and that point i made to joe arpaio.ig guy that's hiring them. where is that outrage on the part of people that wants this to stop. >> that's a good question. we should be happy and grateful that we live on the greatest country on earth and people would want to come here. we have to make sure people have a way to get here, as long as they do it properly. that gets a big amen. see you, chris. have a good one. this is cnn tonight. i'm don lemon. the justice department inspector-general, releasing a point on james comey's handling of hillary clinton's e-mails. a report that comey failed to coordinate his actions with his

joe arpaio, i appreciate you coming onto make the case.hank you. >> thank you. >> and from one of hillary clinton's critics, we now bring in her former campaign chairman and director of the center for american progress, john podesta. good to have you. >> good to be with you. >>> let's talk about this ig report. it seems it's being viewed largely through a partisan lens. what's the headline for you and what you saw? >> you tried to say there were good facts and bad facts. i only see one set of facts. the facts are that jim comey violated practice and procedure. he applied a double standard with respect to the investigation of hillary clinton versus the investigation of russian interference in the election, and its connection to the trump campaign. you know, he ended up hurting hillary clinton. he helped elect donald trump. there's 560 pages of detail of that in the ig ease report, but that's the facts. and people try to spin one e-mail or a bunch of e-mails one way or the other, but those are the fundamental facts of what happened last july

joe arpaio flouted the justice system. i can't believe rudy giuliani would pardon these people. >> the only reason you get pardoned is you committed a crime. pardon doesn't exist -- >> oh, no, you could pardon even before he or she is adjudicated. 's choosing to do this now. it seems like the president wants to send a message, i'm doing this early on in the investigation where maybe lying will become a commodity. >> chris, every single one of these cases at the time was highly controversial. i can give you a "wall street journal" editorial about each one of them including the one with martha stewart in particular which they saw as a real perversion of justice, be s trapped into perjury. scooter libby, the investigation never should have taken place. they should have moved to have that case dismissed on the grounds that if there was perjury, it was immaterial. >> rudy. >> it would be like conducting a murder investigation after you caught the murderer, knew who he was, but didn't tell anybody, which sounds a little bit like

>> and sheriff arpaio. >> you're making my point.t to pin the behavior of anyone bad on president trump. >> let's hold this thought. we have to take a quick break. at t-mobile, we don't just see uniforms. we see the people behind them. so we're committed to helping veterans through job training when their service ends... and to hiring 10,000 veterans and military spouses to be part of our workforce in the next 5 years. because no matter where you serve... or when you serve... t-mobile stands ready to serve you. so we provide half-off on all family lines for military. with savings on the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses your every move and automatically adjusts on both sides to keep you effortlessly comfortable. and snoring.... does your bed do that? don't miss the final days of our semi-annual sale save up to $700 on sleep number 360 smart beds. ends sunday. you're more than just a bathroom disease.. you're a life of unpredictable symptoms. crohn's, you've tried to own us. but now it's our turn to take control with stelara®

alice marie johnson, okay, jack johnson, joe arpaio, scooter libby. a white house official said trump is obsessed as pardons, but the potential pardon of johnson has caused consternation with chief of staff kelly. is it the process or the end result? is it they're traditionalists and they think this is why we have a justice department and lawyers and months of meetings? >> i've got to say being bothered by traditional process is not a hallmark of this white house. i think that don mcgahn has tried more often than not to make actual policy get followed, particularly since the rob porter issue. john kelly i think does these things issue by issue and based on how he feels about them. again, this does not follow the normal process. to your point, should somebody have to be a celebrity or be able to be in a fox news green room to get the president's attention? that's a different subject. but on this particular case, it is still not clear to me and it's not clear to me from "the washington post" story why kelly has an issue here. what i think it is, i think

>> and sheriff arpaio. >> you're making my point. they want to pin the behavior of anyone bad on president trump. >> let's hold this thought. we have to take a quick break. whoooo. looking for a hotel that fits... ...your budget? tripadvisor now searches over... ...200 sites to find you the... ...hotel you want at the lowest price. grazi, gino! find a price that fits. tripadvisor. . >>> back now with the panel. we were talking about ted nugent before the break and his invitation to the white house. >> i was saying to remind my republican friend here donald trump started his business career discriminating against black tenants. he started his political career pedaling a conspiracy theory about birthism. he started his presidential career talking about mexicans and rapists. he talked about neo nazis and saying there were fine people on both sides in charlottesville. he has an issue with race and bigotry, not just recently. i grew up in new york city. i know exactly who donald trump is. we had to listen and watch him when i was growing

so what did pence have say when arpaio showed up at his event last night?g through the door that we were also going to be joined by another favorite. a great friend of this president. a tireless champion of strong borders and the rule of law. he spent a lifetime in law enforcement. [ cheers and applause ] sheriff joe arpaio! i'm honored to have you here. >> seth: i swear to god, this guy's reading his bible upside down. [ laughter ] mike pence is a guy who leaves a football game when players take a knee during an anthem in an exercise of their first ammendment rights, but is honored to be in the presence of a man found guilty of criminal contempt of court. in the words of our president -- >> does that make sense? [ laughter ] >> seth: this has been "a closer look." ♪ [ cheers and applause ] we'll be right back with priyanka chopra, everybody. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ >> announcer: for more of seth's "closer looks" be sure to subscribe to "late night" on youtube. party's over, 'six legs', she's got simparica now. simpari-what? simparica is what kills tick a

joe arpaio is a free man and i think is even running for office down there. this in bolton sam. -- this in bolton's him. he can pardon scooter libby. it just makes it so much easier for him to pardon someone like michael flynn or someone like his own lyer miael cohen. so that is forbearance. going past the guard rose of democracy that all of terms predecessors have followed. amy: so what can people do? for example, congress. why do demococrats in the minory have the power to do and what would happen if they became the majority in november? and what about republicans of the president has absolute power? short-term, november, and for sure, seems like a long time away in trump years, right? i think it is possible -- the democrats could peel off moderate republicans for certain measures such as legislation fromwould prevent trucks firing robert mueller. i think that could get some republican support, whether the leadership would allow a vote on that is another thing. really the democrats need to make it clear to the people that if they can gain a majority in the

this is a problem, and i do think some of the pardons are used for trolling, arpaio among them.ustice of the jim crow era, and a plaud hpplan that. i'm okay with the good ones, and i'm okay that the president can use pardoning power. of all the things the president does do, this is not the one that will upset me too much just because constitutionally he has a lot of power here. >> to your point, john, he does recommend this kind of rising thing that elevated trump. this trolling and being a provocateur, the conspiracy theories, he's fond of many of them, but of course the critics will raise the question, if trump can pardon arpaio and d'souza without even going through the process, what about michael flynn? what about rick gates? >> and he talks about rod blagojevich and martha stewart, who is out of prison but was convicted of lying, people say, wait a minute, is he trying to send a message about michael flynn who was lying? is he trying to send a message about people sent to jail by james comey's fbi or friends of james comey? it has to be a signal to paul manafort and mike fl

arpaio was told not to discriminate against immigrants in arizona. he did it anyway.d president obama a monkey, said michelle obama looked like an ape. a long record of racist statements. and yet he pardons them. what's dangerous about this, very unusual, is once again donald trump is skirting or flouting our norms. i checked the doj website for how pardons are supposed to go. usually someone makes a pooh tici petition. usually they have to wait five years. the department of justice is clear in saying if you get a pardon this does not show innocence. it means you've accepted responsibility for what you've done. i hope d'souza recognizes this. he isn't innocent. >> i don't think he particularly cares about that. he's just happy that the president just hooked hi eed hi. pardons have worked that way for years. presidents hooking people up for various reasons. i want to show what this presidential historian said on why he thinks trump is handling the pardons the way he is. >> this is sort of classic trump. i think he's trying to numb people so if he does these tr k strang

so i think, you know, sheriff arpaio has it backwards. if you want to do something, let's do something to the parents. let's not do something to the children that's harmful. they're here not by their choice. >> isn't that what arpaio is saying, it's the parents who have put their kids up to this? >> i think that there are other ways that we might look at punishing the parents by making sure they don't -- they're not allowed ultimately to come into this country. but to punish the children by separating from their parents, you know, i don't think that's the appropriate way to deal with this. >> what do you want to see ultimately happen? >> well, ultimately, what i'd like to see is congress passing comprehensive immigration reform that deals with these kinds of issues. that deal also with the 15 million people in this country here unlawfully. that imposes greater workplace enforcement actions and deals with the dreamers. i think comprehensive legislation is needed in this country for two important reasons. one, if we get it right, it is goin

don't worry, i have the power to pardon you too, just like i pardoned dinesh d'souza, sheriff joe arpaio and scooter libby. it doesn't matter if you pleaded guilty like conservative flame thrower d'souza who was sentenced to five years probation and a $30,000 fine for violating federal campaign finance laws. so are the president's pardons all about politics? we have more on that in just a moment. and that all comes on the day the president doubled or tripled his demands for an apology from abc in the wake of roseanne barr's firing for that racist twitter attack on valerie jarrett. the president making it all about him again, tweeting, 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, but no apology. double standard. the president completely ducking the point there. roseanne's tweet was straight-up racist, yet the president failed to condemn it. why? because he can't. because his own words and actions are racist too. so let's review. back in 1973, trump's family real e

can face. >> i think the arpaio pardon was grotesque and plus the ones he's talking about clearly areeant to send the message that prosecutors can go too far and they could be political and there is an element where he wants to get under the skin and troll a particular set of prosecutors he doesn't like which is an unprecedented use of the pardon power, obviously. >> very clearly it's the fdny. >> dinesh -- >> southern district of new york. >> for those who don't watch cable news. >> look at donald trump's longest and arguably one of his closest friends and advisers. roger stone said this is a very clear message to robert mueller that if you indict anybody not t is not appropriate and the president will pardon you. >> i liked the pardon of joe johnston, the prizefighter. otherwise, you know, it -- it inescapably looks these pardons both political and life is political, but also a little frivolous. there are deeper cases and more important cases. the pardon power which is real and ought to be real ought to be used as matters of serious compassion for people who need it. that's how it s

including sheriff arpaio. dave and christine. >> thank you. the white house admitted to jim that you can't ignore trump's considerations. consider this, former u.s. president paree trt prosecuted dinesh d'souza. and patrick fitzgerald. fitzgerald won the election of the illinois governor on corruption charges. >>> and the u.s. is hitting tariffs and they are hitting back. the u.s. slapped tariffs on the eu, mexico and canada. the three had temporary exemptio exemptions, but the white house let those expired after it did not get what it wanted in negotiations. the goal is to help u.s. steel workers. metal tariffs could raise prices. think cars, appliances and food cans. it puts the u.s. in another trade dispute as it is targeting $50 million in chinese goods. these three struck back. eu and mexico with tariffs on u.s. goods. canada will tariff on equal amounts. justin trudeau says this just won't hurt canada. this risks 2.6 million american jobs. especially if it causes nafta to fall apart. president trump resp

you can be held in contempt to violate a court order the way joe arpaio did and you are home free if are a fan of donald trump. >> let's try to understand each of those three things and start with what the constitution says about the power to pardon. article ii, section ii. the president shall have power to grant repraoefs and pardoning for offenses against the united states, except in cases of impeachment. >> every power of the president is limited by the impeachment clause. it says if you commit treason, bribery or other high crimes of misdemeanors, you are to be removed from office after you're convicted by the senate. there is a clear signal that no presidential power is totally absolute. if, for example, the president accepts bribes in order to pardon his buddies, his friends, that is a high crime and misdemeanor. if the president uses pardons to cover up his own crimes by dangling a get out of jail free card to people who might otherwise be witnesses against him, that's part of obstruction of justice, the key article of impeachment against nixon. >> in this case, how does that

you have the pardon of joe arpaio and scooter libby and this latest. there's a very clear connection between arpaio, libby andy ne dh d'souza. it's a certain element of the republican party, i would say conspiracy minded conservatives, who view item as enemies of the deep state. people who were unfairly persecuted and prosecuted. what message is donald trump sending? why dinesh d'souza who he admits he didn't meet? why now? why today? he wants to send a message to michael cohen and paul manafort. i know you're under pressure to flip and tell bob mueller what you know. just so you know i'm willing to pardon these sorts of offenses. timing is rarely accidentally in politics. otherwise the dinesh d'souza thing makes no sense. >> it's one of those things that's so obvious that they think this is so obvious they won't believe it. >> no one will suspect it. >> right. april, the president issues this pardon tod dinesh d'souza and hints he might also for martha stewart and blagojevich. is he telling michael flynn and paul manafort i'll pardon you? >> yes. he's

think about presidential pardons you even knew about and the fact that joe arpaio was the very firstl. >> i have to take a break in. when we come back, tariffs, trade war and the economy. my exclusive interview withjf justin trudeauy it's easy to think that all money managers are pretty much the same. but while some push high commission investment products, fisher investments avoids them. some advisers have hidden and layered fees. fisher investments never does. and while some advisers are happy to earn commissions from you whether you do well or not, fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management. 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. ♪ when i first came to ocean bay, what i saw was despair. i knew something had to be done. hurricane sandy really woke people up, to showing that we n

and arpaio, ain, another one, if you use all the typical metrics that we use in the justin department where the pardon attorney's office resides, very few of these people you'd consider good candidates for pardons. again, it's an absolute power that the president has, but it's an interesting thing. i don't think people necessarily thought about it this way. if you pardon somebody, all right, well that means that they are-- they don't have much to worry about with regard to whatever the pardon covers, but if bob mueller, for instance, wants to take a pardon to person, put that person before a grand jury, that person no longer has the ability to say i'm going with my fifth amendment right. that's been stripped away, you have a pardon and that person then becomes a perfect witness for the special counsel. so it might have a positive impact on the person who received the pardon, but it will not ultimately support the mueller investigation. and you know, we-- i hope that, you know, as the president is considering the use of that power, that he would use it in ways that, i think president o

the president didn't even wait for arpaio to be sentenced before deciding to issue that pardon. so it's just a whole different ball game. >> or as we call it, jill, just an average week in the life of this presidency, which bring mez to my old friend, steve holland. steve we'll talk about your conversation with the president on north korea specifically later in the broadcast. but i'm looking at the whirlwind day you had, especially having made this flight out and back to texas with him. you had subject areas, comey, north korea, pardons, trade war to use the president's own tweet, these shooting victims that were in the background. can you describe his state of mind onboard that airplane en route to this day? >> well, he -- brian, he's in a very good mood. he feels like things are going very well with north korea. the u.s. economy is doing well. we went into this trip thinking it was going to be a nothing-burger because it was just a couple of closed fund-raisers in houston and dallas. but little did we know that we were going to get so much news out of the president. we were su

including sheriff arpaio. he was convicted in court of ignoring a judge's order of racially profiles latinos. dave and christine. >> joining us is historian julian zelizer. this sends a message. jack johnson. that was righting a wrong. >> no question. should have been done. >> dinesh d'souza. potentially rod blagojevich. we know scooter libby. >> it shows law enforcement is unfair. this is the president standing up for the legally oppressed. in this case, it has to do with prosecutors who have been problems for the president. i think he is sending a message to the prosecutors. he is sending a message to people like mike flynn that i have the power to pardon you. he is sending a message to conservatives going into the mid-terms. >> he loves to troll that base. here is who d'souza in a couple of tweets. one about obama. you can take the boy out the ghetto. here is one on rosa parks. overrated democrats. rosa parks would not sit in the back of the bus. that's all she did. so what's the big fuss? what's the wrong

joe arpaio, controversial arizona sheriff. he was convicted of contempt of course.au saucier, mishandling classified information. scooter libby, jack johnson. >> i'm not sure about jack johnson, but the rest of them there is a theme. presidents do controversial pardons toward the end of their term. saw that with chelsea manning. trump is using it differently. he understands in order to survive the special counsel probe he has to keep his base together. so he's doing that to feed his base. but probably more importantly, to send a message to anyone who might hurt him that he will take care of them. >> you see this as a direct message to the likes of michael cohen. >> absolutely. >> that message is what? >> i'll stick with you. i'll be loyal to you if you're loyal to me. here is your get out of jail free. because i as president will use my executive powers to take care of you. >> meaning don't cooperate. >> don't cooperate. don't tell them what you know, and you'll be okay. >> dinesh d'souza was on fox and explained he got a phone call from president trump and the pres

that is what unusual figures like several others, joe arpaio, as well and we are seeing that.t's also unusual is the way that the white house is executing typically have bypasse department of justice office of the pardon attorney and typically you go through them for the application process for recommendations for pardoning people and the white house has do this largely on its own with president trump being the decisionre. hite house is prepared to make the coming months. poppy and brianna? >> kaitlan collins, before you go, this is your excellent reporting on this. it is significant that there has been this consternation, it appears, according to reporting about the west wing abouthis. thehief of staff john kelly not supportive of a pardon for al joh and don mcgahn not supportive of this and you have red kushner on the other side of this. the fact that they're not all on the same page with this. >> that's right. jared kushner and john kelly aren't often on the same page of some of these things and we're seeing jared kushner making a comeback in the west wing. he got his secur

his major pardons have been scooter libby, sheriff joe arpaio, and now dinesh d'souza. these are all heroes to the right who have made the case they've been politically persecuted in their prosecutions by the federal government. so as trump and his minions accuse the deep state of trying to politicize the russia investigation, basically undermine federal law enforcement, he's now pardoning people that he's defining as victims of law enforcement to delejet mize the notion of prosecution. so he may be sending a message to everyone, i'll take care of you, but at the same time he's also discrediting this institution of his own government. >> matt miller, he's bypassing the pardon office in the justice department completely. >> yes, which is supposed to weigh pardons and prns applications and make recommendations to the president. pardons are supposed to exist to correct injustices or show mercy to people who maybe maybe a mistake. that's not the true for the president's pardon issues. he views the pardon power the same way as he views every other aspect of law enforcement.

let's remember joe arpaio was the sheriff of maricopa county. he was held in contempt of court by a judge because he refused to comply with an order that was to stop integritily discriminating. and so trump pardoned him for contempt. >> and he violated a court order for a judge in a case that was brought by the federal government. right? the department of justice against him for violating civil rights. he criminally violated a contempt of court, and the president pardons him. >> pardons him. so what does that mean the president's view is of the rule of law, of the role of the justice department? the texas i.d. is another example. where they were arguing the justice department for years was arguing and winning on a set of facts about again intentional discrimination in texas. and then the justice department reverses position as if they found the facts no longer were the facts. it's what maya was saying. this is policy disguised as law. this is i get to do what i want because i've got the power. that's what this is. >> absolutely. it's also bad po

dinesh d'souza, like joe arpaio have a record of actions that are racially divisive.legacy by arpaio, coming at the same time that he chose this week to not criticize roseann barr but to, inessence, criticize abc for a double standard getting rid of her. all of this continues the drum beat of signaling that he is sending to portions of american associate that are most uneasy about the demographic change that we are living through. that is no coincidence as well as he go around the process -- in a way it's more personal, more revealing, because he is doing this solely on his own. >> how does paul manafort, the president's former campaign chairman, who's facing potentially years and years in prison see all this unfolding? >> you have to believe, and it's hard to get in anyone's head and know what they're thinking but you have to believe the federal government in charging you with crimes can do what they want, charge me with more, but i have a close friend, he lives at pennsylvania avenue, i used to manage his campaign, i was only there for a day, two days, a week, at th

arpaio en arizona, el reporte es de vÍctor hugo rodrÍguez. >> ya son mÁs 11.000 los niÑo inmigrantesas las instalaciones donde los alojaban hasta ahora, la cifra aumenta dÍa a dia en aplicaciÓn de las polÍtica tolerancia cero del gobierno, aha auienfuera incluso puede ser daÑino para la salud incluso mortal. >> ademÁs la cifra de niÑos puede aumenta por las polÍticas de tolerancia cero que separan a las niÑas de los familiares en la frontera y entregan al gobierno, los 100 refugios estÁn ocupados hasta 95%, el departamento de salud y servicioumanosconfirmÓ a noticias telemundo que visitaran la prÓxima mi d paso pa construir una ciudad de carpas. >> en texas hay varias regulaciones acerca de dÓnde se mantiene a los niÑos tiene que ser u lugar leguro donde les puedan dar cuidado mÉdico. >> el departamento de salud indicÓ que determinara si los sitios evaluados son adecuados pa el programa de nicho no acompaÑados, la organizaciÓn tendrÁ un grupo de abogados que Én seguros, ademÁs dos ra para utilizarlo como refugios temo pÁralos. >> antes los niÑos * eran entregados a familiares en esta

. >> or sheriff arpaio. >> or joe arpaio. what committee cleared that.nfl players who are protesting on these issues bring in names, him and his committee, what committee? and there are thousands of names. thousands of names for year. obama pardoned more than the last 11 presidents. there are many times there but you needed kim kardashian to bring you that name? you needed stallone to bring you jack johnson so now you need nfl superstars to bring you more names and you will think about it? he's really trying to play bait-and-switch with voters. it's ridiculous. i think alice should have gotten out and she's on "politics nation" with me sunday morning but what are we talking about here? a man that doesn't know you can't pardon a man that doesn't need a pardon? we're being played with here. >> and by the way, muhammed ali did a lot more than take a knee like the nfl players. he went to jail for refusing to fight in an immoral war. >> and lost his career. but not only that, if you're going to pardon muhammed ali if he was one that could do it, muhammed ali

president trump has hardened share of joe arpaio. it's in the papers today that he's considering firing former governor of illinois who was convicted of trying to sell a senate seat which is arguably even worse than gerrymandering. as a former judge and attorney general of the united dates, i would be interested in hearing your comments. mr. holder: the pardon power is an absolute one and one at the president has the ability to use. we have a history of not great pardons. i am more concerned about what , i think, thehere president is trying to send a message to some people who potentially might be involved in the russia investigation. d'souza, ofuza -- people that deserve a pardon, what contrition has he shown? who --aio, another one if you use all the typical metrics we use in the justice department, very few of these people would be considered good candidates. it is an absolute power the president has, but it's an interesting thing. i don't think people thought about it this way. if you pardon someone, they don't have much to worry

. >> as was sheriff arpaio. >> exactly. >> some people said this is a message he's sending to the menprosecuted a lot of these individuals. others have saie's snalling to witnesses and subjects, targets of the mueller probe. what do you make of the pardon of sessions? >> both are true. it's a middle finger to the prosecutors who pursued those charges and more than a dogwhtlg this investibut, you know, the suggest you're talking about dozens of pardons. i know we use this word too much, but he is going to normalize the pardon power. this is one of the most unchecked absolute powers of the presidency. and after several dozen, it will be just another pardon. so, when, in fact, he does drop the constitutional bomb, pardoning somebody who is a target of the investigation or a witness against him or perhaps even himself, will we hav the shock value that we would have is is a presiden wasally excell unthinkable and making it thinkable and then normalizing it. but there is no question about it, you know, we're in this process where he clearly is basically saying, look, if you don't cooperate,

administration or the sessions justice department, and the most egregious example is the the joe arpaiod not sort of confined by law precedent or the w ways in which the justice department is supposed to operate. remember that joe arpaio was the sheriff of maricopa county and he was not complying with a judge's order, and so trump par dond him for contempt. >> and he had a case that was brought by the federal government, right? the department of justice against him for violating the civil right, and he criminally violated the contempt of court, and the president pardoned him. >> so that means that the rule of law and the role of the justice partmentand the texas r.i.d. is another example and the department of justice was a arguing and winning on the set of facts about the intentional discrimination in the set of texas, and they reverse the fact that they have facts where there were no facts, and so this is policy disguised as law, and i get to do what i want, because i have the got the power, and that is what it is. >> absolutely. and it is also bad policy. one of the reasons that congr

arpaio, illegal immigrants, hate them.ding categories of people and given he's iconic person of each one of the communities. >> i argue it's three categories. as you just said, certainly, those people who have had their causes championed by conservatives, those who have had this causes championed by celebrities like jack johnson, and those who were on celebrity apprentice kwie apprentice. those are the people he knows. that's the world he knows. those are the folks he wants to send a signal with. i think there's no question whether it's flynn, manafort or other people in the probe, that's part of this too. look, i have this power. i'm not afraid -- >> do you guys all agree he will use it to protect himself? if jared kushner gets prosecuted, if his son and namesake donald junior gets nailed, will he move -- is there any doubt in your mind? >> i have doubt. >> he might not spring his son-in-law. he might not spring his daughter? >> i think the ivanka line is the red line. that's pretty clear. >> not the son? >> in law. >> i'

has used to describe pardons he gave to edople he thought were unfairly political proseclike joe arpaio and dinesh d'souza. there could be hints that manafort could get a pardon and that might makeim less likely to cooperate with mueller. a:la president sees to today in his freewheeling press conference on the that general report on james comey and the handling of a hillary clinton e-mail probe -- he said it totally exonerates him, but the reportas not on donald ump. anthony: no, it wasn't, and it did not exonerate him on anything as far as collusion or what he says is e witch hunt. it dealt specifically with the fbi's handling of the clinton investigation, and i case the ig said comey mishandled the investigation in a way that probably hurt hillarclinton. the public announcement in july and that letter to congress right before the presidential election. but on the flipside, people who are pointingo this and saying this is an example that there wasot bias by the fbi in probe, that russia wasn't handled either. to draw those interpretationsng from that is g step too far. this still could

last year trump pardoned controversial sheriff joe arpaio, convicted of criminal contempt of court.g for the u.s. senate. >> today as president i've issued an executive grant of clemency, a full pardon posthumously, to john arthur jack johnson -- >> reporter: late last month he pardoned the late jack johnson, former heavyweight boxing champ, after a believe from sill advice store stallone. >> this is important to my friend of a long time, sly -- >> people in positions of power have learned how to speak trump, use the right combination of flattery and celebrity to get inside his ear. >> i, gerald r. ford -- >> reporter: the power of the pardon isn't something presidents have shied away from using in the past. >> -- do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon oun to richard nixon -- >> presidents have used to this settle political scores, toed is in messages, to do what i think the founding fathers intended it to do, to correct individual instances of injustice in the system. >> reporter: president obama commuted more than 1,700 stiff sentences, most for nonviolent drug crimes. preside

president trump has hardened share of joe arpaio. it's in the papers today that he's considering firing former governor of illinois who was convicted of trying to sell a senate seat which is arguably even worse than gerrymandering. as a former judge and attorney general of the united dates, i would be interested in hearing your comments. mr. holder: the pardon power is an absolute one and one at the president has the ability to use. we have a history of not great pardons. i am more concerned about what , i think, thehere president is trying to send a message to some people who potentially might be involved in the russia investigation. d'souza, ofuza -- people thateserve a pardon, what contrition has he shown? who --aio, another one if you use all the typical metrics we use in the justice department, very few of these people would be considered good candidates. it is an absolute power the president has, but it's an interesting thing. i don't think people thought about it this way. if you pardon someone, they don't have much to worry a

ian-americans of my generation taking of prominent roles in anti- immigration movements particularly joe arpaio. i looked up his background. iss grandparents were from a village only 40 or 50 miles away from the village my grandfather lived in and he was famous for rousting latinos when he was mayor of his town. italian-americans should take historical perspective. i looked at the evaluations of the chicago neighborhoods from the 1940s and italian-americans were considered undesirable. the real estate used loaded termss describing italians beneath their neighborhoods. earlier than that the italian-americans from the southern part of italy were described as disease ridden and other racist terms. italian-americans should feel more sympathy because they are using the exact same slurs now that we used against italian-americans up to the 40sia or 50s. >> i don't know if there are groups-americans in the but were their children or grandchildren of immigrants in the groups that you hung out with? >> sure. everyone here is a descendent of immigrants but i don't think being an immigrant or descendent is

se of hile acts of clemency, including pardons for joe arpaio, the controversial arizona sheriff; scooterby, a former aide to vice president late lt mont t posthumously pardoned boxer jack johnson. the e righted a wron jack johnson was not treated edirly. >> reporter: president trump has bypassed the traditional justice department process for recommending clemency.s r dozenf other people. on you're fired. >> reporter: mr. trump has blagojevich, and lifestyle mogul martha stewart, both members of ,he "apprentice" tv franchise. and as the russia investigation continues, the president has ncso suggested pardoning himself, but some republicans believe that may be taking it to far. >> i don't know the technical answer to that question, but i think, obviously, the answer is hi shouldn't, and no one is above the law. dry did she receive clemency? ceiveporter: it is surprising because it does seem to go t,e even suggested the death penalty drugaffickey to drug policy. but this also may be explained by the fact that she didn't get a pardon. her sentence was commuted, so her jail time is over, but

the joe arpaio part was utterly indefensible. he was a bad guy who did bad things. but you can also do the right things for the wrong reasons and allow yourself to do things that you think are to your political benefit. howie: i congratulate on your book. haven't we had enough speculation about missing melania? the first survivor of alzheimer's disease is out there. and the alzheimer's association is going to make it happen. but we won't get there without you. visit alz.org to join the fight. howie: the new york tabloids had a field day as kim kardashian showed up at the white house to seek clemency for her great grandmother. the other big summit. trump meets rump. and cnn's white house correspondent jim acosta didn't approve. >> you forget the fact that kim kardashian is at the white house. she shouldn't be here talking about prison reform. howie: the "new york post" cover was sexist. jim acosta is morally offended by this because she is a celebrity. did he forget about obama's term when all the celebrities came through the white house? emily: ways abnormal is to h

president trump issued his first pardon last summer to controversial arizona sheriff joe arpaio. he was charged for ignoring a court order to stop profiling latinos. >> do the people in this room like sheriff joe? ( cheers ) >> reporter: historically, the justice department has reviewed pardon petitions and made recommendations to the white house, but president trump has short circuited that process, even fielding recommendations from celebrities. >> we righted a wrong. >> reporter: last week, he issued a posthumous pardon of boxing legend jack johnson at the behest of sylvester stallone. >> jack johnson was not treated fairly. >> reporter: and yesterday, he met with kim kardashian west, who's advocating for a pardon of a low-level drug offender. >> glor: paula, you've also been reporting on the russia investigation as it may relate to presidential pardons here. what is the latest on that? >> reporter: well, the president's former campaign chairman, paul manafort, could face over 15 years in prison, but i'm told that he is not cooperating because he is banking on a presidential p

tearing children from the arpaios arms of their mother and father is not the right decision. it has to stop. >> you have right to talk to your children. and you don't know where your children are. >> reporter: the might of children prompted a rare move by the first lady. who weighed in with a statement from her office. melania carefully presented a softer tone. saying we must be a country that governs with heart. echoed by top adviser kellyanne conway. >> i will tell you that nobody likes. he wants this to end. >> no suggestion the president would reevaluate the legal interpretation that splits families. in fact former trump strategist steve bannon called this a line in the sand. >> the president is enforcing a zero tolerance policy. we have to get security on the southern border. i believe he's enforce this policy. >> cruel and immoral. that's how laura bush described the separation of families in a scathing op-ed. the effort to detain children and separate them from their families is reminiscent of the japanese american camps during word war 2. she adds she appreciates prot