anif you've got a lifee. you gotta swiffer held lorlo, i'm wolf blitze. wherever you're watching from around the world, thank you for joining us. president trump eliciting another pardon from "the apprentice apprentice." he's certain the justice department concocted a story on

james comey. many republicans blasting the move of tariffs, calling it dumb. but first, a pardon that may be sending a strong political signal right now, the secret memo in the hands of the investigators. the president saying he's given a full pardon to desouza. desouza pleaded guilty to violating campaign laws back in 2014. among the president's previous pardons, vice president cheney's previous staff scooter libby and joe arpaio. is this a message that he has their backs if they stand by his side. and he also is considering pardoning rod blagojevich and martha stewart. also, andrew mccabe has turned over a secret memo to robert mueller's team. it raises questions about the firing of james comey and its

connection to the russian probe. let's go to our senior correspondent jeff zeleny. he's traveling with the president in houston right now. jeff, first of all, what is the president saying about the pardon of desouza and the others he may pardon? >> reporter: wolf, certainly the president is sending the message that he seems to be open for business, the pardoning business. he sent out another tweet early this morning about denest desouza. the conservative author that was really the leading proponent about a lot of conspiracy theories about barack obama, that he was not born in the u.s. of course not true. but he was convicted of a variety of campaign finance violations. he pleaded guilty. the president saying earlier today he believes he was unfairly convicted. he believes he was doing something that many other people have done. he says he does not have a reels ship with dinesh desouza. he called him today and told him he is going to pardon him.

a as the president was flying to houston, he told reporters on air force i in the small oval office on air force i, he is thinking about pardoning rod blagojevich. he is a democrat. rod blagojevich has been trying to get the president's attention. it seems he has gotten that. and martha stewart. she was prosecuted and ultimately charged and convicted for lying to investigators. wolf, they seem like separate cases but they're actually not. rod blagojevich and martha stewart actually appeared on "the apprentice" with candidate donald trump even before he was running for office, and there's also perhaps a bigger similarity. james comey, of course, the fired fbi director, was involved in the prosecution of all of these with the exception of rod blagojevich, but his best friend pat fitzgerald in illinois was the prosecutor in that case. so, wolf, it seems to be that

the president continuing his assault, his fight with james comey here trying to undo the legacy that he had in many of these very high-profile cases by talking about pardons. >> yeah, he seems to be sending a clear message at the same time to others who may be witnesses, may be involved in the russia investigation. and that's causing some concern, jeff zeleny in houston traveling with the president. we're going to get back to you, we're going to get a lot more reaction from our analysts. right now i want to bring this congressman steve cohn. he's a democrat from tennessee joining us live. what's your reaction to the president's decision to grant this full pardon to dines dinesh dsouza. do you think it sends a message? >> i think no doubt it does, the same with rod blagojevich and martha stewart. i was randomly talking with one of my colleagues a week and a half ago, and something came up about a pardon, and he said to

me, we're going to show you what pardons are all about real soon. and this is a fellow who talked to the president on a regular basis. i don't know if he necessarily knew what he was talking about, but i suspect he did, and what he was saying was basically we're going to have like a saturday night massacre when there is going to be several pardons in one day. i think manafort knows it, i think michael cohen knows it, i think others know it, i think robert mueller probably knows it and it's an obstruction of justice case. the president can issue pardons per the constitution. it's unlimited power. but if you abuse the power, and there can be an abuse of power, the remedy of that would be impeachment. some say you can't talk about impeachment, but you have to talk about impeachment when the congress has been impugned, and if the pardoning power is being used to obstruct justice in this case, which i see happening, the resolution, according to the federalist papers, is impeachment and it needs to be

talked about. >> but the president has complete authority, complete constitutional authority, to pardon anyone he wants. >> he does. but as i say, the federalist papers, and i can't remember the number of the federalist paper, but it was written, and madison, who responded, said, the remedy to a president who abuses the power and goes too far, like king george, would be to impeach him. impeachment can be on high crimes and misdemeanors not defined, but it can be what the congress could construe to be abusing that power to where it is malevolent, to where it causes the public to have less confidence in their judicial officials, which is what we saw in the arpaio case, when arpaio thumbed his nose to the judiciary and the president said, fine. martha stewart thumbs her nose to insider trading and he says fine. and blagojevich was trying to sell a senate seat, so he's basically saying all these people who have acted to really

put seeds of doubt in the public's mind about institutions and about fairness are going to be freed because he thinks it's okay. >> congressman, none of these pardons that have been issued have nothing to do with the russia investigation. these are individuals who were convicted. the president has the authority, constitutional authority, to pardon them if he wants to for whatever reason. every president does issue pardons, as you well know. >> well, they do, but at the same time during the obama administration, the thing that i'm most -- i sent obama a note and i told him my idea was he had to have three c's to finish up his term well and that was my program. cannabis reform, cuba changes and commutations. i urged the president to do more commutations on non-drug offenses and it took him forever to get it done. they had criteria and they

reviewed drug cases and they gave about 2600 commutations. that's not a pardon. it says, you served enough time, you're out. that's what he should have, a system set up with criteria to say if you fit the criteria, your sentence is commuted. there are tens of thousands of people. president obama and general holder didn't act swiftly enough to get as many people out as they should have. i know these don't have to do with russia, but it has to do with pardons, and if he pardons manafort, cohen, et cetera, et cetera, it's going to be something that enrages the public, and that's the kind of thing like the saturday night massacre that will get the public in a stage where they will be willing to support impeachment and even republicans will see it's the right thing to do because he's thumbing his nose at the entire system. >> he may be sending a message out there, as a lot of people suspect. so far no one has been pardoned in any connection with the russia investigation. we'll have a lot more to discuss, congressman.

we have to leave it right there. thanks for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. a reminder, the russian constitution says a president can do this. it gives the president, quote, power to grant reprieves and pardons. that's in the american constitution. gloria borger, what do you believe the president's political motivation is right now? >> well, i think he's trying to undo some big wins by his enemies. it's pretty clear here when you look at what he's already done with dinesh dsouza, which is major campaign contributions. and rod blagojevich who was convicted of trying to sell a senate seat, basically, public corruption, and martha stewart was a comey case, and she was convicted of perjury. you know, making false statements. blagojevich was done by patrick fitzgerald who was appointed by comey. i mean, i think there is a

pattern here, and i think that the president is making it very clear there is no nuance to donald trump, we've learned over this year, and what he's saying is, you know, i've got a lot of power and i can use it where i want, and you guys had some big wins here, you thought you did, well, guess what? i'm undoing it, and for the future i can do that, too. >> carrie, you're a former assistant general for security. how do you see it? >> i was county assistant general, but thanks for the promotion. i think the president, beyond just messaging, i think he is testing the boundaries of the presidency. i think he's potentially trying to use the presidency in ways that we haven't seen, really, in modern times. if we go back to the history of pardons, the president making pardon decisions alone are concentrating the use of pardons in the white house alone dates back to the 19th century. ever since the late 1800s, actually, the justice department has had some kind of office at a

time the state department was involved that had an office that actually reviewed pardon decisions as a matter of policy process. what this president has done, which we have not seen in centuries literally, is the president making unilateral decisions, not just disregarding a recommendation that might be made from the office of the pardon after a justice department review, but absolutely 100% bypassing any of that policy process. so i think that he is looking toward ways to expand his presidency and he's seeing how far the other branches of government are going to let him get away with it. z >> the president tweeted this earlier this morning, gloria. not that it matter, but i never fired james comey because of russia. the corrupt mainstream media loves to keep pushing that narrative, but they know it's not true. listen to what he told lester holt of nbc news. >> regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey knowing there was no good time

to do it. and, in fact, when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story, it's an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election that they should have won. >> so it sounds like in that interview he was saying, at least in part, he fired comey because of russia. >> that's exactly what he said, so he's even denying what is on camera for everyone to watch and to see. and if you look at all the questions that the special counsel wants to ask the president, they do want to ask him about what his intent was when he fired comey. and that is a question that he has answered publicly to lester holt, which was, i was kind of thinking about russia. and if he is saying now that he wasn't thinking about russia, then they need to ask him about it and get an answer. >> because intent is clearly critical in terms of firing

comey, even though the president has a right to fire him for any reason, for no reason, whatever. the president likes to issue pardons whenever the president wants to issue a pardon. you heard the congressman suggest that intent could be a possible level of obstruction. >> so to prosecute obstruction, one of the elements is that the activity has to be done with some type of corrupt intent or done corruptly, is the words that are used. so his intent, what he was thinking when he made the decision to fire the fbi director, is absolutely one of the key aspects that the special counsel is probably looking at when it comes to obstruction. now, maybe this means they have decided not to do the interview and that he is just going to do this in a court of public opinion, so now it's just what he says on tv. obviously what he says on tv and what he tweets is very different than what he might have to say in an interview or under oath to a grand jury if he was ever called before a grand jury.

>> and if you listen to rudy giuliani who just spoke with our dana bash today, he's completely bypassed the legal process, and says, you know, this is a matter for impeachment. i'm not sure it's so wise for someone who is an attorney of the president to actually say there is going to be an impeachment proceeding against him. >> i think that's what he's doing. i think they're running an impeachment strategy. everything rudy giuliani has done since he's been on board has given that indication, at least. >> guys, we're going to continue to assess what's going on because there is a lot going on right now. carrie and gloria, thank you so much. also breaking today, the trump administration sparking new fears of tariffs over key allies, the fear that america will pay more. we're now being told

president trump will be allowth kim jong-un will be allowed to deliver a letter to the president of the united states. and an isis supporter. we're going to hear what this jihadi supporter now admits. our. downy and it's done. one picky customer shouldn't take all your time. need something printed? the business advisors at office depot can assist with exactly what your business needs to grow. get your coupon for 20% off services, technology and more at office depot and officedepot.com. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown

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a sign of progress, that's how a senior state department official is now characterizing the early ending to a meeting between secretary of state mike pompeo and north korea's kim young chu. a short time ago the secretary tweeted this. substantive talks with the team from north korea. we discussed our priorities for the potential summit between our leaders. but there's more. that senior north korean official will now receive a special waiver to make a special delivery tomorrow. listen to this. >> i believe they will be coming down to washington on friday, and a letter is going to be delivered to me from kim jong-un, so i look forward to seeing what's in the letter. >> let's bring in our global affairs correspondent elise l

lavin. she's been covering all of this for us. their top ex-spy will now be able to leave the nation for the first time in a long time, not only invited to the white house but presumably will also meet with the president of the united states. >> that's right. kim young chul is the highest ranking official to visit washington in 18 years, since the clinton administration. he'll be hand-delivering a response from kim jong-un to president trump about this letter that president trump sent last week cancelling the summit. now, obviously, things have gotten moved forward since then, but proper asian manners dictate that kim jong-un would respond to this letter, and presumably it's a more encouraging response about he does want to keep this summit on track. >> so is the june 12 summit in singapore between the president of the united states and the leader in north korea definitely

on? >> i don't think it's definite. i think you've heard mike pompeo and other officials say that they're looking to have this meeting on the 12th. all the signs show that this is what's going to happen. that meeting ended early because a senior state official department briefing said there is a problem with this meeting. ambassador sun kim is currently talking with the north koreans about what a draft agreement could look like, what are the contents of those talks and what can they agree to. if they can narrow the gaps between now and june 12, it looks like the summit will be on track. if not then, very soon after. >> they gave him a position to lead that 25-mile radius. now he is not only invited to the white house but may meet with the president of the united states, which is what the north koreans want. they want international recognition, they want respect, they want to be seen as a world

power, and certainly a meeting like this under sds scoscores t. >> and you saw, kim jong-un really got good status right now. he met with president moon of south korea, he met with secretary pompeo several times, and now foreign minister lavrov of russia is going to be there. so kim jong-un given that world status that he really wants and president trump is ready to treat him if not as an equal but a federal world leader. >> he's met twice with president xi of china as well, so he's developing international stature. elise, thank you very much. up next, president trump slaps tariffs on some of the closest u.s. allies, prompting retaliation and sparking renewed fears of a global trade war. and a new book by a close adviser of president obama outlines the former president's emotional reaction to donald trump's presidential victory. why he second-guessed himself.

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after months of negotiations, president trump is formally imposing tariffs on three of america's biggest trading partners and allies, canada, mexico and the european union. the market is clearly fearing a trade war is imminent. look at this, the dow jones now down about 217 points. our u.s. allies are not counting nerves right now, but mexico and the european union say they will, in fact, retaliate while britain says it will take a permanent exemption. we're still waiting to hear from canada right now. president justin trudeau is expected to speak. we'll follow that. how far will this go and how will it affect your pocket? i want to bring in jim tinge

tinkersley and rachel baade. will america feel the impact of 15% tariff on aluminum and 10% on steel products? >> we're seeing a lot of manufacturers and retailers worried about increased prices with this. it isn't a huge bump in inflation, but cars rely on steel, and we could see a lot of manufactured goods in particular to be something americans have to pay more for. >> if they redal ytaliate and p tariffs on things traded to the united states, we'll feel the impact. >> now if there's big tear riar there might be fewer people working in that industry. >> a republican, one of the

first lawmakers to respond to this fear of a trade war, tweeted this. this is dumb. europe, canada and mexico aren't china and you don't treat allies the same as you treat opponents. blanket protectionism is a big part of why america had a great depression. "make america great again" shouldn't mean "make america 1929 again." you're hearing a lot of similar sentiment not just from republicans, but democrats as well. >> mostly republicans. you're going to see a lot of republicans pushing back on this. look, in this situation what is good politically for president trump is not good for the republican party in general. the president ran on america first. he said he was going to crack down on china, and he's doing that. he's saying, i'm checking off a box for a campaign promise. but republicans, they want free markets. they want free trade. they believe competition is going to bring down prices, and right now they're running their midterm election strategy based solely on the economy. and so this really throws a

wrench into that situation, and if prices go up and people feel it in their own pocketbook, then that's going to hurt them and it could really hurt the party. >> it could hurt some of the farm states out there, agricultural products, a huge u.s. export to a lot of these countries. if they're going to cut back, that's going to be a problem politically for the president as well. >> this is something we've seen with the china tariffs also, that there's this fear rightly so in the farm belt that with agriculture such a big part of their business, if you see big allies like canada, mexico and the european union, and even china who buys a lot of american soybeans, if they start to raise tariffs because of what we're doing, that raises the exports. things are not going so great in the farm industry as it is, and this just makes it worse. >> some of these representatives and senators from these states, they could get pretty upset if it starts affecting the pocketbooks and jobs in their

home states. >> yeah, and there's also a fear that this will totally nullify any benefits americans would see from the tax bill. obviously republicans are run g running on their tax package and they're telling people, look at your pocketbook. you should be doing better economically. but if prices go up, people are going to say who is in charge? the republican party is in charge right now. they're going to blame the republicans. >> we'll see who blinks first, the u.s. partners or the trade partners. it could have an effect not just here in the united states but globally as well. we'll see what happens. guys, thank you so much for joining us. an isis supporter convicted, charged with plotting an attack against four-year-old prince george. what he's telling investigators. we have details.

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in a surprise regular versal, this british isis supporter admitted he followed soccer stadiums and even one member of the royal family, four-year-old prince george. we're joined in london right near the scotland yard. he had maintained his innocence since his arrest but today he pleaded guilty to terror offenses two weeks into his trial. why the change in plea? >> reporter: well, it seems as though, wolf, it was just the sheer mounting evidence against him that prosecutors managed to glean that caused him to change his plea. we're talking about someone who sent 200,000 extremist messages by encrypted social media channels but also acts like telegram. it was that particular system, telegram, that he was using when he disseminated that message and

image of prince george outside his school in southwest london just one month into the new difference with the message "even the royal family is not alone." that was taken very much as an indication that he was asking supporters to target members fortunate royal family. i should point out he also had encouraged his supporters to commit jihad both in the west and also in places like syria. he was accused in this trial of having communicated with terrorists in syria and, indeed, planned to travel out there. but some of those charges still lie on the sheet. as you said, before he pleaded guilty to four terrorist charges, three planned terrorist attacks and one for encouraging other people to make terrorist attacks as well. wolf? >> was the prince's life ever in danger? >> we have no indication that

his life was ever in danger, but we do have some indications that obviously this threat was taken very seriously, because, of course, the crime prosecution service has investigated this and managed to glean so much evidence on this individual. they were obviously quite concerned about his modu modus operandi and his supporters. scotland yard is providing very tight security, and in particular to prince george, because he is number three in line to the british throne. i should also mention this wasn't the only time his school had been targeted. in the first couple months of his term, there was also another woman who was cautioned by police here at the metropolitan police headquarters because she had scaled the perimeter of that particular building. and again, a security threat towards prince george. but so far the palace hasn't commented on today's events, or indeed they didn't comment before when that woman was cautioned, either, wolf. >> very disturbing evidence

indeed. thanks very much for that report. coming up, president trump once again responding to roseanne but twisting facts instead of condemning her racist remarks. also, more on the breaking news. the president pardoning a conservative commentator and now considering pardons for rod blagojevich and martha stewart. stand by. i feel a great deal of urgency... i think, keep going, and make a difference. at some point, we are going to be able to beat als. because life is amazing. so i am hoping for a cure. i want this, to uh, to be a reality. um, yeah.

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♪ ♪ for the second day in a row, president trump is speaking out

about roseanne barr's racial tweet. he claims he's a victim. his tweet this morning reads as follows. iger, where is my call of apology. you and abc have offended millions of people and they demand a response. how is brian ross doing? he tanked the market with an abc lie, yet no apology. double standard. abc did apologize. brian ross was suspended for his inaccurate reporting. this isn't the last time the president has demanded an apology but didn't apologize for his own remarks. >> donald j. trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states. >> you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. you had people in that group --

excuse me, excuse me -- i saw the same pictures as you did. >> wouldn't you love to see one of these nfl owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say get that son of a [ bleep ] off the field right now, out, he's fired. he's fired! >> joining us now, michael eric dyson is at author of a brand new book entitled "tears we cannot stop." actually, that's not the new book, this is the new book. that's an old book. our unfinished conversation about race in america. congratulations on the new book. you've watched the president. why is it hard for him to go out, especially after the racist comments from roseanne barr, and condemn what she said? >> that bigotry speaks of him. some said he is the biggest chief of racism, and i think it

shows he is incapable of coming out and saying, look, this is wrong, racism is a problem. here's a man who accused five black men, even after they were exonerated by dna, that they couldn't have been the people who committed the crime. he didn't apologize for it. he has had connections with black people in terms of his own relationships. there are good people and bad people on both sides, communists, racist and bigotry. >> what would you like to hear from the president? >> racism is wrong. it is evil to indict people because of their skin color, because of their racial or sexual or religious identity, and to say we as americans stand up behind them, stand with them against those who would deny and insult american democracy. until the president can do that, he hasn't really earned the right to amplify the voices of other people. >> let's talk about the book by

ben rhodes. he details the president's reaction, president obama's reaction to donald trump's election victory. after the election, according to the new book, rhodes recalls the president saying, quote, what if we were wrong? maybe we pushed too far. maybe people just want to fall back into their tribe. the president went on to say, sometimes i wonder if i was 10 or 20 years too early. when you hear that, those are words, according to ben rhodes, from president obama. what do you think? >> he had an incredibly difficult position. he was describing on the one hand inequality that persist nd this nation and on the other hand trying to move forward as the president for every american. if you're a true american president, you have to grapple with the most serious sin in this country's history, which is race. obama felt, because of his own personal disposition to be calm and cool and collected, that he shouldn't be get into the fray, and i think that was a tragic problem and a flaw.

because when you don't address the history of race in this country, someone like a donald trump will step in and have no, if you will, hesitation to address the issue of race in a distorted and in a harmful way. plus obama was trapped by the fact that a lot of people didn't like him and didn't like the fact that he was a black man. look what roseanne said about valerie jarrett to a witness and sample some of the persistent bigotry in this country. >> earlier what he said about susan rice, the president's national security adviser. when i read "what truth sounds like," your brand new book, what will i learn? >> you'll learn robert kennedy had a big meeting with james baldwin. he thought, i'm a white man, i'm liberal, i'm going to be celebrated. they lit him up. he was mad, they got mad, he sicced the fbi on them. he said, if i was a black man, i would feel the same way. he changed course. he got his brother to give a speech about the moral dimensions in america and it changed his own understanding of race, and he became one of the

great advocates for racial equality and justice in this land. that's what "what truth sounds like" is all about. >> i'm anxious to continue our conversation about race in america. thanks for joining us. thank you for writing this book. >> thank you for having me on. coming up, a dangerous war on gangs in el salvador, but this special unit quietly backed by u.s. dollars and a dark past. a cnn exclusive coming up. but now it's our turn to take control with stelara® stelara® works differently for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease. studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. stelara® may lower the ability of your immune system to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. before or during treatment, always tell your doctor if you think you have an infection or have flu-like symptoms or sores, have had cancer,

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there is a disturbing side to the u.s. there's a disturbing side to the fight in el salvador, particularly the gang ms-13. we look at an elite police squad

backed by american money. >> reporter: it's an undeclared war here in el salvador, an elite group against ms-13, an elite game that beheads, rapes and terrorizes. these men are fighting with u.s. money and help. >> a lot of this equipment american government supplied, part of an effort to try and tackle gang violence back in el salvador. >> translator: the u.s. participate in training, as well as providing equipment. the only thing that the u.s. does not supply is lethal equipment, the weapons and ammunition. but it supplies us with protective equipment, helmets,

knee pads. >> reporter: the unit has a dark history, the special reaction force forces. they had a very lethal track record on the street, killing a staggering 43 people they say were gang members in just six months last year. some, and it has repeatedly been allegedxecutions. that's a problem for the u.s. who aren't supposed to fund them. the number of gang members each year killed by police have risen five times in two years. a higher body count that hasn't, say polls, made people feel safe.

it's a culture of alleged impunity exposed in what's app messages where informants ask for people's help identifying gang members. "can you send us a picture of shadow", the message says. we're going to locate him. we're going to crash that [ bleep ] bastard. police rail at the execution of fellow police nearby. there are witnesses who saw that they were beating that son of a [ bleep ] before killing him but our comrades portrayed it as a shoot-out. here you have bad procedures in practice. if you're going to do some [ bleep ] like that, you better be sure there are no witnesses. brutal tactics can drive people away from the gangs like ms-13. we're headed to one of the

scenes of one of the more prominent killings, what people here say was a police death squad. no one disputes that eclipse was a bad figure, but they do say wasn't armed. it was essentially an excuse. >> we hear "there they are, we're surrendering." then we hear the shots fired. and after we hear another four shots fired. >> reporter: his distraught mother shows us the scene, his bedroom. >> translator: here he was lying down, as if sleeping. >> reporter: she claims they shot him in the back.

they say the police never comes back here now. charges were filed but police rarely investigate their own. using a photograph, a facial recognition expert who used to work for british police identified him in the new jaguar unit. >> these are clear images. i'm confirmed this is the same person i'm looking at. >> an officer accused of killing in the old unit, the fes, is likely in a new one, the jaguar. they will declare a pattern of behavior amounting to extra judicial executions. they say they are fighting "terrorists." more than 200 officers faced court for improper armed aggression last year they said.

>> translator: there's a general belief about this unit having a green light to kill these gang members but that's a lie. this does not happen here, not in any other country. we stick to the legal norms of our country. we can only respond against aggression and we use the force level that applies to our police corps. and as last resort, we fire our wednesdayon. >> reporter: in . >> reporter: the u.s. says it provides assistance to v investigate, adjudicate and prosecute all kind of violent crimes, including those suspected of human right violation. they added the u.s. provided body cams. the u.s. has tried butte force here and elsewhere before and failed or got in court in a longer conflict. as the threat of ms-13 rises,

they'll have to hope the gangs crumble, rather than escalate the fight. nick payton walsh, san salvador. >> we want to thank nick for that excellent, excellent report. that's it for me in "the situation room." "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right now. >> i'm brooke baldwin. thanks for being with me. it is day number 496 of the trump presidency and today turns out to be a stunner. the president is showing himself in an unprecedented way. president trump said via twitter he will pardon