Ari Naftali Melber (born March 31, 1980) is an American attorney and journalist who is the chief legal correspondent for

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

and host of ''

The Beat with Ari Melber ''The Beat with Ari Melber'' is an American news and politics program hosted by Ari Melber, who is the chief legal correspondent for the network MSNBC. It airs weekdays at 6 PM ET. Guest hosts for the series include Mehdi Hasan, Jason Johnson, ...

.'' The show premiered on July 24, 2017, and became the "longest-running" show at "MSNBC's 6 p.m. hour in network history" in 2021, beating "CNN in total viewers" and performing better against ''Fox News "''than any other show before it." In January 2021, ''The Beat'' was No. 1 at 6pm in ratings, averaging 2.6 million viewers a night and topping CNN and FOX News. In 2022, The Beat doubled CNN's ratings. According to ''Forbes'', ''The Beat''s ratings are "MSNBC's best rating ever for the time slot". In December 2022, The Beat had higher ratings than every show on MSNBC and CNN, making AdWeek's list of "most watched cable news" shows, while trailing Fox News. The show has been on the air over 5 years. ''The Beat'' was nominated for a 2020

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Outstanding Live Interview. Melber's show has become one of the most viewed shows online and the most of any MSNBC show, per the ''Daily Beast,'' and reached a billion streams, a "notable feat for a cable news program" (''Reliable Sources).'' The Beat drew 21 million monthly YouTube viewers in 2022, and is the "most streamed ''MSNBC'' show on YouTube." ''Beat'' reports are also some of the most watched MSNBC segments online. ''Columbia Journalism Review'' dubbed Melber "a remarkably effective interviewer." ''New York Times'' columnist Peter Wehner called him "an outstanding interviewer, among the best on television".

Early life and education

Melber is Jewish, the son of an Israeli immigrant. His grandparents were

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

survivors. Melber attended Garfield High School,

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, and the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

where he graduated with a BA degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

. After college, he moved to Washington, D.C. and worked for Senator

Maria Cantwell Maria Ellen Cantwell (; born October 13, 1958) is an American politician and former businesswoman serving as the junior United States senator from Washington since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the Washingto ...

. He then joined Senator

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...

's presidential campaign, working the Iowa caucus and as California deputy political director. When Kerry

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography * Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland *Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

, Melber went on to earn a J.D. degree from

Cornell Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, it offers four law degree programs, JD, LLM, MSLS and JSD, along with several dual-deg ...

, and was an editor of the ''

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy The ''Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy'' (''JLPP'') is a law review published by students at Cornell Law School, First published in July 1992, ''JLPP'' publishes articles, commentaries, book reviews, and student notes that explore the int ...

.''Jewish Business News: "Ari Melber Named MSNBC Chief Legal Correspondent"
April 19, 2015 He interned at New York County Defender Services, a

public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...

's office. Melber worked for

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

lawyer

Floyd Abrams Floyd Abrams (born in July 9, 1936) is an American attorney at Cahill Gordon & Reindel. He is an expert on constitutional law and has argued in 13 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. Abrams represented ''The New York Times'' ...

Cahill Gordon & Reindel Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP (founded 1919) is a New York-based international law firm with offices in New York, Washington, D.C. and London. The firm is prominent in the practice areas of capital markets and banking & finance. History Cahill ...

from 2009 to 2013. He also began writing for news outlets like ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'', ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', ''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was est ...

'', and ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

''. MSNBC took note and asked him to serve as a guest host. In April 2015, Melber was named their chief legal correspondent.

Media career

2015–2018

Melber is a legal analyst for

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's v ...

as well as MSNBC's chief legal correspondent, covering the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice ...

(FBI) and the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. He has won an

for his Supreme Court coverage. Melber reported that the firing of FBI Director

James Comey James Brien Comey Jr. (; born December 14, 1960) is an American lawyer who was the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 until his dismissal in May 2017. Comey was a registered Republican for most of his adul ...

could trigger an investigation into

obstruction of justice Obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, is an act that involves unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investigators, or other gov ...

on May 9, 2017 - the day Comey was fired - quoting a former FBI official who told him the firing raised potential obstruction. A probe was announced on May 18, 2017, which included an obstruction investigation. Melber reported President Trump's actions toward Ukraine provided a potential case of impeachment for "bribery" in October. The next month, top Democrats began making the bribery case for the first time, showing "Democrats agreed with the MSNBC host," according to ''Mediaite.'' Republican Congressman Ratcliffe also cited a bribery segment from ''The Beat'' during an impeachment hearing. A few months into the

Mueller probe The Mueller special counsel investigation was an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, links between associates of Donald Trump and Russian officials, and possible obstruction of justice by Trump and his ...

, on August 29, 2017, Melber broke the story that a state investigator was exploring jurisdiction to charge potential defendants in the Mueller probe with state crimes, meaning a conviction would not be eligible for a presidential

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

. Politico followed up on the report the next day, and New York State prosecutors ultimately did file separate charges against

Paul Manafort Paul John Manafort Jr. (; born April 1, 1949) is an American lobbyist, political consultant, and Lawyer, attorney. A long-time Republican Party (United States), Republican Party campaign consultant, he chaired the Donald Trump 2016 presidential ...

in March 2019.

2019

Melber interviewed former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in Feb. 2019 about whether Trump asked him to interfere in the Mueller probe, and Melber later reported that Lewandowski's response was false. In a 2019 congressional hearing, Lewandowski was questioned about that false answer. Melber broke the story of police repeatedly tasing a Virginia man until he died in police custody, an investigative report that led to an FBI investigation of the officers' conduct. On the night of the 2018 midterm elections, Melber broke a story that Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee "intend to request President Trump's tax returns." In April 2019,

United States House Committee on Ways and Means The Committee on Ways and Means is the chief tax-writing committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee has jurisdiction over all taxation, tariffs, and other revenue-raising measures, as well as a number of other progra ...

Chairman

Richard Neal Richard Edmund Neal (born February 14, 1949) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 1989. The district, numbered as the 2nd district from 1989 to 2013, includes Springfield, West Springfield, Pittsfield, H ...

carried out that plan. ''The Beat with Ari Melber'' has featured newsworthy interviews, such as Sheriff

Joe Arpaio Joseph Michael Arpaio (; born June 14, 1932) is an American former law enforcement officer and politician. He served as the 36th Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona for 24 years, from 1993 to 2017, losing reelection to Democrat Paul Penzone i ...

, who talked to Melber after receiving the first pardon of Donald Trump's administration; Eric Holder, Kamala Harris, Trump attorney Jay Sekulow, Dave Chappelle, Meek Mill, Ken Starr, and a range of witnesses in the Mueller probe, including Steve Bannon, whose ''The Beat'' interview was his first ever appearance on MSNBC. Melber has drawn attention for his interviewing skills. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Live Interview" for interviewing four key witnesses in the Mueller probe at once. In November 2019, Columbia Journalism Review stated Melber is "a remarkably effective interviewer", adding "his veins appear to contain ice water; he betrays no emotion at all" during intense exchanges. ''The New York Times'' columnist Peter Wehner, a former White House official in GOP administrations, said in February 2019, "Melber is an outstanding interviewer, among the best on television." Director

Lee Daniels Lee Daniels (born December 24, 1959) is an American film and television producer, director and screenwriter. His first producer credit was ''Monster's Ball'' (2001), for which Halle Berry won the Academy Award for Best Actress, making Daniels ...

got emotional in a 2019 interview about his life and career with Melber, saying it was the only time he would ever "cry on television".

2020

In June 2020, conservative commentator Tiana Lowe wrote "Ari Melber on MSNBC" runs a "good straight news hour," contrasting ''The Beat'' to other news programs. ''Mediaite'' wrote ''The Beat'' is a "thought-provoking" and "idiosyncratic show" that "avoids the singular focus on Trump's misdeeds that consumes some other hosts", adding Melber's interviewing style uses "the facts of the story and logical reasoning otpartisan cheap shots" for "fascinating" exchanges.

January 6 Reporting

Melber conducted several newsworthy interviews with former Trump aide Peter Navarro, and one of the interviews was cited as evidence by Congress to hold Navarro in contempt, which led to his DOJ indictment. Melber wrote a foreword to the Harper Collins edition of the January 6 Repor

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/dec/25/january-6-report-trump-publishing-books-mueller?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1671949623] which became a #1 ''New York Times'' bestselle

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Music and Culture

Melber regularly uses hip hop lyrics to explain political or legal scenarios. A ''Vanity Fair'' article about MSNBC dubbed him the "secret fourth Beastie Boy", writing he is "shockingly smart and well read." Apple Music launched a music show hosted by Melber, Nevuary Radio, in 2019. In 2022, Melber did a special report on the song "

God Did ''God Did'' is the thirteenth studio album by American record producer DJ Khaled, released through We the Best Music and Epic Records on August 26, 2022. The record project earned five nominations at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, including for ...

" by

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one o ...

and

DJ Khaled Khaled Mohammed Khaled (born November 26, 1975), known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ, record executive, record producer and rapper. Khaled first gained recognition as a radio host in the 1990s on the radio station 99 Jamz, a ...

, with "acutely detailed dissection" of his verse, and Jay Z then released audio of Melber's report as a new Jay-Z track, "Hov Did," on streaming music platforms. Meek Mill references "The Beat" in his music video "Mandela Freestyle." Melber previously served as the host of ''The Point''; a cohost of MSNBC's show ''The Cycle''; and a substitute host for ''

The Rachel Maddow Show ''The Rachel Maddow Show'' (also abbreviated ''TRMS'') is an American liberal news and opinion television program that airs on MSNBC, running in the 9:00 pm ET timeslot Monday evenings. It is hosted by Rachel Maddow, who gained a public p ...

''.Ommaney, Charles
"Is Ari Melber the future of cable-news anchors?"
''

Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its contents include news and media industry trends, ana ...

'', December 2014 Melber was a correspondent for ''

''; and he's been published in ''

'', ''

'' and ''

'' and several books; he wrote a report about

Organizing for America Organizing for America (OFA) is a community organizing project of the Democratic National Committee. Initially founded after the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama, the group sought to mobilize supporters in favor of Obama's legislative p ...

Personal life

Melber attended Garfield High School in Seattle, WA. Melber lives in

Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn Carroll Gardens is a neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Taking up around 40 city blocks, it is bounded by Degraw and Warren Streets (north), Hoyt and Smith Streets (east), Ninth Street or the Gowan ...

. He is divorced from Drew Grant since 2017, a pop culture reporter at ''

The New York Observer ''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainmen ...

''. He is a member of the

New York State Bar Association The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) is a voluntary bar association for the state of New York. The mission of the association is to cultivate the science of jurisprudence; promote reform in the law; facilitate the administration of justice ...

References

External links

* *
''Huffington Post''
* * ('' MSNBC News''; July 29, 2022) {{DEFAULTSORT:Melber, Ari 1980 births Living people 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers American political commentators American political writers Cornell Law School alumni Garfield High School (Seattle) alumni MSNBC people NBC News people New York (state) lawyers People from Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni 20th-century American Jews American people of Israeli descent 21st-century American Jews