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First of All with Victor Blackwell

Trump Admin Mocks "Aliens" As Detainees Allege Inhumane Treatment; Wife, Attorneys Of Delaney Hall Detainee React To Strike, Protests; Black FL Democrats Condemn Wasserman Schultz's Decision To Run In 20th District. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired May 30, 2026 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:32]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: First of all, immigrants are just as human as American citizens. Being undocumented does not change that. It's amazing I even have to say it because the White House finds it clever to launch an ICE arrest tracker with an aliens.gov URL and they promote it with a SciFi themed post captioned, "They don't belong here and they walk among us." Get it?

Illegal aliens. Sound like extraterrestrial aliens. Good one.

I start there this morning because it puts in a context what we're seeing in Newark, New Jersey. People both outside and inside the facility Delaney Hall are protesting what they say are inhumane conditions for detainees. Starting over the holiday weekend, hundreds of detainees went on a labor and hunger strike. At the center of the strike has been a man named Martin Alonzo Soto Hernandez.

Protesters tried to stop his transfer to another facility. They say that's retaliation for his wife, Gabriela, despite being pregnant protesting outside Delaney Hall.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARBRIELA SOTO, WIFE OF DETAINEE AND HUNGER STRIKER MARTIN SOTO: he is a participant in the hunger strike, but they retaliated against him. They're singling him out. This is a collective unified team of over 300 detainees across all units inside. It is not just a one person.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: This week, the head of the Department of Homeland Security downplayed the hunger strike and the conditions in the facility.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARKWAYNE MULLIN, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: There was only a handful of individuals that was refusing to eat because they want their ethnic group or their ethnic ripe food. Well, they can go back to the country and get whatever food they want. The fact is we're giving them the calories they want. This isn't Holiday Inn working sanitation. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Gabriela Soto is with us now, along with her attorneys who represent several clients. The government is still holding a Delaney Hall. Selenia Destefani is CEO and managing attorney of Nova Law Group. Alex Minogue is her counsel. Welcome to you all.

Gabriela, let me start with you. And first, when's the last time you had an opportunity to speak with your husband? And what are you hearing from him?

SOTO: Good morning. So I was able to see my husband yesterday. He's just -- he just wants to be out. He's tired of being in solitary confinement for doing nothing wrong. His bruises are going away, but it's still not justified for him having them in general.

BLACKWELL: And talk to me about how he got those bruises.

SOTO: When -- when ICE agents were shoving him and pulling him one way or another to into the van.

BLACKWELL: And this was in the transition from Delaney Hall to the Elizabeth Detention center, where he is now. You say that he's facing retaliation more than the move from one facility to another. Describe what type of retaliation you're alleging.

SOTO: The fact that they are now going after him. They're -- they're putting him in isolation because they think he's an endangerment. The way that they -- that they tricked me into getting into the building because they knew that they were going to move him. Just the whole. The whole scenario, it was -- it was insane. It was insane.

BLACKWELL: Now, your husband was a participant in the hunger strike there. You say that he was not leading it. You were protesting outside.

Selenia, let me come to you. I saw in my preview monitor here both you and Alex, when you heard from Secretary McMullen, look at each other and shake your head. His response to the complaints and to the protest. What's your reaction to what you heard? Put that into words for me.

SELENIA DESTEFANI, REPRESENTS DETAINEES AT DELANEY HALL ICE FACILITY: Well, we both were there as well as those protesters, and we talked to many of our clients in the tiny. Inside the detention facility. You know, the anger strike is not because they don't want to eat, you know, the food, because it's not their cultural food. It's because it's molded, expiring milk.

[08:05:02]

We have a detainee that was released through habeas corpus from the detention facility and was hospitalized because of food poison. He had to have surgery. So I mean, it's very hard to believe that, you know, the food was good and it's just because it's not their cultural food. BLACKWELL: Alex, the DHS assistant Secretary told CNN, and this is a

direct quote, there is no capital no, there is no hunger strike at Delaney Hall.

ALEX MINOGUE, REPRESENTS DETAINEES AT DELANEY HALL ICE FACILITY: That is not true whatsoever. There is a pending hunger strike. Many detainees have been subjected to having worms in their food. And again, I don't -- I wouldn't say, as Mr. Mullin stated, that is an ethnic choice of food. I think they just don't want to eat worms.

BLACKWELL: Alex, listen, we've covered the protest outside of Delaney Hall dating back months, even when New York -- Newark's Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested. Those charges eventually dropped.

DHS told us this week all detainees are provided with three meals a day. Clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, soap and toiletries. Illegal aliens also have access to phones to communicate with their family members and lawyers. Certified dietitians evaluate meals. In fact, ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens.

I want to hear more from you about what your clients inside that facility that has been so controversial for so long now, what they say about what they're living through.

MINOGUE: Right now, they're from what I gather and what we're hearing from detainees, they're living through absolute torture. One unit, I believe it was unit two, if I'm not mistaken, they were pepper sprayed. They're going long hours without food. When they receive food, they're receiving pieces of stale bread. Their tablets were taken away, which is a way for them to order commissary, also speak with their family members.

So not only are they giving barely any food or food with worms in it now, they can't resort to the commissary. It's just, and the medical conditions are, they're heartbreaking. Many detainees, we've had a cancer detainee who was not receiving medication. We have individuals who had seizures who were scared that they were going to hit the concrete floor because they weren't getting their anti-seizure medications, had people with diabetics that weren't receiving their insulin, people with severe depression not receiving their anti- medications, which is absolutely frightening in a facility like that. Am I missing anything, Selenia?

DESTEFANI: No. I mean, there's more, but the conditions are just very unhuman. And the problem is many of them fear to speak up because they get put in solitary. Like, Mr. Soto has been retaliated, and that is real.

They get put in solitary. They get isolated. They get threatened with violence. So they're scared. They're scared to speak up.

BLACKWELL: And Gabriela, let me come back to you because you and Martin have two children together, and you are pregnant with your third. And so first you were out there protesting to get your husband released. He's now been transferred. How are you? And what do you tell your young children?

SOTO: My daughter thinks dad's at work. I don't really want to expose her to what's going on. She already misses her dad way too much, so -- and she's also too young to understand what is going on.

But she knows. But she does know that he's not 100 percent at work, because when we go visit him, or when we used to go visit him at Delaney Hall, she would be like, papa. So, like, she kind of is understanding, like, how it is, but at the same time, I think her mind is just going back to, like, the safe space and saying, like, you know, he's at work.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Gabriela Soto, Attorney's Selenia Destefani and Alex Minogue will of course follow Martin's story and what's happening inside the facility and outside that we see night after night. Thank you all.

New congressional maps in Florida mean a new district is up for grabs for Democrats. But a sitting Democratic congresswoman is being called out by some in her own party for running in the newly district. Newly drawn district. We'll speak with the leader of the Democratic Party in Florida who says she should not be running, that the receipt should go to a person of color.

[08:10:19]

Plus, why are old school acts like Morris Day and the Time and Commodores and Young mc, even Milli Vanilli making headlines after their inclusion in a back -- Trump backed concert lineup? We'll get into that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:13]

BLACKWELL: The wave of redistricting in Republican led states poses questions for a lot of politicians. Should they run for reelection at all? Can they win in the redrawn district? Or maybe should they pick a new one?

One high profile congresswoman from Florida has made her decision. Debbie Wasserman Schultz currently represents Florida's 25th district. But after it was divided and redistricting, she decided to run in the 20th district.

Now the 20th has sent a black representative to Congress every election since 1993. If Wasserman Schultz wins there would be only one black representative from the entire state of Florida. There are six other candidates running for that seat, all of them black. And many of Wasserman Schultz opponents have voiced their opinion.

Now the opposition to her decision to run in that district and they say their potential constituents don't like it either.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SHEILA CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, (D) CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: The one

question they all said to me what is her why? Why this district? Why us?

ELIJAH MANLEY, (D) CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: You're not the candidate of choice for our community. And to ignore that and run anyways just shows you do not respect black voices. You do not respect the black community.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Nearly all of the elected members of the Florida Democratic National Committee have condemned Wasserman Schultz's decision. In a statement released Tuesday, the member said in part, "We cannot claim to defend voting rights, racial justice and representation while undermining Black political power when it becomes politically convenient."

My next guest signed that statement. Daniel Henry is the first vice chair of Florida's Democratic Party.

Daniel, good to have you this morning. So, is this specifically about Wasserman Schultz and her decision to move from the 25th to the 20th or do you believe that only black people should run to represent Florida's 20th?

DANIEL HENRY, FIRST VICE CHAIR, FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: No. Thank you Victor. This is a question about moral courage. We're seeing a systematic attack of black representation all across the south and Louisiana, Alabama soon to be in Georgia, South Carolina we just almost averted the loss of Jim Clyburn seat. And in Florida we've seen Governor DeSantis and the Republicans systematically take away multiple black access seats in our state we lost 1 in 22 with Congressman Al Lawson.

We just saw Frederica Wilson announce her retirement yesterday. And for a seat like congressional district 20 that has had a storied career that has allowed for us to be able to have black representation, important to have a representative that has that lived experience. And Congressman Wasserman Schultz is not the Only congresswoman that's affected by this redistricting. We've seen multiple congressional members have to adjust.

But what she has done differently amongst her colleagues is instead of running in a district that she actually lives in, she's seeking the comfortable choice. And I think it's important more than ever that we speak out against it.

BLACKWELL: And so when you say that lived experience, I'm going to go back to the clear question. The first question, is it because she's white, if she'd been Black and moved from the 25th to the 20th, would you condemn that choice?

HENRY: I think regardless of whether or not she was Black or white, we would have condemned that choice. But the fact that she doesn't have the lived experience of the constituents of Congressional District 20, I think that puts it even more so in the front view.

We've seen this seat ensure representation for a community that is lacking of resources, lacking of opportunity. And it's important to make sure that when people go to the polls, they get to vote for someone that looks like them, that experiences life the same way that she does, that they do. And that doesn't mean that Congressman Schultz doesn't have an opportunity to be able to be a representative in Congress.

She lives in Congressional District 22. It's a district that has won both by President Trump and President Biden. It's an opportunity that she can run a competitive race instead of doing the right thing like Congresswoman Castor, Congressman Soto, Congressman Moskowitz, who all have chosen to run in seats that are difficult. But in a time like this, is important for her to also make that same choice, and she chose not to.

BLACKWELL: Okay. So let's have the congresswoman speak for herself. Here's what she's saying in relation to the backlash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): The people in this district know me. They know I'm a fighter, and they know what my experience is. And they know that what they've been through in the last few years, they have told me we can't afford to have a beginner just start out in the United States Congress.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: She makes the case of seniority. What do you say to that?

[08:20:01]

HENRY: Well, we thank her for her dedicated years of seniority in the House. We appreciate the fact that she has strived to represent Broward County. But that's besides the point.

Representation in Congress shouldn't be just based on seniority. We've seen incumbency be a factor as to why people have lost primaries all across the country. Ultimately, we wish that Congressman Schultz chose, instead of running for a seat that was convenient for her to take the easy road that she took, the hard road, the road that many of her colleagues within the state of Florida have chosen to ensure that she is representing a district that needs representation.

There are plenty of candidates that are in Congressional District 20 before she filed that would have been able to meet that test. And that's the focus.

BLACKWELL: Well, let me ask you that. I mean, first let me say that majority black districts have chosen white representatives. We look at Steve Cohen in Tennessee, who his districts are redrawn. He's not going to run for reelection.

So we have seen that. But why? Why is the strategy to condemn her candidacy instead of rallying around if you want a Black candidate or a Black representative, one of the other people who's running and try to help that person win instead of saying she shouldn't even run because she doesn't have the lived experience of the black constituency?

HENRY: No, I hear what you're saying, Victor, and that's definitely a political choice that can be made by multiple people. We want the voters in Congressional District 20 to make that choice. Our focus is a matter of principle. This seat was specifically created to allow a candidate of the lived experience to be able to represent it. And the fact that it's been representative of someone of color speaks to that representation.

And continuing and moving forward, we want to make sure that this district is protected and that it has that representation. And we continue to ensure that we send a black member of Congress in the future.

BLACKWELL: Daniel Henry, thank you very much for the conversation.

This debate in Florida is one piece of a national push to preserve black representation. The Congressional Black Caucus is also now putting pressure on big businesses to protect voting rights. The leader of that group of black lawmakers, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, is here next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:27:00]

BLACKWELL: Another majority black district is getting redrawn. Lawmakers in Louisiana just passed a new congressional map aimed at helping Republicans pick up a seat. It changes the makeup of districts currently represented by Democratic Congressmen Cleo Fields and Troy Carter. The state will now have just one majority Black district.

The Congressional Black Caucus says they want to hear corporate America speak against this. Specifically, the more than 200 companies that wrote a letter to Congress about voting rights and the Voting Rights act nearly five years ago in July 2021.

In this new letter signed by members of the Black Caucus, they write in part, "Consumers, employees, shareholders and communities across the country are paying close attention to who will stand up in defense of democracy and who will remain silent while black political power is dismantled in real time."

And they want a response by June 9th. Democratic Congresswoman Yvette Clarke of New York is the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. She's with me now. Good to have you, Congresswoman.

First question. What do you want these companies to do?

REP. YVETTE CLARKE (D) CHAIR, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS: Yes. Well, we are asking that these companies publicly declare where they stand in this moment. They have tremendous power and authority in civil society, in part because of the support of black consumers of black talent that make their corporations run and thrive.

And so, I mean, at basic level, we are asking that they stand with the Congressional Black Caucus. They publicly declare where they stand. That they also make it transparent to the American people where they make their political contributions.

Are they supporting those state legislatures, those governors that have rushed to redistrict and to silence black voices through their representation in these states?

BLACKWELL: And so I pointed out, and you point out as well with the selection of the companies in the letter that you wrote, that just about five years ago, these same companies were backing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would have made the gerrymandering that we've seen over the last month impossible. It would have made it illegal.

And so many of these, I won't say the specific companies, but we've seen in the corporate space the companies five years ago that were backing DEI, that were putting black boxes up in 2020, have retreated from all of that. Is the retreat on DEI the explanation for we're seeing as it relates to Voting Rights Act -- voting rights here? And is that the change of the administration? Is that why you think we're seeing this?

CLARKE: Well, that would be speculation on my part. We've already begun hearing from corporations that are standing with the Congressional Black Caucus, and we'll make that public when it's appropriate.

[08:30:03]

At the same time, it's important that publicly all of these corporations that made these commitments to black communities across this nation declare where they stand in this moment. We are all part of a civil society that's watching the rights of black people across this nation eroded politically, economically and that has implications for policy across the board.

When members of the Congressional Black Caucus are not in the body at the table, our communities suffer. And so this is that moment where we all have to declare where we stand.

BLACKWELL: I don't know if you heard my conversation with the senior leader of the Florida Democratic Party before the break about Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz her decision to move from the 25th district to now run in the 20th district which for more than 30 years has been represented by a black member of Congress. And he says, his group condemns her decision to run there.

Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz said that she consulted with the CBC about that decision to run. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: No, none of them asked me not to run. What the leadership -- what Hakeem Jeffries and my CBC colleagues told me is that, you know, they know I know our community. And Leader Jeffries trusts Democrats to be able to know our communities well enough to have reached out, done the important outreach necessary to be able to make the decisions that we need to be able to make on how we can most effectively represent our community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Did you personally encourage Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz to run in the 20th?

CLARKE: Well, let me say this. We had a conversation. Encouragement was not part of that conversation. I was essentially informed that Debbie wanted to run in this seat. Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz wants to run in the seat. She has every right to decide where she runs. And this is part of the crisis that we are facing as part of the Congressional -- as the Congressional Black Caucus as mid-decade redistricting takes place is that seasoned members of the Florida delegation are now being displaced as a result of what the governor there has done in the state legislature.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CLARKE: There are valid reasons that the people, black folks in particular in this district and in the state of Florida have raised concerns about Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz decision to run in this district. And I'm not there to invalidate that.

And I think that certainly the Congresswoman has to take into account all of the folks that have been speaking with her.

BLACKWELL: Now more than just taking to into consideration what people are saying I want to put up with the Democratic Black Caucus of Florida says they say she should not run for this district. We heard from the Democratic Party. They say we will not stand by while black representation disappears district by district, seat by seat, until none remain.

We will, we will not allow the sacrifices of generations who fought for these districts to be diminished, ignored or erased. After the Calais decision, you said that you would fight for black representation. You would fight for black political power.

Does this create some conflict between that commitment to fight and some collegial code? Or are you --

CLARKE: It does not.

BLACKWELL: -- staying in neutral because of -- explain.

CLARKE: Yes, it does not. We remain committed to strengthening and undergirding the black representation in Congress. Full stop.

BLACKWELL: Chairwoman Yvette Clarke, thank you very much.

He's been ordered by President Trump to get woke exhibits out of the most important museum system in the country. Now, for the first time, we're hearing directly from Lonnie Bunch III as the Smithsonian prepares for America's 250th. That's next.

And remember, First of All is also available as a podcast. Just scan the QR code below for more information. You can follow and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:39:17]

BLACKWELL: The Smithsonian Institution in D.C. is preparing for the nation's 250th birthday. Now, the president himself, he's made himself a real major part of the celebrations across the Capitol. And the Trump administration has been trying to shape how American history is presented.

So, we wanted to know whether that political pressure is shaping the exhibits. In a rare interview, CNN's Rene Marsh caught up with the first black leader of the Smithsonian, Lonnie Bunch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're at the Smithsonian Castle. It's been shut down since 2023 for renovations, but it's temporarily reopening for the nation's 250th anniversary. And they exhibit co curated by Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch, the first time he's done this since becoming secretary.

[08:40:07]

And at a time where the Smithsonian is in the political crosshairs of the Trump administration.

MARSH (voice-over): The new exhibit includes the desk Thomas Jefferson used to draft the Declaration of Independence, Amelia Earhart's flight suit, the original draft of Martin Luther King Jr's I have a Dream speech, and a model of the Statue of Liberty before it was built.

LONNIE BUNCH III, SMITHSONIAN SECRETARY: We think of the Statue of Liberty about immigration, but if you notice, this was given because America abolished slavery. She's standing on broken chains.

MARSH (voice-over): President Donald Trump looms large over plans for the celebration. But the historian and first black American to serve as head of the Smithsonian says the administration did not influence his picks for this exhibit.

MARSH: Was there any input from the administration on the exhibits?

BUNCH: None whatsoever. The Smithsonian always does its own scholarship.

MARSH: And they didn't ask to have input --

BUNCH: Nobody -- nobody. No, we don't do that. This is the Smithsonian.

MARSH (voice-over): Trump has previously slammed the Smithsonian for what he calls woke ideology. Last year on social media, he said the Smithsonian is out of control, where everything discussed is how horrible our country is, how bad slavery was. He ordered a review of Smithsonian exhibits through executive order in March of 2025.

MARSH: The administration asked for documentation from the Smithsonian for review. Where does that stand?

BUNCH: We've given -- everything that's been asked, we've given and we wait to hear.

MARSH (voice-over): The Office of Management and Budget, which is doing the review, did not respond to CNN's request for comment.

BUNCH: My goal is that history is driven by scholarship, not partisanship.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: And, you know, we should add that the federal government funds about 62 percent of the Smithsonian's $1 billion budget. So this really raises the stakes here as the administration threatens to pull support as it scrutinizes the institution. And it is clear that Bunch is having to walk this very fine line, preserving historical truth while navigating that political pressure that is so obvious and evident here in Washington. Victor?

BLACKWELL: Yes, Rene. We've seen the White House and the administration influence the language at national parks. We've seen, of course, the reference to slavery at Independence or near Independence Hall. Talk more about this White House review ordered more than a year ago. Where that stands, the progress on it even.

MARSH: Yes, I mean, the OMB, the Office of Management and Budget, that was the part of the -- or that was the agency that requested the documentation. They wanted documents that talked about plans for exhibits within the Smithsonian, other exhibits that may be coming in the future.

We know that the Smithsonian handed over documents in January, and at the time, OMB told us that those documents would be reviewed and they would be in constant communication with the Smithsonian. But you know, you heard in the conversation there with Lonnie Bunch, since those documents have been handed over back in January, there has not been any contact. We've reached out to OMB to get an update. So it really is unclear where things stand and how this all moves forward.

But he was very clear there in the piece that as it relates to this exhibit that is celebrating the nation's 250th birthday, the administration played no role. That was all him and his co-curator.

BLACKWELL: Rene Marsh. Good to have you. Thank you.

MARSH: Thanks for having me. BLACKWELL: Morris Day, Young MC, the Commodores, even Milli Vanilli

all in the news together in the Year of Our Lord 2026 because of a D.C. concert series that seems to be falling apart. We'll get into why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:48:13]

BLACKWELL: Where's the Harriet Tubman $20 bill? Remember when that was promised? Years later, still nothing. In fact, we may be now getting our First President Trump bill $250 bill, $250 for the American 250th birthday. Stunts like this are tying the 250 brand to the Trump brand. And that may be why a concert series called Freedom 250 is quickly turning into the White House's Fyre Festival.

The reaction from most of the acts announced is given that meme where Homer Simpson is just kind of backing into the hedges. Morris Day was one of the first we saw react to the backlash after being included in the lineup. He denied he'd be performing, adding, it's a no for me. Young MC calls the event a bait and switch. He says the artists were never told about any political involvement with the event.

The Commodores has posted, our music has always been our voice, and we choose not to publicly affiliate with any single political party.

So who's left from the original lineup that was posted? Well, Vanilla Ice is still there, so we got that. Plus, one member of Milli Vanilli. Fab Morvan. Yes, that Milli Vanilli. And because this story isn't strange enough, Freedom Williams, a rapper from the group CNC Music Factory, suggested the Internet believes while he's sitting on his toilet that he may still perform just despite critics. Only Florida has not weighed in on what he's doing yet.

Michael Harriot is with us now. He's the founder of ContrabandCamp on Substack and the author of "Black AF History: The Unwhitewashed Story Of America."

[08:50:02]

Michael, good to have you back on. So let's say here. There's America 250, which is the bipartisan organization that has members of the Senate and the House on it. They're organizing things. And then Freedom 250 is the one that's Trump affiliated, private, public partnership. The president chose its CEO. They say it's nonpartisan. Why do you think this is falling apart?

MICHAEL HARRIOT, WRITER, CONTRABAND CAMP" ON SUBSTACK: I think because it's affiliated with this president and because he weaponizes everything. Like, I think that had it -- because, remember in 1976, during the centennial celebration, there was all kinds of stuff going on. You know, we had, you know, discos all over the place. Right.

But I think that Trump has weaponized everything so that people are afraid and trying to distance themselves from this vengeful government. And the other part is it is possible that some of them don't like Donald Trump and this regime.

BLACKWELL: And so I said that Vanilla Ice is still on, so at least we'll have Ninja Rap for all the fans. Here's what he said about his decision to stay on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANILLA ICE, RAPPER: It's all about just us making it this far and then kind of bringing people together, and that's what this is about. I don't think that it should be about any political thing or anything like that. I don't even vote, so I don't even care.

And if Biden called up, hey, and he said, my daughter's getting married, we need Vanilla Ice, I'd go play. It's not a big thing. You play for your fans. You know, we don't get a chance to pick our fans. They pick us. And I'll go play for Putin, and I'll play in Iran if you want. It don't matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: He'll play for Putin. He'll play for Iran. Is keeping politics out of it possible for most artists? Vanilla Ice says yes. What do you say?

HARRIOT: Well, first of all, like, I think that, you know, as we know, everything is a political act, right. Whether you talking about, you know, government operations or not is a different thing. But when you, whoever you choose to show up for, right? When you essentially showing up for free, and when you're essentially performing in service of your country, it's a political act.

And it's interesting that these people try to distance themselves from politics. I know me and you were talking the other day about, we wish we could go to a Vanilla Ice concert, and we're going to have a chance, and we want to see Millie and Vanilli now. We only going to See one Vanilli. But the reality is this shows where this country is like, we're going to have this mediocre celebration with for the 250th.

Like, I'm in Tulsa right now celebrating the 120th anniversary of the Greenwood District where the Tulsa race massacre happened. And they have better entertainment. We're going to see Fantasia here, and --

BLACKWELL: Y'all see some Fantasia.

HARRIOT: -- and you got to see one Millie.

BLACKWELL: I'd love me some Fantasia.

HARRIOT: Right? But, you know, America can only get 1 Millie right now. And, you know, I guess they're going to probably pay for it with those Trump bucks, right? Which, like, what are you going to do, right? Pay for Millie concert or one gallon of gas?

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about this $250 bill. Treasury Secretary is backing this commemorative $250 bill with Trump's face on it. Now, Congress has to make an exception to put a living person on that. Someone has backed that bill. Unlikely is going to get enough votes to do it, but Harriet Tubman was proposed and promised years ago. That's been pushed out through legislation proposed through 2031, and that hasn't even passed yet. This is moving remarkably fast to try to get it ready for print.

HARRIOT: yes, this is -- this is why this is kind of indicative of this kind of semi-fascist regime that is like, everybody capitulates and bows to the leader. Right. I mean, to me, what makes sense is to put George Washington or, you know, one of the founders or all of the founders on that bill.

Putting Trump on it makes no sense except for this cult of personality that is enveloped, like 37 percent of the country, where they just want to worship this man as a God and he loves it. And so I don't like Congress is bowing to him, his administration is bowing to him, the treasury is bowing to him. And I don't know what we're going to do about it.

BLACKWELL: Michael Harriot, good to have you. I will see you at the Vanilla Ice concert.

HARRIOT: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Enjoy Fantasia. Thanks for being on.

[08:55:00]

HARRIOT: All right, raise the roof.

BLACKWELL: Since we're going back to the 90s. We'll be right back.

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BLACKWELL: The statue of Robert E. Lee that once stood in Charlottesville, Virginia, is now two tons of melted bronze. So a project called Swords into Plowshares solicited designs from three firms for how that material could be used as a new monument. And today is the last day to check out the proposals and vote one.

Artist Dana King and Model of Architecture Serving Society's proposal reimagines the bronze in the shape of a tree where all are welcome to put down roots in their pitch hood Design Studio says their concept involves a series of sculptural witness tree rings embedded into stainless steel, encircling trees that have lived through Charlotteville's a contested --