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dow ask sky, and actor justin baldoni suing the new york times. the media quickly tried to the assemble the puzzle pieces after the horrifying new year's car attack in new orleans, and the mixed signals from some officials weren't helping. >> this is not a terrorist event. what it is right now is they're improvised explosive devices that was found. >> we have nothing additional the report at this time. the investigation is continuing to be active, and to one should jump to conclusions. howard: the early question, was the bourbon street attacker who opened fire after the car assault who killed 14 people, who died in a shootout with police an illegal immigrant? fox news reported the truck had traveled from mexico to texas, but clarified that it wasn't clear the suspect was behind the wheel, and officials soon confirmed there was another person who had rented that truck back in november and came through mexico. in the meantime, president-elect trump posted about criminals coming in.

>> president biden spoke about this very briefly today. he just gave a 3-minute address to the american people about 16 hours after the attack but didn't do much to calm their nerves. >> blaming the southern border for the new orleans attack, president-elect trump posting a series of inaccurate posts on social media blasting america's, quote, open borders. >> i don't understand why you don't just start with the supposition that it is terrorism and then work backwards from there. >> let's talk about the response from president-elect trump who trolled outright misinformation and lies on social media. >> our entire nation is a soft target when you've got an absentee president who seem like he's on perpetual vacation, comes out and gives a statement, doesn't answer questions and just scuttles off into the corner. howard: the mass murderer with an isis flag found in his truck is an american citizen who served in the army for a decade. and, by the way, the local police made a fatal blunder by

not block whering off bourbon street while a crucial set of barriers was being upgraded for next month's super bowl. the day's other terrorist, a cyber truck made by tesla exploded from a bomb outside trump's hotel in las vegas, fortunately killing only the driver, also an american, a green beret on active duty. and there was media a chatter about possible accomplices of the french quarter killer, though the fbi has now knocked that down. while the tragedy delayed the super bowl by a day and -- the sugar bowl, i should say. and with the super bowl and mardi gras coming up in new orleans, this act of unspeak if, terror is about instilling fear of public events and celebrations, the kind of fear that spreads beyond one louisiana city. i'm howard kurtz and this is "mediabuzz." ♪ ♪

howard: joining us now to analyze the coverage, robby soave, senior editor at reason magazine, and in new york, liz claman, host of "the claman countdown" on fox business. robby, have the media gone too far in reporting rumors, engaging in speculation about the new orleans attack has happens so often in these terrorism cases? >> this is no different than the coverage of any other mass if shooting or crime event where in the first 24 hours you get some good information and some inaccurate information. howard: how do you figure out which is which? >> in an ideal world, maybe we just juan be on tv until two days later, we know all the facts and give them the realities. if you're covering moment to to moment, there's going to be inaccurate information. i don't think this was worse than things in the past. people did their best, but there was some inaccurate -- howard: so you feel like you've seen this movie before. liz, a decade ago cnn's don king apologized for reporting that the boston marathon bomber had been arrested well before he

actually was. did news organizations in the bourbon street attack show relative restraint? >> well, i think that in this day and age, howie, everybody turns on tv. i love to hear people say, oh, cable's dead. believe me, everybody was watching cable to find out the very latest. robby is right, the media get bitten in the early hours of these tragedies and these horrors by the the cities -- misinformation bug. i worked in local news for years, and we used to have this joke saying channel 6, first at 6, correct at 11. [laughter] listen, it is way better -- howard: what city was that many if? >> exactly. howard: no, what city? >> oh, that was columbus, ohio. [laughter] we were the number three station, we were trying the to get on it, but everybody does it. of you just mentioned that fox news had to direct itself very quickly after -- correct itself after thinking it had been somebody that came across the border. the car had, but the actual

perpetrator was a home grown texan. and i think this is the point, the media are there to cover this story. we're not going to wait 24, 48 hours. but i think the it's most important to take credible sources, the police, prosecutors and sometimes they even get it wrong. but wait -- and, again, the fbi got it wrong. the fbi, i don't know why -- howard: no terrorism here, nothing to see. >> -- initially said it wasn't terrorism. >> and accomplices. howard: to i do think it was a clarification. go ahead, robby. >> and they said accomplices, that worries people when you say there's other terrorists out there still. howard: right. in terms of the politicization of this which also happens after every mass shooting or tragedy, what do you make of various commentators saying this is joe biden's fault because of the border despite the fact that both of these perpetrators who are now dead, las vegas as well as new orleans -- >> sure. howard: -- didn't cross the border because they were

americans? american military people? >> yeah. there was no way around it, this was not illegal immigrants. this was home grown. the ideology with, you can say that's imported. isis, middle east, foreign terrorist group does have the power to inspire people to commit if acts of terror here in the country. and so that speaks to our foreign policy, what we are doing about this radical terrorist group. and i think many americans indicated in the last election that they were dissatisfied with the direction the of this country. the foreign policy of this country. has world gotten safer and more secure under four years of joe biden? i would argue, no, and cheerily the american people -- clearly, the american people said they didn't feel like this is a more secure and safe world under joe biden because we don't hear are from him, we don't see him. [laughter] we have questions about his capabilities now. and i think that speaks to the fundamental safety of the country even if this did not specifically have to do with illegal immigration. howard: in fair ifnd, he has appeared on television a couple of times since this happened -- >> reassuring no one.

[laughter] howard: liz, what's to your take, let's look at the other side, journalists and commentators going after donald trump for trying to make this about the border as he did in a follow-up post. >> well, yes, after it'd been proven -- howard: after we all knew. >> -- texas, beaumont, lives in houston. and, yes, somehow radicalized. listen, pundits on the right and left should point out any incorrect information no no matter whom it is coming from. obviously, president trump won very much in part on his very strict border issue. and people like that. they felt that was important. therefore, any narrative that supports that, he will grab that ball and and run with wit and, quite frankly, i think that's obviously not the right thing to do especially when you are then found with the facts that it was not somebody like that. actually on cnn, i was looking at all of the media coverage, they did something interesting. they pointed out the difference between the las vegas news conference and the new orleans

if news conference. las vegas, he was very compliment complimentary of that. it was law enforcement and prosecutors. new orleans, you had the mayor, the the local city council, you had senator john kennedy of louisiana. and that gives people some comfort, to see the big crowds, but politicians should stay away from a microphone until the law enforcement can work through a lot of the initial details, because everybody's got an agenda, and they will try and pretty size -- howard: well, good luck with that because they want to show up and and show that they're doing something, and i understand that. i just have a fundamental problem with this whole blood on his hands narrative, because the person who was responsible are the crazy people who do this, and by definition, they are crazy because just take a look. the guy blew himself up outside the las vegas hotel. and he likes trump. but let me get to something elsewhere i have strong feelings, you may infer from this. there's always this question of motive that the media -- why did this person do in this? the did he have an unhappy

childhood? i don't care about motive. i understand it's an interesting human -- >> psychological -- howard: yeah, psychological question. when you have people who think it's a good idea to blow themselves up, these essentially were suicide bombings, it is noteworthy that the bourbon street killer was an army veteran, only recently became a believer in isis. and, yes, he had financial problems. same thing for the las vegas tesla bomber and trump. he likes trump. so go ahead and argue with me, if you want. >> no, you're very much correct. there's an obsession in the media with understanding -- trying to make it make sense. well, here the exact sequence of events that took an ordinary person made them deranged enough to commit if an attack, and you're exactly right that it doesn't neatly track ideology like the new orleans if guy, his initial plan was to kill his ex-wife and family, and then he said he had a dream about isis, and he was told to join isis. that's crazy stuff.

and you're right that the media spends too much time -- and also we can spend too much time on people's motivations and why in a way that makes them more famous and that we worry then inspires copycats. it plays into people who have a desire for grandeur, delusions of grandeur, that kind of thing. now, we can't not cover the news, and people are going to get this information. there's no way not to. howard: sure. i'm not criticizing people who cover it. and, by the way, on this show because this is my personal feeling, we're not naming these people for exactly the reason you said. people think it's a good way to go out, so to speak. but, liz, law enforcement found on the phone, notes on the phone of the las vegas bomber which did injure several people, country heading toward collapse, it was a wake-up call. americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence. what better way to get my point across than a stunt with fire fireworks and explosives. also to-trump. also turns out his wife just left him. i don't care. millions of people in this country get divorced, and they

don't go out and try to become mass kill or ors. >> indeed. you're right, this whole this country's heading toward collapse? really? if i love america. and with all of its faults, this is a phenomenal country and the place where people can create anything, and they can grow buzzes. -- businesses. as a business anchor, this is what we cover every day whether they are legal immigrants who come here and employ people, i'm picking america. this country's not heading toward collapse. the problem becomes that the media do tend -- and it is their job to start can digging and if finding the details -- create these sort of situations where an algae bloom starts to begin to grow. and then what do you have? you've got this subsequent feeding frenzy. everybody's trying to beat everybody else. as you said, good luck with that for people to sit back and wait for the facts. ing unfortunately, it's a race to be first. howard: yeah. it's not a made for tv movie, this is, unfortunately,

real-life casualties. let's touch on the subject of fear, robby. that's the purpose of terrorism. to get people to say, well, maybe i won't go to mardi gras because it's outside, and how do you protect every street. and it is difficult to protect every street. on the other hand, you know, if we give in to that, then that's exactly what the terrorists want. >> exactly. we don't want to -- and it's important for the media to put these numbers, incidents of violence and terrorism and crime in context. we, you know, we do not have a lot of, thanked goodness, id lodge chi-motivated violence in -- idealogically-motivated violence in this country. most violence is crime or workplace violence, domestic violence, those kinds of things. important problem to address, don't get me wrong -- howard: oh, sure. >> -- but people in the media should not make people afraid to go to the movie theater, to the mall, to sporting events. these kinds of things are very rare, and it's important to emphasize that. howard: when we come back, a veteran cbs report says the press should have uncovered joe biden's mental decline.

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howard: president biden now telling advisers he still believes he could have beaten donald trump, based on washington post reporting. it was inevitable that the press would ask about it as one reporter did at trump's mar-a-lago new year's eve party. >> [inaudible] he thinks he could have beat you. what do you say? >> hey, look, i wish him well. he had a chance to do it in the debate, and that didn't work out too well. that really led to his downfall. howard: liz, given biden's musings about being able to beat trump which could be described as a fantasy, and these guys have said terrible things about each other, did you find donald trump's answer kind of restrained? >> yes. i thought it was classy, and listen --

[laughter] biden's belief that he could have won is amusing and and, i mean, it would be with something that would cause a chuckle, but consequences were incredibly serious certainly for democratic voters who didn't believe he could. otherwise, more of them would have voted for him. he was unable to articulate a successful, certain portions of success in the economy whether it was 57 records on the s&p 500 in 2024, i mean, how to do you not push that? how do you not push a pretty solid jobs market? he was unable to articulate it. and then you think, remember the cheap fake, thing, howie? where fox news was accused of focusing on cheap fake videos, not deep fake videos, they're not fake, but they don't really give the whole side of the story from the normandy anniversary are where joe biden appeared to be wandering off, and giorgia meloni, the prime minister of italy, had to pull him back?

he was wandering off and going off in the middle of what was supposed to be a big photo op. so, come on -- howard: yeah. it wasn't just fox, it was all of these democrats saying, oh, no, you're unfairly using the video that somehow the white house provided. and, robby, let's me switch to something because -- let me switch to something. veteran cbs reporter jan crawford had this to say about biden's now-obvious mental decline and the press' role. roll it. >> that would be, to me, joe biden's obvious cognitive decline that became untechnology the in the televised debate -- we should have yesterday whether he was fit for another four years which could have led to a primary. howard: well, good for jan crawford. robby, was the press covering for joe biden, or was it shielded if from biden? >> i mean, biden's staff tried

to keep him at arm's length from the press, but they needed to do a more dogged job of pursuing this question because for all of the people in the media media admitting they got it wrong, that they admitted what karine jean-pierre was saying -- howard: sharp as a tack. >> that is so interesting because a supermajority of the american people and a majority of democrats as far back as a year ago, months before the debate performance, said in the polls that they had serious questions about joe biden's ability to continue doing the job. so if most of the american people saw this, why didn't the media see it? that's the question. howard: it was democrats who ultimately pushed biden out. liz, do the media have to take some responsibility on this? because they kept quoting biden aides and associates and dems as saying, oh, he's at the top of his game, and that was flatly untrue. >> by july of last year, you saw chuck todd say it was an open secret among many of the cabinet members for a couple of years, jonathan martin of politico came out and said the same thing, in

july of 2024, well after we started to see the exhibitions of these behaviors and this mentalling cognitive decline or very obvious slowdown. but, yes, indeed, they were slow. i would give props to the hally jackson of msnbc. she interviewed kamala harris when kamala became a candidate and pressed her very hard saying how can the american people trust you when you were with him this whole time and you saw nothing? are you really being honest? if this stuff was out there. however, let me give you the open secret here with media access. both sides want access, they don't want to annoy or aggravate whoever they want access to whether that is trump or, you know, joe biden or whoever. and so, therefore, they soft pedal a lot of this. if. howard: i think that's right. access is always on the minds of journalists. one other thing i wanted to mention which is there are more stories now, 100% trump is annoyed with elon musk.

nbc, there's only one executive producer, one lead in the t show, and that is trump. i'm just wondering, and we don't have time to get into it, whether there really is resentment or this is just the media stirring the pot. by the way, it's going to be a lot harder once donald trump is living in the white house in just a couple of tweaks unless he gives elon musk the lincoln bedroom. liz claman -- >> yeah. i see no evidence of acrimony. i don't know, we'll see. >> palace intrigue and gossip. howard: all right. thank you both. appreciate it. ahead, corey lieu wan kousky will be here. but up next, how mike john op's effort to hang on to his speaker's gavel turned into a beltway cliffhanger. ♪

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howard: mike johnson lost just three republican members in the first round of voting for speaker, but that wasn't enough. despite donald trump's

endorsement to keep him from continuing to hold the gavel, but suddenly two of the gop rebels switched their vote keeping johnson in the job. >> we made a lot of campaign promises, president trump did as well, and reconciliation is the way to get it done. remember, i'll be dealing with the smallest margin in u.s. history. howard: joining us now, byron york of "the washington examiner," a fox news contributor who covered the hill drama for us as service the unfolding. byron, i've chronicled many of these hill battles, but on this one the numbers kept changing. it was 216-3 at one point. did you find it confusing to cover at times? this. >> absolutely. i mean, there were moments when everybody on the air at fox was trying to figure out what was going on, and it was -- howard: me too. [laughter] >> -- that difficult for everybody, and this was, by far, the closest ever. we've had close ones before but not like this. howard: well, my initial reaction when donald trump explicitly

endorsed mike johnson who was the compromise if choice to keep the gavel was this'll be a slam dunk, it's over. and yet you had all these people who didn't vote at first and so forth, and you reached a point where the president-elect was making calls that the day to wavering members, at one point interrupting his golf game. >> that's what made the difference. i mean, if you look back just a couple of years ago, january 2023, to the ordeal that kevin mccarthy went through to be with speaker, there were 15 ballots, it took 4 days. if the same thing happened today, we'd still be in the middle of ate all -- it all. [laughter] why was this one different? because of donald trump. because, first of all, fewer house republicans voted against johnson because of trump. and then the ones when did were changed, strongarmed, twisted, whatever you want to say, by a telephone the call from donald trump from the golf course. that's what made the difference the time. howard: yeah, it's hard

when the president-elect is calling and saying i need your vote otherwise he's going to go down. you don't want to be the one who's blamed. just the bizarre hill choreography where you can be winning 216-3 and you still don't get the job without that arm twisting that you just referred to. i was surprised when marjorie taylor greene earlier switched because she had led the crusade to dump johnson, and obviously, we should say that, you know, these most conservative members of the house republican party aren't happy because mike johnson doesn't get them the spending cuts they want. but on the other hand, you need democratic votes for that too as kevin mccarthy learned as well. >> well, a few differences, this time around as opposed to 2023 one of the lead troublemakers, matt gaetz, is no longer there. he isn't in congress. the big difference also from 2023 is tomorrow the house this is has to take part in certifying the results of the presidential election. and we all know because

we study what chad pergram tells us -- [laughter] the house can't to the anything, house can't do anything unless, until it elects a speaker, okay? howard: right. >> can't do anything. they can't even be sworn in. howard: right. >> so the question is, tomorrow comes. it's the date to certify the election. there's no speaker. none of the members of the house have been officially sworn in. what happens then? and i think that was the scenario that everybody really wanted to avoid. howard: just briefly, so mike johnson's reward is he gets to keep the job that nobody else wants. and isn't he going to have to go through this again? remember the christmas shutdown? the can only got kicked until march, and we'll have another battle over a budget that hasn't passed. >> oh, he will, because his margin is still extremely narrow. i think this is going to show that president trump is going to have to intervene more often. that's probably the lesson of what happened here for them. because, you know, you have some speakers who

are viewed as powerful because with they have the loyalty of all of their members and he was the great power of numbers. and then there are other speakers who are powerful because everybody knows they speak for the president or the president is behind him. and here all the muscle if here is donald trump's. it's not mike johnson, it's donald trump's, and he'll have to use it on capitol hill. howard: it's donald trump's washington. byron york, great to see you, thanks very much. next on "mediabuzz," trump adviser corey lewandowski on the new orleans terror attack and the president-elect's upcoming agenda. ♪ ♪ your eyes. i don't think you understand what i'm asking. i don't think you know how owls work. get two pairs of progressives and an eye exam for $149.95 at america's best.

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this is what happens when you have open borders with weak, ineffective and virtually nonexistent leadership? if what has that got to do with the bourbon street killer? >> well, howie, what we know or what we seem to have known about this individual was, yes, he served in the u.s. military, but he also a went overseas to the middle east where many think he was radicalized and then came through canada before he came back into the united states. so we have to make sure that we are vigilant of checking everybody coming into this country and making we know where they're coming in from, even american citizens. look, they have a right to travel, of course they do, but making sure that we understand we're dealing with a meant crazies that person clearly had -- crisis and more importantly, howie, closing our borders to people who don't belong in this country, that's the most important thing x. that's what's going to take place on january 20th after donald trump takes his hand off that bible. howard: we will get to that. but does what happened in new orleans, not to mention the attack at the trump hotel in las

vegas with another military -- actually, not a veteran, but a green beret on active duty, does that -- this this other guy was under video surveillance by law enforcement. does that suggest to you that the fbi was not very competent at doing its job? >> well, i think that the american people are ready for a new director at the fbi. i'm very much looking forward to kash patel coming in and resetting that organization who is donald trump's nominee to be the next fbi director. under christopher wray we have seen failure after failure. many members of the media have said those failures don't permeate down to the rank and file. i disagree with that. look, when the fbi is not doing their job, we have problems like this. and the problem is they have to be right every single time. and it's not always easy to do, but it's because a lack of leadership at the fbi, and when kash patel is sworn in as the next fbi director, we're going to to see a wholesale and fundamental change in the mindset of those fbi agents, get

them out of washington, d.c. and back on the streets so we can be protecting people. howard: judge juan merchan has set sentencing for january 10th. as you know. donald trump denounced him as corrupt saying no president has ever been treated to evilly and illegally as him. but merchan also delayed sentencing until after the campaign, and he says there'll be no jail time. so for all the coverage, isn't this basically symbolic? >> well, this is a giant disaster. this guy is a terrible judge, he should be removed from the bench. he's going to bring the president back into a courtroom in new york to sentence him and saying there's not going to be jail time? so why is he doing this? so he can stay relevant, so he can stay the darling of the left, so he can say that he has power over the president-elect of the united states. this is a farce of a whole trial, this is a farce of a sentencing. look, the bottom line is this case should have been dismisseded a long time ago. donald trump beat this thing.

and the fact that merchan is saying he's going to be sentenced on january 10th is just an absurdity, in my opinion. howard: we all know what's at the top of the agenda on january 20th, and that's mass deportation for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in this country. but does that only work if it creates an atmosphere where a lot of the people living here illegally self-deport, decide they're going to go back rather than to wait to have trouble with immigration authorities? >> well, howie, first, we've got to close the border. and that's the most important step, so we're preventing additional people, felons, criminals from coming into the country. that's number one. once that's done, then it's the deportation component of it. look, there's hundreds of thousands of people in this country who have final deportation orders that are in effect that have just summarily dismissed hem. so it is our job, our obligation under this administration to protect americans by deporting those people who have those final deportation orders. and in addition to that, howie, if you choose to self-deport because you're in this country

illegal lille, there's an opportunity for you to come back into this country legally. if you choose not to self-deport and we have to come find you and tom homan and his team are going to find these people, then there's a much greater penalty in your ability to come back into this country legally. it's severely hampered. if you're here illegally, get out. we're not looking to separate anybody. if you want your family to go with you, they can do that. if you're here illegally, you'll be removed from this country. it's a promise that the president's made that we will fulfill. howard: i should mention the border crossing numbers have come down, ask but why biden didn't do this three and a half years ago is very hard to understand. after the election there was a famous quote from the president-elect saying the media have been tamed and the coverage had improved somewhat. how does he go from there to a couple days later filing a bunch of lawsuits threatening others, seemed to be almost declaring war on news organizations.

>> well, howie, the media has to be held accountable too. we believe in free speech, but it doesn't give them impunity to say whatever they want. and that was the case with abc news where they settled because president trump called them out, can and they knew if that they didn't want to go through depositions and information that they were privy to as their anchor made claims which we know to be false. and as it relates to an additional case that donald trump has pending against another news organization for doctoring "60 minutes," look, i think they're going to settle that as well. the truth is the media has to be fair, they have to be honest. it doesn't mean they can't get things wrong sometimes, but they should be held accountable and held account when they're absolutely incorrect. howard: just briefly, does the president-elect want a truce with the media like meeting with and mika, or does he want to intimidate the media? >> no. look, the president wants fair coverage. he has been the most open president in our lifetime.

i remember when he was in the white house, he was doing so many briefings gnat media said, please, don't you have something else to do? we don't have questions for you? look, bob trump we saw on new year's -- donald trump on new year's eve was taking questions from the media at a mar-a-lago. the president-elect has alls been very open9 with the media, but he wants to be treated fairly and honestly, and i think that's a fair thing for him to be asking for. howard: yeah. i'm just laughing at the notion of reporters saying we don't have any more questions for you. don't expect that in the second term. appreciate your stopping by, corey lewandowski. >> happy new year. howard: happy new year to you. after the break. how jimmy carter dealt with the media, my experience that and that that of a former top journalist who covered him. ♪

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howard: when i went home after a last sunday's show, it wasn't long before i saw the news that jimmy carter had died at the age of 100. what most people forget is that carter's message had appeal if after watergate. >> i'll never tell a lie, i'll never make a misleading statement. i'll never betray the confidence that any of you has in me. howard: i recall taking tripses as the fill-in guy when carter was on vacation and didn't pretend to be working. almost no one had heart of the one-term georgia governor until he created the modern day iowa

caucuses by camping out there. i thought of president carter carrying his own bags, doing a fireside chat with walter cronkite, and once id asked about the infamous attack on his boat by a killer rabbit shared by press secretary jodi powell over drinks with reporters. >> so i was fishing one afternoon and jodi was there. and a rabbit was being chased by hounds, and he jumped in the water and swam toward my boat. when he got almost there, i splashed some water with the paddle, and the rabbit turns around and crawled out on the other side. there was nothing to it at all, but when he told it to the his fellow if drink ors -- [laughter] it became a humorous and still lasting story. here it is 35 years later. howard: "the washington post" put the ap if story on the front page with the headline, bunny goes bugs: rabbit attacks president. i love that pause. there was a movie called use some of you -- jaws some of you

may have heard of? joining us now, stephen weissman, award-winning former new york times reporter who covered carter. let's talk about jimmy carter's accessibility. when you were covering the white house and had a big story and called the press secretary, what would sometimes happen? >> well, it was a different time. it was much more casual, the relationship. there was no fancy white house press room. jodi, if you had a question, he could get the president to answer and let you know. howard: could you get him on the phone? the. >> i got him on the phone a couple of times in those years. howard: that's a pretty big deal. >> yeah. you had to set it up and everything. we were "the new york times," and the white house was very interested in getting its message to the new york times, to new york state back in the days when it was a swing state. howard: well, that hasn't changed in terms of the new york times' importance to certainly new york and donald trump. in a piece you wrote, you talked about the white house family

movie theater and how you were invited to watch a movie with president carter. did he really, really like you, or was that not that unusual? >> well -- howard: to be invited? >> it was a little unusual. jodi and his deputy, ray jenkins, set it up. we watched coal miner's daughter. it was a lot of money to do tha- howard: with sissy space ec. >> with cissy space ec who carter said was a friend of his. i thought he was name dropping. [laughter] but we talked about movies. we didn't talk about substance that much. but he knew who i was. and, of course, the the access was sometimes a little harrowing as you may remember. he organized the press in softball teams in plains, when we went down to plains, and we had the play against him and his secret service players. howard: that would be a little bit of a disadvantage. >> well, it was. [laughter] i mean, they always won.

howard: they always won? sounds like a totalitarian regime. look, you write of the 39th president, in public he could seem sanctimonious, aloof and a micro-manager if which famously came up when former speech writer jim fallows left and wrote a piece called the passionless presidency and said carter had to approve use of the white house tennis if courts. so there were various sides to him. >> yeah. he was a micro-manager if although he eventually changed and appointed a white house chief of staff. but in person, he could be very friendly and casual, but he is still -- i always thought he was a lonely president. and in his diary which, obviously, was published, you know, fairly recently, came out later, he referred to members of congress as juvenile delinquent- [laughter] he that had a tough time with them -- he had a tough time with them. and once i was shadowing him at a barbecue on the white house south lawn, and and i was just just watching how he dealt with

members of congress. it was quite interesting. he was friendly, he was affable -- howard: he didn't really want to be there. >> and then i watched him turn to his wife and whisper, let's go to dinner. he didn't want to have dinner -- [laughter] howard: just briefly, did you find jimmy carter, the first president the call himself a born-again christian, a pair hull person? of course, after he went back to plains he taught sunday school. or was it not as apparent? >> no, it wasn't ostentatious, but you could see he was a man of faith. especially during the hostage crisis. finish and also i think the one time where his faith energized him was in the negotiations with begin and sadat where he prayed with them and out of his religious determination, wanted to make peace between egypt and israel. howard: can -- which he

ultimately did, and that peace still stands. it's all these years later, and there's a funeral over the next few days. steven weissman, great to see you. >> thanks. howard: still to come, that secret smear campaign against actress blake lively, her costar justin baldoni retaliates by -- it's time we listen to science. one a day is formulated with key nutrients to support whole body health. one a day. science that matters. over the years, you've talked to him about curveballs. you've talked to him about strategy. you've talked winning seasons... ...losing seasons... ...and the off season. now, it's time to talk about how you want to live your next season.

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howard: it's an irresistible plot if if you like to see hollywood a-listers go at it. charges and countercharges by blake lively and justin baldoni who costar in it ends with us which deals with domestic violence and handling an abusive relationship. >> i love you to. >> wasn't my question. howard: it's so easy to portray this as a fabulous feud between two rich hollywood types. >> this is the messiest dispute that i have ever seen between two celebrities in my career.

>> to some degree, the kind of litigation could be mutually-assured destruction, as it often is. >> the process has been revelatory as to how modern celebrity the jousting, modern reputation management, you know, pr was once considered manager for gigantic corporations, not individuals. howard: and i'm here to tell you that misses the mark. what merely all the media aren't focusing on is that justin baldoni, the wayfarer studio aren't suing blake lively, heir suing "the new york times" for $250 million. why would you do that other than the paper has deep pockets? it's true that lively, who has a accused baldoni of sexual harassment, has now sued him. but dragging in the times, it muddies the star versus star narrative. the lengthy times story is airily based on texts and e-mails that emerged from an earlier complaint by blake lively. messages like this.

you know we can bury anyone. messages like this: you know what we say over documents, we can't send over the work we could or will do because that could get us in a lot of trouble. we can't write we will destroy her. messaging s like this: all of this will be are, most importantly, untraceable. messages like this: i'm having reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces week of how horrible blake is to work with just to get ahead of it. and it worked. megastorys were planted in the media and -- negative stories portrayed blake lively as difficult, tone deaf, a bully. and it was this headline in the daily mail which one of studio's pr people acknowledged having spoken to off the record, is blake lively set to be canceled? the story also included a statement from the wayfarer studios saying these claims by blake lively are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media. hively contended that baldoni

had improvised unwanted kissing and gratuitous sex scenes and discussed his sex life and that another member of the team had shown her a video of his wife maked and both men are entered her trailer uninvited when he was of topless and having body makeup removed. things improved, she said, after her complaints. baldoni's talent firm dropped him after "the new york times" story. a lawsuit says the times left out important context. quote, the article's central thesis encapsulated in a defamatory headline deenseed to immediately misread the read -- mislead the reader was that it was a retaliatory campaign against lively for speaking us to out about domestic violence. a times spokesperson said our story was me me tick house arely and responsibly reported, based on thousands of pages of original documents i including

the text messages and e-mails that that we quote accurately and at length in the article. this is, in short, a heck of a story about journalism even if much of the media is casting it as hollywood entertainment. that's it for this first edition of 2025. i'm howard kurtz. happy new year. tammy bruce with, the fox news contributor, has now been tapped by the state department as a state department spokeswoman by donald trump. you can subscribe to my daily free podcast, "media buzzmeter." i riff on the day's top stories plus the funny and the weed ones. apple podcast is a pretty good place to do it. we're back here next sunday, you know the time, 11 eastern. i hope you'll join us then. ♪ ♪ can neuriva support your brain health? mary. janet. hey! eddie. no! fraser. frank. frank. fred. how are you? support up to seven brain health indicators, including memory.

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