Outrage as Trump Tests Ploy to Loot Taxpayer Funds

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Outrage as Trump Tests Ploy to Loot Taxpayer Funds"

The Beat with Ari Melber – May 19, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode navigates a high-stakes political moment involving a contentious House primary in Kentucky and an explosive report on Donald Trump’s DOJ allegedly creating an unconstitutional billion-dollar "thug fund" for political loyalists, including people convicted of crimes related to the Capitol attacks. Ari Melber is joined by Senator Cory Booker, chief data reporter Ali Velshi, strategist Che Kominduri, and journalist Maxwell Zeff for deep analysis. The episode also touches on the Republican split over accountability, the broader climate of corruption, threats to voting rights, and a notable court loss for Elon Musk.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Breaking Down the Kentucky House Primary

• Focus: Incumbent Rep. Thomas Massie, a vocal conservative who defied Trump on the Epstein Transparency Act, faces MAGA challenger Ed Gallrain.
• Significance: The race is framed as a referendum on Trump’s hold over the GOP and the lasting impact of the fight to release Epstein files.
• Ali Velshi Analysis [02:01–04:39, 34:03–36:07]:
  • Six states voting, with Kentucky in the spotlight.
  • Crucial counties: Campbell, Boone, Oldham, Shelby (Gallrain’s home), and Lewis (Massie's home).
  • Early returns favor Trump-backed Gallrain, especially in advance voting.
  • Historical context: Massie and a small group of Republicans, likened to Liz Cheney, broke ranks over transparency.
• Ari Melber: “Kentucky, clearly a big referendum on those Trump moves.” [04:39]

2. The DOJ 'Thug Fund' Scandal

• Revelation: Trump’s DOJ seeks to establish a $1B+ fund for convicted political loyalists, blocking IRS audits targeting the president and his family.
• Melber’s Explainer [04:53–12:42]:
  • Described as unconstitutional, unappropriated by Congress—a blatant conflict of interest and a mechanism for “nepo baby exemption."
  • Acting AG Todd Blanche refuses to rule out that violent Capitol attackers and Trump donors could benefit.
  • Melber contextualizes: “This is a scandal... It looks bigger than Watergate, both in size and scope and in the political crimes it can relate to.” [06:03]
• Exchange Highlights:
  • Che Kominduri (to Blanche): “Will individuals who assaulted Capitol Hill police officers be eligible for this fund?” [08:21]
  • Ari Melber (regarding Blanche’s evasion): “It should not be hard to say when you’re the top prosecutor in the United States that you won’t be taking taxpayer money and handing it to violent convicts.” [08:51]

3. Senator Cory Booker on Corruption & Accountability

• Booker’s Rebuke [12:42–13:45, 15:41–19:28]:
  • Calls the fund “one of the most brazen, crass, craven, corrupt things [Trump’s] done” and urges Congress to act.
  • Challenges GOP silence: “Anybody who is not speaking up in Congress is complicit in this mass theft from the American people at a time that they’re seeing their prices skyrocket.” [12:45]
  • Connects to broader crisis: weaponized DOJ, unchecked executive power, corrupt Supreme Court, and systemic failures on both sides.
  • On congressional oversight: “We are in a constitutional crisis, not just because we have a president that is operating kleptocracy, but because we have a Congress controlled by Republicans who is doing nothing about it.” [15:41]
• Booker on Voting Rights: Expresses grief over recent Supreme Court decisions curtailing protections, warning of a return to the post-Reconstruction era. [18:05]
  • “This election is about justice... about protecting a system of government that for 250 years, black folks and immigrants, people fought and died for.” [18:28]

4. The Return and Impact of the Epstein Files

• Recap of the Backstory [20:35–26:59]:
  • The redaction and release of Epstein files, opposed by Trump’s allies.
  • Massie’s leadership compared to Liz Cheney’s anti-Trump defiance.
  • The files exposed alleged malfeasance and forced Trump’s hand—intense intra-party rift and historic campaign spending.
• Melber: “This cover up spans decades and you are responsible for this portion of it.” [22:07]
• Booker: “Perp walked in handcuffs to the jail.” [22:17]
• Insight: Despite public support—including from MAGA voters—for transparency, Trump and the White House work to bury the story. [24:52–25:05]

5. Republican Party Fractures and the Cost of Defiance

• Che Kominduri Analysis [27:33–33:35]:
  • Massie’s conservative credentials reinforce that opposition to Trump is about principle, not ideology.
  • High profile retirements (over 35 House, 7 Senate Republicans) indicate a climate of intimidation and a “cult of personality.”
  • “If we say something publicly and loudly against Trump, we really put ourselves in his crosshairs. We put ourselves at risk of the wrath of MAGA.” [29:37]
  • Even Republicans see covering up Epstein as a greater sin than conservative heresy.

6. Elon Musk v. Sam Altman, OpenAI Trial

• Musk Loses Landmark Case [38:50–42:20]:
  • Musk sues, accusing OpenAI’s Altman of transforming a public-spirited nonprofit project into a profit-seeking juggernaut.
  • Maxwell Zeff: “The evidence revealed... there were no real winners. The founders almost never had any interest in actually running it as a charity.” [39:13]
  • Court rules Musk’s case was filed too late; he plans to appeal but chances are slim.

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Memorable Quotes and Moments

• Ari Melber:
  “If you can take $2 billion, why not 10 or 100 billion?... If this is a precedent that Trump gets and Republicans allow, there would be the potential of future presidents in other parties with other agendas trying the same trick.” [06:50]

• Senator Cory Booker:
  “It’s so obvious that there’s just no justification for it. And anybody who is not speaking up in Congress is complicit in this mass theft from the American people.” [12:42]
  “We are in a constitutional crisis... He is allowing an immigration pursuit that is violating all of our decency as a country...” [15:41]

• Che Kominduri:
  “If Massie goes down tonight, it will show that the Republican Party is truly a cult of personality. It is much more about what Donald Trump says and wants you to do than it is about any sort of conservative principles.” [27:33]

• Ali Velshi:
  On early Kentucky results—“This is advanced vote. Generally speaking, the Trump-endorsed candidate does better on day-of voting. So for the moment... Massie is probably not in the pole position.” [34:03]

• Booker (on voting rights):
  “This corrupt court has now just sent us back to that post reconstruction period when southern state legislators were passing laws to make sure that black people did not have fair representation. This election is no longer about Democrat versus Republican ... it is about justice; it is about democracy.” [18:05]

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Key Timestamps

• Election Night Setup & Kentucky Primer: 00:50–04:39
• Trump DOJ ‘Thug Fund’ Discussion: 04:53–12:42
• Sen. Booker on Corruption, Oversight & Voting Rights: 12:42–19:28
• Deep Dive: Kentucky Primary, Massie vs. MAGA: 20:35–26:59
• Che Kominduri on GOP Retirements, Risks & Trends: 27:33–33:35
• Ali Velshi: Early Kentucky Results: 34:03–36:07
• Elon Musk v. OpenAI/Altman Trial Breakdown: 38:50–42:20

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Tone & Style

The episode is delivered in Ari Melber’s brisk, analytical, and sometimes sharply critical style. Discussion is urgent, focused on constitutional norms, accountability, and the real-world stakes of executive overreach. Booker’s commentary is passionate and direct; Kominduri’s is candid and sobering; Zeff’s reporting is matter-of-fact, drawing broader lessons from Silicon Valley’s drift.

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Summary for Non-Listeners

This episode provides an urgent window into how Trump’s unprecedented legal strategies, party infighting, and attempts at self-exemption from accountability are playing out in real time, both in the courtroom and at the ballot box. It delves into the complexity of GOP politics, the risks for dissenters like Rep. Massie, the corrosive effect of corruption at the highest levels, and threats to American democracy—from voting rights to new forms of tech oligarchy. The stakes, as punctuated throughout, are not just electoral but existential for the rule of law, equity, and public faith in institutions.

Transcript

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[Jen Psaki]

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[Ari Melber]

welcome to the Beat. I'm Ari Melber and we're coming on the air here on another election night in America. There's a lot on the line. Voters in six different states will actually be casting ballots. And the one that has the most scrutiny is a key House race in Kentucky. Polls closing there just moments ago, I could tell you. And we have some special coverage planned. If you watch THE Beat or frankly, a lot of news these days. You've probably heard of the Republican who is now fighting for his job. He defied Trump on the big issue of Epstein and faces a more Trumpified challenger. So I have a special report on that coming up. Ali Velshi is going to be at the big board. We have Cheik Home, Andori here. So it's a big one. We also have reporting on the scandal at Trump's DOJ with the details about over a billion dollars being set aside for a thug fund that is unconstitutional and probably unlawful according to many experts. Someone who has been fighting on these constitutional issues is Senator Cory Booker. He's actually my special guest tonight live on that. So we're looking forward to hearing from the senator. Thank you for being here. We begin on the election with Ally Velshi, who is of course Ms. Now's chief data reporter and is at the big board as promised. What can you tell us?

[Ali Velshi]

All right, as you said, Ari, there are six states holding elections tonight, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Idaho and Oregon. But we're going to start looking at Kentucky partially because polls are closed in half the state. Kentucky is one of those states that that splits between eastern and central time zone. But the particular district we're looking for Right now is District 4 in Kentucky. It is closed. It's in the eastern part of. And this is where Thomas Massie, the incumbent, is up against Ed Gallrain, who is supported by Donald Trump. Thomas Massie is a thorn in the side. He is a gadfly to Donald Trump. He has worked with Democrats to advance a number of bills, including the Epstein Transparency Act. We're gonna be looking very closely at a few things. We haven't got results in just yet. We're waiting for them to come in. As you can see, there's zero at the moment, but they're gonna count fairly fast. I'm looking at a few counties that I wanna concentrate on tonight. Campbell county up on the top, and Boone County. These three counties are three of the most populous counties in the entire state. So when we see the numbers in from there, we're gonna see what happens. Pete Hegseth was in Boone county this weekend campaigning for Ed Gallrain, the Trump endorsed candidate. We also have over here, Oldham county in the western part of the state. Again, that is one of the foremost populist counties in the state. So while we're gonna be getting results from all of these counties, those three on top and Oldham county are the ones I'm looking at. I'm looking at two other counties to just to see how things go. Right above, right below that is Shelby County. Shelby county is where for where Ed Gallerain is from. So you're gonna expect him to do very, very well there. We'll see very early on whether that's actually happening. And Lewis county over here on the eastern part of the district, that's where Thomas Massie is from. So again, between the four populous counties we're looking for and the two that the candidates are from, we should get a fairly early read as to where this is going. The polling is quite tight. Let me tell you this. Thomas Mass Massie campaigning very clearly on the fact that he is someone who will hold everybody to account in Congress, whether they are Republicans and Democrats. There's a valid discussion as to whether he has been as tough on Republicans as he has been on Democrats. But the bottom line is Donald Trump wants him out. And Donald Trump and his allies and his cabinet and his MAGA friends have been working to defeat Thomas Massie tonight. If he is defeated, that will be a very big deal through the course of the night. Ari, as polls start closing, I'll bring you Kentucky. We'll go to Georgia, and we'll go Pennsylvania as well. We're watching close races in those states.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah, Ali, Kentucky, clearly a big referendum on those Trump moves. And then other places where people are watching to sort of pro rata figure out what it means for the midterms. You got a busy night. We'll be coming back to you this hour. So thank you, sir.

[Ali Velshi]

My pleasure.

[Ari Melber]

Appreciate it. Turning to Donald Trump trying to abuse DOJ powers for his own benefit and take your taxpayer dollars. You have this proposal that's completely unprecedented. They say they're going to do it. Of course, that could still be tested and stopped in court like so many other things that Trump has tried this second term. But it's over a billion dollars in a thug fund, money that would go to people who've been convicted of crimes or otherwise clash with the government. The DOJ's details that they put out make it even worse than it sounded in those initial reports because they're claiming that this deal, this plan, will shut down the IRS so that it won't ever pursue claims it could have against Trump and his family and his companies over unpaid taxes. Politico reporting on that detail. Just to spell that out, that would mean that if there were legitimate open inquiries not into just Trump, but his family, he suddenly gets a corrupt, nepotistic kind of exemption. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has signed the document. He has now one of the fastest credibility and corruption crises of anyone who served in that job. The IRS is allegedly, they say, barred from doing these audits or moving forward. Whether another attorney general will retract and erase that or Mr. Blanche might face ethics and other concerns is all up in the air because this is unprecedented. But this is not the end of the story. Based on the way our system of government's at least supposed to work. It would be a kind of favoritism for Donald Trump and his family. A kind of special public admitted Nepo baby exemption that practically invites more tax problems for the children you see on your screen, the grown adult children of Donald Trump, if they're getting publicly allowed to have a get out of tax audit free card. This is a scandal. As I've reported since its inception. It looks bigger than Watergate, both in size and scope and in the political crimes it can relate to. The DOJ here is trying to help Trump with his own lawsuit and his own IRS that he oversees. So all of it is a massive conflict of interest. The references that have been made seem to plan to fund people who by any other stretch, including what many Republicans have previously said, people should actually be in prison, not people getting your taxpayer dollars on the layer cake of Problems. There's also the fact that Congress didn't appropriate this money. So there's a potential lawsuit and court action there. Because if you can take $2 billion, why not 10 or 100 billion? Indeed, if this is a precedent that Trump gets and Republicans allow, there would be the potential of future presidents in other parties with other agendas trying the same trick. Todd Blanche, who has not yet become the permanent attorney general Trump, dangling the job as he's used other temp positions to try to get even more from him, has, and I say this as someone who's covered and followed the DOJ for some time, disgraced himself more quickly with more lawless claims and talk than any acting attorney general we've seen in this shortest stretch of time. When asked the basic question of whether Mr. Blanche, as acting attorney general, as an attorney, as an American citizen, as someone who could later face ethics sanction or lose his bar license, whether Mr. Blanche would rule out paying people who attacked police and tried to overthrow the US Government and democracy, well, here's the exchange. You moved to create this fund. I didn't move. I did not move the settlement result.

[Che Kominduri]

Mr. Attorney General, come on. Simple question. Will individuals who assaulted Capitol Hill police officers be eligible for this fund?

[Ali Velshi]

Well, as it makes plain anything.

[Che Kominduri]

And will you commit that none of this money will go to President Trump's campaign donors?

[Ari Melber]

I am not committing to anything.

[Ali Velshi]

You're appointing four of the five members I am appointing.

[Che Kominduri]

You can set up.

[Ari Melber]

Is it a coincidence that the general counsel of the Department of Treasury resigned yesterday?

[Senator Cory Booker]

I don't know if it's a coincidence.

[Ari Melber]

Have you looked or checked? Have I checked? Yeah, I have not. Acting Attorney general Blanch ducking the questions. It should not be hard to say when you're the top prosecutor in the United States that you won't be taking taxpayer money and handing it to violent convicts or people who attack police or people who stormed the Capitol. And if they wanted to say that, obviously they could. And if he had any confidence that this fund wouldn't ultimately include those people who Donald Trump, of course, has embraced and freedom, well, here we are. Because he expects that he may or will be paying them, he can't rule it out. And because he can't rule it out, he looks like an anti police, anti blue lives attorney general. As for that treasury reference, a Trump appointee resigned after the fund was announced. The treasury is involved, of course, in handing out this kind of money if it's not stopped in court. Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman discusses this as the Looting of America. Axios, talking about a presidential profit machine. This is totally unprecedented, likely unlawful. Although we have to technically check in the courts, it certainly hasn't been appropriated by Congress. And even some Republicans are part of a growing chorus of criticism.

[Senator Cory Booker]

It's thoroughly illegal and unconstitutional.

[Ali Velshi]

Ethics attorneys are saying tonight. It's quite astonishing.

[Che Kominduri]

This is the swampiest thing I could possibly imagine.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah, well, first, it's probably illegal.

[Senator Cory Booker]

People are concerned about making their own ends meet, not about putting a slush fund together without a legal precedent.

[Ari Melber]

An incredible level of corruption against the US Taxpayer. Secondly, it's outrageous.

[Senator Cory Booker]

What I want to know is how IT fund was created and what its

[Ali Velshi]

purpose is and the legality of creating

[Ari Melber]

a fund that Congress hasn't had anything to say about.

[Che Kominduri]

There is no judge involved. Neither the courts nor Congress is approving any settlement or overseeing any part of this. This is just Trump getting a bunch a ton of taxpayer money to dole out.

[Ari Melber]

And finally, it's corrupt.

[Senator Cory Booker]

Julian thought about this recognization fund from the president of this.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah, not a big fan. The top Republican in the Senate, which is the upper body that's the most important Republican in Congress, John Thune, saying he's not a fan. By the standards of the loyalty and public agreement that Trump demands, that actually is something. And it shows you that Thune may be trying to at least signal the rest of his caucus that they don't want to go along with this for a variety of reasons and hopefully he may think invite a few more allies to come in. On the Republican side. One of Trump's tricks that we've seen on everything from immigration to tariffs is to start really big and bold and shocking and then see what he can get away with. And when things don't work out, the tariffs were narrowed in court, well, they move on to other topics and hope people don't notice how often this happens in the business context. We've heard about him chickening out. We are witnessing this here at a very high stakes level. But the fact that he's claiming to have the power that prevents the IRS from ever not only auditing and doing its job on him, but his family members, which doesn't even deny nepotism, it admits it. That he's claiming they can hand out this money doesn't mean he'll ultimately get away with it, especially as we approach midterms and his lame duck era. As for the fund, it's structured where they're trying to keep secret those who get paid and the amounts they receive. That is a further recipe for corruption and disaster. And also makes you wonder, if Donald Trump is so proud of so much of this and talks about how he can get away with anything, why does he need to hide what he's doing with your money? We're joined by Democratic Senator Cory Booker, who's on the Judiciary Committee. Your reaction to this fund tonight, and can Democrats stop it?

[Senator Cory Booker]

I mean, this is literally one of the most brazen, crass, craven, corrupt things that he's done. And it's so obvious that there's just no justification for it. And anybody who is not speaking up in Congress is complicit in this mass theft from the American people at a time that they're seeing their prices skyrocket. We see a president is finding all kinds of creative ways to enrich him and the corrupt people around him.

[Ari Melber]

The Judiciary has oversight, as you know. And I want to emphasize to the audience, part of this is a campaign to make it seem like they have powers they probably don't have. As a journalist, I can't get ahead of what the courts will do. We don't have a ruling yet. But the Wall Street Journal put it plainly and noted, Senator, the settlement, as the Trump administration calls it's, vulnerable to challenge in the courts because, quote, there's no obvious connection between Trump's IRS claims and the people getting payouts that. It looks more like a smash and grab, Senator?

[Senator Cory Booker]

Well, it doesn't look like a smash and grab. This is them smashing any principles of justice and fairness and grabbing hundreds of millions of dollars to dole out to corrupt people who have broken the law, all while also amidst it, doing something that is an assault that on one of the most important precedents in our nation, which is that no one is above the law. And so Donald Trump is trying to give himself and his family immunity for doing something that every American does, pay your taxes. And so, again, where is the Republican Party right now, who, if Obama did even a fraction of any of this stuff, they would be revolting and marching in the streets. But their kleptocracy that they're allowing to be created, that is robbing this country, spending taxpayer dollars on ballrooms and unjust wars that are making the Middle east worse. None of them are saying what they should be doing or using their power to check and balance a president that is out of control and deeply, deeply corrupting our system. He is not the only one that is corrupt. The enablers, those who are silent, those who are complicit, they are the ones that are corrupt as well.

[Ari Melber]

I Mentioned that he backs down sometimes when there is sustained pushback. We saw that in Minnesota. There's news here that an ICE agent now later was charged with the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant for tactics that, as described, looked quite reckless. Four counts of second degree assault, a felony, A one count of falsely reporting a crime, a misdemeanor, relating to shooting into a house in a way that didn't seem proportionate and also jeopardized children. Your view of these kind of charges and the import of holding ICE accountable if it goes beyond its purview?

[Senator Cory Booker]

Well, that's the word is accountability. Remember, we have said we are not funding an out of control, reckless agency since when Alex Preddy was killed. We know what's happening in our communities. And yet again, the Congress was formed, if you read Federalist paper number 47, to provide a check and a balance on a president, or especially to stop a president from overstretching his power for breaching any kind of bonds of propriety or justice. And so we have a president who has weaponized the Justice Department, actually. He is using it as his own legal team to pursue his alleged enemies and to enrich himself and his family. He is allowing an immigration pursuit that is violating all of our decency as a country, all of our collective values. That is not popular amongst anybody when it comes to just the general political spectrum of the base of our country. We are in a constitutional crisis, not just because we have a president that is operating kleptocracy, but because we have a Congress controlled by Republicans who is doing nothing about it. And a Supreme Court, by the way, that is corrupt in itself as they take unjust riches for billionaires who have matters before the court. Look at all the gifts that they're getting, the vacations that they're getting, the RV that they're getting. This is the worst, most corrupt federal government we have ever seen and we are doing nothing about it. It is time for the people to understand what's going on and make the Republican Party pay in this and demand that the Democratic Party start stepping up on corruption issues themselves, including stopping Democrats and Republicans from trading stock and letting all this corporate money flow into our system. The same people that Donald Trump loaded on a plane to China as he invested in Nvidia stock and then let Nvidia chips go to China. Seeing his self again, making unjust riches.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah, you're connecting some of those dots. And that's what we see a lot of people in the country are upset about with this economy, with affordability, what's sometimes called the Epstein class or all these people playing by different rules. You mentioned the court final question is what your and your colleagues are doing on voting rights after that ruling that really shreds the law that Martin Luther King helped get passed to defend voting rights of black Americans in the democracy.

[Senator Cory Booker]

This is such a grievous wound, opening wounds that have not even fully been healed in this country. I'm standing here as just four generations from slavery. My parents, grandparents, great grandparents fought in that post reconstruction period amongst terror and violence and killing to try to make this democracy real for everyone by passing the Voting Rights Act. And this corrupt court has now just sent us back to that post reconstruction period when southern state legislators were passing laws to make sure that black people did not have fair representation. This election is no longer about Democrat versus Republican. Look at what this president is doing. Look at his foreign policy, his domestic policy. Look at what this court is doing. Everyone needs to know this election is about justice. It is about democracy. It is about protecting a system of government that for 250 years, black folks and immigrants, people fought and died for and not letting ourselves be dragged back to rigged maps by this president who started this midterm, mid decade, decade redistricting all the way to a Congress that isn't doing their job and needs to be thrown out of office so we can begin to fight back on all of this corruption, all of this upending our democratic ideals.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah. On more than one topic. Senator Booker, thank you for joining us tonight.

[Senator Cory Booker]

I appreciate you. I appreciate you. Thank you for letting me vent.

[Ari Melber]

Well, I think some people could relate. Thank you, sir. Our thanks to Cory Booker. Coming up, we turn back to that race that Galle Belch and I were discussing just at the top of the hour. And how Republicans who stood up to Trump, including on Epstein, are now facing this battle for their jobs. By the end of the hour, a story we haven't hit yet this week. Elon Musk losing big in court. I'll tell you about that. But we're up next in 90 seconds.

[Jen Psaki]

Sunday, June 14th from Washington, D.C. a special live taping of MSNOW's hit podcast the Blueprint with Jen Psaki. Join her as she talks with actor and author Billy Eichner. They'll explore the power of humor in the face of adversity. And Eichner's new audio memoir, billy on Billy the Blueprint with Jen Psaki live with Billy Eichner. Get your tickets today at 6th and I.org.

[Ari Melber]

Turn to the primary. That is probably the one Most people are watching, certainly drawing a lot of money. It's the House primary in Kentucky and it's a test of this Epstein revolt that has upended Donald Trump's second term. The incumbent Republican worked with Democrats, Congressman Thomas Massie, Republican, and has become basically the Liz Cheney of the GOP and Trump Epstein crisis. In the same way that Cheney stood up to Trump on the insurrection democracy issues in the second term, we have seen Massie stand up repeatedly and boldly to Donald Trump's Epstein. Secrecy and the parallel also matters because Massie, like Cheney, has long been a staunch conservative, the type of person who before Trump was seen as, if anything, a kind of loud, proud conservative Republican, not someone that they'd call a rhino or moderate on some issues. And yet on this principle issue of Epstein, well, Massie drew the line. The perpetrators are being protected because they're rich and powerful and political donors to the establishment here in Washington D.C. i prefer, actually it goes straight to the President. I believe he's trying to protect friends and donors. I think we need to give the DOJ a chance to go back through and correct their mistakes. How long do they have to, how

[Ali Velshi]

long do they have to protect these files?

[Ari Melber]

They're already breaking the law. This is bigger than Watergate. This cover up spans decades and you are responsible for this portion of it

[Ali Velshi]

and men need to be.

[Senator Cory Booker]

Perp walked in handcuffs to the jail.

[Ari Melber]

At some point, somebody got to Pam Bondi and said, it's your job to cover this up. This wasn't just one vote or one speech. As you can see, Massey was a leader. And because the House was narrow in the majority, Massie with a couple other Republicans like MTG broke Trump. And once the dam broke, it turned out there weren't a lot of Republicans left standing by him. And so they had a veto proof majority to release the Epstein files, which thoroughly exposed many people, including some people in Trump's cabinet. Their lies about Epstein island, the stories we've been covering, a lot of that draws back to Massie. And so after bringing the files to light, well, Trump, who had claimed at one point he was fine with all this, clearly wasn't acting hurt, angry and like he still had more to hide. He would go after Massie and show his interest in getting involved in the details of politics. Trump was handpicking a person to run against him where they've raised a lot of money. All of this to send a message to anyone who apparently would stand with the survivors. Something Trump claimed to do before breaking that vow for files released. This House primary race, as I mentioned, is now the most expensive in history, over $30 million. A lot of that through those big, mysterious PAC monies, and it's PAC money funds, and it's against Massie in the main. So this is how our politics works today. Someone does something like this, other Republicans are forced to pretend they agree with Massie, but then the system drops tens of millions of dollars on a House primary. It's not even a general election yet, as Velshi mentioned, the polling is tight. And Trump and his allies in doing this much organizing and fundraising and intervention suggests that they still have Epstein living in their mind, that they still are angry about it, worried about it, want to send a message, don't stand up to Trump on Epstein. So desperate to bury the story. It is, of course, back in the news tonight, and we will see, of course, what the results are. But the fact that a Congressman you probably hadn't heard much about a few years ago, who is one of over 400 people, is now on par with the President just shows how big this story and this embarrassment has been for Donald Trump. And remember, he was forced to sign the Epstein into law because of the public pressure and sometimes bipartisan pressure from the Massey Kano wings. The White House is privately trying to tamp down any support for transparency around

[Senator Cory Booker]

the Epstein files, even though that is

[Ari Melber]

what an overwhelming majority of Americans, including MAGA voters, want. President Trump is doing just about everything in his power to quash a story that just will not go away. President Trump says he has signed the

[Che Kominduri]

bill to release the Epstein files.

[Ari Melber]

No surprise that the President didn't sign this bill publicly because the President wants to turn attention away from this whole Epstein files saga. It was a double loss for Trump, an issue that exposed his history, his alleged malfeasance, his handling of the DoJ, his ties to Epstein, even if he was not accused of any criminal wrongdoing in that case. But all of that he wanted to hide, and instead, it was out front and center. And then second, it revealed that the narrative we sometimes hear, that the Republicans in Congress will do anything for him was wrong. Massie led the effort that led to the supermajority that meant Trump couldn't stop him. And that's a massive rift in the gop. Today's primary both reflects Massie's strength, how big he got, how important this is, but also the Trump school of politics that tries to make sure, even if there is a Cheney or a Massie out there, people who are actually willing to stand up and risk parts of their career to do what they think is the right thing, that there will be hell to pay in Trump's MAGA version of the gop. And that's the story I want to get into with Che Komindoor, who's been covering and thinking about this a lot as we track these results that are coming in moment by moment to our newsroom. We'll be right back.

[Jen Psaki]

Sunday, June 14, from Washington, D.C. a special live taping of Ms. NOW's hit podcast the Blueprint with Jen Psaki. Join her as she talks with actor and author Billy Eichner. They'll explore the power of humor in the face of adversity and Eichner's new audio memoir, Billy on Billy the Blueprint with Jen Psaki live with Billy Eichner. Get your tickets today at 6th and I.org.

[Ari Melber]

We're joined by Jake Homenduri, veteran of several presidential campaigns, including Obama's. And he has been thinking about the Mass Eraser. This is someone who, more than most members of Congress, actually upended part of Trump's first term. Not many people think we would have had Epstein Files act pass without him. And now we're seeing more money in this primary than any other in history. It speaks to both his impact, but also why his job's on the line tonight. What does this race say to you?

[Che Kominduri]

Yeah, I think that even if Thomas Massie falls short tonight, the reality is my expectation is that he will have really overperformed the other Trump Republican challengers to Donald Trump. Just last week, you saw Bill Cassidy only get 25% of the vote in a Republican primary in Louisiana. Now, Cassidy's strategy after he voted to impeach Trump six years ago was then to suck up to Trump. I mean, he actually voted for RFK Jr of all things. Massie has taken an opposite tact. He is actually arguing against Trump based on conservative first principles. He's arguing against him on spending. He's arguing against him on the Iran war. And most importantly, he is arguing against him on Epstein. And I think if Massie goes down tonight, it will show that the Republican Party is truly a cult of personality. It is much more about what Donald Trump says and wants you to do than it is about any sort of conservative principles.

[Ari Melber]

The wider context is how many Republicans are actually moving away from Trump, even though the way our primaries work means that it can be really distorted. But if we widen out, I want to show the retirements. You've got over 35 House Republicans just choosing to retire rather than run in what they Expect to be tough midterms, seven in the Senate. So you have people like MTG who made their points and left. And then you have Massie tonight trying to survive while being a kind of independent voice. And I wonder why, Che, you think that's sort of undercounted in our politics? I mentioned the narrative is, oh, no one will stand up to Trump. In fact, he's very unpopular. They've stood up to him on Epstein in the war. The MAGA pundits online and digital are pretty loud lately. And it's not Nothing to have 37 people say, I'd rather quit than run with you, and another handful like Massie say, I'm not really with you, but we'll see if I can keep my seat.

[Che Kominduri]

Yeah, I mean, we don't generally track retirements and make them big stories because they don't really drive news cycles. They're very quiet events. You know, what Tom Massey did was a very loud event. What Marjorie Taylor Greene did was a very loud event where she actually openly opposed Trump. What has happened here with these Republicans is they don't want to actively oppose Trump. They don't want to pay the consequences of that. I do remember that Mitt Romney said that several Republicans told him the reason they didn't vote for Trump's impeachment after January 6th was that they were concerned about the security of themselves and their families. I think that that's actually a big part of the thinking here, that if we say something publicly and loudly against Trump, we really put ourselves in his crosshairs. We put ourselves at risk of the wrath of MAGA and the MAGA mob, a mob that by way, might be more empowered as a result of the slush fund that you talked about at the top of the show that's been created. It's much easier for them to simply say, I retire, I'm going away. I'm going to try to make money some other way. I'm going to try to live my life in some other way. It's much easier to do that.

[Ari Melber]

No, you're being direct and these are difficult conversations. But you can compare it to if you're playing street basketball and there's a little rough and tumble foul, but everyone leaves the court and goes home. That's one type of game. But if you have reason to believe that someone else is going to come beat you up or your family or shoot you after the game, it changes how you play on that court. And American politics is supposed to be governed by the rule of law, peaceful transfer of power. Trump's the first person to break that tonight. He's trying to fund violent criminals in a spirit of political violence. This is the world we're in. And you know me, I take great pains to be fair and nonpartisan, but that's the actual place we're at. And so you're reminding us why some of those retirements happened. I'm curious what you think about the other way it can backfire, which is there are candidates like Massie or Cornyn who might do better as an independent minded conservative in the general than the Trump stooges that are sometimes being run as their replacements.

[Che Kominduri]

You would think so. I think the problem is, is that the evidence I'm seeing is a lot of the GOP grassroots seem to be all in on Trump, and they seem to be doing this even though, you know, the reason that he's going against Massie is entirely because of Epstein. I mean, Trump is literally covering up perhaps his own behavior, certainly the behavior of others, you know, and their connection with this very, shall we say, shady character, Jeffrey Epstein. You know, so the fact that Republicans are not outraged enough about that to sort of say, hey, we're with Tom Massie overwhelmingly and not with this other guy that Trump has put up as a stooge for him, that speaks volume volumes, really, about them and about who they are. And it really also says to Democrats, you know, going forward, this is going to be a very complex and difficult picture. You know, even if Democrats win the Congress, and I believe that they will this fall, even if they do, governing is going to be very difficult. When you have a situation where Donald Trump enjoys 75, 80% approval among Republicans, that means that things that you do to try to curb his, his co op, to his core of his corruption, his other behaviors, is simply not going to be met with any kind of cooperation on the other side of the aisle.

[Ari Melber]

Right. Which speaks to the stakes tonight. And if Massie were to win, it would be exception to the rule you've described. But it's a rule that has many other data points, Che. You tell it like it is, as you understand it, not as we might wish it to be. Which makes you a valuable analyst if also sometimes, if I may say so, a bit of a political bummer. A little bit of a bummer. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Che Kominduri]

Well, maybe if Massie does win and it's a bad day for Trump, you know, it'll all come as a pleasant surprise.

[Senator Cory Booker]

You know, we'll see, we'll see.

[Ari Melber]

But people can read between your lines, Che. Good to see you. We're definitive break. When we come back, a major trial that Elon Musk just lost. That's news. We've got it for you. Coming up, Voters are hitting the polls in six states today. We're back as promised with Ali Velshi who is at our big board. Allie, what can you tell us at this early stage?

[Ali Velshi]

This is an exciting race in, in Kentucky. Again we don't have the whole state yet because it's in two time zones, but we've got the eastern part of the state which is important. Now look, I want to just be very clear. We only have 4% of the vote in right now, but it tells you a little something because the, the, this is in the, in. In this particular district that we' looking at District 4. This is Thomas Massie's district. Thomas Massie is a bit of a pain to Donald Trump. We only have votes in three counties right now. And I want to just show you go to this county, Spencer county, only 45 votes are in, right. But you can see that Ed Gallery and the Trump supported candidate is winning there. But don't worry about 45 votes. Go to Greenup county in the northeast part of the state. Same thing. About 400 votes in gallery is winning over Thomas Massey. You wouldn't pay attention to that. This is the only county, Kenton county where we've got some real numbers in. It's only 16% of the vote and it's all advance vote right now. And you are seeing again Galileen ahead of Thomas Massie 54 to 45. The reason I say this is interesting is this is advanced vote. Generally speaking, in a world where you've got a MAGA endorsed or a Trump endorsed candidate versus a non Trump endorsed candidate, the Trump endorsed candidate does better on day of voting. This voting that we're seeing Right now, this 16% is all advanced voting. So if the Trump endorsed candidate was doing better in the advanced voting, he's likely to be doing better in the actual day of voting of which we have none yet. So for the moment, and this was way too little information to extrapolate to anything for the moment, Thomas Massie, who just said moments ago that he thinks we're gonna pull it off tonight, is probably not in the pole position at the moment. We're gonna watch this very closely to see what happens to candidates who stand up to Donald Trump after this. Ari, we're gonna be looking very closely at Georgia and Pennsylvania, two very, very important as well. But as of now, not much development just yet. In, in, in Kentucky. But we're watching it very closely. It'll tell us a lot by the end of the evening.

[Ari Melber]

Well, you've enriched our, our understanding at that granular level. You only have 16% of those tea leaves, but you're reading the tea leaves for us. And we appreciate it very closely. Respect. We'll see you again tonight. We're going to fit in the break. When we come back, Elon Musk losing big in court with a lot more talk, including among young people. And labor is not something they want forced on them. I'm going to explain why this matters for politics and beyond next. The rise of artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution. What happened? That's just one of those little moments, but it captures something larger. A commencement speaker really kind of surprised by what seemed like just raw, immediate organic revulsion by students at the prospect of being told again that AI or technology has to be our future. There's a backlash to AI even as it can do some things well, the way it's being run, the tech oligarchs and billionaires at the top, the attack on labor, the misuse of writing and human creation, all of this is feeding a shift here. Tech moguls, of course, are not slowing down. They are in what they themselves liken to an arms race of putting out, often untested, without safeguards, new updates to their AI models and chatbots to just see, well, what'll happen and how much money they can make. Now there was a big case that came to a head this week where Elon Musk was suing Sam Altman, who was behind OpenAI. The two once worked together but had this giant falling out. The headline is Elon Musk Lost. This was the most detailed AI trial we've seen with some really interesting evidence we're about to get to. But Musk could not prevail in his argument that they had basically defrauded him more or less because they took his money and said it was going to be a non profit and then went after billions for themselves. He wanted the damages there to actually go help people, he said. And while many people viewed this as a battle of titans, that was hard to pick anyone to root for the trial. And the evidence brings a lot into the public realm. And for that reason, we've invited Maxwell's out, a Wired reporter who was inside the courtroom there to dig into this tonight. Thanks for being here.

[Maxwell Zeff]

Thanks for having me.

[Ari Melber]

Absolutely. Musk lost. And some people who view him as a billionaire bully, Trump ally might be happy just with that headline. Before we get into all of that, though, what did the evidence in the emails reveal about both Musk and some of these other AI billionaires who've often claimed they're here to help?

[Maxwell Zeff]

Yeah, the evidence revealed in Musk v. Altman, to everyone in the courtroom, it seemed obvious that there were no real winners in this trial. Obviously the headline is that Elon Musk lost, but it revealed that since the early days of OpenAI, when it was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit, the founders almost never had any interest in actually running it as a charity. There was virtually no evidence presented at the trial that showed that OpenAI ever had, you know, really any kind of plans to give away, you know, things for education or, you know, the public good, like the things that charities do. There was some discussion about open sourcing its technology early on, but never any firm commitments. So really, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, the founders of OpenAI, all did not look great coming out of this trial.

[Ari Melber]

Their public messaging is to cast themselves as industrialists, smart scientific types. And there's always been interplay between inventions and commerce. And companies making money is what usually gets inventions out to the general world. It at eventually lower prices. But did this trial and these emails, even the Brockman journal entries, suggest that this group might be somewhat greedier or different than past leaders or how do you view that?

[Maxwell Zeff]

No, I don't think that this group of technology entrepreneurs is greedier than the average Silicon Valley founder or CEO. I think they are exactly the same. They came from the same crop. I mean, Elon Musk, Elon here, you know, co founded Tesla, he founded SpaceX, and Greg Brockman and Sam Altman came from other Silicon Valley companies. The difference here was that these people thought that AI was going to be so powerful that they needed moral high ground. This is something they said in diary entries, emails all the time. They needed moral high ground basically to control this technology and to convince policymakers that they were the right people to control AI, to convince the general public that they were the people who should be in charge. And as we've seen, I mean, yeah,

[Ari Melber]

with what I was gonna ask you, with a minute left, Musk can hire all these lawyers. He has all this money he lost, which says something about court rules still applying. But why did he lose? What did you make of that?

[Maxwell Zeff]

Musk technically lost because he filed his lawsuit too late. He filed this lawsuit in 2024. OpenAI was co founded almost 10 years ago, and they basically ruled that he was didn't file this in time, but he's going to try to appeal on the core claims of the lawsuit, although based on what we saw on trial, it's not looking promising.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah, all really interesting stuff. And you were there, Maxwell Zeff, thank you. We'll be right back. We'll hear from voters tonight in these primaries. A preview of the midterms. What do you think the top issue is? Is it the Epstein files, as some Republicans feel? Is it affordability? Is it stopping an open ended war in Iran? You can tell me. You can always get in touch with me online at social media remelber. We are actually up on all these platforms. If you go on my Instagram at Ari Melber or Facebook, which I know some beat viewers like, or the other ones you see here, you can comment on a post or send me a message. What is your issue for these elections? You can also always connect with [e-mail] that does it for us.

[Jen Psaki]

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