A mere minutes after Donald Trump had gone through the many, many ways he thought Rick Santorum was a loser on Fox News, over at MSNBC, he found himself on the receiving end of the same. It is no big secret that Lawrence O’Donnell isn’t a huge fan of Trump, but what may be news delivered by O’Donnell is his belief that Mitt Romney, Trump’s candidate in the Republican primary, thinks Trump is “a buffoon, and unconfirmable joke, America’s biggest loser.”

Wednesday morning, CNN’s Early Start aired an interview with Donald Trump, which was taped before Rick Santorum swept the Tuesday night primary/caucus contests. In the interview, Trump defends his endorsement of Mitt Romney, but takes time to absolutely skewer Santorum.

In the wake of a new report out over alleged Apple sweatshops in China, CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield spoke with chief business correspondent Ali Velshi about what Apple knew and when they knew it. “Steve Jobs — he seems like the kind of guy who never, when he was alive, would have allowed any of this to go on,” Banfield observed. “Did he know? Did he not know? Did he not care? Do we know?”

Those of you who didn’t use Madonna’s Super Bowl halftime performance as an excuse to go out and buy another bag of Extreme Buffalo Chili Cheesesteak Pizza Doritos might have noticed that singer M.I.A. — one of the 812 performers who joined Madonna onstage for her medley — saw it fit to give viewers the middle finger during her performance.

During an awkward exchange on CNN’s Early Start, Ashleigh Banfield grilled Louisiana Senator David Vitter over his prostitution scandal, and compared his affairs to Republican hopeful Newt Gingrich‘s. “I want you to weigh in on Newt Gingrich and what it’s like for a politician having serious baggage trying to be elected,” she asked. “The good news is in America, it’s not up to CNN, it’s up to American people and up to voters,” Vitter hit back, comparing Banfield to John King.

Former Congressman Dick Armey — considered by some to be the “Godfather of the Tea Party” — was a guest on Monday’s Early Start, and faced a line of hard questioning from co-host Ashleigh Banfield about who the Tea Party will end up supporting.

CNN Early Start co-host Ashleigh Banfield, just hours after being skewered by the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart, addressed the criticism of the show’s “Wake ‘Em Up” segment and pushed forward with a call to RuPaul early Wednesday morning, which — it’s fair to note — went off without a hitch.

CNN’s new morning show Early Start has a segment where they call newspeople early in the morning as a surprise and get them live, possibly before they are awake. Needless to say, spontaneous segments have a way of going… awry, and Jon Stewart took a peek at just how wrong things can go– first, during a call to one of the Kennedys, and then mistakenly dialing the wrong number, then telling that person that they were talking to the FBI and not CNN.

Comedian Chuck Nice was scheduled to be a phone guest on CNN’s Early Start Monday morning at 6:40 as part of the “Wake ‘Em Up” segment. But the show dialed the wrong number, and instead woke up a random man. Host Ashleigh Banfield, not realizing it wasn’t Chuck Nice after he said “hello” twice, greeted him with, “Chuck, this is the FBI calling.”

Lt. Dan Choi paid a visit to CNN’s Early Start today to discuss whether the uniformed soldier who recently spoke out on behalf of Ron Paul at a rally for the presidential hopeful will have to face any sort of consequence for his actions.

On January 2, CNN will unveil a new slate of morning programming, with the 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. block anchored by Ashleigh Banfield and Zoraida Sambolin. And based on the preview video CNN just put out, the show, driven by Banfield, could turn out to be a fun success from the start.

ABC News said goodbye to correspondent Ashleigh Banfield this week as she departs for a venture hosting a new morning program at CNN next week. Mediaite has learned that her colleagues toasted Banfield in the Executive Dining Room on her last day at the network yesterday, and ABC News President Ben Sherwood led a champagne toast to Banfield, commending her and wishing her luck on her new endeavor.

TVNewser‘s Chris Ariens wrote a piece in September suggesting that American Morning would soon be shuttered and replaced with two shows — one from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m and another from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Ashleigh Banfield — who has been working as a correspondent with ABC — would host the first block; Soledad O’Brien — who had been leading CNN’s documentaries — would anchor the second.

As the Casey Anthony trial continues to unfold, the spotlight has tended to shift away from what’s going on within the courtroom to those covering the case itself. Here at Mediaite especially, we’ve been keeping an eye on the different reactions to the story by reporters and pundits across various networks. In that spirit, we reached out to a few of the hard-working reporters covering the trial to give us some insight into what the experience has been like for them. Their observations and anecdotes helped us chisel out a clearer image of what it’s like to cover a big, sensational, heart-wrenching, frustrating, perplexing story while the rest of the world looks on and weighs in.

Donald Trump, in an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America, has expressed some doubt about President Obama’s citizenship, telling ABC’s Ashleigh Banfield that unlike the president, if people tried to learn more about his life, they’d have no problem finding people who remembered him from his childhood. By comparison, Trump suggests Obama is a man of mystery who only emerged later in life. “It’s very strange,” Trump said.

The violent sexual assault CBS correspondent Lara Logan sustained while covering celebrations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square led many to wonder about the safety of journalists – particularly female reporters – as they cover tense situations in foreign countries.

ABC News correspondent Ashleigh Banfield addresses those concerns head-on in a column she penned for The New York Post, telling concerned readers that sexual violence against female reporters are a “sad little secret”… that may not be so secret after all.

ABC News’ Ashleigh Banfield filed a fascinating report on the Arizona Shooting Tragedy today, but it was unfortunately missed by many in NYC because of snow coverage. And its a shame, because the brief interview with alleged assailant’s former “best friend” Zach Osler reveals some insight into the troubled mind of Jared Loughner. “He did not watch TV, he disliked the news” Osler averred, shortly after becoming quite emotional when faced with the unsettling mug shot of his former friend.

Keith Olbermann hasn’t appeared on MSNBC since March 1 (and hasn’t anchored Countdown since February 24) while he cares for his ailing father.

But that doesn’t mean he’s disappeared from the web, where he’s been feuding with ESPN’s Bill Simmons, and last night took time to explain, in great detail, the history of some former MSNBC anchors.

TVNewser has been running a lengthy series of polls to see who readers think will be the next host of Good Morning America, taking Diane Sawyer‘s seat on the couch.

Two of the competitors in the online poll race are taking it very, very seriously.

Animal New York’s Bucky Turco has a 9/11 anecdote up at his site: Remembering how, on the night of September 11th, rollerblading down to media-barred Ground Zero with a stealth camera in hand, 2001, Diane Sawyer tapped him on the shoulder and called him to duty.