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Former CNN boss Jeff Zucker was confronted by CNN host Michael Smerconish in a conversation about media, telling him it was 'partisan' to not give much air time to the scandal surrounding Hunter Biden's laptop. Zucker and Smerconish were joined by former MSNBC boss Phil Griffin for a talk on the state of media at the Un-Convention in Philadelphia. The convention was billed as 'an exploration of political reforms to improve our election systems and policy ideas to govern a divided country.'

CNN political analyst Michael Smerconish said Friday on “The Situation Room” that former President Donald Trump is suffering a “death by a thousand cut” regarding several investigations and lawsuits. On reports Trump mishandled classified documents, anchor Wolf Blitzer asked, “You’re, among other things, an attorney. Did Trump potentially commit a crime here? Is there a chance he will be prosecuted for it?”

During Saturday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Smerconish,” Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) decried GOP opposition to making the District of Columbia a U.S. state. The New York State congressman called it “racist activity” to oppose the push and compared the population of Washington, D.C. to Vermont and Wyoming.

The man accused of trying to extort $25 million from Rep. Matt Gaetz’s family admitted Monday that he asked the congressman’s dad for cash — but denied that it was a shakedown. Bob Kent, an ex-Air Force intelligence officer, confirmed to Sirius Radio host Michael Smerconish that he approached the Florida Republican’s dad, Don Gaetz, for money last month. The funds, Kent said, were to pay for an effort to free Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran in 2007, and is believed to be dead. Kent claimed he has video evidence that Levinson is still alive...

Michael Smerconish asks Pat Buchanan about his ideas being carried forward by Donald Trump, and what Trump's chances are in the 2016 race.

ABC’s Sunday show, This Week, used its last edition of the year to review 2014’s key stories, and given the media coverage of the Catholic Church and Pope Francis this year, it’s fitting that one of This Week’s contributors, radio host Michael Smerconish, labeled a few things Pope Francis didn’t say as one of the key stories. Smerconish dubbed Pope Francis a “game changer” of the year “because on issues from the treatment of women to the treatment of gays to even whether our pets are going to make it through the pearly gates, he put a soft, overdue face...

California has long allowed police who believe that someone represents a danger to themselves or others to take the person in for a psychiatric evaluation with a police psychiatrist. With that evaluation, a person could be held for 72-hours. After the Elliot Rodger’s killings earlier this year, California’s Governor Jerry Brown signed into law on Tuesday, September 30th that makes significant changes. The irony is that deputy sheriff officers had gone to Rodger’s home but did not believe that Rodger posed a danger to himself or others. The law that was thus motivated by Rodger’s case would not have prevented...

CNN host Michael Smerconish did his best to diminish the House Select Committee investigating Benghazi during an appearance on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, May 11. Appearing as a panelist, Smerconish claimed that " think nothing from Benghazi has received traction apart from the GOP base. It’s really the abortion of the 2014 cycle

President Barack Obama on Friday forcefully denied deliberately misleading Americans about the deadly attack on the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, telling radio host Michael Smerconish, "I've always been straight with the American people." Speaking to Smerconish during a 15-minute Oval Office interview, Obama also declared he was "absolutely" prepared to kill those behind the assault but would prefer to capture them and "bring them to justice." Asked whether the Administration's shifting explanation for the September 11th strike reflected the intelligence he was receiving, Obama replied: "What's true is that the intelligence was coming in and evolving...

In the upcoming May 7th issue of Radio Ink magazine talker Neal Boortz discusses the recent push by Cumulus and others for a more toned down type of talk radio. Cumulus launched Mike Huckabee April 9th pushing the show as a friendlier conservative talk host. Boortz isn't buying that consumers have tired of the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and others and they want to see more talkers like Huckabee and Michael Smerconish. Boortz says listeners want to be entertained. "Mike Smerconish is immensely talented. Barack Obama likes him. But on the radio, he is not compelling or exciting....

The long-time CBS Radio talker in Philadelphia has replaced El Rushbo not with Cumulus’ newly syndicated Mike Huckabee, but with Dial-Global’s Michael Smerconish, who was previously on the station’s afternoon drive. The move did not appear to be related to the Saandra Fluke controversy, but who knows. Smerconish is based in Philly, so the move is understandable. Premiere Radio Networks had informed WPHT they will be syndicating Rush Limbaugh on a new station in Philadelphia. Rumor has it that Merlin-Media acquired WKDN-FM may be the station he ends up on—along with Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, who’ve been off the...

“The Rush Limbaugh Show” is leaving the dominant conservative talk radio station in Philadelphia, one of the biggest radio markets in the country. In its place on the station, WPHT, will go “The Michael Smerconish Show,” hosted by Mr. Smerconish, a native of the city.snip It is unclear when the change will take place in Philadelphia. The company that syndicates Mr. Limbaugh’s show, Premiere Radio Networks, declined to comment. But Premiere has indicated that it will be moving Mr. Limbaugh to a new station in Philadelphia. Radio-Info.com reported on Monday that it might be WKDN, a Christian programming station that...

(RUMOR OF...)Smerconish to Bump Limbaugh from WPHT. And possibly more than that…but first things first. A very hot rumor out of Philadelphia has WYD Media-produced Michael Smerconish’s nationally syndicated program airing live 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm on CBS Radio’s news/talk WPHT– where Premiere Networks’ Rush Limbaugh does right now. Smerconish is currently delayed to PM drive on WPHT. Radio-Info’s Tom Taylor wrote about the other part of this rumor in his morning blast on 4/6: Merlin Media may be planning to go talk and not all-news on WKDN-FM, Philadelphia – its new property which is still airing Christian programming...

First, there's Michael Smerconish, who has been doing seven hours a day of talk radio: mornings for WPHT (1210) and then his Dial Global-syndicated noon-3pm show (Eastern time). As of January, he'll come off of mornings, do a special Philadelphia-only 3-4pm hour for WPHT, then have his Dial Global show broadcast starting at 4pm. Smerconish says "as the new House comes into session and a whole new round of fireworks begins", he wants to focus on his national show, while "maintaining contact with my loyal fans in Philadelphia." Taking over mornings at CBS Radio's WPHT is Chris Stigall, currently hosting...

MAUREEN Faulkner isn't used to having the cult of celebrity on her side. If actors, singers or intellectuals get involved in the case that's dominated her life for three decades, it's usually on the side of the man who murdered her husband, Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. That list is extensive, to say the least. It includes Maya Angelou, Alec Baldwin, Naomi Campbell, Noam Chomsky, Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's, Roger Ebert, Mike Farrell, Henry Louis Gates, Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Casey Kasem, Spike Lee, Michael Moore, Paul Newman, Peter Norton, Sister Helen Prejean, Rage Against the Machine, Rep. Charles...

Head Strong: Sorry, but for me, the party is over By Michael Smerconish - Inquirer Inquirer Currents Columnist It took only the single tap of a computer key, and just like that I'd exited the Republican Party after 30 years of active membership. The context might sound impulsive, but I'd been thinking of becoming an independent for a long time. I just hadn't expected that a trip to renew my driver's license would mark the end. Just before my photo was snapped, I was asked if I wanted to register to vote. For me, the question was borderline offensive. I...

It took only the single tap of a computer key, and just like that I'd exited the Republican Party after 30 years of active membership. The context might sound impulsive, but I'd been thinking of becoming an independent for a long time. I just hadn't expected that a trip to renew my driver's license would mark the end. Just before my photo was snapped, I was asked if I wanted to register to vote. For me, the question was borderline offensive. I first registered after turning 18 in the spring of 1980 and haven't missed an election since. And I'm...

Who is Dede Scozzfava? ... "This is my party, too," she insisted. "There are a lot of moderate people - Republicans, like me - and I'm hearing from an awful lot of them. And I think the Republican Party needs to know if they don't have room for us and they don't want us working with them, we're going to find a way to work against them." She acknowledged that many in the GOP would differ with her support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage. But she maintained that she approached those views from a conservative vantage point - a...

Yes, President Barack Obama has seen the fabled book of secrets from the "National Treasure" film sequel. And he's staying zipped on what's in it. "I would tell you but I'd have to kill you," Obama joked in a White House interview with talk radio show host Michael Smerconish. Smerconish said his sons have seen "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," the Disney sequel to its 2004 hit, and know Obama has been provided the book of secrets that only Oval Office occupants are privy to. "I have," Obama said, going along with the radio host's reference to the fictional "book...

President Obama took to the conservative airwaves Thursday to charge that Republican leaders are engaged in a vast right-wing conspiracy to kill health care reform in order to repeat the 1994 mid-term takeover of Congress, which followed the defeat of President Clinton's reform plan. "I think early on, a decision was made by the Republican leadership that said, 'Look, let's not give him a victory, maybe we can have a replay of 1993, '94, when Clinton came in, he failed on health care and then we won in the mid-term elections and we got the majority. And I think there...