SCOTUS Narrows How Courts Can Hold Trump Accountable

0:00Juanita Tolliver:Most ice cream is good, but not Jenny's. Jenny's ice cream is more like an obsession. What you get from over two decades of tasting and tweaking and throwing it out and starting over, chasing flavors until they feel alive. That might sound crazy, and that's because it is. Jenny's. Often imitated, never duplicated, always splendid. Stop and look at your walls. Does anything there actually inspire you? Original art has the power to transform not only how a space looks, but how it feels. And that's why for the past 16 years, Saatchi Art has helped people find art that reflects who they are. Join buyers from around the world who have found art they love living with.

0:44Juanita Tolliver:Shop Saatchi Arts Anniversary Sale through September 8th and get up to 15 % off original art. That's SaatchiArt.com. S-A-A-T-C-H-I-Art.com. Welcome to The Beat. I'm Ari Melber. Later this hour, we have the latest reporting on the horrific flooding tragedy in Texas. Just a terrible scene down there. We have the latest numbers. There's also new tariff threats from President Trump that are upsetting the markets, stoking talk of inflation. By the end of the hour, we will hear from the great author Ta-Nehisi Coates, as we always try to go deeper and broaden out over the course of our news program. We begin tonight with Donald Trump abusing executive power, some of it blatantly admitting it, other times doing it in ways that take critical scrutiny, reporting, investigative journalism to pull apart and make sense of what's happening.

1:35And some of these are stories that have echoes, they have a mood of repetition, but that's part of the problem. Not a government doing something once and getting dialed back or making a mistake, but rather what has accrued into a pattern. And while any serious journalist, all the journalists we studied under over the years, say that you don't try to make journalism the story, you don't try to make the act of reporting the story, when the government cracks down on it, as we've seen in many countries, from Russia to Hungary, well, you don't ignore it either. Journalists and First Amendment experts advocate across the political spectrum, to the extent that lawyers have this spectrum, and journalists, many of whom are completely nonpartisan in their careers, are united right now, starting this week, with concern, criticism, and some outright sounding serious alarms about it happening here.

2:28That what Trump once mused about or only tweeted about in the first term is now part of our lived reality in the autocratic crackdown against free speech, the free speech of journalists to report, unfettered both by government interference and by something that also can amount to censorship. Government pressure on other entities, including the capitalist corporate structure, to constrain, censor, or change the journalism that the public uses and needs to govern itself. I am talking, of course, about this highly unusual and costly settlement where money is basically going from the CBS company, its parent company, Paramount, towards Donald Trump and his interests.

3:12Paramount is now paying$16 million towards basically places that Trump wants, in this case, the presidential library, not directly into his pocket, but also reimbursing him and his organization's campaign, et cetera, for any legal fees accrued in their choice to sue 60 Minutes for something that is in the strike zone of journalism. Its efforts to report in the presidential campaign and to interview and quote both sides, which CBS, like many other outlets, endeavors to do every campaign year. They're also going to release the transcripts of their interviews with presidential candidates in the future.

3:51Not a big part of the settlement there, but Donald Trump made a claim that has not been proven in court. He never won this case outright, and it was considered far-fetched by First Amendment advocates, lawyers, experts. He basically said that the way the Kamala Harris interview aired was an affront of damage to him to such a degree that he wanted to take them to court. Legal scholars saw no case there. And if you want background, CBS has been sued by all sorts of important people before. They usually fight these cases, especially when the claim is weak. But the other thing going on is that its parent company, I should say, a bit of a tongue twister, its parent company Paramount has a lot on the line.

4:32because right now they need the Trump administration's approval for what they want to do that matters a lot more to them, apparently, than some news interviews for a big multi-billion dollar merger. And that was now seen by Trump as a kind of prerequisite for getting the approval. The pressure intensified because Trump threatened Paramount with another defamation lawsuit on a different 60 Minutes report. In this settlement, he will also stand down on that particular threat. Although keep in mind, as we've seen in other countries, If the government can do this kind of thing and be rewarded for it, get away with it, what's to stop Trump from picking another current or future CBS report that he threatens to sue over?

5:13It's not as if CBS or any honest news organization can just stop covering the president of the United States. Now, journalists far and wide are condemning this development. I say it may have echoes because Trump has sued multiple press outlets. Others have settled in other scenarios. And this one had been leaking out. We reported on some aspects of this, for example, last week. But take the icon of CBS News, long time CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather, who says this today is a sad day for journalism, a distortion by the president kneeling down and saying, yes, sir, by the billionaire corporate owners.

5:46He's speaking of the people who now run CBS where he worked for so long. And he goes on to say, as you see here, quote, it was a sellout to extortion by the president. Current CBS journalists also condemn what's happening in their workplace. The Paramount Settlement poses a new obstacle. Can you hold power to account after paying it millions? Can an audience trust you when it thinks you've traded away that trust? The audience will decide that. Our job is to show up to honor what we witness on behalf of the people we witness it for. Trump finding new ways to basically not violate the actual First Amendment.

6:29For example, you're not seeing the government here passing a law to say you can't run the interview with his opponent that he didn't like. But he is, according to many, undercutting the spirit, the tradition, and quite possibly other laws, depending on if you believe the critics who, as all reports, say this was a shakedown. There are also letters now to tech companies where his attorney general says they can go ahead and just violate the statute that does bar companies from working here on TikTok because Trump says so. Legal experts say it's a power grab. Presidents, of course, have some discretion about enforcement priorities, but they have never admitted to or been allowed to simply pick laws out that they don't want to follow.

7:12There is also the wider effort to undercut the courts to test how far they can go in defying or delaying or not really following court orders. And amazingly, the Supreme Court recently has helped the executive. They didn't do that during the Biden era, but now that Trump has been in charge here in office for over 100 days, the Supreme Court agreed with Trump's request to have other judges back off pausing or freezing even executive actions that are deemed likely illegal, that were likely to later be frozen or overturned by the high court. An ABC News report says the court's ruling this term disproportionately advantaged Trump, which makes it easier for these assorted abuses of power, some allegedly illegal, if you believe that it's extortion, if there is evidence of that, some skirting the law, and some technically lawful, but against all long-term bipartisan traditions, including conservative traditions, about why you don't want the government in charge of the press or the tech companies or the free markets telling you what you're going to learn, what you're allowed to read or see on TV or the internet, what may be happening in the world.

8:23There is a reason why across the world autocrats have always gone after the press early in efforts to ultimately curtail democracy itself. With these alerts in mind, I want to bring in the Atlantic staff writer Mark Leibovitch and Democratic political strategist Juanita Tolliver. Welcome to both of you, Mark. The CBS story has been going for a while. It's now hit this crescendo. and I haven't heard anyone involved in journalism or facts defend it, say it's on the level. There seems to be agreement in the factual community that this was an ugly, sordid deal, even if, as I carefully point out, it may not be itself a crime.

9:04Well, you're not going to find any defense from me. I mean, I certainly, I mean, I think everyone in this business, certainly on the news side of the operation, finds it quite chilling, not just for this case in particular, but what it bodes well, what it bodes for the future as far as what Donald Trump is willing to do to basically harass news organizations. But I think even more so what the parent companies of news organizations are willing to cave into. I mean, I think, to be honest, I mean, there's always going to be some tension between the corporate parents of journalism. I mean, journalists are going to push in one way.

9:39I think a more corporate interest will maybe push in the other direction, but that's sort of part of the journalism that we operate in. This is something that basically the parent company of CBS here, Paramount, and just in advance of this merger, is looking to sort of usurp the journalistic interest of CBS, specifically 60 Minutes, and try to just sort of muddy the waters and make it harder for their journalists to do journalism going forward. I mean, I can't think of a worse result. I mean, I certainly associate myself with Dan Rather and every other journalist who condense this. Juanita?

10:15Juanita Tolliver:I keep going back to a statement that Bill Owens, the outgoing longtime executive producer of 60 Minutes, made back in April when he resigned, emphasizing how 60 Minutes lost independence through their parent company, through these threats from Donald Trump. And it just highlights the impact because, Ari, you're right. Technically, Donald Trump has not violated the First Amendment. However, it is going to have an impact on editorial decisions, stories chosen, how they're delivered to audiences. And not just by CBS. I think back to the settlement that ABC made with Donald Trump in their lawsuit.

10:52Juanita Tolliver:And so it just it just comes back to this reality of taking yet another step towards this type of control, because Donald Trump is now in a positive momentum building posture in terms of threats. What threats are going to come next? What cooling effect will we witness? How will stories be told going forward? These are all questions that hopefully journalists continue to stand up and maintain the journalistic integrity and ethics associated with the work because the audience is the public, not the president. Yeah, and you remember, you're referencing, and people may remember that moment with Mr.

11:29Owens, who was the journalist and the executive producer in charge of 60 Minutes. Whatever they saw writing on the wall, whatever pressures were brought to bear, they were dealing with it first before we got to today's settlement. Exactly. Which led to something. Yeah. Which led to something very dramatic. You referenced it. I want to play when Scott Pelley, who's this sort of a measured, constrained, nonpartisan figure on the old guard of nightly news, as there ever is, said, you know, enough, basta. And spoke out for the aforementioned Mr. Owens. Let's take a look back at that moment on 60 Minutes.

12:08Our parent company, Paramount, is trying to complete a merger. The Trump administration must approve it. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways. None of our stories has been blocked, but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires. Mark? I mean, look, I mean, what I find really upsetting here, frankly, is, you know, Donald Trump is going to do what Donald Trump does. I mean, everything he's done here is basically in the zone of the way he behaves around journalists, around journalism in general. What we rely on as journalists is for our parent companies, our editors to back us, to have our backs.

12:56I mean, we want to work for companies that fight, fight for this principle, fight for our independence, fight for the stories we want to write. And that's what didn't happen here. So, I mean, I guess, I mean, yeah, I mean, it'd be nice if Donald Trump showed a little bit more deference to the traditions and the norms and the independence of journalists in general. But, you know, I'm much more upset about Paramount here. And I know why they did it. It's obviously a corporate interest of theirs. But you don't have to like it. And I can't imagine what it's like to work for CBS under these circumstances.

13:29And I hope I never have to. Yeah, straight up. I want to bring in another topic that relates to, again, on these downstream effects from this administration. Some things will take a lot longer. And if we're fair in journalism, we've just been talking about journalism. We tell people, here's the risk or here's why this policy is criticized. But it could be years before you see how the big new bill kicks off how many people on health care. and we'll track the numbers. Other indicators are coming in fast. I want to show something really striking that's part of our first block of the hour, top story, because measles in the U.S.

14:04is now hit already a 33-year high, 1 ,200 confirmed cases. This is now across most states in the country. There have been over 150 hospitalizations. Measles was all but officially eliminated in 2000 according to prior CDC accounts of what was a very simple, workable solution, the effective vaccines. Now, as this disease surges amidst, of course, the post-COVID vaccine skepticism in the country, the HHS secretary chosen by Donald Trump, RFK Jr., is saying this. If I walk down the street, I have every block, I have moms coming up and saying thank you. There's been this deliberate information chaos.

14:50So we're going to change all that and we're going to make it so that people can do studies, that they can do gold standard science. Juanita, it seems clear this is the result of what became a very kind of broad ranging vaccine debate about the COVID vaccine that spread skepticism against other long running vaccines. One of the things we first heard about COVID was, hey, it's new. How does this work? That's not the case with measles. And RFK appears to think this is not a problem. Your thoughts?

15:24Juanita Tolliver:I mean, it's really hard to believe anything he's saying. One, about strangers coming to thank him for these policies that lead to a 30-year spike in measles and outbreaks across the country. But also, too, in that same interview, Ari, he went on to say that we're going to start conducting real science. And I'm thoroughly confused about what he means by that, especially when this administration has been cutting research dollars to universities, public health institutions, including the NIH. And Robert Kennedy Jr. has been slashing staff. So I'm thoroughly confused about what positive impact he hopes to make or endeavors to make with that being the reality we're facing.

16:02Juanita Tolliver:When something like measles, which was eradicated 25 years ago, is surging again in this moment, it just presents the reality that with him in that role, with this Trump administration, the public is less safe in terms of our health and well-being. Yeah, and it's happening now. These are not hypotheticals. I want to turn to the other big thing that if someone would have told you a month ago, not only were Trump and Musk going to have a fallout, but Musk was going to potentially plow his considerable fortune into complicating the life of Donald Trump and the Republicans. This is something if it happens.

16:38So Mark Juanita, I want to ask you about the other big news driving this week. Elon Musk says he's really going to fund a third party against the GOP. We're going to get into that in 90 seconds.

16:54Elon Musk going after Trump and the Republicans in a way that could really matter beyond just tweeting or talking. He is vowing to now begin a new political party that would compete with the Republican Party. He says he'll call it the America Party. This Musk announcement comes amidst the break with Trump over the Republican budget, slashing subsidies, including things that Musk squanted that benefit his companies. Trump lashing out further. So the feud that had died down is back this week, saying Musk is off the rails and a train wreck. I think it's ridiculous to start a third party. Third parties have never worked.

17:29So he can have fun with it. But I think it's ridiculous. I'm back with Mark and Juanita. And Mark, we live in the world as it is and not as it might be. We were just discussing the power of some of these corporations that want to help Trump. Here is someone who has a level of wealth that can dwarf most congressional races, can meaningfully be involved in the presidential race, as he showed last time. Trump says third parties don't work. Political scientists would tell you third parties have often tipped elections, even at the national level. Do you think if he spends on it that this thing could matter or complicate the GOP's life.

18:11Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that seems to be what Elon Musk's ideal reality would be here, which is to sort of disrupt what Republicans think, you know, what they need to sort of win and continue to win the House majority and to keep the Senate. But I also think, you know, a lot of the details here are key. I mean, Elon Musk has shown consistently that he's not really much of a detail guy as far as seeing something like this through. I mean, this is going to be requiring a lot of infrastructure, someone to recruit, you know, candidates, getting people on the ballot and so forth. I mean, that's a lot of sort of nitty gritty work, which obviously he didn't seem to be too big of a fan of before.

18:50So we'll see. I mean, I see why Trump would be ambivalent about it because, I mean, he probably stands to lose more. But I also think that I'm going to have some serious doubts about Elon Musk's ability to actually execute something like this, given his relatively brief and so much tumultuous record in politics. Yeah, I mean, he's a complex figure in that way, Juanita. You can't doubt that he's had impact. He's had huge impacts in fields that he's focused on. But unlike other people that sometimes put decades into something, he has this frenetic, almost ADD style of management. And, you know, as a political yourself, I'm sure you can remind everyone, Juanita, how long term party building usually takes multiple cycles.

19:36That's even when if the Democrats are down a little bit and they're trying to fight back in Virginia or North Carolina and that's a party people are registered in here, you're asking for a whole new thing.

19:47Juanita Tolliver:Not only are you asking for a whole new thing, it goes down to a granular level of hoops that he would have to jump through at the state and local levels in terms of petitions signed by local voters, engagement that sustained. Candidates will be willing to run under his banner even. And then you bring in the entire concept of the federal election commissions and legal responsibilities and requirements and filings. I don't think he has a stomach for the long game, as Mark mentioned. But also, Ari, I got to jump back to something we talked about last time I was on with Jason Johnson when he's like, why is a billionaire able to even influence elections this way?

20:23Juanita Tolliver:It does hearken to the devastating state of our democracy at present and how much farther it stands to decline if someone like Elon Musk continues to throw around his wealth and his billions in this game when the reality is that real people's lives and well-being are on the line with every single election. Yeah, Mark, how about that? I mean, we live our lives mostly through stories, not statistics. If the story becomes enough billionaires that are overreaching and upsetting to enough people, does that catalyze some concern that Juanita mentions? That heck of a lot of people left, right and center don't think other people, whether they made a lot of money or moved here from wherever, should be running everything just because they're rich.

21:07you would think i mean i do think look i mean it's unclear how much money if any elon musk is going to put into this i mean right now his big interest or at least his big success has been to trigger donald trump i mean donald trump obviously doesn't like that he's doing this and i think elon musk probably um you know i was getting a kick out of that that that fact alone um look i think people don't like rich you know billionaires getting involved in politics but it's never stopped them before it certainly didn't stop them the last election and there's really not been an election where you can point to money and politics sort of being the main issue.

21:40I mean, yes, John McCain has, you know, that was sort of his signature when he first started running, you know, his fundraising reform bill, which was a huge issue, but it hasn't really gotten traction, certainly not since, you know, Supreme Court ruled, you know, in favor of just super PACs and the unlimited money being allowed to be spent on campaign. So, but right now, I mean, I think it's sort of a distraction. And it's also hard to imagine a serious politician running in Congressional District X on the America Party because he or she is very, very compelled by Elon Musk's vision for the future.

22:17I mean, I don't see it, but I guess it could happen in the next, you know, next year and a half sometime. Yeah. And he is different than most of these billionaires who are pulling levers. He has an actual large following. I mean, he fashions himself a type of tech celebrity and he owns these platforms where they talk about paid media. He's paid a lot to make himself allegedly popular. Whether he is or not, the social media of this is something we just saw in New York. Social media, in many ways, can have a huge impact. So, he's a little different that way. We'll have to watch it. Mark and Juanita, thanks to both of you for being here.

22:54Juanita Tolliver:Thanks, Ar. Thanks, Ar. Appreciate it. Ta-Nehisi Coates is here tonight as we look at democracy in the Trump era. Big thinker. Also, the backlash to Trump's bill now becoming law, the budget over the July 4th weekend that will slash so much health care. We're seeing the uprisings and markets jittery as Trump's bumped deadlines for the trade war come back to haunt him.

23:23Juanita Tolliver:Most ice cream is good, but not Jenny's. Jenny's ice cream is more like an obsession. What you get from over two decades of tasting and tweaking and throwing it out and starting over, chasing flavors until they feel alive. That might sound crazy, and that's because it is. Jenny's. Often imitated, never duplicated, always splendid. Stop and look at your walls. Does anything there actually inspire you? Original art has the power to transform not only how a space looks, but how it feels. And that's why for the past 16 years, Saatchi Art has helped people find art that reflects who they are. Join buyers from around the world who have found art they love living with.

24:07Juanita Tolliver:Shop Saatchi Arts Anniversary Sale through September 8th and get up to 15 % off original art. That's SaatchiArt.com. S-A-A-T-C-H-I-Art.com. If you like YouTube, you'll love YouTube Premium. It's destroying athlete, creator, and YouTube Maxer. YouTube Premium enhances how I use YouTube with awesome features like offline downloads so I can download my favorite training videos before I hit the gym. So no Wi-Fi doesn't turn leg day into loading day. Plus, I get ad-free videos, background play, and so much more. YouTube Premium is like YouTube got some extra gains. Try YouTube Premium for two months free at youtube.com slash premium.

24:45Trial eligibility varies. Terms apply. Cancel anytime.

24:53President Trump has not reached the many trade deals he vowed during starting from the start of this tariff and trade war. He backed down partially and also did some delays to buy himself time. But if you ever thought maybe over the holiday or as the summer's been going on, whatever happened to that trade war? Well, what Donald Trump started is coming due again. The Dow Jones crashing about 400 points today because there is concern that this trade war ain't over. It's just delayed. Not only that, but Trump's talking up other tariffs on 10 other countries between 25 to 40 percent. They have delayed the date that the tariffs would have taken effect to next month.