♪ ♪ howard: it was a big media moment, the three cable news networks taking it live when president biden denouncedded russia for its atrocities and nuclear threats in the brutal invasion of ukraine. >> this war is about extinguishing ukraine's right to exist as a state. that should make your blood run cold. howard: but within seconds as reporters started to summarize the speech, they were interrupted. >> and really called out russian president vladimir putin to say that this is --

>> i interrupt you with -- i'm sorry to interrupt you, we're going to go with leticia janes. howard: and new york's democratic attorney general who had postponed her press conference until biden was off the air, announced a civil suit against donald trump, his adult children and the trump organization. >> donald trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and to cheat the system. howard: and that is the trump-obsessed media environment we all live in. msnbc spent hours and hours talking about almost nothing other than the suit against trump which he denounced as a political witch hunt calling leticia james a fraud. cnn was more balanced but devoted plenty of time to the lawsuit including an interview with michael to cohen who showed up on hsnbc as well. fox news covered the story but much less than its rivals.

as for the president, russia and ukraine, i'm sure by now joe biden is accustomed to being blown off the screen by the former president and a media establishment that loves to bash him while milking the ratings. i'm howard kurtz, and this is "mediabuzz." ♪ ♪ howard: ahead, megyn mccain on why she thinks republican governors down south are absolutely justified in sending migrants to martha's vineyard and other northern sanctuaries. an appeals court panel overruled a lower court judge allowing the justice the president to resume using classified -- the justice department to resume using classified information. >> if you're the president of the united states, you can declassify just by saying it's declassified, even by thinking about it, because you're sending it to mar-a-lago or to wherever you're sending it.

and there doesn't have to be a process. howard: and new york's democratic attorney general was praised and pilaried by the pundits as she announced the civil suit against the trumps, the company and his adult children. >> new york attorney general leticia james filed a lawsuit alleging what was already obvious to anyone who has ever paid attention, donald trump is a crook. >> leticia james ran for attorney general of new york by promising to use her office to punish donald trump because, of course, that's what law enforcement is for, to crush your political enemies. >> donald trump began his day by getting hit with the most massive lawsuit he has ever faced, the lawsuit that could wipe him out and bankrupt his adult children. >> james is a political hack, and dropping this just 48 days before the midterms just reeks. howard: joining us now to analyze the coverage, mollie

hemingway, editor-in-chief of the federalist, and in los angeles, leslie marshall, radio talk show host. both are fox news contributors. mollie, leety shah is james, obviously, she's a partisan democrat, but the media pounced on the fact that donald trump claimed his apartment was 30,000 square feet when it's actually about 11,000 square feet. >> first off, i'm so glad that you showed what happened in the coverage this week where we have a looming problem globally of a potential nuclear war breaking out, and even that wasn't enough to keep media from moving quickly to this very politicized lawsuit, very politicized person who, you know, as we see in the coverage did promise that she would go after president trump. rather than talk about the play-by-play on these lawsuits, i think it's also important that the media think about the bigger issues in play. right now we have quite a few examples of democrats in political power using their power to essentially try to jail

republicans. this goes very strongly against our notion of rule of law and how things should work where you don't start with the person you're trying go after and then figure out a crime and instead if you start with any potential crime and investigate it -- howard: leslie, trump called leticia james a raging maniac at a weekend rally, but i think what's been largely overlooked is this: the reason james can only bring a civil suit is that a parallel investigation was closed without bringing any criminal charges. yet she uses the presser to say he's violated these federal laws, these state laws, but it's a civil student which, by the way, will drag on -- suit, which, by the way, will drag on in court for a long time. >> you're accurate, but i don't think you just remain silent after an investigation that spans 10 years and your climax is 200 payments of details of broken -- pages of details of

broken laws. even though, yes, it's easier to go after somebody in a civil manner, i think, if anything, it doesn't prevent donald trump from running or being president if he were elected and it certainly is, i think, a spotlight to the district attorney's office whether there was a republican or democratic president because you're looking at the past decade. here are our findings, we will be going forward with a civil suit. i think the press conference was warranted and for people to to say, certainly, we know political leanings, but if donnell trump doesn't get punished -- donald trump doesn't get punished politically, he gets punished in the pocketbook. howard: she's trying to stop him from essentially doing business in new york. but let me play another sound bite from president trump's interview with sean hannity in which he explains how he dealt with the big banks when he was trying to get loans for his organization. >> what we do is here's the

financial statement, but careful because it may not be accurate, it may be way off, get your own people. use your own appraisers. use your own lawyers. don't rely on us. howard: mollie, this gets to what most of the media are brushing off which is there are no victims here, in quotes, except for the major banks who are not claiming they were defrauded or lost money. this is not a case where poor widows were wiped out because of anything that trump did in terms of the valuations. it's about these major banks. >> i'm sorry, it's very hard to even take this civil suit seriously because everyone, everyone serious understands this is just a political attack on the president. but if you were to take it seriously, then you would have to actually go after pretty much everybody in new york city for the same type of valuations, the same type of issues. and, again, this gets to these two standards of justice that we have in this country. and it's whether you're talking about the new york attorney general or biden's department of

justice or even that texas sheriff who said he wasn't sure what law was broken when desantis sent the immigrants to martha's vineyard, but he was going to fine a way to go after him. find a way to go after him. we cannot sustain two standards of justice much longer. howard: leslie, whether it's the big banks or not, it doesn't give trump the right to submit fraudulent valuations. but i've covered some of these. these are complicatedded matters. real estate companies always try to make their balance sheet look better within the confines of the law, and this could drag on, as i said. and the pundit cans on your side are saying trump will finally be held accountable but maybe not. >> i don't think this will hold him accountable, necessarily. i would agree with mollie, there are other people doing this. here's the difference, and i think we all know this, if people are are committing crimes like this allegedly and they're really quiet about it, nobody notices, right? but if you're standing there

constantly on national it's and apt rallies -- television and at rallieses lying and punting -- put in the spotlight, you're bringing attention to yourself. we've seen that historically with other individuals who have been prosecutedded because, you know, they were, as my teenage daughter would say, a pick me person. pick me, pick me. and when you bring that attention to yourself, that gets the attention of people like the attorney general in new york, for example. >> i think the argument there is because corporate media and other democrats despise and are filled with hatred toward president trump, that, therefore, he's bringing this on himself, to have two standards of justice. and, again, in this country we need to be ruled by law and not men. and that is something we have moved so far away from. and it could crash the entire republic. howard: men or women. leslie, you want to respond to that? >> you know, i'm old enough to remember back when a guy named william jefferson clinton was prime minister, and there were

so many more gates -- president. there was travelgate, white watergate, and you know what? he wasn't really guilty of anything. but when the republicans stood up there and had hair legal people standing -- their legal people standing up there, bill clinton seemed to be found guilty before he was proven innocent. so i would say this has happened for a long time. howard: setting the record completely straight, i am compelled to mention that bill clinton was impeached for questions about his testimony before a grand jury, whether he was lying, which he basically was about monica lewinsky. but that's, of course, not how the white water -- >> that wasn't a quaint though. monica lieu lewinsky wasn't a gate. howard: so in the justice department case, donald trump's comment to hannity about declassifying documents even by thinking about it, a lot of jokes about magic powers. even top republicans are saying, no, it's a process. you have to tell other officials. >> in fact, constitutionally thinking, the president is the top classification and

declassification authority. so it is true, and this is actually speaking of bill clinton, this was something that judge jackson resolved when bill clinton was keeping classified information in his sock drawer. that went to -- that was a court case that was resolved in bill clinton's favor. and so, again, we have these two standards of justice with prime ministers in the recent past -- presidents in the recent past where some are treated differently than others, and that can't happen. this entire paperwork dispute never if of should have gotten to the level it is the, and we have a lot of irresponsibility from biden's department the of justice in how they're handling something. this is a really important issue, and we have an fbi and department of justice that have lost credibility, who have lied in order to secure search warrants on this president. they should be extremely careful in what they're doing. and something like a paperwork dispute or a classification dispute should be handled with much more sensitivity like they have in the past -- howard: just to be clear, do you buy the notion that he can declassify documents even by

thinking about it? republicans say, no, you've got to tell other agencies so particularly intelligence agencies would know. >> i'm saying he's the top authority. it is not subject to review by anyone else when the president classifies or decan classifies something. how could it be? he is the top constitutional officer to handle this. howard: well, again, republicans say there's a process. let's wily, i want to get you in on that, but also how important is the latest on the justice department appealing, getting a three-judge panel of the 11th circuit in atlanta, two trump appointees and one appointed by obama which has the doj probe back in action, limiting the special master's review? >> well, to what we're speaking of, you basically have two trump appointees and one obama appointee, the 11th circuit saying there is no evidence that these records were declassified, so it's a win for the justice department as you rightly stated howie, because this continues.

and i want to quote from the presidential records act, okay? because this speaks specifically to how a president classifies or declassifies -- howard: just briefly. >> -- information. one, you have to identify the specific document even if that's verbal. and then, two, they have to be recorded. and the reason for that is when you have records that are classified and declassified, they are physically handled in a a different way by the handler ares. so they have to be documented. howard: all right. >> on those records, on those documents which is declassified and which isn't -- so you can't do it through osmosis. howard: remember i came on the air a few weeks ago and said fox doesn't have any kind of ban against donald trump coming on? obviously not. the former president comes on if he thinks he should do so. ron desantis facing a lawsuit over the martha's vineyard immigrants. but when we come back, joe biden declares the pandemic is over

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♪ howard: president biden said a number of things on "60 minutes" that caused journalists and his own advisers to scramble, especially about the coronavirus. >> is the pandemic over? >> the pandemic is over. we still have a problem with covid, we're still doing a lot of work on it. it's, but the pandemic is over. if you notice, no one's wearing masks. >> biden's proclamation that the pandemic is over is sparking a furious backlash from the liberal press and his own white house. >> we still have 400 people dying a day and, by the way, 21% of americans who caught covid have long covid. howard: mollie, even medical correspondents on the left-leaning americas had to say, well, no, the pandemic

isn't over. >> i don't think that's quite -- if you listen to the full remarks that president biden said, he said of course it's still around, we still have these things happening, but the pandemic itself is over. that's true in the same way that it's true we still have influenza around, but that doesn't mean you still have pandemic response to it. he is having pandemic-type response, justifying actions on the basis of a pandemic that a he himself says is over. howard: i'll come back to that but,s leslie, biden knew the pandemic is over would be the headline in this midterm campaign season and that the media would run with it. [laughter] >> absolutely. you mean, that old man with dementia's smarter than we think, howie? if sorry. look, you have to ask whose definition of pandemic, okay? so when we look to merriam-webster for the definition, what's the

definition, and it states a widespread endem cantic decide with a stable number of infected individuals is not a pandemic. the deaths are 10%. people have vaccination, people have boosters, people have choices. borders to other countries and to our country to come and go legally are open. in addition to that, businesses are not getting, you know, ppp hone ares. 10% of individuals, 10% of the numbers of deaths that we have. in other words, we have 90% more people surviving. so i think it does depend on whose definition. obviously, the world health organization disagrees, some people in my own party disagree with that statement, but i think most people don't feel they're living, i don't feel personally that i'm living under a pandemic as i was when i was standing in line at a twroasly store wearing a mask and terrified. howard: yeah. well, at the moment, unfortunately, more than 400 americans a day are are killed because of covid or covid-related. but us mollie, the administration loses a whole lot of emergency powers that have

enabled the president to do a bunch of things. >> and that's where the media should definitely be critiquing what was said by president biden. but i think the media have done a very poor job of looking into some of these issues because they themselves did so much during this entire pandemic to hype the covid threat much more than it actually was. it's a very bad thing, nobody wants to get it, but they heaped it so much -- hyped it so much more. we had a response to the pandemic that has really done a lot to damage the country, whether that was shutting down schools, the economy, whether that is the continued unconstitutional actions being taken by a president on the basis of a pandemic, and our media are very poorly studented to handle that. howard: leslie, is this another instance where the president says one thing like we will defend taiwan, and the aides rush out and say, well, he didn't misspeak, but the policy hasn't changed at all? >> you know, i don't think in

today's world of politics especially in the united states, we've seen this happen, you know, with trump, we've seen it happen with obama and now with president biden, where the president has one opinion and says so, and then the staff goes that's very nice that the president feels that way, but policy's going to remain. i don't think that most voters hang on that because most voters aren't voting based on taiwan or even based on a pandemic or covid now a nowadays -- nowadays when you look at the data. howard: very quickly. >> the problem with this walkback is it's frequently anonymously sourced, and we need to know when the white house disagrees with the president, first of all, who's in charge, but also they shouldn't just allow anonymous walkback. howard: okay. mollie hemingway, leslie marshall, thanks so much. up next, new york magazine says the hunter biden laptop remains a big problem and calls out the media's embarrassing conduct. ♪ ♪ ntistry work for your life.

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howard: the cover story in liberal new york magazine, the sordid saga of hunter biden's laptop, is very much about the media when "the new york post" broke the story toward the end of the 2020 campaign, elizabeth -- told her staff, hey, all, let's refrain from tweeting about the story while we're reporting it out. if you accept that there are difference cans in media discussed the laptop much at all, it was laughed off as another strange trump adventure in disinformation and incompetence. steve krakauer was told, i thought it was embarrassing the mainstream media had been so eager to accept and so relieve to have the excuse of the theory that it was a russian disinformation campaign. steve krakauer joins me now from dallas. so if you take a look at this, steve, how embarrassing was the media's conduct? it took "the new york times" a year and a half to report it out, something "the new york post" had already published.

>> yeah. they certainly were in no rush to actually go and make good on what was a scoop there. elizabeth bumiller's e-mail to the staff. howie, i think this was, in a long list of options, this was one of the absolute worst cases of journalistic misconduct over the last five years, and i write about this racket. we've learned even more of the collusion that goes between companies, government forcesbetween the media. and i would put in intel agencies that spun this ridiculous story about russian disinformation, and the media bought whole cloth. the tech industry went and censored the story in new and ridiculous ways. and, yeah, as olivia told me, it was embarrassing, and that's what led her to go and really dig into the story two years later now because it is a story that has never had a full accounting even as we've seen little bits and pieces reported out. howard: well, not to mention big

tech, facebook and twitter suppressing or outright banning the retweeting of that story. a former new york times staffer quoted as saying there's a whole category of story where with conservative media coverage is sloppy, and then the mainstream media institutions treat the whole area as radioactive and just won't cover it, surrenderer the subject matter entirely. your thoughts. >> it's 100% true, and it's convenient for them. i mean, olivia told me about, you know, we hear a lot about, like, bubbles, you know? media's in this right-wing bubble. well, this is a bubble of its own creation by the, you know, mainstream media here to, by design, purposely not cover this story because they had an out, they said, oh, this is being reported by the new york post, and it feels icky, we're just going to pretend it doesn't exist. and so they create that bubble on their own. but then the result of that bubble is their own audience is not given the story at all, is not -- and it's spun this tale.

i mean, how many people who are readers of missouri magazine, new york times -- new york magazine, new york post, believe still to this day that the hunter biden laptop is russian disinformation? i would imagine very many, and that's why it's so important that we're starting to get a real accounting for what happened and how wrong the original reporting was and has been for months and years. howard: yeah. well, you know, we hear so much about the right-wing media bubble, but you're right, there's a different kind of bubble. of course, this story would embarrass candidate biden. less than a minute, what's the significance of new york magazine from running a deeply-reported piece on how the democrats are in denial over this hunter biden laptop, and the media still aren't pursuing it that aggressively? >> yeah. i think that, you know, olivia described to me it was a dereliction of tooth that a story like this -- of duty that a story like did not exist yet. and, look, when you read that story, interviews with rudy

giuliani, the repair shop man, yeah. i mean, it takes interviewing people that maybe the mainstream media is a little bit hands-off about. but what you get is truth, and they, you know, o live -- olivia and andrew saw the contents of the hard drive, they put it out there, and it's hugely significant that it is on the cover because now many more people will understand what the truth is. howard: thanks so much, steve krakauer. next on "mediabuzz," meghan mccain on whether the media are have it backwards when it comes to the migrants sent to comes to the migrants sent to martha's vineyard. ♪et-z ♪ 've heard of and some you'd never expect. it's going to take funding innovation in renewable energy, helping reduce carbon footprints, and big bets on environmentally conscious construction.

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shriners hospitals for children provides. yeah. like sebastian, who can stand now? yeah. and the best part is, it's so easy to become a monthly supporter. all you need to do is call the number on your screen or go to loveshriners.org your support will make sure our amazing doctors and nurses keep helping kids like us who need them now and in the future. alec, do you think i could try this part? go for it, buddy. when you call right now. and your $19 a month only $0.63 a day, we'll send you your very own love to the rescue blanket as a reminder of all the kids you are helping every day. your monthly support makes a huge difference for kids like us. so please call now or go to loveshriners.org to give. on behalf of all the kids you're helping, alec and and i just want to say - thank you.

you got that right. thank you so much. please call the number on your screen or go to loveshriners.org with your monthly support right away. your support shows you care too. howard: the media furor other ron desantis sending two planeloads to martha's vineyard has taken a new turn with the

sheriff, javier salazar, launching an investigation of the florida governor's tactics. >> they were promised work, the solution to several of their problems. they were taken to martha's vineyard, from what we can gather, for nothing -- for little more than a photo op, video op. >> they accuse the governors of arizona, texas and me of political stunts in terms of dealing with illegal immigration. but the biggest stunt was biden coming into office and reversing trump's policies. >> the immediate democrat response has not been to attack the problem with solutions, but to attack the person with solutions, which is desantis, right? >> a group of human lives, people, human beings, and making them feeling any, fear, terror -- agony, fear, terror and misguiding them and transporting them. howard: joining us now, meghan mccain, columnist for daily mail.com. megyn hand, nice to have you back. you wrote a column praising ron desantis and governor doug

ducey in your home state of arizona for bringing the border crisis to the homes of willfully blind liberals, and you said the hamptons should be next. >> look, i'm born and raised in ads which is, obviously, a border state. the immigration crisis is at an all-time fever pitch. there have been a record number of -- million, yeah, up from 1.7 million. i think it is easy for liberals, and i find the histrionics associated with this, i think it's easy for liberals who aren't living on border states to ignore the problem. and then when it's brought literally to their front door, oh, my gosh, what are we going to do? the people in martha's vineyard were saying we don't have housing and infrastructure for this. neither do people living on the border. so i thought it was really brilliant and setting up these governors, particularly governor ron desantis, for really amazing messaging going into 2024. i don't think this is just about politics, i think this is about

policy as well. howard: well, i'm going to play devil's advocate. it is a political stunt the, these venezuelan my grants were used as props, this is me talking, and and according to the sheriff, they were misled, isn't that a problem? >> i think when you have aoc going to the border with camera crews, that's also using illegal immigrants as pretty cat propping. -- political props. these are, as my family has said, god's children. they are desperate to come to america. this is the greatest country in the entire world, looking for freedom, looking for prosperity, but there are proper legal channels to go through. and i think the proof is in the statistics and data, they're just needing over the border. and i think forcing people who can least afford to have body guards and gates around their homes and living in the most elite areas of the country to see what people in brownsville, texas, are have to see -- howard: you're basically saying

the media are focused on one side of this. the border is a disaster, i think we can agree on that. >> sure. howard: but you say is not only has the left dismissed them, but, quote, lap dog mainstream media were happy to go along with that disingenuous narrative. who in the media is denying that the border is out of control under the biden administration? >> i mean, our vice president this morning. i mean -- howard: the border's secure. >> yes, correct. i think there are people, again, on the left in the media that are really trying to gaslight the american public that this isn't a problem. and i think for some people who are not living in border areas, maybe they aren't aware of the degree of the problem. human trafficking has become a huge problem in arizona, specifically in my home city of phoenix. and i think, again, it's easy when this problem is with other people. it's red state people, it's people of lower socioeconomic means than people in martha's vineyard. and i just find the idea that we are somehow not humane, it's

really disingenuous from people and commentators on the left. howard: but having them viewed as not caring about -- boston would be a better destination, i think, for these migrants. how can even a sanctuary city help migrants as with the vineyard they're not even told in advance when the migrants are coming? that fuels those who say it is unfair and and inhue i main to these people -- inhumane to these people. >> well, the people were very happy to go to martha's vineyar- howard: some of them were very happy, and they thanked governor desantis. >> yes. but they're doing the exact same thing on the border do can, immigrants were immediately sent to a military base, then i believe 48 hours of people in martha's vineyard waving and blowing kisses. again, i just find it ironic that they don't want an illegal immigrant in their hometown and they don't think they can handle it with their infrastructure which is one of the wealthiest

places not just in the country, but in the world. people like president obama and ellingen degeneres have places there. howard: and a lot of other famous celebrities who, obviously, don't want the island overrun are. let's shift gears, you say joe biden appears too old and too out of touch for a second term, and if the mainstream media are trying to spin that away and the examples of that, quote: again, the world sees our media is corrupted by extreme political bias. are they trying to spin that away? biden. 's on tv all the time. >> i think i can remember a time that someone that we both -- i loved and you knew, was running for president, and the media was in histrionics about the fact that he was. 72 years old -- howard: that was beyond the pale. >> obviously, referencing my late dad who had to reveal, reporters were sent to mayo clinic to look at his health records, the fact that he had minor skin cancer taken after his body at one point this time. and i think the idea that 86,

which is how old president biden would be at the end of his second term, is something we should normalize not only in the white house, but in politics in general. i mean, there's a litany of people in the senate and congress who are well over, i believe, the age of what is acceptable to govern in america. and i think, again, i think you're being gaslit by a lot of people that 80 is young. and i'm not trying to be ageist. i have great respect, but 80 is not young. and i think we are seeing videos, interviews, you know -- howard: are the media minimizing this? kind of covering for biden? because it's, you know, we see it, everyone gets to see the president whether they think he's mentally -- >> i think that that you and i should call balls and strikes here. obviously, it's in the media's benefit for president biden to be looking young and agile and fit and, you know, cognitively with it as possible because they don't have anyone else. the idea that there's going to be a president newsom is just an

absolute fantasyland. i don't believe it. he is all they've got, full stop, period -- howard: let me jump in. you've endured more than your share of bad press. >> yes. [laughter] howard: has that helped against what you call the lap dog or corrupt media? >> 100%. you've known me a long time. i have been working -- since 21 is years old, i'm almost 38 and, yeah, i've seen and experienced firsthand how conservative women in particular are treated very differently from liberal women with, liberal men, from even conservative men. and, yeah, it's completely radicalized me. i'm very happy and grateful that i work at a place like the daily mail right now that is a completely uncensored place and has no bias and grateful to come to on shows like this. have no doubt, i've been in the inner sanctum of the den the of hell, and i assure you, liberals hate you. howard: it must not be a great

place. you recently made news saying you are pregnant -- >> thank you. you have girls too. princess dresses for the rest of time, but thank you very much. howard: meghan mccain, great to see you. >> thank you. howard: president biden backs off the notion he's definitely running again leaving the pundits perplexed. stay the with us. ♪ng ♪ p it has l-theanine to help me relax from daily stress. plus, shoden ashwagandha for quality sleep. so i can wake up refreshed. neuriva think bigger. (vo) at viking, we are proud to have been named the world's number one for both rivers and oceans by travel and leisure, as well as condé nast traveler.

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howard: president biden has spent months insisting, despite democratic doubts, that he's running for a second term, but now he says this: >> after this next election cycle here, i'm going into next year making a judgment on what to do. look, my intent as i said to bin with was that i would run again, but it's just an intention. is it a firm decision that i'd run again? that remains to be seen. howard: joining us now is juan williams, fox news political analyst. the media furor finally had faded after a string of legislative successes, most polls showing him in the mid 40s. the party was seeming more comfortable with him and now he says he's not sure? >> i think the clear thing here is you have to understand it's in his financial interests in terms of controlling his pac and the spending not to declare -- howard: no. he can't formally declare. >> so i think the people have to factor that in. i don't think it's necessarily he's playing some verbal game

here. i think that the larger point is that there are so many people who have taken this with alarm, i hope, maybe he's not running, and and if i think there are people on the right who they know he's the one guy who has beatenton trump who's the spectrummive -- beaten presumptive candidate. howard: he seemed to go out of his way to say he hadn't made up his mind. maybe he's accomplishing most of his agenda in recent months and he's more comfortable being wit. that have not just a diplomatic sidestep. >> you know, what strikes me is people always underthis guy. either he's -- underestimate this guy. either he's too centrist or too old. as you pointed out, he's accomplished most of his legislative agenda in his first two years. he's a guy that's got putin on his back heels, right?

howard: remains to be seen. >> he's a guy that's killed our number one terrorist in the world. that sounds like a pretty solid record are. the issue, i think, is that whether or not you want joe biden as the democratic nominee among democrats is at low ebb, not high ebb. howard: yeah. although it's still a majority, according to a washington post poll out today. let's turn the to the martha's vineyard battlefield. many supporters of ron desantis and greg abbott say they're expose posing the hypocrisy of liberal northerners who. don't want them in their backyard. >> i find this so awful because, i've got to tell you something, my parents were immigrants. i guess, technically, i'm an immigrant. we're talking about human beings. the american story is a story of immigration and the success of immigrants and people who were struggling to get away from oppression, from violence literally have a right to asylum. it's a legal step, that's how they get caught.

and desantis taking people from texas, not even florida, and flying them to massachusetts? this is all about politics. if he wants to solve it, go talk to the congress. go talk to the president bush, obama and president trump, oh -- '06, '13 and '18, they all tried to get comprehensive reform done, couldn't do it. and why? because of the media. right-wing media said, no, don't do it, don't give up on this issue. it's a ratings grabber. howard: i didn't know right-wing media were that powerful. but let me come back to the coverage. if ron desantis talks about, oh, hypocrisy of sanctuary cities, gets very little media covering a -- coverage. by sending these 48 migrants to martha's vineyard, he made this a white hot media issue that's been debated now for more than a week. so from if his point of view, it was a successful gambit. >> yeah, end, i think, you see on the right for a guy who wants to be president, he's raised the

issue, he's injected it into midterm, and now he's beating president trump in head to head contests in florida. so if that's the point, well taken. but it's not about immigration. it's about either politics or desantis playing to his supporters and right-wing media. howard: i have less than a minute, but would you agree at least that the border gets relatively little media attention? we have 2 million illegal crossings in the last year, and this is an albatross for president biden. it deserves more coverage. >> i think it's an albatross for the country -- howard: well, that's a nice pivot. >> no, it's not a pivot -- howard: who's in charge? >> who was in charge the last four years? a republican president. howard: and he got -- who was in charge the past four years? this is an issue that is dog our country. i didn't intend it as a pivot, i meant to be honest with you, howie. we, as americans, need to deal with immigration. the congress of the united states is negligent and intentionally so, democrat9 and

republican at this point, in not coming to terms with a crisis that really speaks negatively about who we are. our identity is the shining city on a hill, to quote ronald ronald reagan, and that's why people come here. howard: well, it is true that congress doesn't act on these things because it is the considered radioactive. juan williams, thanks for stopping i. -- by. still to come, the serial podcast gets a convicted killer out of prison, and apple having second thoughts about will smith. the buzzmeter is next.my n ♪ing ♪ but at the end of the day, you know you have a team behind you that can help you. not having to worry about the future makes it possible to make the present as best as it can be for everybody.

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howard: time again to race the clock on the buzzmeter. go. eight years ago, back before half the country had podcasts, the n npr drew a huge audience

as the case was built that a baltimore man serving a long sentence for murdering his ex-girlfriend may have been innocent. now the judge has overturned the conviction ruling the prosecutors um properly failed to turn over evidence. >> they're saying that back in 1999 we didn't investigate this case thoroughly enough. we relied on evidence we shouldn't have, and we broke the rules when we prosecuted. this wasn't an honest conviction. howard: now, the withheld evidence was about alternative suspects such as one who had threatened the high school girl saying he would make her disappear, he would kill her. this is not a vindication, but whatever the ultimate outcome, it's remarkable that the serial podcast reporting led to the reversal of this conviction. we told you last week that sky tv owned by comcast censored hbo's john oliver by cutting out some jokes about queen elizabeth when airing the show in the u.k. well, guess who wasn't too pleased? >> all we said was that britain is still mourning shocking loss,

rights of a 96-year-old woman if natural causes. [laughter] and yet they cut it out. well [bleep] apparently, all we've heard all week is the queen had an incredible sense of humor. howard: hey, i'd be pretty mad too, ask his jokings are funnier than mine. remember when podcast movement trashed ben shapiro for daring to spend a few minutes at their convention, actually apologizing for his presence? the group finally said sorry to shapiro after cumulus media, which works with him, pulled its sponsorship. we have to start by sincerely apologizing to mr. shapiro for our reaction when he visited the booth, we sold his company. that wasn't right, you think? shapiro said, hey, better late than never. apple had planned to delay releasing a will smith movie until next year so memories would fade about the slap, but "the new york times" says apple may release emancipation featuring smith as a runaway

slave by year's end so it would be eligible for awards, each holding a focus group where members said they weren't turned off by the attack on chris rock. will smith couldn't show up to accept an award because he's been banned from the oscars for 10 years which may not stop apple from from moving to cash in. white house officials are are increasingly irritated with reporting from the border by fox's bill melugin says politico playbook. an emmy award-winning relater is providing facts and footage, and biden aides are frustrated by that? meanwhile, karine jean peer said that fox was alerted by migrants being sent to kamala harris' residence, but we knocked that down. fox got a press release just like other news outlets, some of whom also covered -- [background sounds] howard: just made it. that's it for this edition of "mediabuzz." i'm howard kurtz. subscribe to media buzzmeter,

more than 2 million downloads and counting this year. apple itunes, a pretty good place to do it. i think it's pretty obvious that all the guests came to play today, brought their a games on a wide variety of subjects which leads me to say we're back here next sunday, 11 eastern, with the only media analysis show on national television. ♪

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so i can wake up refreshed. neuriva think bigger. eric: fox alert. tropical storm is intensifying and barreling towards florida. it could grow to a powerful category four hurricane before slamming into the sunshine state. i am eric shawn. hi arthel. arthel: hello everyone. i am arthel neville. both president biden and governor desantis have