Trump Ramps Up Threats to Iran After Ceasefire

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0:34Like Dan and Hannah, who always wait up to make sure their daughter gets back to her college dorm room. Or Tiffany, who's running late as usual, and her friends are tracking her trip to make sure she's actually on her way. Look, she's right there. She's three minutes away. Or Sam, who never goes anywhere without her roommate knowing exactly where she is. Some journeys are meant to be shared. Share your ride in real time with Share My Trip on Uber. One more way Uber is putting safety at every turn. Learn more on the Uber app. Welcome to The Beat. I'm Ari Melber. We begin with the president rattled.

1:03He's been lashing out online, making more threats. Well, 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. He's 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.

1:45Reports 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. Only four ships passed through the strait in the first 24 hours of the ceasefire. The ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is already on shaky ground. 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.

2:22through. 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.

2:58You 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 U.S. uses that oil directly, it affects the overall supply and demand. The U.S. oil industry is pleading with Trump to do more, and industry consultants saying, with the tolls, 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.

3:39And it's not clear that this is good enough for the energy supply or U.S. 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. Thank you, Aron. 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.

4:18You 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?

5:04Well, probably Iran does, actually. They've got Russia and China behind them. They survived the best we could do in our air campaign. Their anti-access area denial strategy has kept the U.S. 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.

6:01including targeting assistance and Chinese imagery overhead. It was like we were fighting a pure 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.

6:42And we've got to allow ourselves without that. General, do you think we're worse off than when the war started? well in a sense we are because uh the strait war moves was open and commerce was going on and um 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 uh and uh 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 with no Iran tolls.

7:43And with regard to the explanations or justifications that both sides are offering, And here was J.D. Vance responding to the idea that the Israel-Lebanon aspect is a violation of what Iran expected. Take a look. It's Lebanon, OK? And again, I actually think that is a reasonable misunderstanding. But neither us nor the Israelis 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.

8:23I got just a minute left for you. How do you handicap that answer? You know, you had to say something. 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't have as much leverage as we would like. And we've got to do everything we can to get more leverage. And that means we've got to have patience. We've got to be prepared to go back in if necessary. We've got to be prepared to do something with the Strait of Hormuz if necessary. And I'm sorry it worked out this way. We've got great men and women in the armed forces. They did everything they could do, but we didn't bring our allies on board.

9:03We 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've got to deal with the consequences. Yeah, understood. General Wesley Clark, thank you for kicking us off here on that. A big development 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.

9:39We're back in 90 seconds.

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10:31Every single person had a story. These are the stories that make us who we are. World War II with Tom Hanks. New episode, Monday at 8. Part of History Honors 250. Only on the History Channel.

11:01Don't be nervous by losing service. TextNow's got your back. That's their sense of purpose. No matter what comes next, you've got free talk and text with the TextNow app. Download it today. Wireless plans require the purchase of a SIM card. Visit textnow.com for terms and conditions. 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.

11:43That 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.

12:20But 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, Mom Donnie, at his conference this week.

12:55Let'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.

13:34Several 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 2028 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.

13:59Candidate 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. Thank you. Let's start with Jeffries.

14:36What did you think of what he said at your convention as well as what he said there in trying to stand up to a president who's threatening, bragging about war crimes? 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.

15:22It is not something that we can tolerate in American history to normalize someone that openly flirts with war crimes, if not, in fact, engaging them so far or in the future. and that we have someone that can walk away from firing 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.

16:09Yeah, 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 walked 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 post-9-11 period and over years really lost that support. I don't think we've ever seen a U.S. attack on another country be this unpopular this quickly. I want to put up the headline here. The Senate Democrats say they're 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.

16:49It says the Democrats push precedes the effort to reign 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 percent opposition and then it was still a battle? And here we're already there. 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.

17:34And 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. You get the heavy hitters at your gathering, not just New Yorkers. They all come in. You said Kamala Harris coming in tomorrow. Kamala Harris is coming tomorrow.

18:16Senator Kelly is coming tomorrow. You used to get President Obama, right? Yes. We've done this for many cycles now. 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. You are what they used to call a power broker in this Democratic primary. And I want to play some of the big shots who were 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.

18:53He'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 him 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 you thought was making important arguments. But on the politics, Rev, who stood out to you? Who impressed you? In the policy, I think they all were on message. And I expect the same tomorrow. And I had the same on Wednesday.

19:35I 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. 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?

20:23I think that they're looking for people that can govern. Clearly, we're in a presidency now that does not show you 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 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. 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.

21:08And 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 Senate, the independence veterans say this is no good. I don't have to tell you what the left and the No Kings protests 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.

21:40How 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, clearly failed? How does he handle this adversity going into the midterms? 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 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 8 p.m. tonight and then at 6 p.m. say we're going into a ceasefire. And he's beginning to trip over his own steps.

22:20Reverend Al Sharpton in the center of it all nice to see you thanks for being here thank you for having me 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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23:17A 20-part documentary series with Tom Hanks. No part of the globe was untouched. No life unchanged. Experience the ultimate account of World War II. Every single person had a story. These are the stories that make us who we are. World War II with Tom Hanks. New episode, Monday at 8. Part of History Honors 250. Only on the History Channel. Sometimes life will get you stressed out. Lucky you can always count on TextNow Free talk, free text, free 5G And they'll never shut you off Cause like I said, it's free TextNow's got your back Nationwide, no long-term contracts But don't be nervous by losing service TextNow's got your back, that's theirs, that's a purpose No matter what comes next You've got free talk and text With the TextNow app Download it today Wireless plans require the purchase of a SIM card Visit textnow.com for terms and conditions

24:17The 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.

24:54And 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 catered as anything more than casual correspondence.

25:40and old photos with the Epsteins, 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 Pam Bondi in contempt.