Background and career
Ari Naftali Melber (born March 31, 1980) is an American attorney and journalist who is the Chief Legal Correspondent for MS NOW and host of The Beat with Ari Melber. Melber won a 2016 Emmy Award for Supreme Court reporting and was nominated for Emmy Awards in 2020 and 2025 in the "Outstanding Live Interview" category.
Melber is Jewish, the son of an Israeli immigrant. His grandparents were Holocaust survivors. Melber attended Garfield High School, in Seattle, Washington. He then attended the University of Michigan, where he graduated with an A.B. degree in political science in 2002. After college, he moved to Washington, D.C. and worked for Senator Maria Cantwell. He then joined Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign, working the Iowa caucus and as California deputy political director. When Kerry lost, Melber attended Cornell Law School, where he was an editor of the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy and graduated with a J.D. in 2009. He interned at New York County Defender Services, a public defender's office. Melber worked for First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams at Cahill Gordon & Reindel from 2009 to 2013. He also began writing for news outlets like The Nation, The Atlantic, Reuters, and Politico. MSNBC asked him to serve as a guest host. In April 2015, Melber was named their chief legal correspondent.
In April 2013, Melber was named a co-host of "The Cycle" with S.E. Cupp, Krystal Ball, Touré, and Steve Kornacki. "The Cycle" was canceled in July 2015, and Melber continued working for the network as Chief Legal Correspondent. Melber was a substitute host for The Rachel Maddow Show.
Melber is a legal analyst for NBC News as well as MSNBC's chief legal correspondent, covering the Department of Justice, FBI and the Supreme Court. He has won an Emmy Award for his Supreme Court coverage. In 2017, Melber hosted The Point on Sundays on MSNBC. The Beat premiered on July 24, 2017, and became the "longest-running" show at "MSNBC's 6 p.m. hour in network history" in 2021. Melber reported that the firing of FBI Director James Comey could trigger an investigation into obstruction of justice on May 9, 2017 — the day Comey was fired. A probe was announced on May 18, 2017, which included an obstruction investigation. Melber reported that 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, showing "Democrats agreed with the MSNBC host," and a Republican congressman cited a bribery segment from The Beat at an impeachment hearing. 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 federal pardon. Politico followed up on Melber's scoop the next day, and New York State prosecutors ultimately filed separate charges against Paul Manafort in 2019.
Melber interviewed former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in February 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, investigators aired the Beat clip and questioned Lewandowski about the 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 midterms, 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 Chairman Richard Neal carried out that plan. The Beat with Ari Melber has featured newsworthy interviews, such as Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who talked to Melber after receiving the first pardon of Trump's administration; Eric Holder, Kamala Harris, Trump attorneys Jay Sekulow, Drew Findling and Joe Tacopina; WH aide Stephen Miller, Peter Navarro, Dave Chappelle, Robert De Niro, Meek Mill, Erykah Badu, Snoop Dogg, Ken Starr, and a range of witnesses in the Mueller probe, including Steve Bannon, whose Beat interview was his first-ever appearance on MSNBC. Melber has drawn attention for his interviewing skills, and was nominated for "Outstanding Live Interview" at the 41st News and Documentary Emmy Awards for interviewing four key witnesses in the Mueller probe at once. 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 A.P. reports "Melber is respected enough as a lawyer that some figures in Trump world, like Peter Navarro and lawyer Joe Tacopina, have appeared on “The Beat” to tell their stories." The New York Times columnist Peter Wehner, a former Republican official, said: "Melber is an outstanding interviewer, among the best on television." Director Lee 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".
In June 2020, conservative commentator Tiana Lowe wrote, "Ari Melber on MSNBC" runs a "good straight news hour." 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, [not] partisan cheap shots" for "fascinating" exchanges. Melber was nominated for a 2025 Emmy in the "Outstanding Live Interview" category, "for an interview with Trump aide Stephen Miller."
