they had in the trump era. >> yeah, he said that a lot. [laughter] howard: so i guess the question is how newsworthy is it? let me raise it. i'm not saying that pat cipollone agreeing to testify shouldn't be reported. i'm not saying that nbc -- with the georgia prosecutor who is doing a criminal probe and says it's possible trump could be speak thatted. but then -- subpoenaed. but then how to do you put to the side july 4th shootings? >> i think the point was made by alex, and i think it's a good one. first of all, you have to know what your audience is hungering for, and it's obvious based on

the rate, if your belief system at the editorial level is this is the most important thing in america, period, bar none, and there is some of that inside the house. but i think the bigger issue for the country is this at the expense of gun violence, at the expense of other things is what you're leading with and ignoring other things like the economy or a particular economic speech by the president about a topic that's very important to millions of americans, i think you're missing the boat. howard: it's not that they weren't leading with it, many of these prom programs would go on for 30 or 40 minutes and hen touch on some of these issues. cnn and fox also moved off that biden speech, but usually to go back to the july 4th shooting or the gun debate or issues like that. now, circling back to what we were saying earlier, would coverage of the abortion executive order have been any different if president biden had done this a today or two after the supreme court ruling? which, remember, we all all knew was coming because it had been leaked to politico six weeks

earlier, or not look like he's sort of leading from behind by doing it in response to pressure from if his own party and all the megapress we've been talking about? >> i think it -- negative press. i think it definitely would have been different because if you look at the ways the media covered responses from blue state governors who issued their own directives or who were, you know, pushing certain legislation in their state, that got a lot of attention. now, of course, there's not as much that the president can do at the federal level on this issue now that states can do, but at the same time, that would have made it into the story if it had been paired with the dobbs ruling in a timely fashion. howard: right. >> there did seem to be a lull that cost him some coverage on this issue that a, you know, could have invigorated his base. and i think contributes again to those concerns that he's just not really with it. howard: kevin, with all these stories about age but also about

passivity, citing all these democrats going on the record, are the media now especially in the last couple weeks turning against president biden or at least covering him far more skeptically, and how does the white house view this? >> i think the latter is true. i think they're still, by and large, supportive of the president, and you can make a value judgment about that. but i think ultimately what you're seeing is a bit more skepticism in part because he is wounded from the economic perspective. again, if he turns it around, the glowing headlines, i imagine, will return. but in the meantime, they're looking for answers and perhaps even other leaders. howard: all right. a little bit of breaking news, house committee member zoe lofgren telling the committee that steve bannon will testify. doesn't really need trump's permission. this is a big deal because he was going to go on trial, criminally charged by doj, and now it looks like they're working it out. still to come, brittney

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howard: wmba star brittney griner, imprisonedded many russia for more than three months, has worked the media to raise the profile of her outrageous case. first, she wrote a letter to president biden saying i'm terrified i might be here forever, and her wife started doing interviews including on cbs mornings. >> respectfully, we're over 140 days at this point. that does not work. and so i will not be quiet anymore. they are not moving, they are not doing anything, and so my wife is struggling, and we have to help her. howard: joining us now from

dallas, steve krakauer. president biden was deliberately keeping this low keying but as a result of this media push p he had phone called with britney griper's wife and kamala harris speaking to her as well. how effective has their media strategy been? >> i think it's smart, and i think it's worked out well. going back to a segment that you did a couple ago about the media sort of turning on the biden administration, we got sleepy joe during the election, now we've got the sleepy biden administration. we're seeing the media do this in the post-dobbs world and effectively with the greiner camp right now. as you mentioned, months this has been going on and actually only really started a month ago when we got news that a phone call that was supposed to happen between brittney griner and her wife did not because of the the biden administration's failure to connect them on a weekend at the state department when no one was there to take that call. that led to an interview, and it

really got this wall rolling. -- ball rolling. it does not seem to be any sort of urgency with this administration unless you use media to really kind of force them to do something about it. howard: and that's what they concluded. look, it can't be easy when you're essentially held hostage in a russian jail for bringing in hash oil and, yes, that was stupid. but russia routinely gives suspended sentences for that a sort of thing. didn't that really generate a lot of coverage, a lot more stories about brittney griner and how long is she has been held by the vladimir putin regime? >> absolutely. they've used the media effectively. but you look at it because this is not just an ordinary case. this is one of the highest to profile wnba players, black, lgbt, and joe biden just had a couple of team usa team members of hers at the white house this week, and there's brittney griner in jail, essentially as you mentioned, like a hostage here. but this is about, it's like a

pr victory for russia right now, and this is why it's so important that the biden administration take this seriously and not kind of kowtow to russia or, as you mentioned, try to sweep it under the rug and not pay attention to be it, not really take this as seriously as they could. this is a major national security issue. i believe that the russians would use this, they've got this great kind of pr element to wield right now at the americans, imprisoning brittney griner. she's pled guilty -- howard: she had to do that to move the positive forward. look, there's absolutely no question, i understand low-key diplomacy at first, but there's absolutely no question, russians want to trade her for another prisoner. they've identified somebody, 25-year hardened criminal, ask we don't know whether it'll happen, but the media message here, i think, is a very emotional one from britny and her wife which is we can't be quiet anymore. and you're right, there is a

parallel that we were talking about with this president which is that he was forced to deal with it much more openly and portionfully and all the coverage that followed. final thought. >> yeah. this is -- it's funny, it seems like the second administration in a row where how do you get through to them, the trump administration and now biden administration? through the media. and maybe the former president was a little more interested in cable news, what was happening there. this administration maybe more on the new york finals or "the washington post" -- new york times. but i think the greiner camp has learned you use the media to wield power, social media, twitter, get it trending and get the administration on the record to respond to it because they don't want to deal with this. they don't want to deal with the fallout of it, and they have to now. howard: steve krakauer, thanks very much. and we all hope she is released sooner rather than later. that's it for he decision of "mediabuzz." i'm howard kurtz. check out my podcast, media buzz meter.

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eric: three big stories for you at this hour. the group shut down dc offering bounties for anyone who can provide realtime locations for conservative supreme court justices. so protestors can then target them. that after justice brett kavanaugh was reportedly having dinner at swanky washington, d.c. steakhouse and protestors forcing him to escape out the back. hello, everyone, welcome to fox news live i'm eric