Minneapolis Mourns Mother Killed in ICE Shooting

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Beat with Ari Melber

Episode: Minneapolis Mourns Mother Killed in ICE Shooting
Air Date: January 10, 2026
Host: Ari Melber (MSNBC)
Major Guests/Contributors:

• Andrew Weisman (Former FBI General Counsel, MSNBC Analyst)
• Michael Feinberg (Former FBI Assistant Special Agent, Analyst)
• Jason Johnson (Professor, Analyst)

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Overview

This episode centers on the police-involved shooting of Renee Nicole Goode, an American citizen killed by an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agent in Minneapolis. Ari Melber unpacks new video evidence, scrutinizes the official narrative, and explores wider issues of transparency, law enforcement accountability, federal-local cooperation, and the political handling of the tragedy. The episode also touches on related political stories, including Trump’s foreign policy posturing and a hopeful turn in New York with the recent election of a progressive mayor, all while connecting music and politics for cultural resonance.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. New Evidence in the ICE Shooting (00:45 – 06:31)

• Incident Recap: Renee Nicole Goode, an American citizen, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. Multiple videos of the incident have surfaced, including officer point-of-view footage and a wider-angle video.

• Footage Details:

  • The officer’s cell phone video does not show the shots being fired, but captures the moments leading up to and following the shooting.
  • A wider-angle video from the NYT and others provides better context for the moments just before shooting, seemingly undercutting ICE’s narrative that the agent was about to be run over.
  • Ari Melber (03:48):
    “The officer’s video also shows him placing himself in front of the car, something that they are trained not to do, just as they are trained not to shoot at moving vehicles unless there is a gun or other lethal threat towards them.”

• Legal Analysis of Footage:

  • Evidence raises significant doubts about the claim Goode was attempting to ram officers.
  • One bullet went through the windshield; two others appear fired from the side.
  • Public skepticism is high amid allegations of federal falsehoods and changing stories in the incident’s aftermath.

2. Expert Analysis: Policy, Use of Force, and Accountability (06:31 – 14:41)

• Andrew Weisman (06:31):

  • Scrutinizes the officer’s conduct, noting “significant questions” about justification for not only the first but especially the second and third shots.
  • Cites the “real lack of training and respect” revealed by the agent’s profane language:
  • [08:53] “…there's a problem here in that there's this kind of language being used when that's not the role of somebody who is … trained and respectful of civilians…”

• Michael Feinberg (10:07):

  • Clarifies distinctions in use-of-force policies between DOJ and DHS (ICE falls under DHS, which has a broader policy).
  • Emphasizes lack of tactical de-escalation and unnecessary escalation by officers:
  • [11:57] “At every step leading up to the shooting … the DHS officers … intentionally escalate the situation and make it worse. And they do so in a way that tactically places them in more danger…”

• Justification for Stop:

  • Both analysts question whether agents had a legal federal predicate to detain Goode at all, raising Fourth Amendment issues.
  • Ari Melber (13:13):
    “If there’s not a federal legal reason for them to stop or detain her, then she’s not under arrest and she could be leaving.”

3. Community Mourning & Demand for Transparency (15:45 – 18:46)

• Community Response:
  • Vigil for Goode at the state capitol and at the Timberwolves game.
  • Local and state officials are demanding access to all case materials and a truly independent, transparent investigation.
• Obstruction Concerns:
  • Allegations that the FBI is blocking local officials from participating or accessing critical evidence (car, casings, forensics).
• Ari Melber (17:05):
  “What the DA is saying carefully is … do you trust them to be honest about the forensics coming out of the car? What if those forensics make it look worse…?”

4. Accountability and Political Ramifications (18:46 – 23:40)

• Federal vs. Local Tensions:

  • Exclusive federal control of the probe is perceived as undermining trust and potentially enabling a “whitewash.”
  • Andrew Weisman (18:58):
    “The legitimate interest is to have maximum transparency, maximum accountability and trust in the investigation. Only if you were sort of intending to have a whitewash … would you exclude those people here.”

• Administration Critique:

  • The Trump administration, Pam Bondi’s DOJ, and senior officials are accused of making premature, unsupported claims.
  • Michael Feinberg (20:30):
    “This administration seems hell bent on burning [federal-local] relationships to cinders. … the fact that they began cooperating, and then … withdrew that cooperation. It just doesn't pass the smell test…”

• Future Avenues for Justice:

  • Weisman highlights congressional hearings, state investigations, and the possibility of delayed justice (e.g., state-level charges or statute of limitations), noting presidential pardons cannot affect state cases.
  • Weisman (21:50):
    “For the public, and for the victim here, this really is an injustice … not just what the officer did. It is the how the administration is now handling what the officer did.”

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Andrew Weisman (08:53):
  “I do think you get a sense of the mental state of the agent by the profanity he uses. … That is not how any … career person would be and should be handling a situation like this.”
• Michael Feinberg (13:35):
  “Having a badge and a gun doesn't give you the right to just be a bully who randomly detains people because you don't like what they're saying.”
• Andrew Weisman (18:58):
  “Only if you were sort of intending to have a whitewash of this, would you exclude those people here. I think the administration has lost all credibility.”
• Ari Melber (17:05):
  “Do you trust them to be honest about the forensics coming out of the car? What if those forensics … make it look worse in terms of how this person was shot? … This is not conspiracy theory talk. This is the sitting DA…”

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Other Major Segments

Trump, Oil Executives, and U.S. Foreign Policy (26:28 – 37:48)

• Trump’s Foreign Moves:
  • Ari notes an uptick of aggressive foreign posturing (e.g., Venezuela, Greenland), ostensibly as a distraction from unpopularity and economic woes at home.
  • Clips of Trump downplaying checks on his power:
    • [28:01] Trump (via NYT interview): “Yeah, there’s one thing. My own morality, my own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop.”
• Economic Context:
  • U.S. job growth at its lowest (outside pandemic years) since 2009.
• Jason Johnson Analysis (33:55):
  • Links Trump’s increased foreign aggression to domestic failures and unpopularity.
  • Notes public skepticism:
    • [36:58] Jason Johnson: “It’s not going to work on the public at all. … Trump is trying to make [oil promises], and it's still not going to work…”

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Positive Political Transition in New York: Mayor Zoran Mamdani (37:58 – 45:31)

• Introduction of Mamdani:
  • Progressive, diverse, youthful energy; contrasts with national political dysfunction.
• Inaugural Speech Highlights:
  • Mamdani references New York’s diversity, working-class roots, and hip-hop culture.
  • Quotes and cultural references:
    • References Jadakiss:
      • [43:09] Ari Melber: “Fact check. True. Jadakiss doesn’t live in Miami or Colorado. He is outside. And you can come to his block to D block. Many New Yorkers know what that means, and now their mayor does too.”
    • Invokes the role of music in uniting communities and progressive politics.
    • Remarks on politicians connecting with voters through music, tying it to broader themes of inclusion and resilience.

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Notable Timestamps

• 00:45: Ari Melber introduces episode focus on ICE shooting, video evidence.
• 03:10: NY Times video analysis contests ICE narrative of threat from vehicle.
• 06:31: Andrew Weisman examines officer conduct and bullet justification.
• 10:07: Michael Feinberg clarifies use-of-force policy discrepancies.
• 13:13: Fine point on legal justification for detaining Goode.
• 15:45: Community’s response and moment of silence at the Timberwolves game.
• 16:37: DA and state officials push for independent investigation.
• 18:46: Melber, Weisman, and Feinberg debate need for transparency, critique federal approach.
• 26:28: Transition to Trump’s foreign policy, NYT interview, and economic context.
• 33:55: Jason Johnson analyses Trump’s motivations and public reaction.
• 37:58: Coverage of Zoran Mamdani’s inauguration as NYC mayor – new progressive leadership.
• 43:09: Cultural connect: Jadakiss lyric and its relevance.
• 45:31: Melber closes with reflections on music and political engagement.

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Tone and Style

• Ari Melber: Calm, incisive, blending hard news with pop culture references (“Here’s where I have to separate the way it is from maybe the way it should be…” [34:45]; music references with Jadakiss, Ja Rule, Eminem).
• Analysts: Candid, legalistic, sometimes blunt about institutional failures.
• Community Segments: Somber, respectful, determined.

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Conclusion

The episode offers a thorough, critical look at the Minneapolis ICE shooting, highlighting serious questions about law enforcement behavior, federal transparency, and political spin. The legal and ethical concerns are rigorously debated by expert guests. The latter segments tie in broader political context—from Trump’s tactics at home and abroad to a hopeful shift in local leadership—underscoring the importance of justice, transparency, and genuine public accountability.

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Transcript

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Ari Melber]

Welcome to the Beat. I'm Ari Melber. And as we end quite a week, I want to tell you we are going to be covering several things tonight, important things. And by the end of the hour, something uplifting. We have Trump hosting oil executives at the White House. Coming up later, we are going to look at these first days of one of the big Democratic wins, how the New York mayor, Zoran Mamdani is beginning his tenure. So all of that is coming up. We begin with the new evidence in the ICE shooting in Minneapolis. State officials asking the public to aid their probe. A vigil underway now. We can tell you at the state capitol that's in honor of Renee Nicole Goode, an American citizen shot and killed by that ICE agent. There's new video of the incident coming out today and it is of a different nature. It comes from the officer's point of view. It appears to be shot by a cell phone. The angle of the video does not indicate the three shots being fired. So it doesn't show that part on video. You will hear them note that this is also, like many of the videos in this story, difficult to watch. And there is profanity at the end. That's fine, dude.

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

I'm not mad for it. Show your face. I'm not mad. That's okay. We don't change our plates every morning.

[Ari Melber]

Just so you know. It'll be the same plate when you.

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

Come talk to us later. That's fine.

[Ari Melber]

U.S. citizens formerly. You want to come at us?

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

You want to come at us? I said go get yourself some lunch, big boy. Go ahead.

[News Analyst / Video Narrator]

Now the car.

[Ari Melber]

Get out of the car.

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

Get out of the car.

[Ari Melber]

After the shots are fired, then Good's car crashed. And you can hear around that time as identified there, a voice saying effing B, that is being uttered at a point where you've heard a shot at least, and good would be dying or may already be dead. We have the autopsy report on that timing. Yet the video from the officer doesn't show the actual shooting. You hear the shots. Other videos show that moment, including what is a wider angle that lets you see the interaction and what level of threat the officers may have faced from a legal perspective. This is from the New York Times.

[News Analyst / Video Narrator]

The SUV reverses, then turns right, apparently attempting to leave. At the same time the agent filming crosses toward the left of the vehicle and grabs his gun. He opens fire on the motorist and continues shooting as she drives past. The moment the agent fires, he is standing here to the left of the SUV and the wheels are pointing to the right, away from the agent. This appears to conflict with allegations that the SUV was ramming or about to ram the officer. We can see the agent is not being run over. In fact, his feet are positioned away from the suv.

[Ari Melber]

The officer's video does not indicate those moments before the shooting. I should say it has a general atmosphere, though, of that kind of conflict and how quickly things escalated with the agents using force. You can see it was emotional, but there isn't a suggestion of domestic terrorism or a physical threat waged at the officer. Good is shown in the video saying, I'm not mad at you. Show your face. The general tenor, again, based on what we have, does not suggest a lethal threat or a planned attack or terrorism. The officer's video also shows him placing himself in front of the car, something that they are trained not to do, just as they are trained not to shoot at moving vehicles unless there is a gun or other lethal threat towards them. The footage is not clear on the path of the car as Goode drives away. Here's what the Times analysis with their reporting indicated.

[News Analyst / Video Narrator]

President Trump and others said the federal agent was hit by the suv, often pointing to another video filmed from a different angle. And it's true that at this moment, in this grainy, low resolution footage, it does look like the agent is being struck by the suv. But when we synchronize it with the first clip, we can see the agent is not being run over.

[Ari Melber]

Again, that's something we've discussed in many cases, including this one. You get as much evidence as possible. What you might appear to see on one video is not always the whole story. And the multiple footage shows what we can understand. The evidence has one bullet passing through the windshield, which also indicates that the other two rounds would be fired from Somewhere else, apparently from the left side into the driver's open window. These videos add to the evidence the public is considering at a time when there is great skepticism, as the federal government has made false statements repeatedly in the very first hours of gathering this information and raising questions about whether there will be independent, lawful review of this conduct. I'm joined by Andrew Weisman, former FBI general counsel, msnow analyst, and Michael Feinberg, a former assistant special agent in charge with the FBI, also an analyst for us. Andrew, this is such a difficult scenario even before and a tragedy before you get to the federal government making false statements about it. Given your background, including at the FBI, where sometimes you were working with the FBI to either understand what happened or often on behalf of agents, they certainly get a benefit of the doubt from within the bureau at first, but are still governed by federal law. What do you think we're learning now a couple days into this?

[Commercial Announcer]

Sure.

[Andrew Weisman]

Well, with the caveat that, you know, obviously we still should await all of the evidence, but based on what we know now. And the other caveat is that when I was at the FBI, I would look at these sort of judgmental shooting situations, and they were brought to me and others to examine it. I generally had a view that the FBI, like many, many people in law enforcement, have a very tough job and was sort of predisp, sort of on their side. I do have, with all of that, significant questions. I would be looking at a number of things. One, the agent here that was had the. His gun unholstered and drawn, seemingly at a time when there was no need for that. But even. Let's go further, even after the first shot, and let's assume the first shot is a Rorschach test, where, you know, we see different people viewing it in different ways. I tend to see no reason here for that first shot. I'm very interested in Michael's view. But what I would focus on as a prosecutor is the second and third shot, which I don't see any basis for. Very often when you see multiple shots, it's because of the heat at the moment. And a person is shooting very quickly because they fear for their lives and they're in danger and the other person they believe has a weapon. But here the car is leaving. And so I have a lot of questions about that second and third shot as sort of being. I don't see any reason for that at all. No justification. And then finally, I do think you get a sense of the mental state of the agent by the profanity he uses. And A sort of real lack of training and respect. That is not how any sort of career person would be and should be handling a situation like this. And to me, something's off. I mean, it really tells you that there's a problem here in that there's this kind of language being used when that's not the role of somebody who is like Michael, in law enforcement, who is trained and respectful of civilians and understands their role working for the public.

[Ari Melber]

Right. That's true for, for anyone in that job. And then ICE agents in particular are supposed to be doing immigration enforcement. And so, Michael, we'll get you to weigh in on all of this. I'll mention in coverage for the audience here, for viewers. If they come into a lethal situation, they have to deal with that. But day to day, daylight, middle of the street, addressing these individuals who were not apparently targets for deportation raises the question of why they were continuing and escalating the interaction. Now, we all know once they were apparently given conflicting orders. But if you ever hear an officer give you an order, your obligation usually is to try to follow it, not not to depart. But having said that, I want to put up on the screen the use of force policy. Michael, of course, is that firearms may not be discharged in a moving vehicle unless no other objectively reasonable means of defense appear to exist. And that includes moving out of the path of the vehicle. I mean, that's pretty clear federally, your view on all the above, Michael.

[Michael Feinberg]

So I apologize for doing this, but I do need to correct one thing about that slide. DOJ and DHS has slightly different use of force policies, if you compare them line by line. And doj, in the wake of the George Floyd murder, changed its deadly force policy to be a bit more restrictive and added in the line about moving cars. That is not present in DHS's use of force policy.

[Ari Melber]

However, and I'll only. I'll just. Just to. Just to pinpoint what you're saying, this is a DOJ slide. You're saying these agents under ICE were operating under the DHS guidance, so that this is the right guidance, but that they would be only under dhs, which is broader, is what you're saying.

[Michael Feinberg]

No, no, what I'm saying is each department that has law enforcement entities has its own deadly force policy. They are all based on the same court case from decades ago called Graham v. Connor, which says that there has to be probable cause that the individual who is the subject of the deadly force poses an imminent threat of death or serious physical injury to the agent involved or another Human being. Now, all the deadly force policies add slight wrinkles to that. And DOJ has explicitly put more limitations in recent years on firing.

[Ari Melber]

Right. I don't want to lose. Just doing my job. I don't want to lose too much time on this. You're saying the DHS policy binding these officers is broader, Is that correct? Broader than the more limitation. Yes. Understood. All right, so go ahead and. Yeah, and so just keeping us moving. Go ahead and apply that to the interaction here.

[Michael Feinberg]

Yeah, I mean, look, behind every deadly force policy is months of training and years of experience about de escalating a situation whenever humanly possible. So you never really even have to get to the point where you make that split second decision to apply the policy. That doesn't happen at any point here. I've now seen four videos of the encounter. And at every step leading up to the shooting and every step immediately after the shooting, the DHS officers, both the shooter and the other ones who are on the scene, seemingly intentionally escalate the situation and make it worse. And they do so in a way that tactically places them in more danger than they otherwise would be. Every officer there who speaks to the victim is dropping F bombs. They are charging her vehicle and trying to open the door and demanding that she gets out. In spite of the fact that it's not clear whether she was even breaking any federal law whatsoever. I would argue she wasn't. And just the way they approached the vehicle.

[Ari Melber]

And let's slow down on that point. And then I do have a break. But both of you say you're making the point about whether they had the predicate in the first place because they are federal officers. If there's not a federal legal reason for them to stop or detain her, then she's not under arrest and she could be leaving. Yes, correct.

[Michael Feinberg]

Now, there's nuances within the Fourth Amendment, as both of you and most of our audience knows, but in general, you don't. Having a badge and a gun doesn't give you the right to just be a bully who randomly detains people because you don't like what they're saying or because they're observing you or because they're recording you. That's not how this works.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah, exactly. So we're going to continue on this. Andrew and Michael have agreed to stay. We have a short break. It's about 90 seconds. We turn to this investigation next.

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

We are saddened by the tragedy that occurred yesterday in our Minneapolis community in the loss of Renee Nicole Goode. Please join us in a Moment of silence.

[Ari Melber]

Thank you. That was at the Minnesota Timberwolves game last night. A community mourning the death killing of Renee Good. State and local officials are asking the public to come forward with additional video evidence. We've seen multiple angles of video. The local DA discussing what we've been reporting on. And that is a big question about whether there will be a lawful independent probe into this. That the FBI is blocking those lawful local officials from the probe. I cannot overstate the importance of a.

[Andrew Weisman]

Local investigation or at least access to the federal investigation by the bca.

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

Without it, we will not have the.

[Ari Melber]

Ability to be transparent with our community.

[Andrew Weisman]

The FBI currently has, for example, Ms. Good's car, the Shel shell casing and witness interviews.

[Ari Melber]

The FBI has taken the car.

[Andrew Weisman]

And so any forensic analysis that comes from that would not be available to us.

[Ari Melber]

What the DA is saying carefully is they have the materials, so do you trust them to be honest about the forensics coming out of the car? What if those forensics, the bullet holes trajectory is negative for ice. What if it makes it look worse in terms of how this person was shot? This is not conspiracy theory talk. This is the sitting da, a very pro law enforcement figure questioning a federal government run by Trump where there's already been falsehoods from them about this tragic shooting. The mayor noting fact finding is key.

[News Analyst / Video Narrator]

The fact that Pam Bondi's Department of.

[Andrew Weisman]

Justice and this presidential administration has already come to a conclusion about those facts is deeply concerning.

[Ari Melber]

It is concerning. It is not normal. And it is a product of statements that didn't need to be made. You could be incredibly supportive of that ICE agent as a government official without lying. But they've taken a different tack. Take a look.

[Commercial Announcer]

They were attempting to push out their vehicle and a woman attacked them and those surrounding them and attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle.

[News Analyst / Video Narrator]

The moment the agent fires, he is standing here to the left of the SUV and the wheels are pointing to the right away from the agent.

[Ari Melber]

She was trying to ram this guy with his. With her car. He shot back. He defended himself.

[News Analyst / Video Narrator]

This appears to conflict with allegations that the SUV was ramming or about to ram the officer. We can see the agent is not being run over. In fact, his feet are positioned away from the suv.

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

You.

[Ari Melber]

We're back with our law enforcement experts, Andrew and Michael. Andrew, your thoughts on this aspect in the probe.

[Andrew Weisman]

So I cannot think of a legitimate reason that the federal probe would not include the state and locals here. The legitimate interest is to have maximum transparency, maximum accountability and trust in the investigation. Only if you were sort of intending to have a whitewash of this, would you exclude those people here. I think the administration has lost all credibility. When you put in context what the administration has done, you have scores of judges who have found that the administration has either lied to them, made misrepresentations, or not followed court orders. And you have senior people up to and including the President and the Vice President and the Secretary already making conclusions about the investigation. That is ample reason to have other people be participating in the investigation because the public is entitled to confidence either way, whether it turns out that it was justified, whether it turns out that it was not justified. There's zero reason not to have sort of a maximum number of people involved with the expertise at the state and local and federal level doing this investigation.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah, Michael?

[Michael Feinberg]

Yeah. You know, in the courtyard of the building where Andrew and I both used to work, there's a quote engraved on the wall by J. Edgar Hoover that essentially says the best tool against crime is the cooperation of federal and local authorities in combination with the trust of the American public. And this administration seems hell bent on burning those relationships to cinders. Had the FBI said from the beginning, we're going to do this solo, maybe, maybe there could have been a legitimate argument as to why they were doing so, or legitimate reasons we could try and articulate. But the fact that they began, began cooperating, and then when it was clear that the administration wanted to whitewash this a certain way, they withdrew that cooperation. It just doesn't pass the smell test. And anybody with a pulse in a single brain cell can see that.

[Ari Melber]

Andrew, what is the solution here? If the local authorities are obviously making this known, but the feds are in charge now, I guess, and if they say, oh, they clear the officer, then what?

[Andrew Weisman]

I think there are a number of things. Obviously, Congress can have hearings. The state still can do an investigation. They may not have all of the evidence. They can try to get a court order to do an investigation. And then the other is, you know, there's statute of limitations on this doesn't run for quite some time. And if there are state charges, that's something that can happen a long way down the road. I know that's not a sort of short term solution, but that just remember the President of the United States, even if he were just to try to pardon somebody here, that doesn't work at the state level. So there are possibilities here. None of them are particularly fruitful, none of them are quick, none of them are particularly likely. And for the people, for the public. And for the victim here, this really is an injustice that is being perpetrated, not just in what, just to be clear, not just what the officer did. It is the how the administration is now handling what the officer did. And to me, those are, those need to be paired so that this really is something thing to me, this is the kind of thing that I looked at when I was in government, which is you'd look at not just what somebody did, but sort of what the organization does in response to that. And to me, that is doubling down and making what appears to be an unjustified murder even worse.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah, really important. Appreciate both of you and your expertise tonight. Thank you very much. I want to tell folks what's coming up. It is a Friday. We've dealt with some very serious matters which are important. But we have other notes in the news cycle, including the one and only Jon Stewart. This is one of those times where you're really glad he's still out here doing his work and on the air. And we are going to show you a Trump takedown next from Mr. Stewart.

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

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[Ari Melber]

We got serious stuff all over the place. Doesn't mean the only way to deal with it is 100% serious or somber or even, you know, self important. Jon Stewart is a master at deconstructing, debunking and sometimes defenestrating all kinds of political figures in our midst. He's been doing it for a while. He has the energy that some might lack in this second Trump term. And remember how strong Jon Stewart was all the way back in the day on the Iraq war and the neocons. And we wanna make sure you see what he's saying this week about Donald Trump's new war plans.

[Andrew Weisman]

And remember the reason MAGA was so high on Donald Trump was that he was the guy who wasn't going to get involved with this kind of anymore.

[Ari Melber]

We do not seek war, we do not seek nation building, we do not seek regime change. And we don't want to be the world's policeman. We don't want to be. Those days are over now. No more American boots on the ground. We're not afraid of boots on the ground. No more rebuilding other countries infrastructure. We have to rebuild their whole infrastructure. Well, it's not like we're going to be running someone else's country. We are going to run the country. There you have it. In one sign that Donald Trump is concerned about how all this is being covered in the real world of fact based journalism is that for all the attacks and the fake news and the failing New York Times, he took time this week, having seen how this Venezuela stuff is playing, among other things, to give time a lengthy big interview to the New York Times which pressed him on where his power could be limited given the claims he's making abroad. Here's that exchange.

[Commercial Announcer]

Do you see any checks on your power on the world stage? Is there anything that could stop you if you wanted to?

[Ari Melber]

Yeah, there's one thing. My own morality, my own mind. It's the only thing that can stop. And that's very good. I don't need international law. I'm not looking to hurt people.

[Andrew Weisman]

Do you feel your administration needs to abide by international law on the global stage? I do, I do.

[Ari Melber]

But it depends what your definition of international law is. It does depend on that. But what we're seeing is someone who kind of casually revels in the idea that it's his mind, his unitary power and nobody else. Which is a clue to why some of the policies that don't make sense even by his own past claims and what Republicans say they want to do, why all of that is shredded if it's really just about him aggrandizing his power. The US Overnight seized a fifth oil tanker, if you're keeping track. Link to Venezuela. According to the administration, Trump is threatening other countries here he was today on Greenland. I'm not talking about money for Greenland yet. I might talk about that. But right now we are going to do something on Greenland whether they like it or not. Because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland and we're not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor.

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

Okay.

[Ari Melber]

I would, I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way, but if we don't do it the easy way, we're going to do it the hard way. Donald Trump suddenly very interested in international policy and his foreign powers in a way that he hasn't historically been as interested in. Remember following the all the Iraq debacles, he was always talking about America first and not being so focused on other countries, remember though, he's had a string of losses, healthcare vote recently, Republicans rejecting him, Epstein vote, November elections and many of his wannabe revenge indictments flailing in the court. So losing at home. He is clearly trying to do more abroad. He's just met with some oil executives about Venezuela, but they're wary of these plans because they don't think it could really work. One insider says they call this empanada. Everyone makes promises and never actually does anything. A little bit of a foreign cuisine reference to calling Trump's bluff. My impression is it's empanada all over again. These are the people who might make money off the man on your left if they believed that he wasn't going to act through their acronym like the Tasty South American Treats. And you're right. Meanwhile, in the real economy, hiring is slowing. This builds on the inflation and economic problems of the first year. In 2025, the US added under 600,000 jobs. Biden actually did better than that. And not since 2020 in the pandemic has hiring slowed this much. Exclude the pandemic in the first year of this. Trump's second term is the poorest year for job creation since the financial crisis of 09, which of course was the worst crisis in decades. Do you see a link to how bad Donald Trump is doing at home and how much he wants to talk about his power abroad. Well, Jason Johnson will begin with that very contrast. Next.

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[Ari Melber]

You.

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[Ari Melber]

This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Apple Card members can earn unlimited daily cash back on everyday purchases wherever they shop. This means you could be earning daily cash on just about anything, like a slice of pizza from your local pizza place or a latte from the corner coffee shop. Apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app to see your credit limit offer in minutes. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City branch terms and [e-mail] Now I'm talking about the now.

[Andrew Weisman]

Former president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, who.

[Ari Melber]

Was reverse iced and imported. He was actually imported to a jail in Brooklyn. Reverse iced and imported. Be funny if there weren't so many lives on the line. I want to bring in. Hey, nice to see you. I want to bring in Jason Johnson, professor Ms. Now Analyst. Jason, I'm going to put back up something that affects a lot of people's lives here in America, or America first, if you will. The job hiring is slowing. It's actually worse than in the Biden era when, by the way, it wasn't great. And if you take out the pandemic, which is a once in a century black swan event, it's the worst since 09. Do you think those type of problems, plus Trump losing in November off year elections have anything to do with his sudden newfound interest in flexing abroad?

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

Oh, absolutely, Ari. The thing is, Trump is recognizing that he actually has limitations in the United States. He can't just do whatever it is that he wants. He can't just push out whatever policy he wants. And whether it's the jobs, whether it's the economy, whether it's ice, he's running into those issues. What was most interesting in a lot of these articles, this interview that he did in the New York Times where he says, the only limitation on me is my own morality.

[Ari Melber]

Right.

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

When it comes to foreign policy, basically, this foreign policy is, you know, nothing can stop me. I'm all the way up. Right. He thinks he can do whatever it is he wants to do. And the issue is Trump is actually more free to do what he wants abroad than he is in the United States. And that's where the interest comes from. But even that's going to have limitations over time.

[Ari Melber]

Fat Joe reference.

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

Fat Joe reference.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah, I mean, you're, you know, your audience. That's a. That's a beat favorite. Shout out to Joe all the way up. And here's where I have to separate the way it is from maybe the way it should be. Legally. Presidents have the highest, largest unitary power abroad, and there are people who can debate that. We've had big debates, Vietnam, Iraq and others where people look at that and go, well, I guess Nixon can. He can go into Cambodia, too. We don't get anything to say about this, but this is an area where Trump has found the button. But with all due respect to people who say Trump is the worst at everything, other presidents have also used this button to great damage. And so it is both true that he technically has this power. Our Supreme Court is not in the business of the nine of them getting on a plane and stopping down in Cambodia and saying, you can't go another line. It's just not how it's ever worked. And yet the flip is, is that a good thing? I think of a lot of Americans, regardless of ideology, look at that and say exactly what he ran on. It was appealing to MAGA to say, no more of the forever wars. He's now risking.

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

Not only that, Ari, he lied about what he was going to do abroad, but also, it never accomplishes anything. Like, we can go back to the first Trump term. He said he was going to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it. It didn't end up happening. He bombs Iran, he says they're going to stop what they're doing. He does tariffs, he goes to Venezuela. That quote's really interesting where it says, when it comes to oil in Venezuela, everybody makes promises and nobody does anything. And it also makes me think of Taco, which is Trump always chickens out for A man who's been so hostile about South America, it seems like South American food is the best way to describe his foreign policy because nothing that he promises ever ends up actually happening. And the public sees that and the rest of the world sees it too.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah. So do you believe that this distraction effort will work in the long run? I mean, he's clearly threatening other countries. We don't know what actions he would take. But even if he uses, as I mentioned, what are legal powers? Do you think this will work on the public?

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

Oh, it's not going to work on the public at all. This is the thing. We're Gen Xers, right? We remember the Gulf War, whether we were kids or in high school, whatever it was, and we were all being told 30 something years ago, oh, yeah, oil is going to be, we're going to get this oil, it's going to make gas cheaper. Trump is trying to make that promise now and it's still not going to work because American oil companies have said, hey, we don't want part of this timeshare. It'll be $100 billion in investment in order to upgrade the oil facilities in Venezuela. That's before you get to the moral and political question as to whether or not you can control that country. Even John Bolton is saying this was a crazy idea that they scrapped in the first Trump term. So the foreign policy world isn't going to appreciate it. His government is going to appreciate it. And it does nothing for voters and makes nothing cheaper and nothing better for anybody here. Voting in the midterms.

[Ari Melber]

Jason Johnson doing his best. Remy Ma spitting right alongside Fat Joe. Good to see you, sir.

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

Always a good time.

[Ari Melber]

We appreciate you. As I mentioned, this is one of those Fridays where we're going to keep moving along. We've definitely discussed some tragedy. But up next, we look to what a lot of New Yorkers see as hope. Not only for more affordable living under the new mayor, but a different style of leadership that Dems could use going into the midterms. That's our story next. It's been a busy start to the year 2026. Controversies at home. Major international news. But we are also marking this month an ascent to power of several of the Democratic candidates who just won those off year November elections, including the most prominent progressive to emerge over the past year, zoran Mamdani, a 34 year old sworn in as New York City's new mayor. Bernie and AOC playing a role. He delivered an inaugural speech that put working people at its center and also celebrated this city of New York's famed diversity at a time when Trump and others have attacked dei and he did it the Mamdani way, spanning everything from his view of growing up Muslim on bagels and lox to something New Yorkers know about, which is having to spend money on overpriced coffee. Here, where the language of the New Deal was born, we will return the vast resources of this city to the workers who call it home. To love New York to is to know that we are the stewards of something without equal in our world. Where else can you hear the sound of the steel pan, savor the smell of sancocho and pay $9 for coffee on the same block? Where else could a Muslim kid like me grow up eating bagels and lox every Sunday? As the great senator from Vermont once said, what's radical is a system which gives so much to so few and denies so many people the basic necessities. Mamdani outworked what was the sitting mayor of New York, the one time political favorite of insiders Andrew Cuomo, as well as President Trump's effort in the late days of that November countdown to impact the race, Mamdani showed a new energy which some Democrats clearly crave. He had an upbeat, savvy style that seemed natural for a politician so young. He was just 25 years old when Donald Trump was first elected. Those two New Yorkers have very different takes on their swagger, if you want to call it that. When I asked Mamdani during the campaign about 50 Cent's critique of his plans to tax the rich, he gave a policy rebuttal in detail, and then he effortlessly quoted the rapper's classic song Many Men, a moment that drew headlines like this and went viral. Many New Yorkers noticed when Mamdani walked out at his victory party to a banger by Ja Rule who was a rival to the aforementioned 50 Cent, and that drew more headlines about Mamdani's shrewd choice of song. Given that recent back and forth and that kind of fighting among New York rappers is something many New York voters know about. That song was an anthem for the city, and it features a classic verse by Yonkers rapper Jadakiss, reflecting on hometown traditions like little motorcycles and the existential question of who remembers us when we're gone, it's guaranteed you're gon die. You might get missed for maybe two or three hours until they light they spiffs bars. Jadakiss is not just a beloved old school rapper, though. He really embodies a certain kind of brash defense of New York against interlopers or haters or people who front by claiming some New York cred without really living it, living the New York life. In fact, it's a point he memorably made at one rap competition by touting how he's outside. And this brings us back to mom Donnie, whose love for Jadicus was already known at that inauguration where the new mayor quoted Jadicus at the inaugural address. And throughout it all, we will, in the words of Jason Terrence Phillips, better known as Jadakis or J to the moi, be outside. Because this is a government of New York, by New York, and for New York, New York, the real New York. I'm outside.

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

I don't live in Miami, I don't.

[Ari Melber]

Live in Colorado Come to my black and see me all of y' all.

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

Know I be down there this is kiss, I'm outside.

[Ari Melber]

Fact check. True. Jadakiss doesn't live in Miami or Colorado. He is outside. And you can come to his block to D block. Many New Yorkers know what that means, and now their mayor does too. Big picture music connects people. It's a common language, especially in a city where a single word or a piece of slang can immediately reveal where somebody lives, how they talk, what they're comfortable with. And more broadly, even still, in our country, music is a language that connects because there are still songs that have the power to remind us we still can be one nation, sharing some affinities, some things we like together instead of only warring over them. Mamdani's a 30 something New Yorker raised on hip hop. It fits that he reaches for hip hop's lyrics and references, and sometimes its style and cultural swagger. In his younger days, he even made a kind of a funny rap video about showing respect for grandmothers. But if you're watching this, please don't let your particular personal era or genre preferences distract from a much more important broad dynamic here. Politicians have been invoking music as long as there have been campaign jingles. Democrat Bill Clinton tapped the optimism of Fleetwood Mac in his first victorious presidential campaign, just as Republican Mike Lee nodded towards Swifties. Don't stop thinking about tomorrow, Bruce.

[Andrew Weisman]

Some people are just born to run, man.

[Ari Melber]

I think it's a nightmare Dressed like a daydream. It was all a dream.

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

I used to read Word up magazine. Salt and pepper and heavy D up in the limousine. Now I notice my palms are sweating, knees weak, arms are heavy.

[Ari Melber]

Obama going Eminem there on the campaign trail. Mom. Donnie, for his part, has clearly updated this long running habit across different types of music in his own New York state of mind.

[Andrew Weisman]

Now.

[Ari Melber]

Was that a reference to New York singer Billy Joel or was it a reference to New York rapper Nas? You know, with music, the interpretation, it's still up to you and tonight we will end on that open ended note. We close with music tonight and my final question to you which you can tell me directly is what is your favorite song for politics or protest or social justice from any era? Anytime you can connect with me online at Ari Melber. I see a lot of you guys commenting on Facebook. You can use any social media there you like. You can always connect with [e-mail] if you want to subscribe and connect with me there. But any social media remelber your favorite song for politics or protest. I'll respond to some of you. I always learn some of the new songs when we ask these kind of questions. Stay safe, stay informed. Have a great weekend. Real talent is defined by what people can do, not where they learn to do it. So by stopping at the education section of a resume, you might throw away the perfect Hire skills first. Hiring helps you see talent others miss, like more than 70 million stars skilled through alternative routes let their story unfold and gain a competitive advantage. Because hiring managers who start with skills are 60% more likely to find a successful hire. Hire skills first. Learn why at tearthepaperceiling. Org, brought to you by Opportunity at.

[Guest Commentator / Correspondent]

Work and the Ad Council.