♪ ♪ howard: just ahead, we'll talk

to top trump adviser jason miller here on the set. donald trump has cheer arely beaten the media. george stephanopoulos and abc agreed to pay $15 million to settle a defamation suit. this will be a contribution to his presidential museum or foundation, plus a million bucks to cover trump's legal fees. stephanopoulos said this in march about the defamation suit brought by writer e. jean carroll. >> donald trump has been found liable for rape by a jury. donald trump has been found liable for defaming the victim of that rape by a jury. howard: the jury actually found trump liable for sexual abuse, although the judge said that was commonly understood as rape. at first, stephanopoulos was defiant. >> i'm not going to be cowed out of doing my job because of a threat about -- [applause] howard: but abc decided to settle just before depositions scheduled for this week. when the star anchor, having used the word rape, the

deposition could have been, well, embarrassing. i'm howard kurtz and this is "mediabuzz." ♪ ♪ howard: it was a horrible crime, a tragic crime, a shocking crime, a murder on the streets of manhattan that became a media sensation especially during the manhunt that led to the suspect's arrest. and yet because the target was brian thompson, ceo of united health care, the man that police say left a handwritten confession -- we're not going to name him -- is actually being applauded by some in the media and online world. think about this. someone commits a heinous if crime, someone dumb enough to get arrested in mcdonald's in altoona, pennsylvania, wearing the same clothes as in the photo put out by police, and because the victim runs a giant health insurance company and everybody hates insurance companies, some are applauding what he did. here's a new york magazine

headline: the shooting that was inevitable for our political system breaking down. now it has killed. no journalist has been more identified with this moment than taylor lorenz who recently left "the washington post" and is blaming greed key health insurance executives -- greedy. piers morgan asked her reaction to the killing of brian thompson. >> i felt, along with so many other americans, joy, unfortunately, you know? >> joy? seriously? >> i mean -- >> joy at a man's execution? >> maybe not joy, but certainly not -- no, certainly not empathy. >> we're watching the footage. how can this make you joyful? this guy's a husband, he's a father. he was gunned down in -- [inaudible conversations] >> -- thousands of americans being murder. so are the tens of house of american, innocent americans, who died -- howard: she's not condoning murder, of course, but that the leaves me just about speechless. the suspect's lawyer didn't

offer much of a defense. >> we're going to have to at least prove a prima facie case which is less than beyond a reasonable doubt. howard: cnn anchor casey hunt even ordered the banner be dropped so the comment caters could admire the guy's abs. most were appalled at this reaction. >> there's a sicker faction of that group that wants people hurt. they want people dead. and that's probably because they've been so desensitized and isolated with social media, they've just gone whacko. >> there's plenty of anger and frustration at insurance companies, but do not lionize murderers. this is insane. don't make a folk if hero out of this cat. >> apparently, we're all supposed to be searching for a deeper meaning in those standing in solidarity with the cold-blooded killer. >> there are some people out there portraying this guy as, like, an avenger for a cause. howard: joining us now to analyze the coverage in nashville, clay travis, founder

of outkick, and with me, lucy caldwell, political analyst. how does a suspect charged with cold-blooded murder who police say actually left a written confession become a, quote, folk hero? >> because much of the brain of the left is broken. i think that's the only takeaway you can really bring to bear here. and as much attention as is on the suspect, i actually think we should be spending more time talking about the man that he killed, father of two who actually represents everything that americans should aspire to do. he's the son of a grain operator, middle class kid from theames, iowa, area who was valedictorian of his high school, who went to the university of iowa, got a couple of degrees there and worked his way up the success. meanwhile, the guy who killed him is the offspring of a super-wealthy baltimore-area family that had double degrees from an ivy league institution, went to a $40,000-a-year private

school. he supposedly would be the very definition of white privilege, somebody that people on the left would say is not deserving of his stature and ole in life. on the one hand, we have a guy who worked himself up from nothing and is an innocent innocent victim9 of a violent crime and nobody wants the talk about him at all leaving two kids behind, and on the other hand we have a spoiled brat, rich kid whose brain is broken as much as the people on the left who are defending him -- howard: right. >> and i find, frankly, completely unacceptable that anybody would be lionizing him. howard: yeah. the suspect does come from a wealthy and prominent real estate family. lucy, everybody hates insurance companies, okay? that's a given. but, therefore, the killing of an insurance company ceo brings joy, to use taylor lorenz's word? if she put up balloons. >> yeah. that's a very sick and disturbing thing for her to say, and she should absolutely that take that back. and if she's not prepared to, she should do some serious

introspection around how she could use the term joy in the same sentence when talking about the murder of an innocent man. there's a discussion to have about health insurance, about our health care system writ large. i don't think that this can be reduced to to left versus right. i also think that this could be reduced to, you know, rich ivy leaguer versus someone who pulled himself up by the boot straps. most rich ivy leaguers do not become cold-blooded murderers -- howard: i'll concede that. anybody that would do this is insane. >> absolutely. at best. howard: clay, now you have activists who are putting up warranted posttest with -- wanted posters, scrubbing names from web sites and some of these companies' stocks sinking. how appalling is this? look at that. >> i mean, it -- the only people who are benefiting in any way are private security. because i guarantee you all these ceos, cfo tos are all hiring private security because when you've got a cold-baladded

kidding -- blooded killing like this on a man at the hand street, everybody looks at that and says that could have been me. i don't think the ceo of united health care ever thought he was in danger like this, and there have to be families with prominent dads and moms who are in positions of leadership like this who are saying we have to be able to protect our individuals as well. and i just -- look, here's the problem with giving all this positive attention to this killer in general, it's that it encourages other people to try to get some of that same attention. and, by the way, i guess maybe in the context of the left-wing obsession with this guy, maybe donald trump is lucky that his would-be assassin in butler, pennsylvania, one incredibly good looking or he might have ended up democratic nominee for president of the united states, howard, based on how crazy democrats and left-wingers are in responding to guy based on the way he looks.

>> you just plaid clips at the beginning of this segment about people left and righties avowing this. it's not the case that the mainstream press is championing this murderer. at best, he's insane and deeply disturbed. we can extrapolate things from broader reactions, and i don't think this is a simple left-right partisanship. howard: but, lucy, you have all this -- one second, clay -- on various web sites about the suspect's look, he's even being called the hot assassin. so if you are good looking, then you get treated differently? i mean, i'm really having a hard time wrapping my head around this because you've got a guy, i agree with clay, brian thompson, we should be talking more about him. >> yeah. we should deft -- >> yeah. >> okay. i don't disagree with that. howard: clay, jump in, then i'll

come back to lucy. >> no, no, i was just going to say people who are incredibly good looking like you and me have had to be judged for our entire life. it's a burden and cross we all bear. [laughter] howard: terrible. >> terrible, terrible burden, i know. it's just our cross to bear, like i said. but when you really break it down, i mean, i think this is, what lucy's saying, actually incorrect. can you point me to anybody on the right who has been saying, oh, this guy is incredibly good looking? >> that's not what i said. >> he's acting out. look, elizabeth warren came out, bernie sanders, all these -- aoc. all these people came out and said is, well, they did the ritual we shouldn't commit a murder, but i do understand his motivation. of i mean, the crazy taylor lorenz, there isn't a functional equivalent of this on the right, to maine of people who are right of center, people who are even a little bit left of center have been saying, hey, this is crazy, this guy should be condemned.

it's people on the far left who have been trying to, in some way, provide cover. i haven't seen any consequential behavior on the right that would condone -- howard: since you brought up senator elizabeth warren, let's listen to what she did say. >> violence is never the answer. guy gets a trial who's allegedly killed the ceo of unitedhealth. but you can only push people so far. and then they tart to take matter -- start to take matters into their own hands. howard: lucy, you can only push people so far. i'm sorry, it sounds like she's basically justifying it because it was the an insurance company ceo. >> yeah, that's not a good thing to say and, in fact, the person who committed this murder, it looks like he engaged on reddit talking about how his lab tests had been more than covered by an insurance company. so it does not seem like this actually was a lived experience. again, i don't think there's much to extrapolate from this very disturbed individual, but even the content of this segment and making it into left versus

right instead of thinking what is our macro system as a whole that is causing this kind of cultural reaction, i think that turning this into a left v. right issue is the same kind of thing that contributes to the really corrosive rhetoric that we're calling out among people like taylor lorenz. howard: well, she did back off and say she should have been much more clear, warren did. clay, a lot of insurance companies are heartless and difficult to deal with. that's a legitimate debate. but to stretch that into a murder -- and now people are buying merchandise, you know, t-shirts and caps with some of his words on it, i have no words for that. >> no. look, it's indefensive -- indefensible. and this is, honorly, what he wanted, right? honestly. he wanted the pivot to occur from, hey, this is a heinous act, but let's all talk about the fact that insurance companies are not particularly likable. and that's his goal. and the fact that the conversation pivoted to his motivation when a crazy person

does something crazy, we should condemn the crazy person doing something crazy. we should not is say, like elizabeth warren did, but let's consider his motivations. you can only push people so far. well, that doesn't make him look like he's crazy. and i do think it's significant that this guy, at least on the evidence so far, had no relationship what a so far with united health care. he wasn't a member of their insured program, he hadn't had his own insurance rejected. howard: right. >> his family is super wealthy. he had back surgery based on what i looked at. he was spending months of his life traveling all over the world, marinating on all of his deep thoughts in asia. he was working as a surfer bum. this guy is super rich, super privileged, and he took advantage of one of the great successes of the meritocracy in our country. howard: yeah. he had cut off contact with his family for six months.

ahead, top trump adviser jason miller joins me. when we come back, how pete hegseth neutralized the media attacks and may well be headed for confirmation. ♪ to ensure everything sent on its holiday ride ends with a moment of joy. ♪ ah...family time. of course it's not the same if you can't enjoy your favorite foods. but getting your teeth fixed at a price you can afford? don't really see that one on the table. here's something to chew on. aspen dental has custom made solutions with flexible finance options to make implants and dentures more affordable for you.

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howard: pete hegseth has gone from a dead man walking to a man with a real shot being con fired to to run the pentagon. >> i also want an opportunity to clarify comments that have been missen construed that i somehow don't support women in the military. some of our greatest war yores, or best warriors are women. the left is trying to turn this into a trial in the media, a show trial. and we're not going to let that happen. this is what the left does, sean, it's the anatomy of a smear. >> i also think with pete hegseth, we've never if had a war fighter so young, so vibrant

who understands and has the ivy league intellect. >> the fact that any senator could say, oh, yes, pete hegseth is exactly the sort of person that should run the dod, that says so much. howard: clay travis, it looked like the media were going to knock pete hegseth out. trump was tired of all the disclosures. missouri times says his advisers convinced him -- new york times says his advisors convinced him, that would open the door to block other nominees. >> yeah. i give credit to both donald trump and pete hegseth here because trump unleashed hegseth and let him go out and make the case publicly for why he should be defense secretary. i know the tradition is nominees sit back in the corner and stay quiet as they go through the advise and consent role. but when you saw a calculated attempt to go after pete hegseth like was unleashed and, howard, i don't know if you paid

attention to the propublica, i believe, it was report where they tried to claim hegseth never applied and -- howard: but didn't publish the story. didn't publish the story after it didn't pan out. >> but only, but only because hegseth, to to his credit, actually still had his admissions letter from 1999 or whatever the heck it was, probably because he was so proud of the fact that the he had been admitted to the u.s. military academy. but that is evidence, i think, of hegseth getting out there and throwing punches, of trump allowing him to do it. what you hit on is the key point here. it doesn't end, right in hegseth had been forced out, next man up is robert kennedy jr., next woman up is tulsi gabbard, then kash patel. when they feel blood and smell blood in the water with, the media sharks come after all the nominees. sooner or later, you have to stand ramrod stiff with your back and say this is my guy, this is my if gal, i'm riding or dying with 'em. i give credit to trump and

hegseth. he's going to get confirmed. howard: yesterday at the army-navy game here it was donald trump, j.d. vance and pete hegseth. we have a shot of that. and, lucy, look, several media outlets have reported that trump is using pressure if tactics to tell, signal to some skeptical senators that if they don't go along with his nominees, they may have political problems. now, is that just classic hardball politics? >> well -- [laughter] i don't know what it is because it's hard to the to get in the brain of donald trump. but i don't think there's any reason that republican senators who are thinking about holding the line against pete hegseth, about whom there are serious concerns, serious concerns about whether or not he should be confirmed for this role to be sec -- secretary of defense, i think we've learn from thed -- learned from the first trump administration it doesn't matter how much you get behind in terms of trump's agenda.

when he wants to come for you, he will. pete hegseth is a person there are serious questions about, and even in the recovery tour, so to speak, some of the stuff that has come out is pretty shocking. i mean, a senator gave an interview to a bunch of media where where he talked about how he and pete hegseth where they have discussed if confirmed, pete hegseth would stop drinking? these are not the pieces of commentary you want senators to be doing in the halls of congress. maybe he gets confirmed. i'm not sure hegseth being confirmed is going to be a dod with someone at the helm with a lot of credibility. he is is still taking a beating and i think for good reason. howard: what's also interesting, clay, is hegseth has clearly moderated his stance on women in combat. he was against it, and he didn't quite commit to having them on the front lines. but that also reminds me, ultimately, it's the president-elect who's going to decide things like that. >> yeah, no doubt.

and let me hammer a couple of things here. one, i'm going to take a shot at cbs sports. you played the clip of them at army-navy. they showed president trump for four minutes. howard: msnbc maid a lot of it, i must tell you with, of trump, vance and hegseth. go ahead, you're a sports guy. >> that's point one. point two, look, they come after pete hegseth with everything they got. they started with, oh, he's womanizer, you can't trust him. his wife's fabulous, they have a fantastic family -- >> not a womanizer. accused of a sex crime. not a womanizer, accused of a sex crime -- howard: which she says was consensual. >> this is, this is really important -- >> defend it, but don't say womanizer. that's not what's at arab shoe here. >> hold on. what you are doing, what you are doing -- hold on, lucy.

what you are doing is everything that's wrong with the way these are covered. you said accused of a sex crime. he was actually cleared of a sex crime. they investigated, the woman lied, there was no basis for it -- howard: wait, he wasn't prosecuted. >> he was cleared, he was cleared -- >> that's not. okay. no, wrong, incorrect. >> it's 100% true. they investigated him in florid. they found there was absolutely no crime that had occurred at all. that is the truth -- howard: all right, but. >> that's not what happened. howard: i gotta blows whistle -- >> second thing, 100% -- [inaudible] second, second -- howard: no, we have no time for second -- >> -- to go and accuse him of alcohol-related issues. that failed. he's going to be defense secretary whether lucy or anybody else likes it. congratulations, pete hegseth. i think you're going to do a killer job. howard: well, it is a worldwide organization with 3 million if employees, so we'll see how this place out. clay travis, lucy caldwell, thanks for joining us. up next, does donald trump

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howard: in husband "meet the press" interview, donald trump said members of the house january 6th committee should go to jail, so are hay in jeopardy? joining us now, jonathan turley, law professor at george washington university and fox news contributor: whether this was wise politically or not for donald trump to say, do the january 6th have anything to worry about legally? >> probably not. they have a great deal of protections under the constitution. i say that as one of the loudest critics of the j6 committee -- howard: right. you thought it was totally one-sided. >> i agree with the president that it was unethical, unprofessional, i thought they were very dishonest. but all of that is handled at the polling places, not in courtrooms. howard: explain why they have this protection, you know, for people not familiar with the

constitutional niceties. >> we get so much protections, like the speech and debate. [applause] , the from our english brethren. this idea that we had to protect members of the legislature to allow them the widest berth. that comes at a cost, quite frankly. the j6 committee is that cost. and i but was appalled by what they did and how they did it. i thought they were incredibly dishonest in how they edited the president's words like when he gave that the speech on the mall. and i think to some degree, the public react ad to that. this was a decision of the public in getting the pop -- popular vote that vindicates the president. what i think the public hopes is he can take them to a better place than the j6 committee. howard: given that everybody was able to write a lead saying trump wants these people in jail was this sort of an early christmas present from trump to the democrats? >> it was. it played into their narrative, you know, this idea of having all these preemptive pardons.

you know, the nightmare for many democrats and that democracy's not going to collapse and people are not going to be rounded up en masse and taken to camps. the only best default for that is to say that you have what i call these white knight pardons. you say, well, that's the reason biden rode down and saved the day by giving these pardons. and this is part of that. so they're make it up. even though the president said in the interview that he was not going to instruct the doj or the fbi to investigate or prosecute these people. he has said repeatedly that his, his vengeance would be success, and i think that's exactly what he needs to say. howard: right. and he said he would leave it up to his attorney general and fbi director once they're confirmed. but i think it did create a story that the media were happy to feast on. [laughter] we're going to have you back in a little bit. jonathan hurley -- turley, thanks. next on "mediabuzz," jason miller, top adviser to the trump transition, will be here.

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howard: joining us now here in washington, jason miller, senior adviser to the trump transition. going to start you off with what the president-elect said at the new york stock exchange the other day. >> but the media's tamed down a little bit. they're liking us much better now, i think. [laughter] if they don't, we'll have to take them on again, and we don't want to do that. howard: what because he mean the media's much better now? >> president trump won with this massive mandate. he won the popular vote. he received 312 the electoral vote, which is the largest amount for a republican going back to 1988. one thing i'd point out, howie, president trump hasn't changed at all. he's the exact same person, the exact same successful leader. the difference -- howard: a little more conciliatory towards the press. >> i would say he's the exact same way. he's always going to defend himself, fight back and set the record straight. there was no honeymoon in 2016. i think it was maybe three and a half hours until i went on cnn

the next morning and they were already going with russia and all this nonsense. the difference here is even in these blue cities and states president trump improved his numbers and did so well with so many difference communities that this even the media has had to sit back and say the american public has spoken, he deserves to get a chance to talk about his agenda. and swings -- since we saw what he did those first four years, the success he had with the economy expect border, they know it's coming back. even the media has to say, you know what in these last four years with biden and harris, they screwed up. you have to agree, i mean, they told everyone for years that joe biden was okay. his brain isic pickled, howie. kamala harris is a disaster. even the media knows that president trump is going to be successful when he's back in the white house. howard: is donald trump softening his tone? in that "meet the press" interview he said he would not replace the fed chairman, held work to help dreamers. and i don't ask this as a negative. is he moving beyond some of the

harsh cam campaign rhetoric in. >> he's sticking with exactly what he's going to do in the first 100 days and the next 4 years. he would say day one we're going the secure the border, drill, baby, drill, and other things coming. we're going to start getting rid of the green new deal, start reuping the trump the tax cuts. we have some additional promises he's going to get in there. he's doing exactly what he said he was going to do, and i think that's part of the reason why the tone has changed from the media, because they realize -- even reporters look at the numbers and say, well, i'm going to have more money in my bank account, and they have to give him respect are. howard: so reporters want to fatten those 401(k)s. in a "time" magazine interview, donald trump was asked about the bathroom issue. everybody agrees that the ad that your campaign ran existence kamala harris was very -- against kamala harris was very effective. let's just play a snippet. >> kamala supports letting

biological men compete against our girls in their sports. howard: so when he says he doesn't want to talk about it because it affects relatively few people, i think that was pretty restrained. >> well, also we've seen a massive shift in the culture with regard to this issue. most people do not think men should be participating in women's sports. this is bonkers. the thing is cam -- kamala harris, and i want to remind people just how extreme a position she took back in 2020, actually it was 2019 when she said this. she supports, not only did she do this in writing, she did it on video, supports taxpayer-funded sex change surgeries for illegal aliens who are currently incarcerated. that's insane. and i think we saw this from democrat focus such as charlamagn traditionally identify as being on the political left saying even for us, this is way -- howard: kind of an 80-20 the issue. >> where the president is, exactly where most americans

are. and you look at even what he's going to do with regard to dod, getting the wokism out of our military, he's going to do that with education, get the wokism out. let's get back to the fundamentals and rebuild our country. howard: chris wray, as you know, resigned as fbi chief rather hand wait for donald trump to fire him. the president-recollect said the resignation is a great day for america. it will end the weaponization of what's become known as the united states department of injustice. he also talked about the fbi illegally raiding his home. i would throw in that was a court-approved search warrant, and donald trump was not there. why is donald trump, was he, so determined the force out his own appointee? he's the guy who put chris wray in that job in the first place. >> because the politicization of our justice system and law enforcement was out of control with chris wray with. it's been out of control with merrick garland, and that's why we're putting in pam bondi as attorney general who, by the way, is a star. pam bondi is tough, she's fierce, she's determined.

she's going to get the politics out of it so we can respect the justice system again. and with kash patel who, by the way, might be one of my absolute favorite nominees, this guy's such a star, former deputy director of national intelligence, chief of staff at the doj, a prosecutor, a public defender, probably the most qualified director going into the fbi position -- howard: unlike matt 2008, he has a lot of experience -- matt gaetz. >> but kash patel is going to go in there and say, you know what? no her her of this pretty -- nor no more of this political nonsense. if you're not doing your job, you're going to be out of here. i'm glad chris wray said he's going to leave, but i have to disagree on the point of the illegal and unconstitutional raid on mar-a-lago. i think that was despicable. i think we saw the nonsense that went on in the fbi in recent years. that's going to be gone, because kash patel is going the clean it up. howard: pete hegseth's nomination, there have been lots of media reports saying that

trump and his team have basically let -- let's just say let wavering senators know that if they don't go along, they might find themselves in a primary battle funded by elon musk's money. >> i think that's going ooh -- a little bit too far. i think a lot of senators are starting to listen to their constituents who are saying give this president, give him the chance to put in his people, to let them come through, have their hearings and go through the process and someone who wins the presidency by that large of a margin should be able to put in their own people. i think media, many in the media were rushing to smear attempts with regard to pete pete leg and other folks, and -- pete hegseth, and they were trying to knock him out, essentially, before he even got to the point of having these meetings. went pete hegseth dose into these meetings with senators, he's very impressive. he's going to clean up the dod, get it focused, get the accountability down. one of the things i really like

about him as well, two bronze stars, he served in combat in iraq -- howard: nobody can deny that for even a second. >> and he's someone that knows the risks when you send someone into combat because he did it himself. our whole point all along is we want the make sure these nominees get their meetings and hearings because all of them are very highly qualified, all of them are going tock -- to be rock stars once they the get in. and all of them are saying, you know what? we have a decision to make with regard to accountability. and voters made their opinions heard and said give these guys the chance. that's why there's not a single hard no from any republican against -- howard: well, a lot of people are saying let's see what the hearings bring. you're working on these nominees, so you've got a lot on your plate. looking ahead at the top of the agenda or right near the top, mass deportation. trump has said this a million times, of these 11 million illegal immigrants. the media consensus is that is physically impossible. you'll do targeted raids and help some of the others leave.

>> i'm laughing because a couple of weeks ago a, i don't know, the sky is talling -- falling, president trump is going to make good on his campaign promises to get rid of illegals especially starting with the criminal illegals, and now many in the media are trying to say, well, heath not going to the get rid of enough criminal illegals. here's the deal, i have full confidence and and trust in stephen miller, oklahoma hohmann, kristi noem, the team -- tom homan. did you know there was roughly 1.2 or 1.3 criminal illegals who are here and already approved for deportation that the taxpayers are funding to keep them here? they haven't been sent home. we can start with those right away on day one, and i think you're going to see a lot of that. we have to go through, but it's not just those who are incarcerated. think about the transnational gains, think of tda. -- gangs. two-thirds of americans support his stance on immigration, a majority of latinos. howard: a lot of people were

surprised when trump said at least he'd consider rfk's stance on vaccines, particularly the autism part of it which has been widely debunked. and so that could, obviously, be one of the major controversies about bobby kennedy. >> i think rfk jr., by the way, starts his meetings up on the hill this week. keep in mind, he came in on this make america healthy again agenda. as i was having my cereal this morning, i was looking on the ingredients on the back, and i saw yellow 5. i don't know what it is, so i googled it. it's yellow 5, this food coloring, this dye, it's been banned in austria and norway -- howard: i'm all for that. but what about vaccines cause autism in. >> r rfk jr. said go have more science and study more to make sure the safety and efficacy is there. keep in mind, president trump saved millions of lives with operation warp speed -- the.

howard: no question. >> also we can do two things at the same time. we can make sure that all vaccines are safe, and we can also make sure that we take the care of our food supply. one final thing i have to say, part of the thing too with the habits that are forming with younger people, do you know right now 77 of young adults -- 77% of young adults couldn't qualify for the military for being out of shape? a third have pre-diabetes, 50% are obese. a lot of it starts with things being put in the food. rfk jr.'s going to clean it up. howard: after the break, the media mostly cheering daniel penny but others attacking the verdict as racism. ♪ pilates exist in harlem? so i started my own studio. getting a brick and mortar in new york is not easy. chase ink has supported us from studio one to studio three.

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howard: daniel penny, an ex-marine tackled a mentally ill panhandler who said he was ready to die. he got jordan neely in a chokehold and neely later died. manhattan d.a. alvin bragg brought charges, and a jury acquitted him. penny spoke to jeanine pirro. >> did you believe him? >> yeah, totally. it was this was unlike anything i've ever experienced, and it was -- it, it was very serious. of it was -- i completely believed what he was saying. howard: he also talked about d.a.'s office. they just don't want to admit they were wrong. what do you make of alvin bragg bringing charges against the guy

who was trying to protect people in that subway car from a seemingly deranged criminal? >> it was really other worldly. you had someone who was doing exactly what police often say, don't walk away, do something, call someone. and just the next day with the thompson murder you had the new york mayor saying the lesson here is you have to act as citizens. well, across town a guy did act, and he spent a year in, basically, this hellish process. and forchew nately, people stepped up -- fortunately, people stepped up and supported him financially. the question is, what exactly was bragg trying to achieve here? ultimately, if you decide you're not just going to be a pedestrian, they may come after you. howard: and, of course, it's become a racially-charged controversy in new york because penny is white and neely was black. george, can neely, you probably know, jonathan, been arrested 42 times including for punching a

67-year-old grandmother in the face, so i don't have any problem saying the system failed him, but this was not a good guy. >> what's amazing about this trial is it became more absurd as it went on. you heard from from people in that car saying i was scared to death, people saying this guy really saved us from what we thought was an imminent threat. they continued to prosecute the case. and so the jury got it right. and i think the question that we all have to sort of think about is beyond that mob outside the courthouse screaming that he better not stay in new york is the rest of new york. i mean, the jury was new york. and they give a really resounding message here that they just want d they've had enough of this. and i think, frankly, enough of alvin bragg. howard: well, as somebody who rode the subway for years, it can be pretty chilling when these characters come through and everybody'sen on edge. daniel penny didn't get on the subway looking to harm someone. he obviously didn't want to kill

him. and yet some in the media and elsewhere are trash thing penny for doing exactly what you just pointed out, which was, you know, putting hymn at risk and getting -- himself at risk and getting the guy in a chokehold, and a lot of people on that subway car were grate grateful. >> that's right. and there is this pattern to racialize all of these types of incidents. and, you know, we just might be better than that narrative. but there are many people who want to play to that narrative for other reasons. this wasn't about race, this was an individual who was protecting other people of different races on that train. and instead of commending him, the district attorney tried to convict him. and the jury here said, no. howard: does that surprise you in. >> it was -- what surprised me is that they hung on the higher count and then, of course, they come back on monday and acquit on the lower count. so you might have had one or two jurors that went home and thought more about it. but the question for new york going forward is who represents new york, that jury or alvin

bragg, and i hope it's the former. howard: well, jonathan turley, we always appreciate your legal and other analysis, so thanks for shedding some light on this. it's been a huge story not just in new york, but across the country. still to come, george stephanopoulos and abc settle a lawsuit. we dealt with that, but we're also going to talk about "time" magazine and donald trump. ♪ some people just know they can save hundreds on car insurance by checking allstate first. like you know to check your spelling first before taking off your shirts. west virginia! yeah. stew virginia? so check allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. 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

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howard: "time" magazine, whose trump covers used to look like this, now looks like this, person of the year. this after floating kamala harris as a finalist, the magazine said for those who believe this is all for the

better, trump's victory represents a long overdue rebuke to an entrenched and air got governing class. for those who see it as the worst, the destruction extends to the civil discourse. lara trump made some news last sunday on this show. she said her last name might or might not be an asset but probably didn't hurt, and she resigned from the rnc. now the "wall street journal" reports that donald trump spoke to ron desantis and lobbied the governor to the appoint his daughter-in-law. watch that space. mark zuckerberg, who's had a rocky relationship with trump, tried to patch things up after the election over dinner at mar-a-lago. now the meta ceo is having his company donate $1 million to the trump inaugural fund. the next day, boom, jeff bezos, who's also had a strain thed relationship, at amazon kicking in a million bucks for the inauguration. evan gershkovich said he

never stopped reporting during the 16 months in russian captivity on bogus charges. in his first piece for "the wall street journal" since his release, he set out to identify the man who had taken him. he and his colleagues identified the man as lieutenant general dmitri meneyev, providing new details about the counterintelligence he runs. kari lake has been tapped by donald trump as director of the voice of america. lake, a popular phoenix anchor for two decades, has been an aggressive critic of the media. tv and movie star dick van dyke, who just turned 99, told today show what happened when his home was threatened by the malibu wild first. >> -- wildfires. >> i forgot how old i am, and i realized i was crawling to get out. >> van dyke tried to douse the house, but it proved too much. >> i thought, my god, i'm not going to make it out of here.

i was trying to crawl to the car. i had exhausted myself. i couldn't get up. three neighbors came and carried me out and came back and put out the fire in the guest house and saved me. thank god for them. howe the neighbors come to the rescue. dick van dyke is amazing. that's it for this edition of "mediabuzz." i'm howard kurtz. hey, i don't know what's going on with these drones either, but somebody needs to communicate what the deal is. you can subscribe to my daily podcast, "media buzzmeter." apple itunes is a good place to do it. thanks for staying with us, we appreciate it. we're back here next sunday, 11 eastern. we'll see you then. ♪ ♪ over 600,000 usps employees working in sync to ensure everything sent on its holiday ride ends with a moment of joy.

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it's hard to say who'll be more excited on the day after christmas. the guy who got a brand new truck from mom and dad. or the guy who got all the weathertech protection for his truck. like laser measured floorliners... the under seat storage system... no drill mud flaps... impact liner with shock absorbing rings... and top it off with the alloy cover. find these american made gifts or get a gift card instantly at wt.com. (♪) (high five) ♪ ♪. nick: the drones. government says it's not a