♪ ♪ howard: in a if few moments, lara trump will be here live.

joe biden and donald trump now have the exact same position on the justice department, that it's a biased and politically-slanted mess. it's not just that, as the whole world nose a few hours after our show ended last sunday, the president issued a sweeping pardon to his criminally-convicted son, hunter biden. it's that the outgoing president sounded just like the incoming president who said the criminal cases against him with a form of prosecution carried out byville prosecutors and judges trying to prevent him from reclaiming the white house. now, keep in mind that biden told journalists again and again that he wouldn't interfere with hunter's case. >> will you accept the jury's outcome, their verdict, no matter what it is? >> yes. >> and 40 have you ruled out a pardon for your son? >> yes. i said i'd abide by the jury decision. i will do that, and i will not pardon him. howard: but when he broke that promise, the president couldn't even face the press or the public. he issued a statement.

no reasonable person who looks at the fact of hunter's cases can reach any to other conclusion that hunter was singled out only because he is my son, and that is wrong. there has been an effort to break hunter who's been five and a half years sober even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. this in trying to break hunter, they've tried to break me, and there's no reason to believe it it will stop here. enough is enough. and even some of his liberal media supports, even his former white house press secretary are -- have not been defending him. >> if you're wondering whether that is good politics, if this is great for his legacy as someone who has consistently stood for principle over personal needs, who even kept the guy on in delaware who was appointed by trump who was going to keep investigating his son, it's not good politics. dis, yes, hunter biden has done some stupid things. >> i think that's the piece of this i am most frustrated with, which is joe biden looking like

a typical lightening politician. >> yes. feel like a [bleep] fool, you know? if that's what makes me mad about it. howard: mika by zinn sky slammed the coverage. >> seems so hysterically imbalanced. i just, you know, when you read how they're covering this and then you look at the things that are happening on the other side, it is, again, completely out of step. howard: now think about this. if donald trump who in his first term pardoned such allies lies as the -- as steve bannon and roger stone, what would the democrats say? it's joe bide won swung that door open. if kash patel, trump's pick to run the fbi, started a house cleaning at the bureau, what would the democrats say? biden agrees with trump that the justice department treats people, including his son, unfairly. biden also weighing preemptive pardons to protect his allies from trump, he says.

and this criticism from the right, of course. while kamala harris' former chief of staff defends the pardon. >> the key thing here is everyone knew that biden was lying. >> yeah. because they knew it would hurt biden politically than help trump, the entire political media establishment preend thed otherwise. >> do we actually believe joe biden was going to let the president president-elect's administration mistake good on their promise to go after his son? joe biden is leaving the stage. howard: no wonder faith in the justice department is plunging. two presidents agree the agency can't be trusted. i'm howard cuforts and this is "mediabuzz." ♪ howard: what's really remarkable about the hunter biden pardon is the one prominent democrat after another is speaking out against their party's president.

>> i wish the president had not stated after the plea agreement fell through that he would not a pardon hunter biden, because it is discouraging that that he has now gone back on his word on that. >> i think it was a major mistake, a disappointing mistake, one that erodes that same trust. >> when you turn around after you say month after month after month you're not going to pardon your son and then you do pardon him, putting the personal ahead of to your -- of your responsibilities to the american people. >> i wish he hadn't said he wasn't going to do it. i think it does weaken his case. howard: joining us now to analyze the coverage, mollie hemingway, fox news contributor. and in new york, liz claman, host of "the claman countdown" which airs daily at three eastern on fox business. boy, when you've lost bill clinton. mollie, it's been all over the news, joe biden has been getting beat up for pardoning his son

after promising he wouldn't. but now, in my view, you have two the presidents saying the justice department is untrustworthy and politically biased. >> well, you had president biden talking about how his son was singled out, and that's why he was pardoning him. it is true that his son was singled out and the department of justice is corrupt, but president biden gets it in exactly the opposite direction. this department of justice, you might remember, they had the hunter biden laptop for a year before they asked social media companies to censor news and debate about the hunter biden laptop which exposed so much about the biden family business. of david weiss, the special -- who ended up being the special counsel on this case, he down january played all the issues -- downplay all the issues, he let the statute of rimmations -- limitations run out, tried to give the special immunity deal. you had so many issues where the department of justice could have looked deeply into the biden family business and into this corruption can, things that president obama if's

administration was aware of. so it's true that hunter biden was singled out, but if you or i were involved in sex trafficking or drug trafficking or taking bribes from communist officials or influence peddling -- howard: we'd probably be prosecuted. >> we would be prosecuted at a much higher degree than he was. howard: donald trump addressed this in an interview with "meet the press." let's see what the president-elect has to say. >> i hate to to go on shows like joe biden, i'm not to going to give my son a pardon. i will not under any circumstances give him a pardon. i watched this, and i always knew he was going to give him a pardon. howard: i have to say, i didn't, because i thought he wouldn't promise it again and again. liz, now selective prosecution is an argument that seems to be make, being made by both sides is. we heard trump after each criminal case he'd come out in front of the courthouse and say he was being singled out unfairly. >> well, here we are again with yet another world leader saying that the process is politicized, and what jumped out at me about

the biden statement was that he said no reasonable person would prosecute or go after somebody for this. let's be reasonable, there are a lot of people in prison right now, howie, serving for tax evasion. and if you listen to the judge who was part of the tax evasion process there, if he was not happy. in fact, he basically criticized the pardon indicating that how president biden characterized it was off point, definitely, especially considering when you look at the what hunter -- at what hunter biden did, he tried to, basically, deduct items as business expenses that weren't business expenses. and he knew that they weren't business expenses. and this was after he had reached sobriety. howard: right. >> again, it's a very trumpian thing for biden to have done but, sure enough, he's done it. howard: don't try this at home. mollie, first politico reporting and now a bunch of other news organizations confirming that joe biden and his team, they're

not defending it -- not deny it, i should say, are debating issuing a bunch of preemptive pardons for anyone they believe might be the target of trump's justice department or for indictment. what do you make of that? >> i think this should be a much larger story than it has been. this is truly scandalous, and it relates to a lot of issues the american people want to to know the truth about, the january 6th show trial, the response to to covid or even how covid was released upon the world, how adam schiff lied for years claiming that he had personal evidence of russian collusion. that was something that really hurt the country for a long period of time. i can understand why joe biden wants to protect these people and protect himself for their involvement in these kinds of operations that worked against the american people, but the american people are sick and tired of being lied to, and they want to know the truth. and they do want people held accountable for some of the things they've done. howard: liz, the reporting is that some democrats, and schiff

is one, don't want a pardon. they don't even know whether they're being considered or not, and they worry about the obvious implication that if you accept a pardon, even if just to protect yourself so you have to hire lawyers, you must be guilty of something. liz: >> well, and why would somebody like liz cheney or adam schiff or, quite frankly, anybody else accept some type of blanket pardon if they feel they have done absolutely nothing to warrant it? so, again, this is just a story at the moment. there's no hard evidence that it will happen. however, these blanket pardons or whatever is expected to happen just brings up the larger case, i think, where, you know, you look at the fact that donald trump had promised on the campaign trail retribution, he had threatened that, certainly, and he had talked about it for his political opponents. and then the man he has pushed for fbi, kash patel -- although chris wray has it for the next three years supposedly -- has also said the same thing.

therefore, there would be the other side's justification for a blanket pardon. they believe what donald trump said. howard: we have seen one democrat after another, we could have played more, come out and attack the president of their own party. i mean, jen psaki turning on you, bill clinton. and so, mollie, what message if does that that send when democrats are going after their outgoing president? >> just real quick first, i want to say seeking justice or accountability is not necessarily retribution -- howard: if someone has done something wrong, shul. >> a lot of people have done bad things in this country, and it has a lot to do with why donald trump was elected president again. you did see some democrats in the media say they didn't like that joe biden had lied for so long about this pardon and then given one anyway. but i think that's kind of a surface complaint. they should really be looking more -- again, as they always should have been -- into the biden family business and also maybe just the nature of the pardon. this is the most extensive

presidential pardon we've seen in history. this is twice the length of time covered by the pardon of nixon by president ford which was considered really outlandish at the tile. it and also relates, you know, goes back to january of 20 to 14 which is when joe biden took over the ukraine portfolio for president obama and also shortly before hunter biden got on the board of burisma. these are really significant, interesting issues. the media always like to talk about this drama instead of killing deep into the actual corruption of the biden family. howard: right. well, i will just say the singled-out often omits the other side, the other side being how does hunter biden get these millions of dollars from foreign entities around the world? if you're going to take part of that apartment argument, you've got to take the rest. meanwhile, liz, a gallup poll on trust in the fbi, 59% in 2014, now 41%, and i bet it goes lore. meanwhile, new york times and others say that the strained marriage between joe biden and

fellow democrats has become part of a bitter divorce not just because of the pardon, but also the feeling that what we are weren't as clear on although molli earnings was saying at the time, that he shouldn't have run for re-election in the if first place given his mental decline. >> yeah, there's always that. and people are very angry on the democratic side that it came to what it came to, and they would argue that kamala harris either wasn't the appropriate candidate, or if she were, she didn't have enough runway to get the attention or, certainly, get prepared for it. either way we could at least point out that the media has gone after joe biden on this. not only cnn's brianna key hour, you saw her, she basically forced dan goldman, the new york representative, to look at what he had said in the past saying i believe joe biden when he will not pardon his son and then saying, well, how does that feel now? jake tapper had come out and said that biden's lies i would,

you know, that he would pardon hunter, made his allies look complicit. they can't be happy. editorial pages came out swinging. in fact, "the washington post" said biden has indelibly marred his final chapter of his political career. so it's not like -- i think it's interesting and important to point out that the press is not giving this a complete pass. ohio howe -- ohio ohio mollie, what about the argument that the cover coverage is overdone and so forth? >> presidential pardons are a pretty controversial thing, period. i would not be surprised if you would see some desire for revisions of pardons or whether they're allowed when you're a lame duck. again, the coverage, it's not that these aren't big stories, but the deeper issues are not being covered well by the media. they've never done a good job of covering -- we might see more pardons of biden family members because hunter was just one of the family members involved in the trading influence.

howard: when we come back, pete what h e sauls -- calls the ma hyenas. ♪ ends with a moment of joy. ♪ do your dry eyes still feel gritty, rough, or tired? with miebo, eyes can feel ♪ miebo ohh yeah ♪ miebo is the only prescription dry eye drop that forms a protective layer for the number one cause of dry eye: too much tear evaporation. for relief that's ♪ miebo ohh yeah ♪ remove contact lenses before using miebo.

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howard: the "wall street journal" dropped a bombshell that is a classic case study of the washington leak game after new media reports raised damaging questions for pete hegseth's nomination to run the pentagon, donald trump's transition team floated this plan if b, ron desantis as the alternate pick for defense secretary. the he has military service. and while that's to hard to imagine given their bitter primary battle, the journal says it's been discussed with the florida governor, and he hasn't turned it down. now, that, of course, sends a powerful message to hegseth. one turning point, the new york times' decision to publish a scathing, heartbreaking letter from the former fox host's

mother when hegseth was embroiled in a divorce from his second wife. penelope hegseth said that seven years ago a, and pete is a changed man. >> you say this is to pete during the 2018 divorce, you say i have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats and sleeps around. and you go on and say you were that man and have been for years. and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that. >> i want to say something about the media, and part of today is to discredit the media and how they operate. when they contact you, i let a few phone calls go, but then they call you and say -- they threaten you. that's the first thing they do. they say unless you make a statement, we will publish it as is. and i think that's a despicable way to treat anyone. if. howard: the new yorker, citing a

whistleblower's report and other documents, said hegseth was forced out of both veteran groups he ran for financial mismanagement, and there were more personal allegations. >> the behavior described by the people that he worked with really was the kind of behavior that would get anybody fired in almost any office a in america. just near constant allegations of drunkenness, people -- him being blackout drunk, having to be carried to his hotel room. howard: in a a siriusxm interview with megyn kelly, heg seth described what donald trump told him. >> you need to be [bleep], but he paused again and said, but you're the man for this moment. 9 i don't answer these questions to the hyenas in the hallway trying to children at my wife and i as we walk down the hallway. never had a drinking problem, no one's ever approached me and said, oh, you should really getting help for drink -- never.

howard: mollie, some people probably agree with that hyena if description. donald trump posted pete hegseth's doing very well, more than the fake media would have you believe. are they trying to knock out hegseth's nomination? >> well, they're certainly helping in that effort. i've lived in washington, d.c. for a long time, and i can assure you that people here do not care, unfortunately, about adultery or drinking. they only pretend to care about those things when they can be weaponized, when allegations about those things can be weaponized to thwart the confirmation of a justice or thwart the confirmation of a political nominee. that's when they pretend to care about those things instead of saying what they really think. and the real thing here is that washington, d.c. love are it is way that the pentagon is being run. they think it's great. they think that -- howard: so much waste. >> and yet a lot of americans say, okay, the pentagon hasn't passed its last seven audits, we had the disastrous afghanistan withdrawal, we're not make paing recruiting requirement es, we seem to be focusing on trans and

dei issues instead of having a fighting force, so the american people are looking for change, but washington, d.c. is not. they love the way the military is being run, and they view pete hegseth as a threat to the that, and that's why they pretend to care about these allegations. howard: yeah. of course, pete is a decorated army combat veteran, liz, but there have there are also questions about whether he has the experience to run an institution the size of the department of defense. so when this trial balloon gets floated, we could turn to ron desantis, what does that say to you? >> well, it says a lot if donald trump is floating that name as sort of what if situation. ron desantis has run a huge state of florida. he has dealt with emergency situations quite deftly when it comes to all these multiple if hurricanes that he's looked at. he's run a work force of hundreds of thousands of people, and he's done it pretty darn well. listen, the senators are going to, it sounds like, let this process move forward because it

can be self-selecting, howie. 136-page document is what each of these candidates, these nominees, has to fill out. and it doesn't matter, you don't have to be a saint, you just have to be honest. and if you look at what the senators should be focusing on, it's not the letter from the mom, it's not these allegations of rape or other things that haven't actually been proven, it's does this candidate have the organizational, administrative, diplomatic, tactical and global geopolitical ability to bring something to the table for the world's largest and most powerful military that i will not denigrate right here, certainly? and do they have that? the best way to do it is to look at past employment. and his past employment of running two veterans' associations shows that financially, they were mismanagedded. howard: well, trump saying in that "meet the press" interview he's spoken to people that that say pete hegseth does not have a drinking problem. but in a podcast three years ago

with his colleague, will cain, very -- maybe more sympathetic to him, i look around at 10:00 and say how about i drink some beers, how about i have lunch and drink some beers, how about i meet one or two of my buddies and have some beers, sort of describing it as he's trying to get reacquainted society after combat, mollie, and had some difficulties at that time. not saying he has those problems now. >> i just journalistly cant want to to point out a lot of these anecdotes are completely anonymous. the man who took over concerned veterans for america ors on the record with his name he rebutted so many of these claims that were made and said pete left the organization in very good health and that he continued to help the organization afterwards. but we have these different standards on how -- what we determine credible for leading the pentagon. lloyd austin who, i think by most americans' accounts don't think he's done a good job, they

might remember the time he was absent and the number two was gone and he didn't tell anyone or even just the afghanistan withdrawal -- howard: yeah. and he doesn't communicate hardly at all finish. >> and so many people think this was just a wonderful leader for the military. when eisenhower gave his farewell speech, he wanted to call it the military industrial congressional complex because he viewed congress as one of the main barriers to having an effective military because they only care about funding the military, the industrial -- the arms dealers. howard: liz, what about hegseth's mom saying it was despicable of "the new york times" to publish her 7-year-old letter and that she felt threatened by the media? another way to look at that would be people were calling to get her side, and if you're not going to comment, we're going to go ahead with the piece. obviously, not privy to the conversation. >> yeah, it's a very, very sad situation. i mean, that letter is absolutely heartbreaking. somebody made it public. somebody within that inner circle got it out there. but, again, she has disavowed it, and let's say, okay, she's

disavowed it, she doesn't believe that anymore, fine. but i would say in contrast the what mollie said about things that have not been validated or verified, pete hegseth wrote in a letter to his conservative backers at one of these charities that there was less than $1,000 left in the bank and that they were in arrears and in debt with unpaid bills of more than $430,000. that was in a letter he wrote. so you got to look at all of these things and understand exactly how he would -- howard: a lot more detail, but we've got to go. liz claman, mollie hemingway, thanks for joining us. up next, donald trump, the hostages and who's in charge of foreign policy. ♪

howard: donald trump has issued an ultimatum as the biden team tries to get the hamas terrorists to release remaining hostages to israel. if the hostages are not released prior to january 20th, 2025, the

tate that i proudly assume the office of president of the united states, there'll be hell to pay in the middle east and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against humanity. joining us now, jackie jacqui heinrich, fox's senior white house correspondent. donald trump seems to be in charge even though the other guy's still president. >> and, you know, t not really that surprising that all these world leaders who are trying to gain insight, potentially bolster their relationships as trump comes back into office because they know there's going to be a change in foreign policy. trump has never been someone to be guided by history, precedent. it's more about relationships, cost benefit short term, domestic political concerns, so they're all wondering what's next for them, and they want to get close to him and talk about it. howard: with the syrian rebels in an amazingly short period of time toppling the assad regime, trump issuing one of his truth socials saying stay out of it,

and that seems to be the u.s.' position for now. joe biden earlily did interviews as you know as white house reporter before he was pushed out of the race. so you have this strange limbo where justin trudeau comes to mar-a-lago to talk about tariffs with president trump and doesn't even bother to talk to the incoming president -- to the president. >> that's not the person that the's going to affect his future. when trump says something, true trudeau gets on a plane to talk to him about it. of canada's our number one, two, three trading partners and he has issued, trump has issued tariff threats on mexico, canada and china to drive negotiations on other concerns like immigration, drugs coming across the border, with respect to china certainly brics and creating an alternative currency to the u.s. dollar as the world currency standard. trump wants to make sure he gets those object to i haves across. and if you are trudeau or ya sheinbaum, if you're xi jinping, you want to make sure you're talking to trump about what's in

store. and, you know, preventing some big changes -- howard: well, joe biden never particularly liked talking to the press, especially now since the pardon. he has not engaged at all with the media. but donald trump has said he'll reach out even to hostile news organizations that coffer him fairly -- cover him fairly. is this a sign as we're going to be back to the president as newsmaker in chief? >> i think so. trump has been someone always who likes to bring people back into his corner who he's gone toe to toe with in the past. even you, guy who used to hate me, you like me now. howard: yes. >> but i do think it's incumbent upon the media of to have that reset. we'll see how they cover his "meet the press" interview and what the headlines look like. there were a lot of points that sort of parroted democrat talking points from the campaign about reprisals and retributions. his answers, i thought, were clear, but we'll see how the coverage comes out of that interview and how the press and the media are dejesting his

incoming presidency. howard: i tell you what, come back in a a few minutes and talk about that interview. next on "mediabuzz," lara trump on the coverage of the new administration, nominations andi administration, nominations andi pardons.on ♪ it's more than paint. it's more than cleaning. that's the thing we'll never forget. for belfor, it's your memories. it's your life's passion. it's your home. belfor, restoring more than property. giving tuesday. giving tuesday. giving tuesday. giving tuesday is a global effort that encourages people to do good. this year, please support shriners children's™ because when you do, you're not just giving to a hospital. you're helping change the life of a kid like me and me and me.

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♪ so ziggy won't complain ♪ ♪ ♪ when my in-law comes a-knockin' ♪ ♪ i can open, maybe lock it ♪ ♪ if my home just had a brain ♪ howard: joining us now from palm beach, march are trump, co-chair of the republican national committee. joe biden, as you know, is debated to be considering blanket pardons, preemptive pardons to anyone -- mostly democrats -- who they fear might be investigated or even indicted by the trump justice department. what do you think of that idea, of handing out a bunch of preemptive pardons? >> oh, i think it's rather outrageous, howie. i think it's such a bad precedent being set if that, indeed, happens for the future of this country. and i think a lot of people have said the same thing, why is it that you would need to do blanket pardons like that if no one is guilty of anything? i think it leads people in this country to think, wow, these folks must have done something

pretty bad that they're going to have to go out of their way to get preemptive pardons. and i really hope we don't see that. i think the american people are desperate to get back to a place, howie, where they can trust these fundamental and foundational institutions of our country like our department of justice. doing things like that, i think, leads us down an opposite path, and i think it makes people feel like, you know, the past four years maybe there's a lot more to hide that they really need to to get to the bottom of. i really hope we don't see that happen. howard: what about the president pardoning his son hunter who, by the way, is a 54-year-old convicted criminal? >> yeah. [laughter] you heard donald trump say he wasn't really surprised by that, and i think a lot of us maybe weren't surprised by it despite the fact that joe biden time after time after time said i won't do that, i won't pardon hunter, i believe in the process, i believe in the department of justice. and then i think to see his statement, when he came out and said that it was because hunter was targeted, that they're --

everybody knows, any reasonable person would know that this was specific to hunter because he was targeted because he's my son? no, no. hunter biden broke the law, and i think a lot of people when those charges were brought forward against hunter said, oh, we all believe this is a way they say, look, oh, we charged hunter with something. the really big stuff like, i don't know, general diagnoses our national security, what really happened in ukraine, many russia, in china, how is it joe biden was involved in this, we never heard about. they charged hunter with this to sweep it under the rug, and now he's been pardoned for ten years. and whether or not we actually find out what happened, i don't know, but the american people deserve that, and i think they demand that. and i it's one of the big reasons that you see donald trump as our 47th president. howard: let me move on. pete hegseth, of course s battling to save his nomination to run the pentagon, and donald trump has made clear he's still behind him, but news organizations have dug up information or allegations about personal conduct, past alcohol

use, debts run up by the two organizations he ran. is it unfair for the media to raise these questions? >> well, i think that you really do need a clear picture of any person going into a high profile, a very important position like defense secretary. this is no doubt about it. however, i think the tactics that that have been employed against all of donald trump's nominees, not the least of which, of course, is pete hegseth are very similar, howie, to what we saw happen to donald trump himself. these are a lot of personal attacks. i don't think it indicates how he would perform as secretary of defense. i think -- think his background shows he's absolutely incredibly qualified to do this job, and i think the american people rejected attacks like this when they overwhelmingly reelected donald trump to be that 47th president. i believe that pete hegseth is going to continue on. i think, like donald trump, he's not letting any of the noise distract him, and i think that's a great thing. i really hope to see him confirmed. i hope the senators are paying attention, the republican

senators, to the man the american people delivered on november 5th. donald trump needs people by his side who will get the job done. pete hegseth is certainly one of those people. howard: let's turn to the doge, the budget-cutting commission that elon musk and vivek ramaswamy are heading up. and, look, anybody who's been in washington 20 minutes knows the government is totally bloated -- [laughter] but a lot of analysts say that musk's goal of cutting $2 trillion from a $6.5 trillion, excuse me, budget is totally unrealistic because that's more than the government spends on all nondefense programs followed by interest payments on the debt, we've already spent that money, social security, medicare and v.a. health benefits. on some level isn't that mission impossible? >> well, it may be mission impossible to some people, but i think whenever you put the idea of something that may be impossible in front of people like donald trump or i would say one of the brightest minds of our time like elon musk, they see that as a personal challenge, and i think that's a

great thing for this country. look, we cannot go forward in person if duety spending the amounts of money that we are as a country, and this is why doge is going to be such a huge thing for the future of this country. they need to be successful, howie, because we really can't continue to spend this kind of money and think there are not real implications on the other side of it for our children, our grandchildren and future generations of america. it just doesn't work. and so i think whenever you put great minds in there like e elon musk, vivek ramaswamy and, of course, donald trump, we'll see what they come up with. but having transparency for the american people is a good thing. knowing that our tax dollars are not being wasted is a great thing. howard: right. >> that is what we deserve to see happen, and i'm very optimistic about it. howard: ron desantis is going to appoint a senator to fill the say can city in florida left my marco rubio. is it an asset being a trump? [laughter] >> well, some may say it's an asset, some may say it's not an

asset. i think it depends how you look at it. certainly, you know, we've all had the opportunity over the past nine years really to fully involve ourselves in politics, to understand the american people, what they want, and we've all been residents for the state of florida now for over three years. if that's something that's put in front of me, it would be a true honor. but, yeah, look, i think probably my last name does heighten my political profile a little bit, but i've got a proven track record. i've been co-chair of the rnc during the most consequential election of our lifetime. we were so proud of what we did at the rnc making sure there was election integrity, making sure we got the early vote on, making sure we turned out low propensity voters and raising huge amounts of money. so i would say that my track record speaks for itself. maybe having the last name trump is just a little bit extra. i'm always happy to have it. howard: just briefly, lara, what's this year been like for you on a personal levelings you and your husband, eric, with the

media painting your father-in-law as a threat to democracy and the two assassination attempts. >> i don't think there's any handbook with or guidebook that could prepare you, but we've all felt that way. it's been an honor to be really on the sideline of history, to see what happened in 2016, to be a part of this election in 2024 24. -- 2024. it's been a lot of challenge for, i think, my kids who are 5 and 7. they're happy to have mom and dad back a little bit more, seeing us more regularly, and they're really excited to see grandpa take the oath of office on the -- on january 20th. howard: well, thank you so much for joining us this sunday. >> thank you. howard: more on trump's first sunday show interview since the election. a sign of things to come? ♪ ♪

howard: in his first sunday show interview since the election less than a couple hours ago, president-elect trump sat down with nbc's kristin welker. >> is it your plan to deport everyone who is here illegally over the next four years? >> well, i think you have to do it. howard: and, jacqui heinrich, it reminded me of the two interviews i did with the president-elect this year which is she asked a lot of follow-up questions on each. what did you make of that exchange? >> you know, i thought that he was basically saying take me at my word about what i said on the campaign trail in terms of we're going to get this done, close

the border, deal with people who are in the country illegally and shouldn't be here. sort of also echoing what tom homan has been say, what his middle east envoy's been saying about the hostages in gaza. you don't want to weaken your own position by saying, actually, i'm not going to do this. so, you know, let him get there and see how he approaches it, but i think he, you know, backed up what he had said before about his plans. howard: i also think trump made a little bit of news by saying he's not planning to enforce the dreamers to leave the country, and he'd work something out. okay. let's look at another piece here where the question of investigating joe biden came up. >> you wrote on truth social in 2023 that you're going to appoint a real special prosecutor to go of after joe biden, now you're saying you're not going to do that. >> i will say this, no, i'm not doing that unless i find something that i think is reasonable. but that's not going to be my decision, that's going to be pam bondi's decision.

howard: so that's retreating a bit from what he promised during the -- he didn't promise, but he certainly put it out there, that there would be a prosecution for joe biden. >> well, yes and no. i guess -- howard: going to take a stand here. [laughter] >> i think about two things here. remember in his last campaign or actually two ago a, you know, the whole refrain was lock her up. hillary clinton's not in jail. howard: right. >> when he appoints someone in a position the lead his department of justice or fbi, lets them do their jobs. i think he made clear in this interview that he wants to focus on bringing down inflation, dealing with immigration, the u.s. border, taxes, tax reform, costs of americans and let the other pieces of his administration deal with things as they see fit. he doesn't want to be the one directing reprise prizals. howard: i think you hit on a key point, and that's why it was a particularly interesting interview when trump says some of these things. in fact, that leads me to the next, last excerpt we're going

to play, and this has to do with the much-debated, much-talked about 2020 election. >> for the sake of unifying this country, will you concede the 2020 election and turn the page on that chapter? >> no. no. why would i do that? howard: now, interesting question. at the same time, trump has now developed a refrain. and he said this to me in our interview, no retribution, just success. it's up to pam bondi, it's up to kash patel, that he is not going to be directing people which is a bit of a change of tone, would you say? >> well, i think we're going to see a lot of headlines on one piece of his interview which was i think they should go to jail, talking about people on january 6th -- howard: house committee members, right. >> he made clear that was his opinion and he would leave whatever happens up to the rest of his administration. if there's something that they discover, something improper or

something that -- illegal that, you know, that would take a natural a course. but his opinion was that the government had been weaponized against him, and that was just his feeling. we'll see where he takes it, of course. howard: of course. and i think we're going to see an endless media blitz by president trump. joe biden not big on communicating with the press, that's just a fact of life, distinction between the two presidents. thanks for doing double duty, jacqui heinrich. great to see you. still to come, the trio of billionaires who say they want to help the new president while competing against each other. ♪ ♪ er monologue) another destination wedding?? we just got back from her sister's in napa. who gets married in napa? my daughter. who gets married someplace more expensive? my other daughter. cancun! jamaica!! why can't they use my backyard!! with empower, we get all of our financial questions answered. so we don't have to worry. can we get out of here? i thought you'd never ask. join 18 million americans and take control of your financial future with a real time dashboard and real life conversations.

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howard: it's the battle of the billionaires all jockeying for position with the new president. the first buddy, of course, is elon musk who does cheerleading for trump on x and heads the new

budge-slashing commission. washington post owner jeff bezos has feuded with trump for years and is trying to protect himself against musk and his rival rocket company. >> he seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation, and my point of view, if i can help him do that, i'm going to help him. >> what about the idea that he thinks that the press is the enemy in. >> well, i, i think he -- i'm going to try and talk him out of that idea. howard: and mark zuckerberg, who's had a rocky relationship, flew to mar lag bow for dinner. >> mark zuckerberg has been very clear about his desire to be a supporter of and a participant in this change that we're seeing all around america. howard: the targets murder of united health care ceo brian thompson, and we're not going to endlessly replay it like much of tv news, is an absolute tragedy, but the reaction of some journalists and others are is

horrifying. take taylor lorenz who recently left "the new york post". thompson had just died and has a family when she posted this with balloons: people have very justified hatred toward insurance company ceos because these executives are responsible for an unfathomable amount of death and suffering. i think it's good the call out this broken system and the people in power who enable it. now, lorenz, who was hardly alone, did say she wasn't condoning anyone's murder, and after a post about another insurance company that set time limits on anesthesia before backing off, she wrote: my sympathies are with the innocent people who have died or suffered after being denied coverage by greedy insurance companies. lorenz accused the mainstream media of pearl-clutching outrage. no, just speak out for a dose of human decency. patrick xiang, the billionaire other than of "the new york times," who killed an

endorsement of kamala harris now wants endorsement focusing on facts. >> imagine if you could now take news whether it be news or opinion and you have a biased media so that whether the news media is like the opinion voices. howard: that's an intriguing idea, but what if the paper's readers are pushing their own biased views? that's it for this edition of "mediabuzz." i'm howard kurtz, you can subscribe to media buzzmeter, top five stories, and we manage to sneak in a few more now and then. so much breaking news to deal with, but thank you for being along for the ride, and we'll see you next sunday, 11 eastern. many. ♪ ♪ ..

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