Trump Ramps Up Threats to Iran After Ceasefire

Summary

The Beat with Ari Melber — Episode Summary

Episode Title: Trump Ramps Up Threats to Iran After Ceasefire
Date: April 9, 2026
Host: Ari Melber
Key Guests: General Wesley Clark (retired), Reverend Al Sharpton

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Brief Overview

This episode of "The Beat with Ari Melber" centers on President Trump's escalated threats towards Iran amid a fragile ceasefire in the Middle East conflict. Ari Melber dissects the political, diplomatic, and economic ramifications of the situation, interviewing key figures like General Wesley Clark and Reverend Al Sharpton. The episode also explores broader American political dynamics, including the Democratic response, the push to invoke the 25th Amendment, and concerns over presidential war powers. Additionally, the show offers cultural and economic reflections through a special report on Jay Z's journey from Brooklyn hustler to cultural icon and billionaire.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Ceasefire and Strait of Hormuz Crisis

[00:32–04:02] Ari Melber & General Wesley Clark

• Fragile Ceasefire: Despite a new US-Iran ceasefire, activity remains tense. Few ships are passing through the Strait of Hormuz (only 4 compared to a usual 100 per day), showing little return to normalcy.
• Iran Controls Choke Point: Iran enforces tolls on passing ships, economically benefiting from its control and threatening global energy security.
• US Objectives Unmet: General Clark outlines how US goals—countering missile threats, nuclear ambitions, and securing the Strait—are all still unresolved. He notes Iran’s strengthened strategic position, aided by Russia and China.
  • Quote: “They survived the best we could do in our air campaign... It was like we were fighting a peer competitor.” — General Wesley Clark [04:36]
• US Military Limitations: The US maintained tactical superiority in the air but failed to neutralize Iran’s underground missile infrastructure.
• Need for Leverage: Clark says the US needs patience, must keep troops prepared, and cannot let negotiations stall indefinitely.

2. Political Fallout for Trump and Republicans

[11:03–15:55] Ari Melber & Reverend Al Sharpton

• War’s Unpopularity: Public opinion has turned rapidly against the Iran conflict, with polls showing majority opposition faster than during Vietnam or Iraq.
• Democratic Uproar: Top Democrats are calling for extraordinary measures, including potentially invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump due to erratic and alarming threats.
  • Quote: “Trump’s apocalyptic threats are what did it in... the idea of a raving mad king like figure threatening genocide against an entire nation.” — Ari Melber [12:28]
• Republican Dilemma: While most Republicans avoid the Iran debate, they’re concerned the war could devastate their midterm chances. Yet they refuse to limit Trump’s war powers in Congress.

3. The Democratic Response and Internal Debates

[14:19–21:37] Ari Melber & Reverend Al Sharpton

• Democratic Messaging: At Sharpton’s National Action Network conference, leaders like Jeffries stress that the war was chosen, not forced, and criticize Trump's legitimization of actions bordering on war crimes.
  • Quote: “We are dealing with how we deal with the presidency and preserve the integrity of the presidency itself.” — Rev. Al Sharpton [15:43]
• Activism vs. Policy: Discussion about the rapid mobilization against this war compared to historic American conflicts.
  • Quote: “At least in Iraq, we were looking for weapons of mass destruction. We know now...that Iran was hiding [them] is false.” — Rev. Al Sharpton [16:53]
• 2028 Democratic Primary Buzz: Democratic governors and candidates discussed at the conference are praised for combining policy knowledge and executive ability.

4. Trump’s Handling of Adversity

[20:43–22:05] Ari Melber & Reverend Al Sharpton

• Perception of Weakness: Trump seen as flailing—issuing threats then backing down, and struggling to maintain control over the narrative and his administration.
  • Quote: “If you’re going to make a threat, you have to make them good at some point... he’s beginning to trip over his own steps.” — Rev. Al Sharpton [21:37]

5. Melania Trump and the Epstein Scandal

[22:43–27:58] Ari Melber

• Rare Public Statement: Melania Trump denies any association with Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell, amidst revived scrutiny over Trump’s DOJ and administration ties to the scandal.
  • Quote: “To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice Maxwell...” — Ari Melber (quoting Melania Trump) [23:28]
• Congressional Subpoenas: Outgoing Attorney General Pam Bondi refuses to testify on Epstein-related oversight; House Democrats threaten contempt.

6. Culture and Social Mobility — A Special Report on Jay Z

[29:08–39:23] Ari Melber

• Economic Inequality: Melber reflects on the persistent gap between promises of abundance and the reality of inequality in America.
• Jay Z’s Journey:
  • From Brooklyn poverty to global stardom and billionaire status, using music to navigate and expose societal barriers.
  • Quote: “At my arraignment screaming all us blacks got is sports and entertainment. Until we even.” — Jay Z, Reasonable Doubt [31:40]
  • Quote: “Do you listen to music or just skim through it? ...life stories told through rap. They acting like I sold you crack, like I told you sell drugs. No, Hov did that so hopefully you won’t have to go through that.” — Jay Z, via Melber [33:44]
  • Jay Z’s impact is explained as both uniquely American and globally resonant; a symbol of hope and transformation.

7. Broader Reflections: Science, Inspiration, and Perspective

[41:43–44:21] Ari Melber

• Artemis II Mission: Ari celebrates NASA’s Artemis II lunar flyby, the inspiring international teamwork, and the unifying nature of scientific achievement.
• Metaphor: The segment is used as a contrast to the domestic and global turmoil, offering a perspective on humanity’s potential.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• General Wesley Clark on the US-Iran power dynamic:
  “We won the tactical war...but we didn’t defeat the fundamental mechanism that kept Iran in the war.” [04:36]

• Ari Melber on Trump’s threats:
  “Trump’s apocalyptic threats are what did it in... the idea of a raving mad king like figure threatening genocide against an entire nation.” [12:28]

• Reverend Al Sharpton on the stakes for American democracy:
  “We are at a point in American history where... we are dealing with how we deal with the presidency and preserve the integrity of the presidency itself.” [15:43]

• Jay Z lyric (via Melber), on the American dream:
  “At my arraignment screaming all us blacks got is sports and entertainment. Until we even.” [31:40]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Ceasefire & Oil Shipping Crisis: [00:32–04:02]
• General Clark Analysis: [04:02–09:15]
• Political Fallout & War Powers Debate: [11:03–15:55]
• Reverend Sharpton/Democratic Response: [14:19–22:05]
• Melania Trump on Epstein Scandal: [22:43–27:58]
• Jay Z, Obama & Social Mobility (Special Report): [29:08–39:23]
• Artemis II / NASA Reflection: [41:43–44:21]

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Summary Takeaway

This episode cuts through the chaos of a Middle East on the brink, laying bare the costs and consequences of Trump’s war policy and its tenuous ceasefire. Veterans, politicians, and activists illuminate the risks, while Democrats weigh historic moves to check the president’s power. Grounded in sharp analysis, the show also offers a cultural and hopeful lens, celebrating American creativity and possibility in the face of inequality and adversity.

If you want deep reporting, memorable voices, and a sense of both political urgency and broader cultural context, this episode delivers.

Transcript

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[Ari Melber]

Do it yourself Lumberjacking. Better leave it to the pros doing your own electrical work. The results could be shocking. But letting just anyone replace your windows? Biggest mistake ever. Be a happy homeowner and leave Window replacement to the best Renewal by andersen now through April 30th. Buy one window or door and get the second 40% off plus $200 off your entire purchase with a minimum of four and special financing. Visit renewalbyandersonhome.com today. Welcome to the Beat. I'm Ari Melbourne. We begin with the president rattled. He's been lashing out online, making more threats. While we are in the beginning of this dramatically negotiated ceasefire, public opinion has soured on the war. There are headlines that Donald Trump seems like he's losing. They have peace talks now scheduled for Saturday. Israel is attacking Lebanon, which is a hurdle to this process, according to the Iranian side. And Trump has been concerned with. Called the Israeli prime minister on the phone, asked about scaling back those strikes, which is a conversation that Trump confirmed to NBC. And then there is the oil, the sticking point in the Strait of Hormuz. Amid confusion about the activity during this initial ceasefire, reports indicate that at least two vessels have passed through the Strait of Hormuz today, the first ships to make this journey since the ceasefire went into an effect.

[Reverend Al Sharpton]

Only four ships passed through the strait

[Ari Melber]

in the first 24 hours of the ceasefire. The ceasefire between the US and Iran

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is already on shaky ground.

[Ari Melber]

As you can imagine, ships aren't exactly charging through the Strait of Hormuz at this point. Iranian media tonight reporting the Strait of Hormuz is closed once again. Regional reports say that the shipping lane is sometimes closed, sometimes partially open. But we have information that tracks the breakthrough. It's not what Trump wanted. About four ships made it through yesterday. Consider the average is usually about 100 a day. That was the status quo before Trump started this war. So you can do the math on how much further back we are. Even during a ceasefire that Trump was claiming as some sort of middle step, the ships that are getting through are paying new tolls, which means Iran is able to enrich itself by this measure of Taking control of the choke point, the new ayatollah vows to take management of the strait into a new phase. And this is a burden, of course, for the international energy supply. You have companies that used to move through the strait. They didn't pay Iran. And we all know how the global energy markets work. Whether or not the US Uses that oil directly, it affects the overall supply and demand. The US Oil industry is pleading with Trump to do more. An industry consultant saying with the tolls, we don't have to, we didn't have to do that before. And then tweaking Trump, I thought we won the war. We've got a lot of concern here about what victory or a partial scenario of a ceasefire looks like because this is what Trump backed down on. And now this is the status quo for two weeks. And it's not clear that this is good enough for the energy supply or US Interests even as the majority of the country doesn't want to go further into this war. Now there's gas and diesel prices that are still pretty high. The ceasefire, it does look fragile. With heading into the talks this weekend, I'm joined by General Wesley Clark, retired four star army general, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander. Welcome back.

[General Wesley Clark]

Thank you.

[Ari Melber]

Ard people talk about whiplash. The president making threats that sounded like they would be illegal war crimes if carried out, then he backed down. Your view of what kind of war policy and diplomacy we're living through this week?

[General Wesley Clark]

You know, this war has stopped with kinetics and now it's about negotiations. And the truth is that all of America's objectives are at risk in these negotiations. The Iranians still have missile capabilities. They still have their nuclear potential apparently. And now they control the Strait of Hormuz. And they have put the Gulf states on notice that they're vulnerable and they're taking up for Hezbollah and trying to work against Israel. So everything that the United States went into the war to do is unresolved, pending how these negotiations turn out. And so the question is, who's got the stronger hand going into the negotiations? Well, probably Iran does, actually. They've got Russia and China behind them. They survived the best we could do in our air campaign. They're anti access area denial strategy has kept the US Carrier task forces well at sea and unable to do very much. And so forget about those Marines landing under naval gunfire support. That's probably not going to happen unless we do something else. And so they survived and they looked at this for years as a strategic problem. We won the tactical war by being able to fly Airplanes over drop bombs and so forth. And we got air superiority, but we didn't defeat the fundamental mechanism that kept Iran in the war, which was these underground missile cities and years of preparation and continuing assistance from Russia and China, including targeting assistance and Chinese imagery overhead. It was like we were fighting a peer competitor. This wasn't like the Iraq war. It wasn't like Afghanistan. And so they were well prepared and they even learned from what happened last June. So we're at a disadvantage going into the negotiations. And so what do we need to do? That's the question. So, number one is I think we've got to keep those troops out there and continue to look at targets and be prepared to go back in. I think we've got to set a timeline and not allow Iran to just drag this thing out and continue to control the Strait of Hormuz. And we've got to allow.

[Ari Melber]

General, do you think we're worse off. Do you think we're worse off than when the war started?

[General Wesley Clark]

Well, in a sense we are, because the Strait of War moves was open and commerce was going on. And I think we thought it was going to be a real short war. Take out the leadership, boom, it would collapse. They have a mosaic command and control structure. So we took out the top leadership, we took out the next echelon of leadership, we took out a bunch of other people, but individual sections were still able to fight, coordinate and launch. And especially on the Strait of Hormuz, we really haven't come to grips with that problem militarily. And we need to be spending this time while there's talks going on, preparing what we're going to do if the negotiation doesn't result in the total, complete, safe passage of the Strait of Hormuz. For every. With no Iran tolls.

[Ari Melber]

And with regard to the explanations or justifications that both sides are offering, here was J.D. vance responding to the idea that the Israel Lebanon aspect is, is a violation of what Iran expected. Take a look. Is Lebanon okay? And, and again, I actually think that is a, a reasonable misunderstanding. But neither us nor the Israelis said, said that that was going to be part of the ceasefire. Again, we're working with people to try to get through some of these things, but it's really fundamentally, we're on the right track. We got a lot more to do. We got a lot more that the Iranians are going to have to accept as part of this negotiation. I got just a minute left for you. How do you handicap that answer?

[General Wesley Clark]

You know, he had to say something. And, and so as good an answer as anybody could have come up with. The truth is we're way apart in these negotiations. We don as much leverage as we would like and we've got to do everything we can to get more leverage. And that means we got to have patience. We got to be prepared to go back in if necessary. We got to be prepared to do something with the straight of hormone moves if necessary. And I'm sorry it worked out this way. We got great men and women in the armed forces. They did everything they could do, but we didn't bring our allies on board. We didn't have the prep time we needed. We a little bit probably misunderstood how good the Iranians were and how prepared they were. And so we got to deal with the consequences.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah, understood. General Wesley Clark, thank you. Kicking us off here on that. Big developments in the Middle East. Thank you very much. We will tonight look at the race to replace Pam Bondi. And later tonight, my special report on Obama's lessons on American inequality and social mobility. Right now we turn to the top Democrats who are going at Trump on the war posturing. Reverend Sharpton, my special guest. We're back in 90 seconds.

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[Ari Melber]

what's happening in and around Iran may have a big impact on the coming American midterm elections. A growing number of Democrats say the line has been crossed and it is time for extraordinary measures. The kind of stuff you usually hear about on Internet chat boards or the movies, but not typically nightly news, that they should do something that's never been done in American history, which is use the constitutional emergency provision in the 25th Amendment to force Trump out of office. That would take a Cabinet. It's a no confidence vote in his acuity or his ability to carry out the job. They would need the Cabinet. But even making that kind of noise shows that we have crossed some kind of Rubicon. Trump's apocalyptic threats are what did it in calls reportedly flooding into congressional offices as the American public is clearly concerned about the idea of a raving mad king like figure threatening genocide against an entire nation. Congressional Republicans have been sitting out a lot of the Iran debate, just as they have generally deferred to Trump, except in certain exceptions like Epstein. But the reports are that they are worried that the unpopular war will wipe them out even worse than they were already bracing for in these midterms. Republicans, though, blocking a resolution that might restrict presidential war powers, which is the kind of thing that even if it didn't actually change the course of the war, would give them at least cover or a political message to the public that there is some line, and yet they seem unwilling to even do that. Meanwhile, our colleague Reverend Al Sharpton has had a who's who of top Democrats leader Jeffries Mamdani at his conference this week. Let's take a look. There is nothing that the United States military militarily cannot do. The question is, should we be doing it? This president has failed the American people in so many different ways. Donald Trump and the Republicans are undermining democracy. The president and the vice president are blindly allowing us to do that. And they're doing it in our name and with our money. We got a hater in the White House. Every day he's in office, he's taking something away. And every day you let an authoritarian have their way is another day that we are losing power. Tough talk from a lot of these top Democrats. Several of the voices you just heard are in line to potentially be speaker of the House. If the Democrats take back the midterms in November or the presidential nominee, as we saw some of those 20, 28 hopefuls, what were they saying not only to that crowd, but when the mics weren't on? We're going to ask Reverend Al next. Candidate Trump promised that he wasn't going to start wars. He was going to stop them. President Trump has done the exact opposite. We have a president who is completely incapable and unqualified to handle this crisis that he created. It's unacceptable. The Democratic leaders speaking out. Some of that footage from New York today. Leader Jeffries was speaking at Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network conference. He's, of course, the host of Politics Nation here. We've been covering that convention. There's been a lot of newsworthy guests and speakers there. Welcome back.

[Reverend Al Sharpton]

Thank you.

[Ari Melber]

Let's start with Jeffries. What did you think of what he said at your convention as well as what he said there? And trying to stand up to a president who's threatening, bragging about war crimes.

[Reverend Al Sharpton]

I think that it is clear that what Congressman Jeffries, who could be speaking if the Democrats win, is saying, and what all of the candidates are saying is that this is a war that was selected, not something that had to happen. We still don't know why we're there. We keep moving the deadlines and the arrangements and then the other issues that has come up during the Trump presidency warrants the Democrats to really stand up aggressively and fight the normalizing of this. It is not something that we can tolerate in American history to normalize someone that openly flirts with war crimes, if not in fact, engage in them so far or in the future, and that we have someone that can walk away from firing people, people just because they will not do his wishes, whether or not those wishes are warranted or even following the law. So we clearly are now at a critical point in American history that's even beyond the parties that are involved, Democrat or Republican. We're at a point in American history where we are dealing with how we deal with the presidency and preserve the integrity of the presidency itself.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah. And we're talking about a speed that we've never seen in the modern era of history. I mean, you have done a lot of work. You walk the walk. There were civil rights organizers and Dr. King who were critical of Vietnam over time. The Iraq war started out with a lot of support in that, in that post 9, 11 period and over years really lost that support. I don't think we've ever seen a US Attack on another country be this unpopular this quickly. I want to put up the headline here. The Senate Democrats say they were going to force the war powers vote next week. Jeffries is saying they could recruit just a couple, a handful of Republicans in the House and they could get somewhere. It says the Democrats push precedes the effort to rein in Trump. Congress will return to Washington. They will force the vote on the War Powers Resolution. What does it tell you, Rev, that Vietnam and Iraq took years to get to the Point where you had 55, 60% opposition, and then it was still a battle. And here we're already there.

[Reverend Al Sharpton]

We're already there, probably because there's enough people that remember Vietnam. Certainly I was a teenager then. I remember it. And then there are many more that remember Iraq. And at least in Iraq, we were looking for weapons of mass destruction. We know now that the nuclear arms that they said that Iran was hiding or was on the precipice of gaining is false. And you have a reference point now with Iraq saying, wait a minute, we've seen this before. Weapons of mass destruction. Be scared. And it ended up not being true. Now, you have no evidence that this is any difference. I think that this is going to be probably what history would say was the reason that we came to a more immediate conclusion here, that we don't belong here, because no one has shown us any reason at all to believe that we were in imminent danger.

[Ari Melber]

You get the heavy hitters at your gathering, not just New Yorkers. They all come in. You said, kamala Harris coming in tomorrow.

[Reverend Al Sharpton]

Kamala Harris is coming tomorrow. Senator Kelly's coming tomorrow.

[Ari Melber]

You used to get President Obama, right?

[Reverend Al Sharpton]

Yes, we. So we've done this for many cycles now.

[Ari Melber]

So the activists and the young polls who watch, maybe watch the news or watch us on YouTube, they say, all right, you got to look at how Sharpton does it, because this is cycle after cycle. It's. You are what, what they used to call a power broker in this Democratic primary. And I want to play some of the big, the big shots that we're talking at your conference today. Let's take a look. President authorizing federal forces to roam our streets and saying that we now need to make federal forces guard ballot boxes to avoid fraud. He's going to try to call out ICE and CBP and scare people away from the polls, everybody. He's going to make it seem like you shouldn't vote. We need to go with purpose and push him out of the way, or at least tell them to get out of the way and go in and vote. This is voter suppression. This is political redlining. These are the oldest tricks in the books. So on the policy, you can tell us who, who you thought was making important arguments. But on the politics, Rev, who stood out to you? Who impressed you in the policy?

[Reverend Al Sharpton]

I think they all were on message and I expect the same tomorrow. And I had the same on Wednesday. I think that people were very enthused around Westmore. I think Pritzker was received very well. And I think that we're seeing that it has to be a mixture of more than personality, but personality and policy who can address the issues in a very direct way that anybody can see it and say, wait a minute, that resonates with me. And that is what you're going to need to get turnout. If you cannot resonate with the people, you can't turn people out until you turn people on.

[Ari Melber]

You mentioned more. There was talk about Shapiro, and of course, we hear a lot about Newsom. Do you think politically, Democrats are looking to governors that they kind of have an Inside Lane on 28 now?

[Reverend Al Sharpton]

I think that they're looking for people that can govern. Clearly, we're in a presidency now that does not show he can govern. Shapiro spoke day before yesterday, our first day. He was very well received. They want people that are going to stand up and be very passionate, but at the same time can soberly govern. So we don't need just a one that can perform. We need someone that's good in performance, but that is also good in policy. And I think some of these governors are demonstrating that.

[Ari Melber]

Big picture. How do you think Trump is handling what has been a real debacle? I mean, we've shown over the course of the week he had to back down. And this isn't a scenario where everyone on the right and online and on Fox is saying, oh, well, we'll just pretend we'll humor him because it's just too important and too big. So we saw Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson and a lot of others say, no, this is no good. The senator, the independence veterans say, this is no good. I don't have to tell you what the left and the no Kings protest say. So we're really watching Donald Trump, who started the year doing Venezuela Maduro, trying to get out of the Epstein morass and sort of find something. We're watching him really implode going into the midterms. How does he handle this? You know him well. How does he handle what? To say nothing of having to fire top officials who, in his view, have clearly failed. How does he handle this adversity going into the midterms?

[Reverend Al Sharpton]

I think he handles it very poorly because he's now grabbing it at everything, calling press conferences. That really only reiterates the same threats that he ends up backing away from from two days later. If you're going to make a threat, you have to make them good at some point. You can't say, you have to 8pm tonight and then at 6pm Say, we're going into a ceasefire and he's beginning to trip over his own steps.

[Ari Melber]

Reverend Al Sharpton in the center of it all. Nice to see you. Thanks for being here.

[Reverend Al Sharpton]

Thank you for having me.

[Ari Melber]

We appreciate it. Coming up, Melania Trump doing something you don't usually hear first ladies do at all, or her ever. She decided to weigh in on the sprawling Epstein scandal that has haunted her husband and his doj. You're going to want to see this next.

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[Ari Melber]

Listen to your favorite Ms. Now shows anytime as a podcast. Enjoy new episodes of Morning Joe, Deadline, White House and the Rachel Maddow Show. Every small d Democratic muscle that we have is flexing. Plus the Last Word with Lawrence o', Donnell, the Beat with Ari Melber, the Weeknight and more on the go wherever you get your podcasts for ad free listening to all of your favorite show shows, subscribe to Ms. Now premium on Apple Podcasts. The Jeffrey Epstein crisis has haunted Donald Trump. Given his long connection socially to the disgraced deceased sex trafficker. It's haunted his administration because they broke the law, they fought transparency, and they've had all the scandals over redactions. So it's not often that you see top figures in the Trump White House, let alone in his family, bring Epstein back into the news cycle, especially with everything going on. But here we are tonight, First Lady Melania Trump coming out to make what is a rare public statement about Epstein. And as always, we report these matters and we include people's context and denials. And she wanted to speak with her own voice to deny any association with Epstein or knowledge of his crimes. To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice Maxwell. My email reply to Maxwell cannot be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence. Clearly, the first lady wanted to speak with her own voice on camera to say that there are many different ways, of course, that people in the White House or the first lady can get a message out, including having a spokesman issue a statement. And let's be clear and fair. While Melania Trump is seen in old photos with the Epstein's, as are the Clintons and some other individuals, she has not legally been accused of wrongdoing in a civil or criminal capacity. But she is saying this now. Meanwhile, the DOJ says that outgoing Attorney General Pam Bondi, unlike, say, Melania, who's speaking about this, Bondi is not going to testify, they say, in the Epstein probe in Congress because she's leaving that post now, fact check, she still has a legal obligation to comply with subpoenas. Indeed, losing your job for reasons of failure or no reason at all is not a defense to a lawful subpoena. House Democrats, including Leader Jeffries, say they will hold her in contempt if she does continue to resist a lawful subpoena. These subpoenas are for the person, regardless of whether they're currently in their position or not. If she doesn't come forward, then we will hold Pambondi in contempt. We're going to hold her and Chairman Comer to account to make sure that that happened. They've set the precedent, we're going to follow it and we'll press to hold her in criminal contempt. Leader Jeffries there speaking on Ms. Now today, making it clear they will hold her in contempt. And the Republicans got a lot of this going. They are the ones saying that former officials have to testify quickly about Epstein. That was the standard they used for former President Clinton. And they've been on both sides of the Epstein issue. So now you have Democrats saying no, they're going to use the same powers, the same standard. And obviously the recent attorney general who was in office during the fight to stop the Transparency act and then overseeing compliance with the Transparency act and those controversial redactions, of course she is legally relevant. No one's saying she's accused of a crime. But she has relevant information for the Congress in its oversight duty about whether this DOJ has fully complied with the Epstein law they passed. This one's pretty straightforward. Meanwhile, Trump is considering Bondi's replacement, including Fox News vet Jeanine Pirro. Political reports There is some internal squabbling, long simmering disputes among powerhouse lawyers who've worked for Trump and his allies about who should take what is of course the most important lawyer job in the country. Trump wants whoever replaces Bondi to not only continue her controversial, potentially unlawful efforts to prosecute his enemies, but to somehow do a better job than she did. As we've reported, that is hard when the demands themselves may be unlawful. They're also looking at Biden era prosecutions of abortion opponents who criminally blocked access to clinics and health care. This is a bit of a redo and the argument is that maybe Biden folks went too far with regard to religious freedom. Now the DOJ is also in trouble because it is apparently getting direction from the White House to violate the Presidential Records act passed after Watergate and walk away from the obligation to preserve White House documents. The Justice Department has a poor track record as mentioned, on the revenge prosecutions that will be facing any replacement for Pam Bondi. Now, as I mentioned, we have something very special coming up involving this. I like to think Mr. Carter and I understand each other.

[Reverend Al Sharpton]

Nobody who met us as younger men

[Ari Melber]

would have expected us to be where we are today. What does Barack Obama have to say about progress and social mobility in America? That's my special report. Next. We're hearing familiar claims these days. Elites declaring the economy is better than it looks and technology will help us all.

[Mazda Commercial Voice]

Stock market has been rising.

[General Wesley Clark]

Society will have more production.

[Ari Melber]

I think we're headed for a future of amazing abundance. There's a big catch. Elites were making the same vows 30 years ago. If you own stocks in 1995, congratulations are probably in order because it was Wall Street's best year in recent memory.

[General Wesley Clark]

Strong growth, low inflation, new jobs, higher

[Ari Melber]

wages, the strongest American economy in a generation. Market's an all time high. That's the kind of scenario I like that I think takes us higher. It's like living in the future.

[General Wesley Clark]

A future now available on America.

[Ari Melber]

It's a recurring capitalist promise. Your future payoff is just around the corner. Well, in our special report tonight, we dig into the gap between the rich and the promises in real life and the hustle. Because first of all, even a rising stock market doesn't help most people. Half the population has just 1% of the stock market. The rich control most of it. It's the kind of drastic American inequality visible near Manhattan's famed Wall street itself, which is just miles from the far poorer projects of the Lower east side and Bed Stuy Brooklyn. That environment, Brooklyn, 1996 is where our story begins. A dense community with over a million people on welfare at the time, a 35% poverty rate, a jobless crisis nearing 10%. Murders surging that decade. Those were conditions that Rudy Giuliani rode into office and that a 26 year old Shawn Carter overcame to become the platinum artist, Obama confidant and billionaire mogul Jay Z who people know today. I like to think Mr. Carter and I understand each other.

[Reverend Al Sharpton]

Nobody who met us as younger men

[Ari Melber]

would have expected us to be where we are today.

[Jay Z]

For too long we were excluded from the American dream and now we have a chance to be a part of the American dream that we have to make history happen.

[Reverend Al Sharpton]

We try to prop open those doors of opportunity so that it's a little

[Ari Melber]

easier for those who come up behind us to succeed.

[Jay Z]

You're starting to see the power of our vote. He made it mean something for the first time for a lot of people, having someone in office who understands how powerful our voice can be is very important.

[Ari Melber]

That's the success at the top. You know, at the top of the mountain, you can see everything except the path up, which usually has the most to teach. And Jay Z's musical path started uphill. Every record label passed on his pitch. The big companies that trade on Wall street didn't see a market for that unknown rapper just a few miles away. And Jay rejected the industry's attempted rejection. He launched his own Roc A Fella label, dropping a debut album that now is hitting a 30 year anniversary. Reasonable doubt, a reference to the legal standard to beat conviction. And a likely nod to the high burden of proof that Jay Z faced trying to make it as a black businessman in America. Given the limits on available choices, as he cited in the album's opening at my arraignment screaming all us blacks got is sports and entertainment. Until we even facing America's tilted legal and economic systems, Jay was distilling those choices. Where he grew up, the main tickets out of poverty and drugs were sports and entertainment, which is why you can't knock the hustle. The themes rang true in Brooklyn and ended up resonating with a whole generation of people in other places with different experiences. And as a poet, Jay captured hard truth with words. The album songs about drugs and hustling were largely warnings, not advertisements. Over Alan Toussaint's gospel chords, Jay details the corrupting evils of drugs and money, fracturing a childhood friendship. We used to fight for building blocks now we fight for blocks with buildings that make a killing the closest of friends when we first started he raps but grew apart as the money grew and soon grew black hearted. The song shows rivals in the drug game as he, the character there, kidnaps a friend's lover to try to track him down.

[Jay Z]

My hand around the collar feet in a cheese she said to taste the dollars so I better 50s who could ever foresee we used to stay up all night at slumber parties Now I'm trying to rock his to sleep don't cry it is the be in time I take away your miseries and make

[Ari Melber]

it mine It's a dark parable and dense from those innocent slumber parties to a life of crime we hear about this hustler feeding his friend's woman money cheese so she will rat out her own man. The lyrics do ask for forgiveness, but offer no retreat from hustling. Now some critics have missed the nuance over the years, attacking art for depicting life, just as some attack reporters for reporting tough realities. Shoot the messenger and that double standard is applied more to rap than movies or video games or even, say, today's vulgar politicians. Confusing artistic commentary for glorification is a common misinterpretation. Do you listen to music or just skim through it? And Jay later addressed confused critics directly on his Blueprint album, saying life stories told through rap they acting like I sold you crack like I told you sell drugs no hov did that so hopefully you won't have to go through that now. His debut album that I'm telling you about wasn't all sinister either. Like the blues before it, Jay Z's austere hip hop mined pain for perspective grit as a bulletproof license to enjoy good times when they come There were duets with Foxy Brown and Mary J. Blige and the ultimate CO sign from Brooklyn's reigning hip hop leader at the time, Notorious B.I.G. where the King and the newcomer go bar for bar in Brooklyn's finest

[Jay Z]

Aren't you crazy think a little bit of rhymes can play me I'm from Marcy I'm varsity chump you JV Jay Z

[Reverend Al Sharpton]

my bed stock flows malicious delicious three wishes made my road to riches from 62 to gym stars my mom's dishes graham chopping police be docking keys at

[Ari Melber]

my doors knocking Jay was boasting about telling lies that sound true and pioneering a cold detached flow that carried both sob stories and those joyous flexes on the funk percussion of cashmere Thoughts. Jay's wordplay mixes opulent brags with a kind of self aware whimsy wrapped beef seared and smothered in only the finest mustard

[Jay Z]

18 karat gold pen when it hits the sheets words worth a million like I'm wrapping them with platinum teeth I got the grateful palm you've been warned cause all beat returned well done filet mignon the dawn smell it dawn on my breath as I yawn sweet

[Ari Melber]

Wrapping his success into existence, Jay was previewing a life he would actually go on to live and achieve. From hustler to businessman, that long shot debut album launched a musical catalog where he actually translates in both directions, revealing the streets to civilian listeners who didn't know that world and bringing a Wall street mindset to a community often denied, redlined and legally shut out of that elite system nearby. Here we are 30 years later and it's aged well. Jay Z paired a chart topping artistic career with a business vision. He's launched major companies and partnered with Fortune 50 Corpor and turned himself into just one of 12 black billionaires in America. He's helped elevate hip hop to heights unimaginable for elites who smugly dismissed it as noise or a fad or a crime soundtrack with no redeeming value. He did so by confronting those barriers in his music. He didn't pander. He channeled truths that resonated both within rap's community of origin and also far beyond it. Across the US Rap is routinely played and quoted in boardrooms, newsrooms, weddings. Just as pop music has absorbed the sound, samples and remixes of hip hop. And consider another contrast, right? U.S. foreign Policy, our energy policy, political leadership is unpopular across many parts of the world. While America's domestic product of hip hop is embraced by young people across the globe. More than most other exports, Jay Z's music helps drive that and elevate that for reasons that are actually unifying. Because culture is deeper than politics. It can convey our common humanity, values and joy. It can help people see each other better, to share a new lens for how we all view life, this thing and this earth we share. It's also a common language. As one of Jay Z's lifelong friends recounted while reflecting on that debut album,

[Reverend Al Sharpton]

I think Reasonable Doubt represents that culture of what we are, who we are. And guess what?

[Ari Melber]

The world is made up.

[Reverend Al Sharpton]

The good, the bad, the ugly. Some of you might like it, some of you might don't. Some of them might understand it, some don't. But that was a language that we know.

[Ari Melber]

A lot of people spoke and still speak. Jay Z just announced anniversary shows at one of the nation's largest venues, Yankee Stadium, selling out the arena with hundreds of thousands of more fans on waiting lists. There was 1.6 million people in the queue. I'm number 55,000 plus.

[Jay Z]

First of all, I want to thank my connect, the most important person.

[Ari Melber]

With all due respect, Jay Z has added a third show at Yankee Stadium after the first two sold out. Music that's hot right now, in the moment is a hit. When it's hot, years later, you have a classic. When it transcends its own era, well, then it's literally timeless. And that's a long ways from where Jay Z started back then, planning to go from the projects to world stages and billionaire summits may have sounded delusional, a contrast that he actually narrates in a song, imagining a dialogue with his

[Jay Z]

incredulous psychiatrists went from war into war Undercovers the covers. If you believe in that sort of love. The screws need adjusting enough. Well or no justice. And black ladies on the back of buses. I'm the immaculate conception of rapper slash hustlers. How could this snappy headed boy from Arthur Projects be the apple of America's obsession? You totally disconnected with reason. Reality. Don't believe in dreams. Since when did black men become kings?

[Ari Melber]

Reality or dreams? But Jay's dream was to change his reality from street warring to Warren undercovers to magazine covers. That quack asked how black men could become kings. Well, they can become kings of finance or kings like America's artistic royalty. And by citing black ladies on the back of buses, Jay unspools layers of meaning. A black man becoming king. Like Dr. King himself. What he envisioned for black men and women. He had a dream. And like a poet, playwright or the bar, Jay's dialogue is capturing several views at once. Because you hear the incredulous voice of the system. Don't believe in dreams. Since when did black men become kings? But you also then hear the hustler's triumphant rejoinder, all the more powerful because Jay offers it both through his art and through the reality of his life. A prosperous hustler who made his own luck in a world of no justice. There is wordplay, but he's not playing dismiss. The haters believe in dreams. And decades on, the crowds are still with him on that. We have seen just some extraordinary things, things that I thought we might see. They looked similar to what I thought they might look like and other things that I just had never even imagined. Our purpose on the planet as humans is to find joy. To find the joy in lifting each other up by creating solutions together instead of destroying. And when you see it from out here, it doesn't change it. It just absolutely reaffirms that. It's almost like seeing living proof of it. Extraordinary, unimaginable, living proof of our special planet and what it looks like out there. That was Artemis mission specialist Jeremy Hansen putting into words the ineffable, incredible things that we are seeing through the force of NASA's technology, science, progress, collaboration, teamwork. So much goes in to getting people to go around the moon farther than any humans have ever been in our galaxy and capturing these truly amazing images which might have the power to inspire us to a better understanding of the galaxy we're in. We can tell you the Artemis II crew is en route home. The journey revealed some spectacular sights, rare views of the moon's far side. Glimpses of what they call impact flashes from meteoroids that strike the lunar surface. And that pockmarked, textured, high quality visuals of the moon's surface. We also have the images capturing Earth's set, our blue planet slipping below the lunar horizon. What I'm about to say is not scientific but more metaphoric that you could see us as a kind of moon for them because we're so used to being on our planet looking out. It is something to look the other way. When the flyby was completed, the crew also got that celestial encore, the solar eclipse from space. This is the moon backlit by the sun's light from an intergalactic view that of course you don't usually get when we are on Earth for a very different type of eclipse. Then there was Venus. The bright flash on the left is Venus illuminated by the sun. A far off vision for the crew. And the chocolate of it all. A moment of levity that went viral when a jar of Nutella was floating inside that Orion capsule. Nutella, of course, jumping in on the fun saying honored to have traveled further than any spread in history. I gotta tell you, with everything going on on our planet, it is nice to pull out and look at the broader galaxy. And I'm happy that that hazelnut chocolate spread could get in on this very sweet moment. We expect splashdown Friday night, tomorrow around 8pm Eastern. Everyone rooting for and welcoming a safe and productive homecoming for those scientists and astronauts who are of course very brave, intrepid and will have stories to tell for the rest of their lives. You can always connect with us at Ms. Now Ari. That's Ms. Now Ari. Tonight, if you go there in the coming moments, you'll be able to see that entire Obama JZ report we did. If you want to watch and share Ms. Now Ari, thanks for watching.

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