♪ ♪ howard: the national media can't possibly cover the 50 state battles being wage over abortion especially since both sides have gotten so aggressive so quickly. on the pro-choice side, some local prosecutors in red states say they won't enforce abortion ban despite supreme court ruling. on the pro-life side, the national right to life committee is pushing legislation to outa law just the advertising of abortion services. washington post and other allies have done trend stories on such

efforts mainly from the pro-choice viewpoint, and that's generating plenty of television session isments. -- segments. >> you may have seen a bunch of anecdotal stories, we're trying to see -- >> women of child-bearing age are getting denied access to medication. the woman who was toll she needed to fill two diapers with blood. >> abortion access post-roe was going to help them connect with american voters? well, instead over the past 24 hours they've revealed themselves as not just out of touch, but, frankly, ghoulish. >> a kansas city hospital temporarily required a approval from a pharmacy before dispensing medications used to stop post-partum bleeding. >> democrats are claiming women with ectopic pregnancies a are no longer receiving medical care. >> more than half population not being able to make decisions

when not even half of this body has a uterus. >> there's human issues at stake here. >> there are a lot of people unhinged in the pro-abortion movement. howard: it's really going to come down to local journalists to intense i havely cover the abortion wars in their states. i'm howard kurt, and this is -- howard kurtz, and this is "mediabuzz". ♪ ♪ howard: ahead, glenn green with wald on why there's so little media debate on is sending billions to ukraine. bret baier joins us on media, politics and donald turn, and we've got some questions for white house spokesman john kirby. joining us now, mollie hemingway and laura fink. with both sides making these aggressive moves state by state, has most of the coverage, in your view, taken a pro-choice viewpoint? >> well, most journalists are in

support of abortion, and is so that is reflected this in their coverage. it is important to cover the debate, and it has state by state consequences. it's also a national debate, and democrats in the house have repeatedly voted in support of very radical registration are. -- legislation. and so that also needs to be covered. that's more important than just cherry picking little things happening here and there when basically the entire accurate party is on record of funding abortion. it needs to be covered as well. howard: laura, could the media coverage be justified when talking about the pro-choice side because it's abortion rights groups who are scrambling to protect what they see as access for women to abortion services who happen to live in states where it will be or is about to be illegal? >> i think that's right, howie. and i think what may not be discussed here is this is really a health care story.

it's a health care story about doctors delaying or denying care because of the opacity around how to save the life of the mother. we see cases in texas with o ob/gyns who would normally perform a life saving abortion until, as they said, the woman is sick enough. it's a health care story that real people on the ground are everying impacts -- receiving impacts. you see the impact that you see on the ground. the other thing, this is a legislative story as you talked about because with what are politicians doing and not doing about it. and we see that every day. and there are so many legislators and legislatures. and at the local level you see some progressives funding abortions for their citizens to go out of state. and then, of course, the criminal justice. they're making it punitive. they're looking to prosecute these women and these doctors. howard: those are some of the questions, mollie, and plenty of people praised the supreme court

decision for returning the issue to the states. but some on on the pro-life side are pushing this question of whether doctors who perform abortions or women who get them could be from prosecuted. >> it's important to cover all these things, and there are some extreme elements on the pro-life side in terms of being complete abolitionists. the mainstream pro-life movement has had a lot of practice going back with 50 years. st pretty well established. i it knows what is achievable, and it needs to covered accurately and honestly. particularly as it relates to the radical pro-abortion movement that supports taxpayer-funded abortions through all nine months of the pregnancy. for being a girl, for having a slight disability, for just the whim of anybody. so most americans, the vast majority of americans support at least some restriction on abortion. roe v. wade prevented that from happening.

now with the dobbs decision states can have these debates, but they need to be covered honestly and accurately and with sobriety. abortion ends a human life after it has begun. that's a very serious issue. and, you know, already democrat talking points that it's health care. it is never health care to take a life after it's begun. we need to be honest about the difference between treating, for instance, ectopic pregnancies which are very sad situations, i've gone through that myself, and elective abortion. and we need to be honest and accurate about that. howard: well, laura, on the one hand you have the idaho republican party just voting to deny abortions even if the mother's life is many danger which is the one exception that that seemed to be widely accepted and, of course, this is also question of states not adopting exceptions for rape and incest. we had the case of the 10-year-old girl in ohio who did get an abortion in indiana and that many people doubted the story until rapist was charmed. on the other hand, as i message -- was charged.

on the other hand, you have prosecutors in some liberal states saying, hey, we're just not going to enforce this. so it seems to me, again, why it's hard for the national media now to deal with all the iterations of this. it's moved pretty quickly. >> i think that's right. there is a lot to cover here because the impact is so intense on more than half the population. and just to address some of the things that mollie would like to see cover covered, sure, you can cover what happens when a late-term abortion impacts the health of the mother. andly already tragic conditions. and this idea that somehow democrats are allowing optional abortion for any reason is absolutely ludicrous, and we should absolutely have reporting to debunk that. that among everything else, all of the other health impacts, that is the central issue because that's what we see with women every day. and i think those human stories are going to continue to be told because there's a real impact to the inaction of legislators in

terms of protecting women's lives and to be aggressive action and the political action of banning abortion nationally potentially mt. fall. in the fall. >> they're not just allowing for this in democrat legislation. in the legislation that's been written, they're demanding taxpayers fund abortions for any reason. they're also demanding that health care professionals have to -- >> that's not true. >> -- a human life after it has begun even if they have conscience objections to it. again, these are important issues that we need to match with what actual public opinion is and report that accurately. >> well, and we need to give facts which is not really what you're doing here. [inaudible conversations] >> you can and should read that legislation because it really is deeply radical, and it's the why even people who would support quite a few abortions oppose that kind of legislation because of how radical -- >> you can and should talk to medical professionals that perform late term abortions, not the least of which was george tiller who was murder in his

church for providing health care to women in dire need who needed those late-term abortions so that the child would not suffer and so that they could survive. howard: as mollie said, i think she's saying let's focus on what we see as ec extremist in the other -- >> every democrat voted for this in the house, so we need to have that focus on what's actually a threat in terms of threats to the unborn human life. and even i would also like to see much more coverage of this bigger topic of abortion, whether abortion really has served women well, whether we do a good job of taking care of women and their needs and their children. it's a much broader issue than just the act of taking a human life. howard: if i could jump in here, president biden issued that order on -- executive order on abortion that was so vague that it's hardly even talked about anymore. but the other day there were leaks to the press from the white house that the president was considering an order to protect access to abortion pills. so you -- but he hasn't done it.

so you have a media debate with without presidential action. >> i think part of the media debate is to test some of what's happening there and some of what was discussed in media coverage with whether this would even withstand court scrutiny. i think it's really interesting that we have a press that claims there are all these attacks on democracy, and the supreme court returns to the people and their elected representatives an opportunity to discuss what they want their abortion regulations to be could not possibly be more democratic. and yet you you see media agitating for federal control and executive or orders. howard: laura, it is true that executive orders sometimes get knocked down by courts, but most of the coverage doesn't mention donald trump the issued more than 200 executive ores and money -- orders and money that was appropriated from the military budget to the border wall. did the media only vote for presidents to ec e pan their power and take executive actions when they agree with that particular president? >> well, i don't know about that, howie. i think executive power

especially with this very right-wing supreme court is going to be really interesting as they look at it, because we all know that you tend to want certain things when someone you agree with is in office and maybe different things when someone you disagree with is in office. this is no exception. i think it's also, to your earlier point, these state legislators and what they're doing and not doing. republicans are doing very little to protect the lives of the mother. they had bans ready to go, they had prosecutorial and criminalization ready to go but really didn't have mig to sort of protect the women or take care of the women who were in danger. so covering on all fronts is important. howard: as i said, it's really going to be up to local journalists because there's so many fronts in the 50 state capitols. when we come back, the president has covid. is the press treating him very differently than the last president who got the virus?

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howard: it was huge breaking news, and every media outlet went up with a banner, president biden has covid. >> it's such a contrast to president trump. when he got this, he denied it, he didn't want to take the vaccine shots. he pretended it wasn't a big deal until they had to rush him to andrews medical center. >> we're not going to kick a man when he's down. we're not going to treat biden like the media treated trump when he got covid. howard: the white house is presenting an image of a man at work. >> i'm doing well, getting a lot of work done, going to continue to get it done. and in the meantime, hanks for your concern -- thanks for your

concern. howard: mollie, virtually everyone wishes president biden a speedy recovery, but some pundits, as we saw, couldn't resist taking a swipe at president trump who despite what was said on msnbc got covid in a very different climate. there were no vaccines available then, and he got a much more serious case. >> it was clearly a different environment, but it's also clear that the media are treat thing these two situations so differently that it's indefensible. you know, when covid hit, a global pandemic, what you would have liked to have seen from the media was a rally around the flag, everybody onboard trying to conquer it. instead, they treated it as a political opportunity. every single angle about covid was personal and designed to get trump out of office. even when he got the office, they treated it like it was his fault. and now you see with president biden, a guy who has overseen much more covid deaths than president trump did, a guy who, you know, used to wear his mask all the time even though when he

didn't have covid and now that he does, he's not wearing it, you're not seeing the media hostility that was just unhinged when trump got it. howard: laura, you can respond to that, but also the president has covid is a dramatic can headline even though so many millions of americans have gotten it ooh even when they are vaccinated and boosted as joe biden was with this omicron subvariant surge. talk about that and what do you make of the white house managing the media by putting out video and between withs showing president biden -- tweets showing president biden working? >> well, i think, first of all, i would say the media was, was responding to a more honest white house. there were some obfuscation, some walkbacks about when the president got covid, how severe it was, so i think you see a different reaction because already different can facts and responses on the ground. and i would say this, to respond to mollie's point, you know, really the only thing that is

unhinged here was trump's response talking about bleach and all sorts of strange remedies during a time of crisis where the stakes were so high because we didn't have vaccines, and the spread was so voluminous, and the hospitalizations were so intense. we're in a very different frame now -- time now thanks to the scientists and the work of president biden. and really i would also say the work of trump. and i think all of that is being discussed. so to call out media coverage seems to me to be a little bit, a little bit premature, a little bit ridiculous. i would just say -- howard: look, got a guy who has very mild symptom versus a guy who needed oxygen because it was a different time, and there were no vaccines. >> that's right. howard: mollie, reporters should aggressively asks questions, of course, but a lot of the briefing about president biden was what if he needs oxygen, what if it gets worse in and they shied away from hypotheticals. >>ing that's fine.

but again, do you remember how president trump was treated at walter reed, there was major media accusing his doctors of lying and manipulating things. we all remember what service like. i remember a tweet that it was fascistic for president trump to be on the second story greeting people as he returned from walter reeled. we don't need to pretend that the media had control of their minds during the trump presidency. they clearly did not. even if there is some questioning of biden and his team, it's nothing compared to what we all suffered new as we all know. howard: yeah. i remember mark meadows telling reporters that it was a little bit worse than portrayed. laura, this was inevitable, the white house had planned for it. are the media playing along with the biden message that it's no big deal, nothing to see here? >> well, i would say because that's, them's the facts, howard. obviously, because of the circumstances that we've already

talked about with the, he's double boosted, he is pro-vaccine, he has taken care of himself and isolated, all of these things. the doctors are simply reporting out on his condition and, of course, he's going to be active in a remote world to make sure he is doing the business of the country. so i think because there's no evidence to counter that, of course the media is going to report on the well-being of the president, and i do have to give right-wing media credit for acknowledging and supporting his health and welfare. howard: right. but one difference is that the president's doctor has not been made available to reporters. that was not the case with trump, and i think until be better for everybody if he answered questions. ahead, glenn greenwald on the lack of debate over american aid to ukraine, but up next, white house spokesman john kirby. ♪ pleasure. ♪

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howard: joining us now in studio is retired admirable john kirby who handles communications at the white house. you just told reporters the pentagon is studying the possibility of providing fighter jets to ukraine. does that mean the administration is less worried about provoking russia? because that would be a significant escalation. >> i think they're doing exploratory thinking right now, howie. this is really long term. this is not anytime in the near term, weeks or months away. these kinds of aircraft require a lot of training, supply chain support -- howard: why did you announce it now? >> well, it wasn't an announcement, i got asked the question as a result of some comments air force senior officials made out at aspen, but it is an exploratory measure trying to help improve ukraine's needs long, long term, even post-war. howard: the white house in the past and repeatedly has blamed vladimir putin for the rise many gas prices and inflation, and of

course the war's a factor. no question about it. but that hasn't worked politically. i don't think most people are buying it. >> well, look, i can't speak for how american consumers feel about where it came from, but it is a fact that putin's war on ukraine has, in fact, affected supply chains in many different sectors including food. and there's no question that the war has had a factor in causing the spikes in oil and in refined fuel. howard: well, in fairness, there's been a decline now in gas prices for 40 days -- >> that's right. howard: average now $4.338. that -- 4.38. the president of the united states has covid. everyone is glad his symptom are mild, fully vaccinated, wish him a speedy recovery. does this underline the president's vaccine effort because so many people who are fully vaxxed and boosted are getting this -- >> oh, quite the contrary. he has had very mild symptoms,

and we've been obviously reporting out on those symptom every single day. the president's doing well, he's working. i mean, if he hadn't been vaccinated or boosted, anybody hadn't, then the symptom are going to be much more severe, and this is ba-5 variant which they think is what the president contracted. it's so virulent, it's passed so much more quickly -- howard: but it was just one year ago, rain if this wasn't the only time he said it, that president biden said on cnn you're not going to get covid if you have these vaccinations. did he misunderstand? >> i think he was just trying to stress the importance of getting vaccinated and now getting boosted if you're over the age of 50. st not going to eliminate the possibility, clearly, but it's certainly going to make the symptom much more mild. howard: and that's the key thing. but again, i'm concerned some people may say why get the vaccine if i'm going to get it anyway -- >> was the symptom will be much more mild.

howard: in most cases. all right. did the president's trip to saudi arabia -- you were on that trip, right? >> i was. howard: -- help one bit on the energy front? the i saudis refused to make an increase in oil production, and did the heavy media coverage of joe biden's fist bump with the crown prince overshadow what the purpose of the trip was? >> that's a great question. we all understand the focus on meeting with the crown prince and, of course, jamal khashoggi, and the president brought it up first thing in the meeting. you had for the first time the saudi government being willing to open up their air space to israeli aircraft. we don't have peacekeepers on the island in the red sea, since 1978, peacekeepers now can be moved away. we were definitely able to reaffirm our commitment to a two of-state -- two-state solution between the israelis and palestinians.

there were discussions on food security and energy security. we didn't go into this meeting with an expectation we were going to come out of it with an oil deal or a commitment to produce extra -- howard: but you earn -- certainly wanted one. the saudis could have said we will hold off on oil production, drive the price down, and you didn't get that. >> there were really good discussions on energy security and -- [inaudible conversations] [laughter] there's another meeting on august 3rd of opec +, and we'll just see what they come out with. you heard the president himself say he's optimistic there could be some increases announced in the near future. howard: as you know, inflation remains the overriding issue. finally, climate change is a global problem, and with the hill passing position in, president biden two days -- passing nothing, president biden said he was weighing an executive order. but he still hasn't done it. what is point of bringing it up and not following through? >> i think the president wants to explore all his options as

you would expect. he's got a lot of opportunities to work on improving our response to climate change. it is a real exist ten the, threat. you saw him up in massachusetts earlier week announcing billions of dollars more in investment and opportunities for people to deal with the effects of extreme weather. there's a lot of things he can do, and i think he wants to keep his options open. howard: is there the still a possibility that he will issue an executive ordersome many. >> i won't get ahead of the president of the united states. he knows he can't right now get this act through congress, so he's going to -- howard: now i see why you're a good spokesman. john kirby, thanks very much for being here. >> my pleasure. howard: up next, glenn greenwald. ♪

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♪ howard: there is very broad media support and bipartisan political backing for the u.s. effort to help ukraine beat back the absolutely brutal invasion by russia. one journalist is challenging

that. here's glenn green wald, pulitzer prize-winning journalist. glenn greenwald, welcome. >> great to be with you, howely. howard: president biden asked for $33 billion in add aid to ukraine in the latest round. congress with support in both counties boosted it to 40 billion, and in pentagon spending, biden wanted $803 billion, the hill boosted that to $840 billion, and you say where's the media debate? >> yeah. i mean, from the beginning there was very little faith to the question not whether russia invaded ukraine morally -- immorally, but what the role ought to be -- the u.s. role ought to be. it was obama himself who often said ukraine will never be of vital interest to the united states but always will be to russia. and here we are not even six months into the war, and the amount of spending which is essentially $60 billion is almost more than the total

military budget for russia for the entire year. it's more than the u.s. spent every year on average on its own war in afghanistan, so the question becomes why is it that every proposal for free college or debt relief or health care the question always is where are we going to get the money from? but when it comes time to drowning the pentagons in billions, soon to be trillions of dollars each year, nobody asks that question. howard: i would say there's broad media and public support for protecting ukraine from the war crimes of vladimir putin. and it's t one area where president biden is credited with doing a good job. you may disagree with the war, with the u.s. funding or you may disagree with the overall approach, but given the stakes for europe, you're in the minority. >> definitely, i'm in the minority. i mean, people who were against the war in seat vietnam were -- vietnam were against the minority because, typically, the propaganda is very effective to say hat united states is doing

something -- that the united states is doing something positive for democracy. i question though how that can be when the united states itself is simultaneously supporting a wide range of wars similar to the russian invasion of ukraine including helping saudis destroy yemen, for example. the united states has done their own illegal or unprovoked invasions of other countries as well. the question for me is not is it wrong for russia to invade ukraine. of course the answer is yes. the question is the u.s. government has to priortize whether they're going to support their own citizens -- howard: yea say it's stunning how little debate there is about u.s. aid to ukraine in liberal circles. and you say there are a bunch of propagandists who lied the country into iraq. can you elaborate? >> yeah. there was a sizable dissent in congress about this request for $40 billion more ukraine. it came entirely from members in the congress, 11 in the senate,

something like 65-70 in the house, and it's really the liberal part of the political culture where there's no disscent. every member of the squad -- dissent. every member of the squad, bernie sanders voted for it. the liberal outlets have hired a huge army of people who previously worked for the nsa, the cia, the pentagon, something that we never had in our country before where basically there's been a merger of security state agencies and corporate media outlets, and the only real dissent was on this network by people who are questioning why the u.s. should risk so much for ukraine, and they immediately got branded as kremlin assets, and that's why there was so little -- howard: the house just passed with 47 republicans voting yes to protect same-sex marriage after the overturning of roe v. wade. not sure what's going to happen in the senate. the media obviously favor the bill. think it's a long shot as somebody who's in such a

marriage which was legalized by the supreme court seven years ago, what are your thoughts on this? >> yeah. i mean, i think it's important to remember when i entered my own same-sex marriage it was legalized not by the supreme court, but by the new york legislature which was one of many states on its way to enacting same-sex marriage democratically. howard: what do you think about republicans being willing to embrace this when 20 years a ago it was sort of standard republican orthodoxy to be against even coupling and benefits for gay couples? >> yeah. i mean, i think this issue has changed so dramatically and, for me, the point is the poll on same-sex marriage shows 70% of americans favor it including a majority of republicans, an enormous and radical change in public opinion. what you're seeing in our republican caucus with so many votes in favor of something which, as you say, ten years ago was totally taboo, even obama

and hillary didn't support it, is indicative of this broad consensus. howard: culture has definitely changed. glenn greenwald, thanks very much. >> great to be with you, howie. howard: after the break, bret baier on coverage of the house hearing on what exactly donald trump did during the capitol riots and how much we learned that was new. ♪ ♪ undles their home and auto insurance saves. isn't that right phil? sorry, i'm a little busy. what in the world are you doing? i'm in the metaverse, bundling my home and auto insurance. why don't you just do that in the real world? um, because now i can bundle in space. watch this. save up to 25% when you bundle home and auto. call a local agent or 1-888-allstate (woman vo)te today. sailing a great river past extraordinary landscapes into the heart of iconic cities

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howard: the latest january 6th hearing in prime time zeroed in on the question the media have covered since that dark day, why did it take president trump 187 minutes to ask the capitol rioter it is to go home? -- rioters? sarah matthews was upset that mike pence -- said trump was upset. >> i knew that i would be asked to defend that, and to me, his refusal to act and call off the mob that day if his refusal to condemn the violence was indefensible. a colleague suggested that the president shouldn't condemn the violence because they thought it would be, quote, handing a win to the media with. howard: the unnamed white house security official says members of pence's secret service detail feared for they lives. >> there were calls to say good-bye to to family members. howard: sarah matthews' said her

boss, press secretary kayleigh mcenany, told her what happened when she asked trump to urge the rioters to leave in peace. >> in a hushed tone, shared with me that the president did not want to include any sort of mention of peace in that tweet. >> something really hellish went down at that capitol, and president trump was at the core is what this hearing put to the table. >> that hearing was pretty astonishing in terms of the case they laid out. >> and they delivered, showing us exactly what happened minute by minute. >> there wasn't a lot of new information. there weren't a lot of details that filled in what we knew already. >> now we know he was actively trying to run the violent overthrow of the government from the white house dining room that night. >> the committee brought in, in some caseses, hearsay witnesses. but only evidence for their predetermined outcome to

besmirch donald trump yet again. howard: bret baier, anchor and editor of "special report," joins us now. obviously, we've known the broad outlines of this, what donald trump didn't do, since january 6th of 2021. how much did the testimony add to our understanding of whether or not this was a deliberate strategy of refusing to intervenesome. >> i think there are some questions that remain, and the biggest is what exactly did he say about the national guard on january 4th, who heard it, what was the -- was he saw saying you could deploy to protect the capitol on january 6th? if that's the case and that testimony comes out, we don't know, we had congresswoman liz cheney said there is an arm of the committee that's looking into that. well,, it kind of squelches or downplays the thought that he wanted this insurrection, if that's what happens now. howard: right. >> now, that said, laying out all of these 187 minutes makes him look horrific.

it really does. and it's for everybody to see, and the president's inaction and the vice president's action getting on the phone is very telling. but critics of this committee will always come back to why not allow cross-examination? if why not have another side that has a defense of the target that you're to going after? howard: yeah, and i'll come back to that. to me, the most chilling moment was the secret service radio traffic about saying good-bye to their families, and at the time president trump putting out a tweet about mike pence lacks courage. another thing that made news was when the committee played the outtakes of a speech that he was prepared to give on january 7th, the day after all of the violence that took place at the capitol. let's roll that. >> but this election is now over. congress has certified the results. i don't want to say the election's over, i just want to say congress has certified the results without saying the election's over.

howard: that got a lot of play. is that significant? >> in the moment, it is. i mean, he was saying at the very moment that all of this is going down, the next day many reaction to everything that happened, that he didn't want to say and admit that the election is over. he doesn't want to say or anytime that now on the stump -- howard: still insists the election was stolen. >> and so in a way that's something everybody knows, right? but to hear it and to see it in that chronological order can be very powerful. i don't know, howie, how much it moves the needle with republicans. i think it may move for moderate republicans and independents, and that may be why you're seeing some of these polls with are republicans looking for another alternative in 2024. howard: yeah. on that point, it's a highly partisan committee, and i could have to done without all the trump guilty speeches from the lawmakers if they're trying to reach people who haven't made up their minds. it's probably a fairly small

slice, but hasn't the the most damaging testimony come from republicans, trump loyalists, trump appointees, even his own kids who are under oath? >> yes, 100%. and that's the most powerful part about it. all of these people who season testifying at one point or another wanted trump to win. they served under his leadership. they wanted him to be a success. even the arizona house speaker said he was a huge trump guy. howard: yeah. >> but now he's not, and now he's facing a backlash from trump supporters in arizona. howard: after this last hearing, donald trump was very active on truth social. he called the committee a fraud and a disgrace to america, no due process, no cross-examinations, no nothing. he called liz cheney a sanctimonious loser, he called mitch mcconnell a disloyal sleazebag. that seems to me to be a sign that it's breaking through, otherwise you ignore it. >> i agree. i think it's having an effect, and his decision making of

whether he's running or when he announces may tie somehow to this january 6th committee and its actions or the doj and its actions. we don't know what the department of justice is doing or not doing when it comes to this, providing or going after charges. i do think that there are vulnerabilities here for the committee that they need to come forward with the other parts of the investigation so that they can kind of balance it out a little bit -- howard: right. >> because the charges are that it's just not balanced. howard: there were, of course, after the hearing ended, this last hearing, very critical of trump in the "wall street journal" and the new york post which are part of the larger fox corporate family. the other two cable networks replaying testimony hour after hour kind of like an endless loop, does that amplify the message? sort of embracing the committee's partisan view that what trump did was, he wanted the violence to continue. >> yes, i think it does.

and i think they're harp -- their harping on it suggests that is a powerful political thing. i'm not discounting the. i think that the testimony put all together is powerful. i just think that it would have been more powerful had there been cross-examination. you know, vice chairman cheney says under cross-examination nobody would change their testimony. and if that's the case -- howard: yeah. >> -- why not go down that road? howard: now finally on friday many d.c. it took all of three hours to convict steve bannon, former white house official, former trump campaign chairmaning of criminal contempt of congress. he faces jail time. here's what he said after the hearing. >> i only have one disappointment, and that is the gutless members of that show trial committee, j-6 committee didn't have the guts to come down here and testify in open court. howard: is that a significant story, and does it send a powerful message to those who are corporating -- cooperating?

>> i think it sends a message. steve bannon was saying a lot outside of court but not inside of court as far as his defense. it's unique that it's moving forward. it hasn't happened in a long, long time, decades, that this has moved forward. howard: yeah. it's interesting that only two people have been refer for criminal prosecution, peter navarro being the other one. bret baier, thanks for stopping by. >> sure, howie. howard: still to come, no prosecution for stephen colbert's arrested crew, and lebron james insults his fans. the buzzmeter is next. ♪ to make dentistry work for your life. so we offer a complete exam and x-rays free to new patients without insurance - everyday. plus, patients get 20% off their treatment plan. we're on your corner and in your corner every step of the way. because your anything is our everything.

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times" and washington post should give up their pulitzers for reporting on the russia investigation, but that's not happening. now, the relentless overhyping of every little development in the two-year probe amounted to media malpractice, but the pulitzer or board faced a narrower question. no sign of factual inaccuracies in the reporting, so they get to keep their prizes. trump's response in the pulitzer board is running cover for the biggest reporting failure in modern history, the fake russia, russia, russia collusion hoax. remember when stephen colbert's crew was arrested in the capitol and criminally charged? cbs' colbert nine had permission to do interviews, but later snuck back in. trump weighed in on this too calling the staffers radical left lewin are ticks. wow. prosecutors have just dropped all charges against colbert shaffers who entered the cap -- staffers who entered illegally, wouldn't leave the premises and

were very loud and disruptive late into the evening with no security present as is mandated by law. look, it was a dumb mistake by the cbs crew, but keep in mind we're talking about this for triumph, the insult comic dog. elon musk, that guy who was going to buy twitter, has lost the first legal round in his effort to back out of the $44 billion deal. a delaware judge ordered a 5-day trial in october. twitter's lawyers called musk a buyer looking to conjure an exit ramp. musk says the company is giving him the run-around on the issue of fake bot accounts. it'll be ironic if he's forced to buy the place. chris cuomo's attempting a comeback after being fired from cnn which said he wasn't truthful about trying to help his brother andrew cling to new york's governorship. chris says he'll be a free agent and launched a podcast.

>> i really do regret how everything ended, but i will never if regreat helping my family. -- regreat helping my family. howard: he's entitled to find an audience, and it was smart to first go to ukraine and report from there. lebron james, one of the greatest basketball players in history, is also a co-owner of the boston red sox, so it was an unforced error to call boston fans racist as f. we have to do some bleeping here. >> they will say anything. i don't mind it, but, like, if i hear someone, i check 'em real quick, they're going to say [bleep] whatever they want to say. howard: of course, there are some racists in boston like everywhere else, but i don't think it's more racist than other big cities. why would lebron deliver such a hard foul to fans who who pay money to see his baseball team? that's it for this edition of

"mediabuzz." i'm howard kurtz. check out "mediabuzz" podcast, the white house just put out an update on president biden's condition saying he's, quote, significantly -- a sore throat seems to be the biggest symptom. we're back here next sunday, see you hen with the latest buzz. ame make and model. get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ [sfx: ding] [message] hey babe, meet us at the bottom of the trail. oh, man. hey! open up! the redesigned chevy silverado. with a sophisticated, high-tech interior... open the door! it's easy to forget it's a truck. ♪♪ - thanks. - nice truck! it was.

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president biden continues to recover from his covid symptoms at the white house. it's going to be a big week for the economy. you know it's now three days since the president -positive covid tests. the white house says he is doing well, his symptoms have been waiting for it we wish him the very best. meanwhile the administration is taking credit for lowering gas prices, this the fifth week in a row they've gone down. the country is waiting for major economic report later this week that could tell us that the nation is officially in a