thank you so much for letting us in your home on this extraordinary day. hi, ari. what a whirlwind. >> we have a jury. we'll see you soon. welcome to the beat. the news is here. very important four words we heard from the judge presiding over this criminal trial, we have our jury.

it's not an observation, op ed, it is the presiding judge formalizing that they have gone through the process with total fairness to the defendant, even losing some jurors which i can tell you about today as well, but we have our jury. that's after just three days of jury selection. 12 new yorkers are now on this jury sworn in to decide the fate of donald trump and i can tell you as a legal fact that these 12 people will hear the evidence and then make a decision and if one of them becomes somehow unavailable or unable to continue their duties, an alternate will step up into that box of 12 and continue on. there are precedents and practices here, which is why they have substitutes. they've been through this before. it's not just 12, if somebody fashion falls away, it goes away. they'll pick the alternates. five women, seven men in the 12.

we do know their professions. we're not disclosing additional information about these individuals. that's why as well you see anonymous jurors up on the screen. they were selected out of a pool that could get as large as it needed but initially began with about 200 new yorkers who went through the first phase of this process. the defendant looked on as these jurors were questioned and challenged about anything that could create the kind of bias or impartiality that would have them removed. now today also began with a bit of a shakeup because two people who were just recently this week seated as jurors were dismissed, each for different reasons. the da, that's the prosecution side, raised questions about how one had a prior arrest, we'll return to that. today alone half of the 96 potential jurors were excused after acknowledging they could not be impartial. we have word on one of them, a reporter caught up with two of them actually outside the

courthouse. >> it's a historical case and, you know, this is going to define so many things, but at the same time our job as a juror, right, is to be impartial, like to be unbiased. >> there's no way after my online presence where i've satirized this man again and again that i would be fit to -- they would regard me as to be fit to serve. >> that's one new yorker saying that he sat tarrized donald trump online. that's public. the internet lives forever if you've heard the term so now in what is uncertainly an unforeseeable turn for him. if you said to any of them what you are typing in the middle of the night or in frustration or in reaction will be used against you in a court of law, not to say you're a criminal, but to say you are not fit for the

jury. they could not consider him impartial. that is as it should be. if someone has vehemently committed to a conviction or criticism that is adverse to impartiality in this case, then they're not the one. they only need 12 jurors and a couple more alternates. they can be very picky in fairness to the defendant because the burden is on the prosecution. the jurors answered the same 40 plus questions including whether they ever attended a trump rally, red his books, listened to michael cohen's ask. if conversations with co-workers could influence her and she first said she could try to be fair but she also said this, what you see on your screen, quote, it is hard to unring a bell, in other words, she'd try to be fair but the bell had been rung on her views in this case

so she was also not picked. another juror though today was dismissed because having been sworn in and then tasting or having a little bit of the kind of public and all of that just in week one from all of the media made her say she was concerned about continuing on and concerned about her and her family's safety. she told the court, i have concerns now. the aspects of my identity have been out in public. i had them push things to my phone regarding questioning my identity as a juror. i want to be very careful here. that is her view. you might call it her subjective experience or her opinion. you could imagine a different person in new york being asked, are you a juror because of information out there and that doesn't mean they're in danger, it just means people are all processing some of the same information.

having said that as fairly as i can, there is a context to this. and it is concerning. her dismissal came after these kind of statements and coverage, which may be protected by the first amendment but still has repercussions about this new jury. >> she gets her news from "the new york times", google and cnn. she said two things that really stuck out, one, quote, i don't really have an opinion of trump and, quote, no one is above the law. i'm not so sure about juror number 2. the fate of the billionaire real estate tycoon, turned 45th president of the united states is in the hand of disney teachers who like to get their news from the times but swear they can be impartial. >> that is that individual that member of the media's view. now there's nothing in that clip i just showed you that is

illegal or that would be suppressed. it might be disagreeable. it might be misleading, and it might, combined with other things, create an environment that is undermining rather than supporting a fair and impartial process. by the way, that's hypocrite call because if those folks are so concerned about this process, they should want a fair, reasoned sober one so we get to the right answer which could be the acquittal of these charges, right? that's what a fair process could result in. but if you notice i'm being very careful, it's for a reason. no law was broken with that commentary and there are people who are going to weigh in on this trial, including various aspects of the process and the jurors. now the judge decides the law in this case and the jury decides the facts and so i'm going to read to you what the judge said today for further context. quote, we just lost what would have been a very good juror for

this case, she said she was afraid and intimidated by the press. so that's the lay of the land. the judge has now tightened restrictions even further on different things that the press can report about prospective jurors. again, the fact that a member of the media, in that case a fox news anchor, used that information the way he chose to doesn't resolve the tougher questions here because you can restrict certain information in the court certainly for safety, certainly for the jurors anonymity, but this is going to be a freewheeling debate and people will say what they want about the trial. there has to be first amendment rights in this trial. so that's what the judge said. i told you the other thing, prosecutors also allege that donald trump has been violating his gag order. that came up earlier this week. they now cite seven other instances, including trump posting online with a quote from that fox host i just showed you

saying that liberal activists were also somehow lying to get on the jury. now trump is using fox in a dance to try to get away with saying things. let me be clear, trump the defendant, is not like just some freewheeling member of the press, he already has restrictions, including a gag order. so it's very different when he does things about the jury or witnesses than others. for example, on this program we are going to discuss and even at times fact check the witnesses. we can do that. the defendant can't. the prosecutor said that post i'm leaving up on the screen was the most disturbing post, especially in light of what happened this morning. trump's defense lawyers say, quote, none of that establish that there is a willful violation. in fact, it brings to light some of the ak big guts of the gag order that i mentioned. here's what the gag order states. the deft, trump, is directed to refrain from making or directing others to make public statements

about any perspective juror or any juror in this criminal proceeding. so you want me to boil it down. you say, okay, ari, this seems like it's getting a little detailed and technical. well, yeah, it is getting technical. if you want to boil it down, the anchor probably was fine making that statement. i certainly don't think there's going to be a case opened about him. the defendant based on the plain text of the gag order probably was not. that's the legal issue. separate from the opinion you can criticize both statements. trump trying to hide behind the media, i'm just retweeting, i'm reposting. no, you're doing it and the gag order very clearly says you can't talk about these jurors or prospective jurors. the judge did not rule on this. there is a previously scheduled hearing tuesday on the gag order and we expect all of this stuff, these new clashes, to be included in that hearing. nothing about this is very typical although the precedence and the rules apply.

it's a high profile case. a former president is the defendant and all of this shows the kind of challenges we're up against. with that in mind, there are aspects of this that are legal, that are legal specific to new york but they're also public and political. i have a very special panel tonight. al sharpton, michael steele and a veteran of the new york da's office when we come back. everybody wants super straight, super white teeth. they want that hollywood white smile. new sensodyne clinical white provides 2 shades whiter teeth and 24/7 sensitivity protection. i think it's a great product. it's going to help a lot of patients.

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the jurors you have to worry about are the ones that are sort of trojan horse jurors, hiding bias. those are the ones you have to worry about, they're so motivated by their dislike for trump that they're willing to lie on the stand. >> that's one legal analyst discussing possible things trump and others might be worried about. that was on fox news. we're joined by a very special panel. former rnc chair and msnbc host, michael steele, al sharpton and katheryn christian. welcome to each of you. a panel just arrayed here. i want to start with you on the legalities. plenty of people say, gosh, that anchor, what they're doing over there is misleading, et cetera. real quick on that before we get to the defendant, they can talk like that about most of the trial, right? >> they can talk about it. they have no gag order. only donald trump is the one who

can't speak about that. >> so while we could do media criticism, al sharpton's been known to give his views of some of the people over there, before we do that i just want to establish that legally there's not an issue for them, even when it's misleading and we might criticize it. >> correct. >> but this defendant seems to think if he can quote it or associate it with them that somehow he's not bound by the gag order. tell us about that and how that's going to fly given that you've been in this very courtroom. >> i think he has -- donald trump has violated the gag order. i think the prosecutor today, chris conroy, said multiple times, it's getting ridiculous. i don't quite understand why judge merchan has not at a minimum admonished him, there's a gag order. to put off the hearing i don't understand why it is. that gives donald trump the whole weekend to say i guess i can keep doing this because the judge didn't say anything.

>> you're saying the lack of a hearing that draws the line, the defendant sees that as a chance to misbehave more? >> or even an admonishment. we're going to have a hearing next week, mr. trump, i'm telling you, we have a gag order, don't violate it. that hasn't even happened. >> then i take it to al sharpton. you know your way around new york, the particular media environment and how donald trump has navigated this. he's not being completely reckless or what his supporters would call brave, by which i mean he's not just sounding off. he keeps testing, right? he used the fox thing be to try to say, i'm just sharing what's out there. what do you think of his tactics? how do you think this will play out in new york, an arena you know well? >> i think he's being very strategic, which donald trump is always strategic in terms of himself. i think he's testing it. you used the right word, ari, to

see how far he can go because he's trying to poke the judge in hopes if he has to have an appeal, he can make the judge over react. he wants to poke him hoping the jung will over react and come down heavy on him, heavier than what should be done. so that's part of the appeal. he's always got something up his sleeve. he wants to provoke something. he's going to use fox news as the backboard for him to score with the basket. that's his -- that's his game play, and i think that we'll see if the judge is not going to be baited but the judge needs to enforce the law because the other thing the judge is doing that he better be careful of, if he lets trump go as far as he's going, how do you come down on somebody else later and say, we gave you a gag order? they can use the trump rule and say -- >> right. it's a new precedent. it's funny you use that basketball shot. i'm not a big sports guy, that's

a bank shot and he's had a lot of trouble getting banks to pay the other. that's the only kind of bank he knows how to work with. >> the only kind of bank he's ever been accused of working with is scheming and trying to get somebody over. he's certainly never been accused of paying his debts or taking care of his banking. >> michael steele, i want to bring you in and play something we excerpted from his remarks today. this is something that does not contain a blatant lie or violate the gag order but in the spirit of covering this, one because it's his efforts to defend himself, which he may do, and two, because it does seem a little desperate, even for him. he kind of came out of court with a large stack of papers and you might say, does he have the evidence? he's been reading through this. the court is full of paper evidence. >> full of paper. >> what it is, what appeared to be printouts that his aides made for him of right wing and other

sites just criticizing and doing opinion. i thought this juxtaposition could work on a campaign trail but that's not how this is going to be decided inside that courtroom. >> these are all stories. this is over the last few days from legal experts. wall street journal but all of these are stories from legal experts saying how this is not a case. the case is ridiculous. this is another one, the case is a ridiculous trump indictment. take a look, all of these are stories, you see them here. >> well, that's trump, you know? every -- every corner that he's standing on is a stage, and he will use props. he will use whatever tool is available to him to create a narrative that he thinks best, a, positions him and, b, allows

him to get away with stuff that other people ordinarily wouldn't get away with. i think this -- rev, you know this to be true about trump. he will always do the thing he wants to do until someone stops him, and he doesn't believe anyone can stop him. and to this point, he's been right. in large measure, he's gotten away with pretty much everything he's attempted to do. he wanted to slow down the trials. guess what, he slowed down the trials. so now he's got this platform in which he's out here with a stack of papers. we don't know what's in those papers, but he -- you know, he's just telling us what they say and what they are, and that establishes the ongoing narrative, placing him as a victim, and that everyone who believes he's a victim thinks that this trial is wrong or is illegal or is improper, all of that, that feeds the beast out

on the street. that's ultimately the court of public opinion that he's more interested in than the public opinion, if you will, of the jury or the judge. >> and i think that he is playing to that crowd that he wants to keep loyal and hoping that this jury somehow would be mesmerized by just his presence because he's that much of a narcissist. and -- but that's why he also knows like in new york, we used to fight -- i'd barnstorm and all of that. he doesn't like people that will fight back because like when he's saying the judge won't even let me go to my son's graduation, and i would have said, is that the kid that your wife was having when you were going out with the porn star? i mean, is that kid now 18? it would totally rattle him. he likes to go where he's the only one throwing stuff. he can't take a punch back. >> in your life you've probably talked to him 40, 50, 60 timings. >> i've barnstormed him.

he's come to national conventions claiming he was a democrat. he doesn't believe in anything but donald trump and that's what his crowd doesn't understand about him and these guys in congress and the senate -- >> what year did he come to your convention? >> he came in 2001. he came back in 2007 when we honored james brown saying, you know james has played at my casinos. i've got the pictures. i've got the receipts. >> you know -- >> but of course when he got in the white house i was a racist and a con man. >> the debate commission, they're trying to get biden and trump together. if trump and biden have both been to your convention, maybe you should host the debate this year. >> i would love to host a debate and choose the venue. since he now knows how to get to harlem, it would be -- >> i love that. turn it back to the law a little bit, katheryn. again, it's so interesting as we hear from these dismissed jurors. one earlier you couldn't have

imagined this new yorker, five years ago, his posts would be read in court while defendant trump is sitting there. here's another one of these dismissed jurors. >> you know, everybody has biases and, you know -- you know, stereotypes in their mind so you have to be really, you know, deep and, you know, fair person, which is very hard to do, right? >> have you seen cases that you've been directly involved in or during your tenure at the da's office in new york where the person was pretty prominent and the prospective jurors were wondering, can i do this? and they reasoned through it. or do you find they are sort of unfair and wowed by the thing? >> i think you can find a fair and impartial jury in manhattan. they keep saying manhattan is too liberal because it is about you. something happens to a prospective juror and what the oath is. there is a specific duty and i have to do this, i have to

listen to the evidence, i have to follow the law. you could have that stealth juror who slips on. the hope is you catch them early like the person who did not reveal his arrest. >> because he already lied to the court? >> exactly. better to get him now than when the jury is deliberating. i think you can find the fair and impartial jury who can follow the law and the evidence no matter what they feel about donald trump. >> this is a very esteemed panel. i have to do my job. i have to ask you about the new york tabloid underbelly of this whole sorted tale. you mentioned some things that were hidden, potentially legally hidden, because of their scandalous nature. we're going to turn to that part breaking down the trial, the tabloid scandal. the receipts and whether they were crimes. we'll turn to that with this panel next.

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ya know, i'm automatically attracted to them. i start kissing them. and when you're a star, you can do anything. grab 'em by the [ bleep ]. >> that is the actual video evidence, the tape that is so central to this trial, but as of this week the judge ruled the tape itself, the video, will not be played. that's an evidentiary ruling and instead the contents, the material, the transcript will be part of the evidence but not the video. it was deemed too prejudicial is a way of saying making the defendant look too bad above and beyond what was legally needed. we're back with our panel. al, we all lived through that. it's about sexual content but this case is not about proving a sexual related crime or domestic

battery or any such thing. the calendar is the campaign but this is not a politics case, it's a business fraud and campaign finance violation. what do you think is important given what you were just reminding us all the ways you've dealt with trump, and now his lawyers who are an extension of him, very much so, and they're supposed to zealously advocate for him. it's important for the da to mention eye on the ball, we have to mention this to prove his case. we're not here to make crimes out of his personal life. that's not what the case is. >> no. i think what the da has to keep his eye on is that this is what happened, which caused a real uproar in the campaign. it was an earthquake. on top of that, if this young lady's romance with him or affair had gone public with him at that time it would have knocked him out the race. that is why he went and

conspired with his lawyers to cover this up and created a crime by writing in things that didn't happen, falsifying business documents. they committed the crime to cover up a political situation. it's not a political trial. it's not a sex trial, but it affected him and he would not have probably done this if he was not in the middle of a campaign that was suffering this and he falsified records in order to cover this up and the one he falsified it with, his lawyer is testifying about that, michael cohen, and the porn star. but the scenario is, i'm not asking you to hit him with adultery or vulgarity, i'm saying he broke the law to in many ways salvage his political career but he falsified records to do it. if you had done it, you would be going -- you'd be convicted and may be going to jail. >> that sounds like a solid case. katheryn, i'm curious -- >> that's the opening statement.

>> there you go. katheryn, i'm curious what you think they need to do about that with this unusual defendant? because rev's always bringing up lyrics. sometimes i say it's enough. it's enough. but they used to have that song functify. do you remember that one at all? you remember. there's a problem for the case and the jury if this becomes too trumpified, by which i mean here we go with this. the truth is, if you can show the jury george santos got in a lot of trouble for lies and campaign finance violations. the fact that he's outlandish, interesting, wants to be a celebrity is not the point. trump is presumed innocent. if gold bars shows corruption, the fact that politics is in the background, politics, that's how you get elected doesn't exonerate. how important do you think it is

for the da to make sure the jury understands if this is done right, it's not that it's donald trump, it's that there's serious allegations of misconduct and being in government at any level is not supposed to be a license to be above the law. >> and they have to keep it simple because they are going to hear from an adult film star and a play boy model because it's necessary. that provides the necessary background and explains why he and his lawyer who will also be testifying, his former lawyer, explains why he with the intent of the fraud and concealed another crime put false entries in his business records which is a crime in new york state. people may think, oh, this is so frivolous, but it is a crime in new york state to do that. the prosecutor has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he did it with the intent to defraud but if they do that by keeping it simple, by saying

just exactly what the reverend said. "access hollywood" hit. we have this porn star. we'll pay her off. how do we do that? we'll take it out of the trump organization and we'll say it was legal expenses for michael cohen. that's how we'll reimburse him and no one will find out, everything will be fine. that is a crime. that false entry is a crime. >> before i lose you because you've run these kind of trials, will they likely get all of the alternates set tomorrow? >> you don't like to predict, but i think so. the way this judge -- >> moving fast. >> they only need five more. he's determined to do it. >> opening statements monday? >> opening statements on monday. >> al sharpton is going to understand this reference too. when you ask on monday why is this night different than all other nights, it's not passover, it's putting a former president on trial with opening statements. >> that's right. >> exactly. >> that's not bad. >> you got the reference. >> you did good.

>> i want to thank our wonderful panel here, katheryn and al, reverend al sharpton. michael stay, i have more for you including interesting stuff. coming up, the lick between barack obama's favorite pasta and coppola. first with michael steele sticking around, the scrutiny on the napping, the tabloids and the evidence when we come back.

this trump criminal trial is on. we began the week picking jurors, making evidentiary rulings as i mentioned about the "access hollywood" tape and other issues. today the news broke late as the judge announced the full jury has been seated, sworn in, ready to go. tomorrow they pick alternates and as our da veteran was just telling us, monday opening arguments could begin. it is a fast track donald trump opposes given his long efforts of delay. that's what happens. it's barrelling towards us. what is the case we're going to see? the da says the tabloid scandal became a crime. the lawyer at the center of it all, michael cohen, worked with the tabloids to pay stormy daniels to hide the story. cohen even made a very unusual tape with his then client trump about the money they were going to pay to the tabloids through

their friend david pecker. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend david. i spoke to allen about it. when it comes time for the financing which -- >> what financing? >> we'll have to pay -- >> pay with cash. >> no, no, no, no, no. >> and cohen then clearly making a big deal out of the fact that they didn't want to do cash, cash was suspicious so cohen made those payments himself and then was reimbursed by donald trump and you have the checks. you have the receipts. as i told you, this is the part of the case that is proven on paper. prosecutors want to show something larger though. they already have the paper receipts. they want to detail how this was a larger campaign crime. as you may know if you follow news and politics, you can't just give and take money to candidates. if you could, there would be a lot of corruption. every donation has to be marked and there's a cap on donation.

basically, this was a catch and kill scheme where a lot of money was used off the books to hide other things, including alleged affair with play boy model karen mcdougall. >> why do you think they squashed the story? >> back then or now? >> now. >> they -- they -- they didn't want to hurt him. >> you think it's because of a personal relationship with a guy who runs ami is friends with donald trump? >> correct. >> correct. so you have trump's own lawyer, the recipient to some of these payments and potentially, we'll see, the head of that tabloid, david pecker, all coming around to say the same thing, it's the one thing the defendant donald trump doesn't want the jury to hear, that this was a pre-meditated ongoing campaign scheme and, therefore, was a felony. that's an update on that piece. when we come back, we turn to the light side of all of this. the is the trial breaking through?

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trump's hush money trial which is good. i'm sure he needs time to rest after all of that napping. >> grant-a-clause got up early to post 165 venomous words. >> jury number 4 who said of the expresident i find him fascinating and mysterious. >> fascinating and mysterious, he's not a channel. >> fascinating and mysterious is not what i would say about donald trump. this is where we are. good conversation mixed in with the humor because there are elements of this trial that people are going to find very funny when it's all said and done. >> yeah. >> it's good to set the comedy up front. >> you have the laughs and you are reminded that punch lines mean someone's famous. if you have an snl impression and you're in congress. >> right. >> you must be getting attention. >> you must be getting attention. that's how americans digest

sometimes complicated information. you know, we do it with humor. we look at situations and go, that's pretty messed up. >> that's what it is. >> that's what it is. >> it's really interesting. i appreciate you being up here. special trial coverage today. the day of the jury being seated. >> can you believe that happened? >> yeah. i've got something else for you. you're staying. >> i know. >> you're staying. >> it smells like i'm staying. >> it's a spicy, special night. we've got one more guest with michael on this big trial day when we come back. ya know, if you were cashbacking you could earn on everything with just one card. chase freedom unlimited. so, if you're off the racking... ...or crab cracking, you're cashbacking. cashback on flapjacks, baby backs, or tacos at the taco shack. nah, i'm working on my six pack.

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the trump trial is barreling forward and we have a very special edition right now of fallback with guests that range from daily show muppets to obama pasta. first, michael steele back with us. he hosts the weekend and brings levity to our national conversation. >> we can do this in latin. >> okay. >> we're going to speak latin now. >> they just don't build chairmens like they used to. >> he is my boy. >> how do you remind people of what those four years were like? you're not defined by being a republican. you define republicanism. >> bars. michael keeps it spicy, like our guest making his "beat" debut, the fames chef, mario, behind famous restaurants carbone, a food empire that stretches to

miami where he's hosting carbone beach this year, which is featuring poppin's from lebron james, david beckham, but the big name is barack obama. he and michelle are regulars at carbone now, noting, quote, multiple visits with unconfirmed reports he ordered red wine and the double lamb chop at carbone. welcome. >> thank you for having me. >> you guys like great tonight. >> a saucy night. >> the tv you didn't know you needed. >> a little saucy. we'll get into everything. can you confirm, did he order the pork chop? you can't say. i will say, if true, odd not to get pasta. when you're the president, you order what you want. >> he's very svelte. very svelte. >> straight up. we're going to get to the fun. we'll start with what's on your fallback list. >> i have a couple but i'll start with an easy one. that is less competitive

scrabble. what is that? i mean, what is this idea that we're going to dumb down scrabble now where one side of the board is your traditional scrabble, and the other side of the board is for those, i guess, who are less capable of putting together words and sentences. >> it's a word game. like, if it's children's scrabble, that's one thing. if we're adults playing, you gotta play. >> you gotta play. >> can't change the rules because you're bad at picking words. >> you can't change the rules because you're bad, and they do. can guess we're going to stick with simple stuff like cat. dog. >> i'm going to tell you something -- >> here's a stretch. pasta. >> rigatoni. >> have to get the book out for that one. >> michael, my mom is not big into the tv public stuff so i don't bring her in much, but i don't think she'll mind me saying we grew up playing

scrabble. she's a sociologist. she's a great player. i agree, fall back dumbing it down. i agree. >> just come up with expeala -- >>s and move on. >> on my fallback list is hoodies and hats in the dining room. come on. i don't care what you spent on it. it's not fancy. it's not nice. your girl spent three hours getting ready for dinner and that's what you put on? come on. try harder. >> try harder. is it because of covid and casualness, or what is the reason, you think? >> i think it's because that's become fancy. it's become expensive. the big designers are dropping hoodies and hats. you think because you paid that much, it's nice enough to bring to a nice establishment. >> i'm for that, and a previous mention, qr code menus, gotta

go. gotta go. >> digital wine lists. >> i'm not with it. you mentioned dimtle wine lists. we have the beat wine glass out. i'm going to explain why. we don't usually drink on the show except for special occasions. the last time it was out was for godfather director francis ford co coppola, if you remember this moment, the wine flowed from his winery into the "beat" glasses you see right there. spot shadow. indeed, i have been told these wine glasses are a favorite among the self-described msnbc moms set. >> there you go. >> tell us what we're about to try and i'm going to pour you, this is really happening. >> this is a moment. >> wine in your "beat" glass. okay. >> yes, sir. >> i want you to bring this out. we don't usually do this. what do we got here? >> the right way to taste sauce.

you grow up where i grow up and the sauce is bubbling on the back of the stove. you just got home from school and you grab that illegal rip of bread. you dunk it in the sauce. your mom yells at you. that's this moment right here. >> if people can't make it all the way -- and your restaurants are fancy. it's a high price point. >> a good price point. >> but they can try, michael, would you do us the honor? would you try it? the sauce. let's go. what makes a good sauce, whether it's yours or making it at home? >> the ingredients. buy the best. buy the best ingredients you can. it can only go so bad from there. >> yeah? >> mm-hmm. mm-hmm. >> you're in new york a lot, around some good italian food. >> i cook a lot of italian food. sauce is everything. >> i expect to see this in your cabinet. >> as some say, as the kids say, what is it giving? the sauce, is it giving fresh,

is it giving spicy, is it giving -- >> absolutely fresh. what i like about this, it starts out a little sweet, and then it gets down into some of the other ingredients, the notes. seriously. >> respect. >> you can really taste it. it really changes as you chew on it. >> what's that mean? >> the earth, where it's from. >> is that italian? >> it's associated with wine notes of like where those grapes are from. but in this case, it's tomatoes or the oregano. >> love that. why is an american life, why is italian food so associated with kind of the realness? you can go out for different cuisines. they can be fancy. the fanciest italian food ever, and i have been to your restaurants, you feel like you're sitting around doing something. >> it's nostalgic cuisine. a big part is the cinematic factor. we have seen it now in tv and

movies. it's very filling. it's warming. it's friendly cuisine, the thing that tells you i want to sit around the table with my friends and family and closest to share this with me. that's what makes it. >> i love it. a lot of artists love sitting around your table. we're going to show drake said maybe it never gets old. that's just how it goes. last table left in carbone, calling plays on the rotary phone. did that affect your business? did you like that? >> i liked it very much. it's an honor to have drzzz drop bars. >> can you speak to that? >> every now and again, he does take some silverware with him. >> nas, a big new york lyricist, said in my neighborhood like stadiums the mets kind. restaurants with carbone, spicy rigatoni go hard. is it okay he bent the pronunciation. >> he can do anything he wants.

he's queens royalty. any time he speaks my name, i'm blessed. >> respect. michael, you okay with that? >> i'm with the man right here. >> then drake comes back around to it. i didn't love this bar to be honest. i felt it was pejorative. not everyone can do everything. i don't like the shooting down. to the people who have trouble getting a reservation. he says you know how it goes when they can't get a restervation at carbone, they're gonna tell you it's a chill night. he's imagining a guy who can't pull off the res. >> we're not an elite establishment. we want everyone there. we want a nice cross pollination of people. so even though i don't want to disagree with him, i want to make sure -- >> you don't want to disagree with him. you'll end up on a distrac like kendrick. >> pasta, we should be able to agree on. >> don't put me there, ari. >> an image for the folks at home.