← The Beat with Ari Melber
The Beat with Ari Melber
Trump to Address Nation Amid Sinking Job Approval
00:41:20
NPR reports that the DOJ “withheld and removed some Epstein files related to Trump.” MS NOW’s Ari Melber reports.
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Ari Melber
Welcome to the Beat. I'm Ari Melber. On this live State of the Union night, the president gearing up for this traditional address to the Congress you see here as well as the nation. This is a speech that we all know typically begins with the speaker saying the state of our Union is, and it's followed by usually a positive word. I can tell you past presidents have often said strong or the State of our Union is strong. Sound was a word they would use in earlier eras. Some people, when they're in tough times and they're president, they sometimes use more grounded words like when we're in a depression. They don't say strong because they would sound completely out of touch. I mentioned that tonight at the top of our broadcast because, as you probably know, President Trump could easily alienate a lot of Americans if there are overly rosy positive claims that do not match their lived experience. He is speaking at what is measurably Donald Trump's weakest moment of a chaotic second term. If you follow the news, you probably noticed that if you happen to watch this show regularly, we went through the terrible numbers for Donald Trump in a special report just last night and I have more for you and new stuff for you on that tonight because he heads into this speech fresh off his biggest court loss on a signature issue. The high court, of course, rejecting his tariffs. Many are watching to see if some of those same Supreme Court justices are in attendance tonight, the ones including two of his appointees who told him he is no king and cannot legislate without the Congress that will be assembled in this very body tonight. He's also facing new Epstein files fallout. NPR reporting. Brand new today, the DOJ has, quote, withheld and removed some files related to Trump Ms. Now confirming that those files involve allegations about Trump assaulting a young girl. Now, I'll say off top, we're going to get to that story later in the hour, but those are not verified claims. The first question is whether the Trump DOJ improperly withheld the documents, whatever's in them, be they false or true, because withholding the wrong documents would violate the Epstein law that Trump signed. And the issue that has bedeviled him now, going well into his second year this term. So we have more on that coming up tonight. As for the Trump challenge, the public is sour about the high prices, about his ICE tactics, about the economy's chop and problems even beyond price and inflation fallout. That's reflected in what is now a supermajority of 60% in America disapproving of Trump. This is his worst opposition since January 6, 2021. His job performance has indeed united Americans against him. That's the 60%. Immigration wants a strength. Now, a big majority that includes people who statistically would have previously voted for him disapprove of these immigration tactics. And similarly, 59% disapproving of the handling of the economy overall. These problems, they can be minimized. Politicians spin all the time. I told you we'll see what words he uses tonight. But they're not a mystery to the American public. You're looking at the facts of how people feel. And those facts have even crept into some FOX News coverage. Poll found that 64% are against President Trump's tariffs. Is it, is it a losing proposition for Trump? I'm asking you a political question. I guess. What do you think? Is this what's causing the. It is a losing proposition. My goodness.
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Molly Zhang
Of all voters, Democratic candidate preference at 52, GOP candidate at 46.
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Amy Klobuchar
We've got a long way to go,
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Molly Zhang
but obviously that that number would not be good.
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Ari Melber
There are people that are feeling pain from this economy and they're and you see that in polls all up and down. You can say that again. What you see over there, a network that is very close to Donald Trump that famously platformed what were proven to be lies about the 2020 election to the point that they had to pay a half billion dollar settlement for it. What you see even in the discourse over there is the leading indicator. Mr. Baer and other people on that network apparently think it's now necessary to at least acknowledge some of the problem in case Trump learns about and addresses it. And that their own viewers and in the country, people are feeling this on the economy. And it's not like Donald Trump is out there focused on fixing the economy every day. He has his tariff war abroad and we've seen the problems with that and now it's been shut down by the courts. But more broadly, he spends a lot more time giving speeches with grievances and attacks on his political opponents and foes and trying to get late night shows canceled and talking about all these other things that are on his mind while his family, his sons and others enrich themselves. That's been what's happening. It's not like you're looking up and saying, gosh, he's got eight economic plans and they're not working. He doesn't have economic plans except for maybe the trade war that was just shut down. That's over there. Then there's how the broad grassroots opposition continues to take Trump on. Activists and pundits on the left have been pushing for a more confrontational approach, including for how you do tonight. There's a Midas Touch host, Adam Mockler, who was just telling us last night that these are abnormal times and they demand a different response. He's part of the widely watched digital network which now has teamed up with some top Democrats leading this counter rally on the National Mall. They're doing that along with moveon.org, which has been a big digital grassroots organizing group. And there's support for this more confrontational effort in a number that has grown. We can report that now 50 plus Democratic lawmakers say they'll boycott the speech. If you're curious, that means about one out of every five Democrats in Congress are just saying, no, this is not business as usual and they're not going to sit through this thing tonight, many of them going to the rally, others going on offense. They're bringing Epstein survivors into the chamber tonight and people affected by ice and a shooting survivor as well as people bearing the brunt of of Trump's now diminished tariffs. Officially, the newly elected Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger will deliver the Democrats response. Also, I can tell you tonight on the Beat this hour, we will hear from Senator Klobuchar And Governor Beshear, as we look at what the official leadership of the Democratic Party is doing and moments from now, I'm going to give you new details on another Trump Epstein scandal. I have reporting on that. But if we just take a breath and think about what we're heading into tonight, it is a state of the union that a lot of people are going to be looking at skeptically now. People consume information in all sorts of ways. I mentioned we had a digital pundit from the left on last night. We look at what's happening, how things are changing. Some people may watch this live. We of course invite you to do that with us and our whole gang. And Rachel and everyone will be here with special coverage through the night. Some people will have it on in the background. Some people might not watch it live tonight, but they'll hear about it because that's how states of the union are. It matters. And if Donald Trump blows it, bungles it, lies through it, tries to spin a public that is now as opposed to him as they were during those first days after that failed insurrection that soured and cracked maga, if he is lying to them about the reality they're living through, including this economy and his Epstein hiding and all these other problems, well, that low, low support that he has historically low could get even lower. I want to bring in Reverend Al Sharpton, who knows his way around these big political nights, Politics Nation host, president, founder of the National Action Network. We should mention he also just sat down with Governor Newsom for a long conversation about many national issues. They also touched on something he joined us about earlier last week, the passing of Jesse Jackson. Welcome back, Rev.
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Al Sharpton
Thank you.
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Ari Melber
You know a little bit about political nights like this and you know a lot about oratory because that's still the lost art in America. Well, if you give a speech and you don't meet people where they are, I don't want to prejudge it. We're going to watch it. But if you don't meet people where they are, what happens?
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Al Sharpton
If you don't meet people where they are, you lose them. And particularly if you've already lost many of them going in, you confirm their anxiety, you confirm their being opposed to you. And even those that may be neutral, if you try to bring them to Fantasy island tonight, the neutral people are going to say, wait a minute, I'm not going to be lied to. There's just too much going against him. And the polls reflect that. When you look at the economy, when you look at now his appointees in the court voting against him on the tariff question. And when you see some of his own allies, like Marjorie Taylor Greene and others that have gone away, he's got to do a great oratorical job tonight, and he doesn't have the script to do it. The only thing that I think he can do that would turn a lot of it around is admit that there are problems, is admit that maybe we were going the wrong direction and that we need to turn, and I need America to turn with me. But humility and honesty has never been traits of Donald Trump.
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Ari Melber
It's funny you say that because, you know, I like to look back at the history and the precedent I was checking. What was FDR saying when times were tough and there was one night where he didn't say the union was strong? That's kind of the starting point. But he said, our spirits are high. And that was his way of acknowledging, well, I can't even claim things are perfect. Let me talk about our spirit, let me talk about our resolve. And yet, I'm not saying this as a criticism of Trump. It may sound like that. I think it's just a factual observation. He's never been able to get in that bag and acknowledge other people's problems or pain. That's not really his thing.
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Al Sharpton
He does not want to acknowledge it. He does not want it. To acknowledge it is to therefore come with programs and policies that would address it. He also has never gotten over his own insecurity of not being all things to all people. So he can't admit that something he was trying just didn't work. And as you quoted fdr, FDR would say what you said, that the challenges us. And he'd say, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Let's do this together. Trump is, I'll do this. I'll do this. I don't need you all. Just watch my show. And your show has now failed. And I think that any other orator that would say, look, the ship is going wrong. I'm going to help redo Renavigate where we're headed, but I need you to go with me and call on us. We'll have a shot. One, he's not a good orator. He's never been accused of making a good speech in his life. He can ramble, but he's never an orator. But secondly, humility is something that I don't think he has.
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Ari Melber
Yeah, you know, it's a serious big news night when we're quoting FDR instead of lyrics.
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Al Sharpton
You know, it's a heavy night.
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Ari Melber
That's how important it is.
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Al Sharpton
If Ari's not doing lyrics, you have a serious gotta focus in.
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Ari Melber
I want to show a brief moment from a clash and then his sort of embrace of the Supreme Court. He's criticized them and more recently with this Friday loss. But when he had won the immunity ruling and then had come back, take a look at this really unusual moment where he was trying to basically signal to Chief Justice Roberts that he thought they were on his side politically. Take a look. Thank you again. Thank you again. Won't forget. You get that. Rarely do we see those moments. That's why tonight, even for people watching, saying, hey, do I want to watch this or not? This is a big news night. You also see new things, right? He thought Roberts picked him. How does he now look at Roberts and two Trump appointees Friday who stopped his signature bill and said something that people would say in the streets? We don't have kings in this country.
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Al Sharpton
He probably sees them as traitors. He takes it personally. And he's probably going to in some way affront them, either verbally or how he does his body language coming down the aisle past them. And I think that it should be insulting to Roberts and the other two that he assumes that they're going to vote his way, whether or not the Constitution as they understand it is in line with his way or not. And if not, they have lost all self pride and integrity. I think that the problem Donald Trump has always had is he asked too much of people and it is all right to give some deference to people that have an ego problem. It's worse though, when they didn't expect except you to just get down on the ground and just bow to them. And I think that that's what he's doing here. He's acting like the Supreme Court justices are there as his errand boy and girl rather than to uphold the Constitution of the United States. And who goes to law school and go all the way up the ladder to just be somebody's flunky?
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Ari Melber
Yeah. And that comes it gets a backdrop where the country's watching and they've watched the court say, no, you're not a king and no, you can't have these tariffs. And they're looking at an economy that they're clearly upset about, which again, we saw that even on FOX News. Rev, always great to see you.
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Al Sharpton
Good to see you.
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Ari Melber
Thank you, sir. Coming up in our special coverage this hour, Amy Klobuchar and the Tennessee governor, Andy Beshear and the Doj Epstein story is blowing up with these new allegations of hiding Trump docs. We're back in 90 seconds. Turning to a major development in the ongoing Epstein scandal. NPR reporting the DOJ quote, withheld and removed some Epstein files related to Trump allegedly hiding those docs, which, depending on the details we get, could be against the law. Ms. Now reporting the files involve an Epstein accuser who alleged Trump sexually assaulted her and that the missing files include over 50 pages of FBI interviews, notes from conversations. Ms. Now reporting that basically you have at least four interviews the FBI conducted with the woman, a memo, no handwritten notes, reflecting that such an interview is included on the DOJ site. Now, the first legal question is whether the Trump DOJ is breaking the law hiding these files. The second would be whether this material is credible. It is hard, if not impossible to assess that in any way without access to it. Now, there is no governmental finding of wrongdoing here, let alone a past charge or indictment. But the story matters. Even if you stipulate that maybe the underlying material led to nothing or was not deemed credible, why hide it? And whatever its credibility, if it doesn't meet the narrow exceptions that Congress wrote, this could be the Trump DOJ breaking the law. Now then we get to what Congress thinks because they wrote this bill quite recently about what's happening here. Here's a top Democrat from the key Oversight committee. It appears that the DOJ is withholding critical documents as it relates to a survivor who made allegations about President Trump when she was a minor. I went to the DOJ file search room yesterday to look for these documents that are in the manifest document and they should be in there and they're not there. That's one lawmaker saying they should be in there and they're not there. So again, just to the missing files, you have that issue. There have been many twists and turns in this story. This is a brand new one. And Democrats pushing for this probe, a real investigation into the missing documents from the House could definitely gain traction. These Epstein problems have taken on certainly a life of their own, even as Trump and other powerful people tried to stop the story or stem these very document releases. I want you to know exactly what the White House is saying. Quote, just as President Trump has said, he's been totally exonerated on anything related to Epstein. He's done more for Epstein's victims than anyone before him, says the White House in direct response to this story. And the DOJ states, nothing has been deleted. All responsive documents have been produced. In other words, their version of the Word responsive means they are asserting that they don't think this violates the law for returning all responsive documents except for those that have special carve outs. I want to bring in Molly Zhang, Fast from the New York Times, msnow analyst and the host of the Fast Politics podcast. This is quite a significant development. It also tracks with what so many people questioned. Would you ever really get all the files? What do you see in this story?
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Molly Zhang
So I want to point out that even just with the redactions, and I've talked to two different members of Congress, Moscow and Garcia, who's ranking on oversight, who you showed before, and both of them talked about going to a DOJ and finding files that were redacted already, with the redactions already in the files. And so they could not be unredacted by the people working there, which in itself is breaking the law because the law said that they had to specify what the redactions were for. So already you've seen this DOJ not acting in good faith. Now, the larger question is they were able to look at the files, look at the file numbers and see that There were missing 302 forms, missing interviews and that these forms may. And then they had all these survivors. I mean, that's the thing, is that you see that Garcia and Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie are constantly meeting with these survivors. So these survivors have evidence that they, that they would identify, tell the number of it, you know, or tell when it was. And then these members would go to the DOJ and look up the files and find they were missing.
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Ari Melber
When you talk to people in law enforcement, they sometimes emphasize that things which look like a lead was dropped ultimately involve a lot more nuance or complexity. This is a case, and we've reported this extensively, where there have been documented failures by the DOJ to pursue this aggressively. That's one truth. There are also cases that naturally kind of ran out of steam. And I say that in all fairness so people understand what we're looking at. Reportedly the same NPR article. No. That the DOJ withheld and removed some Epstein files. Bad. But quote, elsewhere in the release Epstein files, there was an FBI official writing at the time that Trump's name was in the larger case files. One identified victim claimed abuse by Trump but ultimately refused to cooperate. That is what we would call credible or contemporaneous evidence that in some cases the FBI was looking at things and trying to talk to people and they got no further. Where does that fit into the sort of the Trump cover up instinct which Is if that were the only case and it clears you and there wasn't collaboration, cooperation, then what are you so scared of? Or is it that there's examples of that and perhaps other examples?
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Molly Zhang
Right? And we know there are tons of examples. Some like a tip sheet is not gonna be high quality evidence. Something like a 302 interview is gonna be high quality evidence. But the thing is, the sheer volume of forms and also the sheer volume of evidence and the. At many, many, many different points over the last couple decades, remember, these women have been failed by different administrations, liberal and conservative, right. With the Trump administration and the Biden administration. But the overriding thing is that the FBI at every point has sort of, you know, they stopped the investigations again and again and again. And that's how this went on for so long. And that's how this is like, likely one of the largest sex trafficking scandals in American history.
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Ari Melber
What do you think the White House and people around Trump have on their mind with a story that when they fought disclosure and lost, they released it piecemeal and then said, okay, they argue they've released more than the last Democratic administration. And yet here they are going to a big speech tonight, and this is the main event. What do you think their view is of this story they can't control?
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Molly Zhang
Well, I think Trump world thought they could outrun it because Trump has outrun scandals before. But the problem is when you see, when you look over at the, across the Atlantic at the UK and you see that two different, very powerful men have been called in for questioning, and then you see that different, you know, Norway, you know, all these different countries, you're seeing accountability, and you really see France opened a huge investigation. And I just don't know that this administration, which has people like Howard Lutnick, who said he hadn't had any, you know, to do anything to do with him, and then CBS reported that they had signed an LLC together. I mean, when you see things like that, I'm just not sure that this administration can outrun it. And remember, there are, you know, at least Todd Blanche said there are at least 1,000 victims. I mean, that is a lot of women.
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Ari Melber
Yeah. Molly Zhang. Fass and children. Yeah, well, and minors, to your point. Allegedly in some cases and proven in others. Molly Zhang, fast, thank you very much. There are Supreme Court justices who just told Donald Trump he's powerless to do these tariffs alone. And they're expected to attend tonight. The Supreme Court struck down Donald Trump's tariffs. Justices, you've done something truly historic. You've made people go woo hoo about tariffs. Woo hoo. And the boycotts and rallies. We have more on that part of the story tonight. Plus, Klobuchar Bashir, big Democratic power players on the big night next. If politics, like life, is about timing, Donald Trump came up short. He heads into his biggest government speech of the year tonight, fresh off the Supreme Court striking down his tariffs. That was the news riding into the weekend. Because he didn't have the authority, Trump powerless to do permanent tariffs, long term tariffs without Congress. It's a major loss for someone who remember ran on the economy above all that he would fix what he called the Biden Harris economy and the high prices in 24. One of the most outspoken Democrats on this issue, which now has, of course, the force of law in the Constitution reiterated by the Supreme Court on their side is Senator Klobuchar.
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Amy Klobuchar
These tariffs that he imposed were reckless and they were against the law. That statue he used doesn't even mention the word tariff. And he has created the chaos now, the chaos before the chaos we're about to see.
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Ari Melber
Klobuchar also invoking her role in the chamber tonight to invite a brewery operator as her guest who is one of the individuals who feels hurt by the way these tariffs actually affect Americans. She also recently launched her campaign for governor of Minnesota. Joining us now is Senator Klobuchar. Welcome. Hello. Welcome. You know, I gotta get one question out of the way.
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Amy Klobuchar
Okay. Okay.
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Ari Melber
Did you invite this brewery operator? Cause you might need a drink tonight.
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Amy Klobuchar
Well, we do have this dinner ahead of time, which is attended by a bunch of senators from left to right. So I think I'll have him sampling the beer there to see how that is. And he is incredibly great person. He's got nine employees, small brewery on the North Dakota border, Moorhead, Minnesota, not too far from Canada. So he suffered from the lack of Canadian tourists coming in because of all the rhetoric from the Trump administration on the 51st date. But also, of course, these tariffs. And when you're a small business, you're like roadkill. You don't have the reserves that a big corporation would have. It also is not exactly on his bingo card that he was going to the State of the Union. So he's a fun guy, a little different than some of the guests. And I am really excited to have him meet some of the senators and be there today.
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Ari Melber
Yeah, I mean, it's a nice tradition and one that's sort of melding policy and the human side of all this. When you look at where tariffs landed, how much of this cost on the American people, both the small business owners you mentioned and consumers, how much of this cost from these Trump policies could have been avoided? And where do we go from here?
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Amy Klobuchar
Well, this is unbelievable to me. And I will say that as a member of the leadership, I'm gonna be sitting right behind the Supreme Court. So it's gonna be very unclear if when Trump look down with vengeance, he's going to be looking at us or the Supreme Court. And I will say that I think that the cost of this, and the court acknowledged this, their opinion was mostly on the legality of this, the misuse of this statue, which Trump, I believe that his team knew from the very beginning. It doesn't even mention the word tariff. I was at the argument. It was pretty obvious to me, but they just kept doing it. So the cost mounted over time. Average American family last year, according to the Yale lab, spent about seventeen hundred dollars. They didn't need to spend on this. That's cost. I mentioned the small businesses. It's dried up markets of farmers. One of my soybean farmers called it a perfect storm of ugly, between higher input costs for things like fertilizer and machinery, and then, of course, drying up their market to half of what it was.
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Ari Melber
Yeah. When you look at the nation that Trump addresses tonight, all the data we have, I already went through it earlier in the show, shows a disapproval and rejection not just of his overall second term, but specific issues, economy and immigration, where we all go back to the end of the campaign. For whatever reason, he was higher on those issues, sort of in theory rather than in governance. Where does that leave your opposition party? In looking at a nation that soured on Trump when he still has three
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Amy Klobuchar
years left, the American people have seen with their own eyes, they're not going to listen to his lies anymore. They know what the state of the union is for them. And while we will hear the words out of his mouth, we will hear him boasting about himself. We'll see the rubber stamp Republicans on the other side standing for everything he says. Out there in the galleries and out there, our home, are going to be Americans. Some of them Republicans, some independents, but a lot of Democrats as well, who seen nothing but bad. They've seen their costs go up. They've seen the chaos of this. A recent national poll showed that 62% of them see that he is using government to enrich himself. So while he is hawking products on Truth, Social and on other media platforms to enrich himself, to sell things, they are seeing their grocery Costs go up. They're seeing housing first time home buyers, homes out of reach. They're seeing what's happening with their health care costs, insurance. And he won't even extend the health care tax credits to help people, the majority of whom are in red states with their affordable care tax plans. He won't do it. Costs keeps going up, chaos keeps going up, and corruption is up. The American people know it. And the guests that we all invited, whether it was Sen. Schumer's guests, victim of Epstein and the refusal of the Trump administration to release all those files and to take out the redactions, or whether it is a person who depends on health care and has seen their health care premiums double and triple, or my guy who is a brewer, apolitical. We are bringing guests that really do understand the state of the Union.
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Ari Melber
And finally, we're hearing reports that could go over 90 minutes, close to two hours. At what point does this constitutional exercise become its own version of a filibuster?
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Amy Klobuchar
We will see what he does. I am just my goal is to be ready to stay awake through the whole thing. I always do. My goal is to be there because some of my friends have decided to not go. Totally get that. But a number of us believe that, you know, if he's going to come to our house, to the Congress, then we got to be there. If he's going to go after my state, which he well could after he sent 3,000 ICE agents, two innocent citizens, Renee Goode and Alex Preddy, killed. If he's gonna go after my state and explain why he, which I'd love him to do, dragged an elder Hmong man out of his home with nothing but his underwear on and threw him in a car and realized they had the wrong guy. I want to be there, as do the House members in my state. We want to be there, the Democrats, to stare them down and tell them we are here and you're in our House.
- [30:38]
Ari Melber
Well, as you know, Senator, that's something we've heard different approaches from within the party or on the center left and liberals and really interesting, especially given the role that your state and your citizens have played. Your perspective on that tonight, and we'll be watching. Senator Klobuchar, thank you for joining us here going into the busy evening. Appreciate it. Absolutely. We're gearing up, of course, for the State of the Union, there's a string of losses. We turned to someone who was winning in a red state even alongside Trump. The lessons he has for the entire Democratic Party in the opposition just mentioned Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. Next.
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- [32:53]
Ari Melber
You know what it is. If you're watching the news, you know what tonight is. President Trump gives the first State of the Union since returning to office officially. And so, big picture, why are we doing this tonight? Well, you probably know the answer, but I'll remind you officially, the Constitution mandates that from time to time, the president will present to Congress information on the State of the Union, along with the measures they judge necessary, expedient, and so on. This is one constitutional requirement President Trump has apparently no problem following. And maybe that's because the modern version of this requirement comes with a giant stage and a pretty mandated national TV audience. As I mentioned earlier tonight, whether people watch it live in full, or parts or clips, or get the memes the next day on the Internet, America sees the president in this format. It's one of the most recognizable formats, and most channels, of course, also carry it live and uninterrupted. Trump, though, comes to this stage in a weakened position. Cracks in his coalition, concern about the economy, majorities against immigration. Democrats have been capitalizing on that in the few elections we had in the off year. But if you go on and look at the broader pattern, because there have been times and places where Trump is clearly still can do well. A prominent Democrat who's seen success in red Kentucky is Governor Andy Beshear. He won a state attorney general's race even in the same cycle when Trump had his shockwave 2016 election. Then two wins in the governor's race. He's pushed back on Trump policies from immigration to tariffs. He's also sued the administration, using state powers to challenge the way they approach school funding and food assistance and housing. And yet he does it all with what you might call a version of Kentucky nice or at least Kentucky cash. Governor Beshear is known as a straightforward, plain spoken leader, chair of the Democratic Governors Association. You can correct me if I've overstepped on any of that personality matrix. Welcome.
- [35:01]
Andy Beshear
Oh, thanks for having me. What an introduction. And who knew the president could follow any part of the Constitution, Right?
- [35:08]
Ari Melber
Well, I want to give you the floor we talked about. This is one of those nights we will give the president the floor on this channel. I want to give you the floor tonight as I did to the senator. What is your party saying to the country tonight?
- [35:20]
Andy Beshear
Well, what the White House is saying we'll see tonight is a reset, but what I think we'll get is a rerun, despite the fact that the country desperately needs a reboot. I was in Davos watching the president on a world stage. And what did he do? He aired grievances and attacked people in the room.
- [35:38]
Ari Melber
Room.
- [35:39]
Andy Beshear
I watched parts of the National Prayer Breakfast where what did the president do? He aired his grievances and attacked some people in the room. Why should we expect anything less than that tonight? But I tell you what, he's going to say some things tonight that the American people say, oh, no, that's not what we're feeling. He's going to get up and say something like he won affordability when many Americans would say they're treading water or drowning. He'll get up and say he's going to run on health care. I say bring it on because the big ugly bill is already starting to devastate rural healthcare. We just lost another birthing center where now people are going to have to drive an hour and a half or more just to see a doctor. He's going to show tonight how out of touch he is with the American people. And I think you asked soon to be Governor Klobuchar about the length of the speech. If he goes two plus hours, he certainly doesn't know the American people.
- [36:34]
Ari Melber
Right. And that sort of fits into the presentation style that he has. You mentioned fact checking or rebutting his claim that he wanted affordability. I already showed earlier in the program the data that the public doesn't think that that's in places red, blue, and in between. But here he was on that point. I have to listen to the fake news talking about affordability. Affordability. Do you notice what word have you not heard over the last two weeks? Affordability. Because I've won. I've won affordability.
- [37:11]
Al Sharpton
America is back.
- [37:12]
Ari Melber
Our economy is roaring and our country is respected again.
- [37:16]
Al Sharpton
Respected like never ever before.
- [37:21]
Ari Melber
Governor, your response?
- [37:24]
Andy Beshear
My response is if he doesn't want to listen to the news, listen to the American people. But the reason he won't do that is because they would say, stop taxing us. Tariffs are a tax on the American people. We or our businesses have paid 90% of all those billions of dollars that he brags about. The reason things are getting more expensive is Donald Trump. The reason everything that costs more, from groceries to throughout our economy is Donald Trump. And now the Supreme Court has said not only did he raise prices, not only did he tax the American people, he did it unlawfully. And you know what? He owes us all a check.
- [38:01]
Ari Melber
Hmm. When you look at the evolution in your state, have you seen any specific changes that are generalizable to Democrats? I mentioned that you came up in a year where he was surging, particularly in states like yours. And his appeal, as we know, has ebb and flow. Does anything change? Do people still believe the promises of this leader? And how do you think Democrats can address it?
- [38:27]
Andy Beshear
Oh, I think people are seeing the chaos and the harm that he's causing. I mean, I look at what the big ugly bill is going to do in Kentucky. It threatens to close 35 rural hospitals, fire 20,000 healthcare workers. Each of those hospitals is the largest payroll in their community. So in that part of rural Kentucky, if the hospital closes, so does the restaurant, the coffee shop, the bank, the insurance company, you name it.
- [38:54]
Ari Melber
What.
- [38:54]
Andy Beshear
What's already starting to hit and coming more is, is just a punch in the face of rural America. You want to see what that looks like, talk to our soybean farmers. We have soybeans that are rotting in bins in some places. They're. They burning them with markets that may be lost forever because of this president's tariff policy. You just look at the fact that I had two Republican State senators get up on the floor of the Senate about two weeks ago and say this president's immigration policies and tactics have gone too far. See, I think the American people aren't as partisan as we think. I just walked out of an interfaith dinner with people from all different faiths in a Christian church during Ramadan, all celebrating together. I think the American people want to like their neighbor, not believe they're the enemy from within.
- [39:46]
Ari Melber
You know, I didn't have Ramadan church observance in my bingo card tonight from you. I got one minute left. There was a big story in Washington. Democrats in the House concerned about the Trump DOJ still hiding Epstein documents. Do you view that as something that still needs more oversight or out in the country, do you think people are more focused on other things heading into the midterms? How do you look at that from your vantage point point?
- [40:11]
Andy Beshear
Well, at this point, I'm convinced this administration is intentionally hiding something. Why? Because they've done it over and over and over. Our Congress passed a law saying they must turn over these documents and this president is not above that law. But at the same time, we cannot take our eye off the fact that the American people are struggling. We need to be working to create jobs with better wages, to bring prices down, and to fight to preserve rural and urban health care.
- [40:40]
Ari Melber
Yeah, no, and I kind of hear what you're saying there, especially as the party's got to balance a lot and we have a president who, I mean, we just saw the Supreme Court, we spent a year as a nation dealing with these tariffs. Turns out they're illegal. And so there's a lot on the plate of how much do you respond and what else are you leading on giving us some of your time on this busy night is appreciated, Governor Bashir. Thank you, sir.
- [41:02]
Andy Beshear
Thank you.
- [41:03]
Ari Melber
Absolutely. We're going to fit in a break. When we come back, big State of the Union night. Rachel is just around the corner and we are going to show you in the the 10 minutes or so until you get Rachel and the team what late night is saying about Trump's troubles lately. We've been the trusted experts since 1960 because nobody knows tires better than we do. And with over 90 tire brands, we have an abundance of options in stock for your vehicle. Buy and drive today@discounttire.com let's get you taken care of. Dear McDonald's, your breakfast menu fire tens across the board.
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- [42:05]
Ari Melber
Sling is the live TV service that puts you in charge. Choose your plan. Orange for sports and entertainment favorites, blue for news and reality or select for the essentials. Only pay for the stuff you actually watch and pause your subscription anytime. Because paying for TV or not watching, that's just rude. No long term contracts, no nonsense. Pick your plan, add what you want. Sling lets you do that. Visit Sling to learn more. One of Donald Trump's challenges in tonight's address are the way that his tariffs have been narrowed by the Supreme Court and the fallout continues. This is a real world thing. A giant company, FedEx, formally demanding the US government give a full refund of all of the tariffs it had to pay to other companies also filing lawsuits. This is not just another thing. Trump can wish away with big talk. He has to deal with the economic pain. And what are blue chip companies saying? Hey, these were illegal tariffs. Pay us back now. Trump is pushing new temp tariffs today. They're temporary because he doesn't have the power to do the old version. They're also expected to get into all kinds of court trouble given that the Supreme Court just said his unilateral powers are limited here. Late night comics having fun with it. This was Donald Trump's most humiliating legal defeat yet.
- [43:29]
Andy Beshear
Somebody finally had the balls to say were illegal.
- [43:33]
Ari Melber
Trump doesn't give refunds. I mean if he gives a, he gives a refund. It's like when Rumpelstiltskin says his own name. He shrivels up. He disappears. Trump won after the majority justices calling them fools and lapdogs for the Rhinos and radical left Democrats who have been swayed by foreign interests. Yes, and Trump has been very clear he will not be swayed by foreign interests.
- [43:54]
Andy Beshear
Only by foreign golden plain foreign golden crown and foreign golden FIFA Peace price.
- [44:03]
Ari Melber
The word is getting out. Not all that glitters is gold now. I told you. Rachel is just minutes away on this big night. We have our full team coverage for the hours going into this thing. You can see there we're all going to be there together. Rachel takes over right after this break. Stay with us. President Trump gives the State of the Union tonight. We are just about two hours away but we have a lot of business to do together. We are going to share this moment in our history tonight. Rachel Maddow kicking things off in under a minute. And you can see we will all be there with her. And we'll hear from Pete Buttigieg, former transportation secretary one time, of course, presidential candidate California Governor Gavin Newsom will also be here. And as we heard from some of the Democrats tonight, there is a rich discussion about how to face a president who tonight has shown weakness. We went through the polling and the numbers on that. Who's reeling from the Supreme Court ruling against him and a lot of energy around the country. So our special coverage as mentioned features Rachel Maddow, Ali Velshi, Michael Steele, Simone Sanders, Nicole Wallace, Jen Psaki, Lawrence o'. Donnell. I don't have time to name them all, but you will see them all if you stick with us starting now and through the next several hours right here on Ms. Now try angel stuff for your tushy. It's made by angels. Soft and strong.
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Molly Zhang
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Ari Melber
The choice is up. Pick up a pack today.
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Molly Zhang
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