Media furor over Trump's tweet

This is a rush transcript from "MediaBuzz," August 2, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

HOWARD KURTZ, ANCHOR: This is "MediaBuzz." I'm Howard Kurtz. President Trump's top campaign spokesman, Hogan Gidley, joins us later in the program. If the president was trying to cause a media freak out, he got his wish by tweeting that because of mail-in ballots, 2020 will be the most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history.

It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the election until people can properly, securely, and safely vote. When pressed by reporters, Trump softened his line, which -- but didn't drop the idea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) wouldn't you agree with that?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I just feel -- I don't want to delay. I want to have the election. But I also don't want to have to wait for three months and then find out that the ballots are all missing and the election doesn't mean anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Calling our election into question is one of the most un-American things that a president can do, and he has done it before. He still claims that the previous election, that he won by the way, he said it was rigged.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's using the office of the presidency to say something that is so outrageous and so undemocratic and so frightening that it is impossible not to respond.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's probably unwise to suggest changing the election, voter fraud or not. Too much is in flux already. That's not accidental. It's by design.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw liberal meltdown over a tweet by President Trump pointing out how corrupt this election process could be. The president asked about it today and finds out he was trolling them to pay attention to the issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Joining us now to analyze the coverage, Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at The Federalist and a Fox News contributor, Griff Jenkins, a Fox News correspondent here in Washington, and in Los Angeles, Leslie Marshall, a radio host, and also a Fox News contributor. Mollie, the president knew this would cause an absolute media explosion.

He knew journalists would point out he had no power to change the date under an 1845 law. So why go there?

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, he did say that he intended to do this to raise discussion about the problems with mail-in balloting. The tweet is classic Trump, and the media reaction is classic media. This is a story that seems to have been going on for years and years. President Trump talks about elections being rigged and then the media freak out about it.

What I think is crazy about it is we have had people refuse to accept the results of the 2016 election for three and a half years. And then they complain about tweets like this. And it seems that people who are complaining about this should look in the mirror a little bit themselves as well.

KURTZ: Leslie, Republicans are also among those saying no way it will be November 3rd. Now, the president later tweeted. He was trying to get the very dishonest lame-stream media to finally start talking about the risk to our democracy from dangerous universal mail-in voting. Was the media backlash justified?

LESLIE MARSHALL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, it was, because I don't buy it. It's sort of like playing Jeopardy and your first answer is wrong, and then you go I was going to say that when you hear the wrong answer. This is, to me, when you look at the timing of the tweet, 96 days before the election, and minutes after it was reported that we have the worst economic contraction at that time, minutes later.

I don't think the president perhaps really knew that constitutionally he didn't have the power. I think after the tweet people, you know, rushed in or called in and then he back peddled. That's what I truly believe. Look, at least we've got bipartisan support here, Howie. We have Democrats and Republicans going, no, the Constitution is clear.

Congress will set the date for the election. But he also helps Democrats not look so paranoid about him maybe kicking and screaming if he loses going out the door.

KURTZ: Griff, as Leslie just pointed out, the president's controversial tweet came 15 minutes after the government announced that GDP in the second quarter had declined by a staggering 33 percent. So many journalists were saying, well, he was just trying to distract from the bad economic news, but he has been talking about this mail issue for a long time.

GRIFF JENKINS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: He has, Howie. But I think Leslie is onto something. Because as the president, you have the biggest pulpit of anyone, you can and get people talking about things. And the questions about whether or not our country is prepared, all 50 states to do a massive mail-in ballot. We've never had anything like this and it should be addressed.

However, the Wall Street Journal had an op-ed that basically said, well, it is a bridge too far. The president saying they were going to delay it. That's not going to happen. However, the issue itself needs some focus and it needs to be hashed out. And I think you're going to hear a lot more about it. However, I will give Leslie some kudos.

You know, it was certainly going to be headline on many of the president's critic's shows to talk about those economic numbers. Instead, they've talked about the outrageous tweet.

KURTZ: A little bit on the economy as well. Obviously, jobs suffering during this pandemic. Molly, since Griff pointed out, I do want to read you from that Wall Street Journal editorial page. It was the editorial board saying because there's been a lot of criticism of this on the right. If the president believes the election will be rigged, quote, "he should reconsider his participation and let someone run who isn't looking for an excuse to blame for defeat."

Also, National Review, calling the president's election, quote, "grotesque and un-American." So it's not just the liberal media.

HEMINGWAY: First off, I just want to make a point about those second quarter numbers. They were very bad, but they were far less bad than a lot of people predicted. I mean, everybody knows that the entire country was shut down for the second quarter. And I don't know what they were expecting other than numbers like that.

The question is really what happens in quarter three. And we have had reporting that -- from, Politico showing that Democrats are very fearful of an economic recovery, because they think that will help President Trump's re-election chances. And so I think people should be focused on that as well. As for this freak out over this tweet, I frankly think it was ridiculous.

It was particularly ridiculous given the lack of coverage about all of the problems caused by mail-in balloting. I mean, New York is still waiting for results of an election that was done by mail-in balloting in June. We have -- or at least it's heading into months here now. New Jersey had a recent mail-in ballot election where they had one in five ballots deemed fraudulent.

And this massive rush to go into mail-in balloting, which is clearly something the media very much want to do, they are not giving consideration for all of the obvious problems that will result from it. And particularly, since the media are pushing mail-in balloting, I think it is incumbent upon them to be thinking about some of the problems that are going to arise.

Some states have tried this already, but they have many years of practice at it. Other people are rushing into it in a matter of months. It is really bad to not cover something that has to be one of the biggest election issues of the year.

KURTZ: I think that it is a legitimate issue to be covered and debated. By the way, the one and five disqualified ballots was in Patterson, New Jersey. But Leslie, let me turn this to you. The broader point here, at least according to a New York Times news story, and others have this point, is that Trump was trying to tell Americans they should not trust their own democracy.

But he would say he's trying to protect democracy from what he sees as the threat of fraudulent mail-in ballots.

MARSHALL: You know, it's kind of crazy, Howie, because for seven years there are 25 (ph) states now that have passed laws that make it harder to vote. And now, we're in the midst of the pandemic. And this is actually nothing new for Republicans. It's not just the president and his administration and his followers.

Four years ago, 7 and 10 Trump supporters didn't like voting by mail-in and we didn't have a pandemic. But interestingly, if you look at the numbers in 2016, Howie, Donald Trump actually benefited from mail-in voting, from the military and senior citizens, specifically. So Republicans thinking this is going to be an unfair advantage for Democrats, which it seems. It's just not the case and hasn't been the case.

The bottom line is the study show that voter fraud is really rare. And what happened in Pennsylvania points to something that I feel is failing within the Trump administration. And that's helping rather than demonizing the Postal Service. If you make it harder for people to do their routes, if they can't have overtime as an example, they're not going to be able to get the mail to its location and they (Inaudible) Pennsylvania that was a key issue with those ballots.

KURTZ: Let me jump in. Griff, so we heard Sean Hannity say earlier that the president was trolling the media with the -- shall we delay the election talk with the question marks. But if his goal was to prod or pressure the press into focusing on this very issue we're talking about now because it could be unprecedented amount of mail ballots in the November election. Did it work?

JENKINS: I think it did work. Let me tell you. The Atlantic, on July 24th, wrote a piece about what Mollie was talking about. He called -- The Atlantic called it the Chaos in New York. It's a warning for what's coming. You have Carolyn Maloney in a more progressive -- Patel running against (Inaudible) entirely Democratic primary.

And there are lawsuits galore already in that, with 100,000 plus ballots being discounted or invalidated. And so it's certainly a warning once you talk about widespread universal mail-in ballots that we really have not tested. There's only five states, Howie, in the country that have it, so the other 45 haven't don't this before.

KURTZ: All right. Let me jump in because I want to get to other topic, another big issue this week is Portland. The president sending federal agents there, dealing with urban, dealing with urban riots, dealing with urban violence. Here's a quick look at some of the debate on cable news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Armed mobs of Joe Biden voters torched buildings, smashed cars, attacked police officers. They rioted. They hurt people, a lot of people, and the media watching closely lied about all of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you listen to them -- to him and his apologists and conservative media, you would think that the entire city of Portland is on fire and is out of control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Mollie, are the media playing down violence in places Portland and Seattle and making the president's tactics the overriding issue?

HEMINGWAY: Well, the media have absolutely downplayed the riots and violence in cities across the country. And in Portland, in particular, I think they did a horrible job of explaining what federal law enforcement was doing there since there were attacks on federal properties, such as the Mark O. Hatfield courthouse.

But Portland, in particular, is a city that the media have not covered well. Antifa, which is very much located in Oregon, has had kind of a strangle hold on Portland for many years, if not decades. It was two years ago that they had to cancel the Rose Parade in Portland, which is a very important parade, because Antifa wrote a letter to the city threatening violence because a GOP organization was allowed to march in it and the city caved.

The city just doesn't have control over the radical elements there, and it doesn't need to have an entire city inflamed to say that there's a very destabilizing, threatening element in that city.

KURTZ: All right. I'm a little short on time, so I need quick answers here. Leslie, I happen to agree that the violence itself has been made kind of a backburner issue by the media. But does the New York Times go too far in putting this headline on a column by Michelle Goldberg. Trump's occupation of American cities has begun?

MARSHALL: Well, I think it's sensationalistic and it certainly gets people to buy papers or read the articles online. There's -- if it bleeds, it leads, or you know, if it's titillates, it leads, right? And that's exactly what this does. Look, there are people that are in various cities, such as Portland or Seattle that look at any, you know, by the federal government coming in.

Let's look at Portland specifically. Federal government coming in prior to last month at the end of June, the incidences of violence actually decreased and have been largely peaceful protests. And when the feds came in and then you have those unmarked vans and people being picked, people reacted and many of them not in good manner, a violent manner, but that certainly was not the majority of individuals. So I think it's fair, because I think it's what media does.

KURTZ: OK. On the point, Griff, you know quick answer. The New York Times, to its credit, also said in a news story that some of the peaceful protesters in Portland still supported the violent actions of those who were injuring police officers, using lasers, using fireworks, setting fires. You've covered these three protests.

Is it difficult to access the right tone when you have some peaceful and some thugs?

JENKINS: That's right. And time and time again, it's peaceful protesters by day, and then by night, around midnight, it gets violent, different element comes out. Just a quick final thought, though, on the -- what the media has covered this. Listen, the quote, "occupation" as the New York Times says is different in Chicago, in New York City where you're looking at a possible surge of federal authorities to get the violence.

Not related to protests, under control as opposed to Portland and Seattle where it is purely protester or agitator-driven.

KURTZ: An important point, Griff, we will see you a little later. When we come back, the president's increasingly combative stance against the press on the Coronavirus and his re-tweeting of a highly controversial video, and later, former White House spokesman Hogan Gidley.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KURTZ: President Trump is back sparring with reporters over his handling of the Coronavirus. This is the death in America past the once unthinkable mark of 150,000, and is again, sounding more optimistic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are seeing improvements across the major metro areas and most hotspots. You can look at large portions of our country. It's Corona-free.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: The president is also back to feuding with Anthony Fauci and touting the virtues of Hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And like a snake oil salesman, he's still promoting disproven medical treatments. It is unconscionable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The reason your approval rating on the Coronavirus is so low is because you have botched this from the start on every level, and you have actually pushed disinformation on the Coronavirus. You have pushed quack wars (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think people should decide themselves they want to believe things or not and hear all sides. Some recent studies are showing the positive effects of Hydroxychloroquine, not reported by the media.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've learned if Trump endorses something, the media is going hate it. It's basically -- his endorsement is a reverse good housekeeping seal of approval.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Mollie Hemingway, the basic media criticism here is that the president has gone from last week saying -- taking a sober tone. The virus will get worse before it gets better, now sounding more optimistic declaring parts of the country virus-free, and urging the governors to keep on reopening.

HEMINGWAY: I think the issue with media coverage is just how much panic is inherent in the media coverage. You said that these numbers were unthinkable. And they are horrible. And it's just -- it's so sad to see how many people have died from this. They are not altogether that unthinkable if you compare it to what happened in 1957 with the Asian flue.

The equivalent of 220,000 or so Americans died in that pandemic. In the Spanish flu in 1918, it was like 1.6 million Americans who died from that. And there's no evidence that Woodrow Wilson had even said anything public about it. In 1957, there was some moderate reaction to it, as in schools might close for a few days here or there.

But you didn't see this kind of nationwide panic inducement that you're seeing with the coverage of this, where they are almost, like, rooting for the virus to win over and against America. We have a tough virus. The whole world has a tough virus to deal with. But I don't see enough in the media coverage about how much is going well and how capable we are to handle it.

It seems they want to keep everything shut down, business, schools, churches, everything, but mass protests and riots.

KURTZ: Leslie Marshall, do you agree with Mollie's assessment that the media are almost rooting for the virus to win? And let me also get your reaction to this sound bite involving the president's continuing back and forth, shall we say, with Dr. Anthony Fauci.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx highly also thought of. And yet, they are highly thought of but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: That in reference to Fauci's higher approval rating, Leslie.

MARSHALL: Grow up. Sorry. He's the president of the United States of America, the commander in chief, the leader to have free world. He shouldn't care about who likes him, who doesn't, or an approval rating. He should care about numbers, numbers that are surging in the state that I live in, numbers that are surging in Texas and Florida, the three largest states in the United States of America, three of the largest states in the United States of America.

That should be a concern. He should be leading this country. This is not and should not and cannot be a political issue. I live in a household with a man who has to get tested constantly for Coronavirus, because now, the surge you're seeing in his office and patients with his partners that he didn't see before. It's not just about the death rate.

It's about this virus attacks the human body and the cells in the human body differently than those viruses that Mollie spoke about. This is not political. Look, the reason other countries have been able to look at this their rear-view mirror for the most part, Howie, is because they didn't make it political. They came together as a nation, South Korea and other countries, New Zealand.

And they listened to what the authorities and did it. They locked down. And they got it behind them.

KURTZ: All right. Now, Mollie, as you know, there has been much media mockery of President Trump for re-tweeting a video, which a bunch of doctors endorsed the use of Hydroxychloroquine. Let's play that exchange first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nobody needs to get sick. This virus has a cure. It is called Hydroxychloroquine, zinc and Zithromax. I know you want to talk about masks. Hello, you don't need masks.

TRUMP: I was very impressed (OFF-MIC) I think she made tests, but I know nothing about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: So that doctor we just saw, Stella Immanuel, has attracted a lot of note (ph) shall we say in the media for saying such things as alien DNA is being used in medicine and people have medical caused by having sex, eager (ph) dreams with witches or demons. Of course, the press is going to go nuts over that.

HEMINGWAY: Well, actually I think their big problem is they don't want anything discussed about Hydroxychloroquine, and it is fine to have a debate. There are people who say -- and I think this is very valid that it doesn't do anything for patients who are hospitalized or near death. There are other people, including quite a few doctors, who think is good as a very early course of treatment.

Certainly not harmful, possibly having good benefits. The hysteria about Hydroxychloroquine has actually prevented the development of clinical trials, particularly for that early stage of treatment. Again, it is not shown to be particularly helpful if you're already at the point of hospitalization. And I don't understand why the media are so intent on shutting down discussion of this, and the way that tech companies actually removed this video.

I think it actually gives more power to people who think that this is helpful. And if they want to -- if they truly, genuinely think for some reason that this shouldn't even be discussed, they should do a better job of managing that debate.

KURTZ: All right. I have got less than half a minute. Leslie, the media are pouncing on the president's admission that he re-tweeted the video and he knows nothing about this woman, Estela Emmanuel.

MARSHALL: You already talked about it. Those studies that were five, by the way, Mollie, you know, placebo controlled. And they showed there was no benefit. And as a matter of fact, the assistant secretary for health --

(CROSSTALK)

MARSHALL: -- the coordinator for the Trump administration's COVID testing said, and I quote, "no evidence it's an effective treatment." And as a matter of fact, the FDA withdrew its authorization of it in June, because they found that there was a risk of heart problem, especially with people with underlying cardiac conditions.

KURTZ: All right. I couldn't get neither of you to talk about alien DNA. Mollie Hemingway and Leslie Marshall, thanks so much. Up next, the Democrats' absolute train wreck at that hearing with Bill Barr. Plus, Republicans Jim Jordan plays a video of reporters calling the Portland protests peaceful, but is it accurate?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KURTZ: House Democrats turned the Judiciary Committee hearing into an absolute partisan circus, as they battered Attorney General Bill Barr and barely let him respond.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have another question for you. On June 19th --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, I need to answer that question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Attorney General, you did answer the question.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said under penalty of perjury, I'm going to answer the damn question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Even the Washington Post news story said Democrats mostly made speeches of talked over him as he attempted to answer their questions seemingly squandering any chance of getting new information or an admission out of him. Now, at that hearing, Republican Congressman Jim Jordan played a video that appeared to show journalists ignoring the violence in Portland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Peaceful protests.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Peaceful protesters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Peaceful protests.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Peaceful protests.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Peaceful protests.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Peaceful protests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: But CNN's Jake Tapper called on Jordan to apologize, saying he had done a disservice to the truth selectively edited video and played what two of his colleagues had actually reported.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This has been the epicenter where there have been largely peaceful protests during the day and at night, sometimes turning violent with these confrontations between protesters and police.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The protests after Rayshard Brooks' death were peaceful. And as it began to get dark, things began to change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Congressman Jordan defended himself on Fox News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You had two reporters in that video saying these are peaceful protests, while there's a building burning in the background for goodness sake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: I've been very critical of the Portland coverage, which has focused far more on Trump's tactics than the violence itself. But even that -- even a partisan video at a partisan Democratic hearing should fairly represent what reporters were saying. James Murdoch has resigned from the board of News Corp, whose publications includes the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and London Sun, severing his last tie to his father Rupert Murdoch's media empire.

He'd already Fox Corporation, which includes Fox News and whose CEO is his brother, Lachlan Murdoch, after its entertainment assets were sold to Disney. James Murdoch said in a statement my resignation is due to disagreements over certain editorial content published by the company's news outlets and certain other strategic decisions.

That stance came little as surprise to industry insiders as James Murdoch has made climate change a major cause, once criticizing coverage of the issue by Fox and News Corp. And he and his wife recently donated more than $1 million to a Joe Biden fundraising committee. Coming up, the Trump campaign's top spokesman, Hogan Gidley, on the coverage of the president and his headline-making controversies, Hogan Gidley is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KURTZ: The media have been awash in stories this week, from the campaign to the coronavirus. And joining us now, Hogan Gidley, national press secretary for the Trump campaign and of course the former deputy White House press secretary.

Welcome.

And I've got to start with the president's tweet, which did have three question marks about whether we should delay the election until people could properly and safely vote. He now says he was trying to prod the "dishonest lamestream media into covering the issue of mail-in voting."

But, as you know, this was widely condemned, including by the conservative National Review and Wall Street Journal editorial page. Was that tweet a mistake?

HOGAN GIDLEY, TRUMP 2020 NATIONAL PRESS SECRETARY: No, absolutely not. The president was clearly pointing out the fact that Democrats are trying to absolutely and completely and totally change the way we conduct elections in this country three months before election day. It's absolutely insane.

And what they're trying to replace the current voting system with is a mail-in -- a universal mail-in voting system that is completely rife with the potential for fraud, cheating. And we see example after example of this, whether it's in New Jersey, where they had to kick out 20 percent of the votes because they couldn't be verified; 100,000-plus votes not counted in California.

We still don't know who won a congressional seat, a primary actually, in New York, from a month ago, because of this type of system. It is fraught with so much trouble and so much danger. And the media know this. They just don't want to report it.

And I remember a great story, actually, on FoxNews.com, where someone's cat got a ballot in the mail to vote. Now, I understand a lot of cat owners out there feel like their -- their --

KURTZ: Yeah, be careful.

GIDLEY: -- pet is probably smarter than the average person. But this cat had another problem with voting. It had been dead for 12 years. So they need to purge those pet --

KURTZ: Even the cat wasn't alive --

GIDLEY: -- voting rolls, if they're going to get this thing worked --

KURTZ: So you raise --

GIDLEY: -- in the right direction.

KURTZ: You raise a legitimate issue. It's obviously not the same thing as even talking about delaying the election. And on "Meet the Press" today Chuck Todd said that these comments by the president were "an act of desperation and of a president who expects to lose."

GIDLEY: That -- that's absolutely ridiculous as well. And, look, Chuck Todd knows better. It was Chuck Todd, after Hurricane Sandy, talking to Andrea Mitchell on "MSNBC" about the potential to delay an election because of Hurricane Sandy. They talked about how that would actually look.

There was no outrage. It was them -- it was them who were pointing to the fact that it could be done, and this is how it's going to be done. The president's not talking about it. He wants the election on November 3rd. But to trust the --

KURTZ: All right.

GIDLEY: -- postal system with your ballot -- I mean, let's be honest, a lot of people don't trust the -- the Post Office with a greeting card to Granny, much less your sacred right as an American citizen to vote for president of the United States.

KURTZ: All right. On the coronavirus, the president is back to sparring with reporters this week. The other day -- I'm going the play this for you -- he went at it with CNN's Kaitlan Collins, who asked him about retweeting -- whether he regretted retweeting a video of several doctors who were backing the use of hydroxychloroquine. Let's roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You ought to tell your network the reason their ratings are so bad is because the coverage is so false. If CNN would be honest -- and that goes for MSDNC also -- but your network is so dishonest in its coverage on just about everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Now, what was wrong with Kaitlan Collins' question? One of the doctors there, very controversial for making remarks about alien DNA and other things. And shouldn't the president vet somebody before retweeting her comments to his 84 million Twitter followers?

GIDLEY: I'll tell you what's wrong with it. It's the universal bias from the mainstream media and their selective outrage. That's what's so problematic here. CNN themselves actually pointed to the fact that hydroxychloroquine could work. Jake Tapper tweeted it. But when the president says it could work, when the president says some scientists, including the doctor at Yale, pointed to the fact that it could possibly help out with coronavirus, he gets pilloried for it up and down all day long. It's absolutely insane.

The -- the hypocrisy the media has with the way they cover this president versus the way they cover Joe Biden is just astonishing. I mean, he has taken leadership in this role. He was the one calling for shutdowns from flights from China and Europe early on, while Nancy Pelosi was out in Chinatown, without a mask, mind you, telling people to go out and enjoy themselves.

It was Governor Cuomo himself who left New York open seven days after everyone else shut down and then inexplicably sent nursing home patients with coronavirus back into the nursing homes. I mean, you're talking almost 40,000 deaths in the State of New York, and the media point to Cuomo as the right way to do things. It's absolutely insane.

So the fact they attack this president, who early on listened to his medical experts and health experts, talked about masks on March 31st. April 3rd he and the CDC came out and gave the guidelines. And one more point, it was a month and five days later before all of the press corps wore masks inside the briefing room. But they want you to think they rang in the new year with champagne and N-95 masks. It just didn't happen.

KURTZ: Well, since you brought up Joe Biden, who is ahead in virtually all polls. And I know you got into a little bit of a battle on Fox earlier this week about whether these are fake polls. But my larger point is this. Is your campaign frustrated by the fact that Joe Biden is doing very few interviews, making very few public appearances, while your guy is going on with Chris Wallace?

GIDLEY: Well, I think the American people are frustrated. You get to see an American president in Donald Trump who's out there taking tough questions, providing leadership through a difficult time both economically and with the well-being and the future of this country at stake, and Joe Biden is just sitting down there in his hidey-hole with no real questions at all from the media, no concerns as to why he's not out addressing the real issues.

And when he does pop up out of the hidey-hole, he gets questions in the media like, "Why did you choose Delaware to have this wonderful press conference? Tell us why Donald Trump is so bad?"

He doesn't get asked questions about why he has kowtowed to China for the better part of 30 years. He gets no questions about Hunter Biden and Burisma. None of those things get talked about as it relates to Joe Biden with the media because they share the same radical left agenda.

And he's an empty vessel at this point, no question. He's being filled by the -- the far reaches of the party, the Ilhan Omars, the Rashida Tlaibs, the Bernie Sanders, the Socialist wing. He's adopted that platform and is now pushing it on the American people. And at a time we're trying to get the economy back going --

(CROSSTALK)

GIDLEY: -- he's calling for $7.5 trillion in tax increases on 80 percent of the American people. It's insane. But he doesn't have to answer the questions.

KURTZ: Yeah, you're a lot freer to attack Biden now than when you were at the White House.

I can only get this last question, and I've got about a half a minute. Barack Obama has been doing virtual fundraisers for Biden and privately, according to the New York Times, he has called President Trump -- he's accused him of nativism, racism, sexism, stoking resentment of Asian Americans. I want to get your response and also whether you think Obama will be a -- a major issue in this campaign?

GIDLEY: Well, I'm sure he -- he'll be out on the campaign trail for Joe Biden, because Joe Biden, to this point, refuses to campaign. So I think that's going to be interesting because he needs someone with a little life and a little vigor out there talking about Joe Biden because it's obvious he has none.

But the fact is it's Joe Biden who lied, for example, about even knowing anything about Michael Flynn, but it was he himself who wanted to use the Logan Act to try and frame and get Michael Flynn. It was a systematic effort.

So the lies that the -- the previous administration, you know, engaged in were never covered by the mainstream media, as you know. And when you talk to someone, you know, on the Hill and they're -- they're complaining about the Clappers and the Comeys and the Brennans of the world --

KURTZ: Gotta wrap.

GIDLEY: -- they lied to Congress. I mean, they went right to the Hill and lied, and they didn't get, you know, any type of jail sentence. All they got was a cushy TV contract --

KURTZ: To be continued.

GIDLEY: -- with the liberal networks.

KURTZ: All right. Gotta go. Thanks for being on. Hogan Gidley, thanks very much for joining us this Sunday.

GIDLEY: Thanks so much. Any time, Howie.

KURTZ: After the break, a top Democrat response, and we will look at Biden campaign, the press, and the veepstakes chatter as he gets closer to picking a running mate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KURTZ: We just heard from Hogan Gidley. Le's go to the Democratic side. Joining us is Philippe Reines, a former State Department official under Hillary Clinton. The Biden campaign was not able to provide us with a guest.

Philippe, I know many Democrats say, hey, Joe Biden is ahead. His strategy is working. Let him just stay home in Delaware. But the last thing that you had did was two weeks ago, national TV interview with Joy Reid, which was kind of a love fest.

Wouldn't it help Biden make news to do real interviews with tough journalists and get his voice out there in this campaign?

PHILIPPE REINES, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: I was listening to Hogan Gidley. I find this comical for a few reasons.

First, Donald Trump has not done a non-Fox interview in I don't know how long. And I'm not even sure anyone knows how long because it's certainly hasn't been 2020, possibly through 2019.

He did a CBS interview with Catherine Herridge who used to be of Fox. He prefers to talk to OANN which as you know is not exactly the most balanced organization out there.

But more importantly Joe Biden has been doing press conferences, he did one two weeks ago, which even Hogan Gidley just acknowledged. And while he doesn't like the questions, I think, if I remember correctly, there was a Fox reporter in the audience who asked a question, pretty tough, about Joe Biden's cognitive ability. So I don't understand what it is Hogan Gidley wants.

Does Hogan Gidley want to go himself and ask a question? Then he should. And more importantly, this year, this time four years ago, Donald Trump was in the midst of a five-month stretch of not doing any press conferences. July 28th, 2016 was the last time --

KURTZ: Right. I know that --

(Crosstalk)

KURTZ: But I got to say -- but I've got to say, Philippe, that he talked to reporters all the time, did a lot of interviews, and, even now as president, he talks to reporters.

REINES: He lies to reporters all the time --

(Crosstalk)

REINES: That shouldn't count.

KURTZ: Well, that's a partisan judgment. Or, you know, maybe it's a fair --

REINES: It's not a --

(Crosstalk)

REINES: It's not a separate problem. It is the problem.

KURTZ: OK, let me ask you this because the president has made a lot news this week including the tweet about delaying the election and the comments about that, obviously that's not going to happen. And yet in every story Biden usually gets one paragraph which is either a can [ph] statement from a spokesman or some prepared statement he's put out. What nominee doesn't want to mix it up? Is this a strategy?

REINES: A strategy of threatening to move the election? That's not a strategy. That's a threat to the very foundation of our Democracy.

And let's not forget something. There's a difference between now and four years ago, when Donald Trump threatens the integrity or when he questions the integrity, he is now in charge of the place. If he doesn't trust the Postal Service to do this properly, he's in charge of the Postal Service. He appointed the person who runs it. He could say this is what we have to do.

The Republicans in the Senate, starting with Mitch McConnell, have turned down hundreds of millions of dollars to go into the budget to ensure the security and the integrity of our election. Mitch McConnell and the Republicans are the ones that are not allowing it.

So he cannot simultaneous say this isn't working and I'm afraid about it but I'm not going to do anything about it despite the fact that I'm the President of the United States and I have some powers.

KURTZ: Let me jump in. So the president actually did do interview with ABC back in May.

Let's move onto the so-called veepstakes POLITICO reported --

(Crosstalk)

REINES: That's 14 months ago.

KURTZ: No, no, anyway. POLITICO --

REINES: I'm sorry. Two months ago. I'm sorry --

(Crosstalk)

KURTZ: -- that Biden had picked Kamala Harris as his running mate. What do you make of all this veepstakes chatter and the notion that it's probably Kamala Harris because a photographer got a look at the handwritten notes of the former vice president with positive talking points about Senator Harris?

REINES: Well, I wouldn't read too much into the tealeaves or, in this case, his notes during a press conference. I think he had those just as a reminder because he was going to be asked.

As a staffer who has told someone before a press conference, hey, you're likely going to get asked about this, he was just jotting them down. Donald Trump has been caught with notes, I don't think it's here or there.

I don't know who it's going to be. I do know that we'll know within the next two weeks and I guarantee you -- well, the next time I'm on the show in the next few weeks, hopefully I will be back, we probably won't be talking about it because the VP has not been really the dispositive determinator in the elections for some time. Maybe since LBJ.

I believe he's got a blessing of riches. He's got a blessing of riches in terms of -

(Crosstalk)

KURTZ: Well, that is true but you also have -- you also have a candidate who would be 78 on Inauguration Day.

I've got about half a minute here. There's been no counter campaign in the media for other potential running mates, Susan Rice, Congresswoman Karen Bass. She got a hard time on a couple of Sunday shows, including Fox News Sunday, for past pro-Castro [ph] comments. She now regrets. Is this all part of the media vetting process for potential VPs?

REINES: Yes, I mean, I think everyone vets. Right now it's the Biden campaign internally, it's the media externally, hen someone's picked it's going to be the RNC and Trump campaign. And, look, that's a healthy thing for people to check who it is and to really delve into them. These are all qualified public servants.

On the age thing, I think it's important to note Donald Trump right now is 74, Joe Biden is 77. It's not like Donald Trump is some spry young man who is healthy. He's not. If Donald Trump were to win reelection, he would be Joe Biden's age during his second term, so I don't you can just say 78 is some danger zone because, if it is, Donald Trump shouldn't be running for reelection.

KURTZ: All right. Philippe Reines, thanks very much for joining us. Good to see you.

REINES: Thank you, Howie.

KURTZ: Still to come, the baseball season in jeopardy because of virus outbreak. That's not great news. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KURTZ: Baseball is back though the season is now jeopardized by the coronavirus. And President Trump recently said he would be continuing a grand tradition, mentioning the president of the New York Yankees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Randy Levine is a great friend of mine from the Yankees. He asked me to throw out the first pitch. And I think I'm doing that on August 15th at Yankee Stadium.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: The president later canceled. The New York Times says he never had such an invitation from the Yankees. Trump made the claim an hour before Anthony Fauci, you see it there, threw out the first pitch for the Washington Nationals. And as you saw, he totally botched the throw. He spent a lot of time practicing but he miscalculated the distance to home plate.

Griff Jenkins is back. The New York Times attributing the president's move to jealousy. Should we care about this?

GRIFF JENKINS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, we'll see. The president says things sometimes get discounted. What's a bigger question, as you mentioned, is whether or not there's even a season for the president to have an opportunity if the invite --

KURTZ: Yeah.

JENKINS: -- is legitimate. But I got to tell you, the Fauci pitch is the most important talked about thing. It's been one of those water cooler things, Howie, that has been just a joy to talk about. And as a kid that had baseball cards, I might actually pay the $175 on eBay for the Anthony Fauci tops trading card that's trending right now.

KURTZ: All right, add to your collection. So look, I'm thrilled baseball is back. The TV ratings have been tremendous. But with 18 members at least of Miami Marlins having tested positive for COVID-19, its season was suspended, Phillies were suspended because they played the Marlins, and St. Louis Cardinals now four positive tests, it is going to at least miss a couple of games, is it too much for sports writers to say that the whole shortened season is in jeopardy?

JENKINS: Well, it's certainly the case now. Yesterday we had the MLB commissioner, Rob Manfred, telling ESPN that hey, right now, we're going to play but the players have got to be better, talking about the behavior of the players, whether it's the Marlins or the Cardinals or any others.

We learned a week ago, Howie, that Marlins tests came back and we are only three or four days into the season, right? We learned of these tests now.

I think what Commissioner Manfred is doing is laying the groundwork, if we get another slew of tests today and we will get them because games are being played all across the country today, in just a few hours, if we get that, it will be very difficult for Manfred not to consider shutting things down, and that would be a really tough time.

Just an example of the strains, though, you've got the Nats, our Nats are postponed because they're in Miami, supposed to be playing the Marlins.

KURTZ: Right. Well, some players are accusing MLB of not caring about players' health. I'm sure the NBA and the NFL are carefully watching this. I don't know what the television networks would do if baseball goes away. I am also wondering whether it was wishful thinking, we have about half a minute, to think that 30 baseball teams could pull this off and maybe it's an omen for all the thousands of schools that may or may not reopen.

JENKINS: There will be a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking. No pun intended there but you've certainly got -- you know, the NBA is doing better, NHL is doing better. Perhaps there is lesson there that the MLB didn't do as the NFL tries to figure out whether they're going to have a football season.

KURTZ: Right. At least, the National Basketball Association, most of the teams are in this bubble in Orlando. Maybe that's a little safer.

Griff Jenkins, thanks for suiting up. We always appreciate your sports insights.

JENKINS: Thanks, Howie.

KURTZ: All right. And that is it for this edition of "MediaBuzz." I'm Howard Kurtz. We hope you'll like our Facebook page. We post my daily columns there. Let's continue the conversation on Twitter at Howard Kurtz. And if you want, check out my podcast, "Media BuzzMeter." You can subscribe at Apple iTunes. You can get it on your Amazon device or foxnewspodcasts.com. There is the graphic.

Lots to cover this week. I think it's going to be that way throughout the election. We appreciate you joining us. We are back here next Sunday. We'll see you then with the latest "Buzz."

Content and Programming Copyright 2020 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2020 ASC Services II Media, LLC. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of ASC Services II Media, LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.