ok. the thing is there was a muslim president for eight years, born in kenya -- host: you are referring to barack obama. he was not muslim. he is a christian. caller: ok. but this impeachment is ridiculous because he has done more for our country and three years than the past 45 presidents. it took 45 years to get our embassy moved to jerusalem. i think it is just ridiculous what they are trying to do to president just because they lost the election. $70 million trying to win the election. they could have put $70 million towards the border wall. host: this is karen out of warren, michigan, a democrat who thinks it has been fair. caller: good morning. good and bad, depending on where you are. i used to be a republican 10 years ago and now i am a democrat. i am listening and looking to see what i see. what i have seen so far with this president who is obviously noti am good and should not be a president should have been impeached and never been president. the problem is we have republicans who are helping him by going along with this narrative that he is innocent, it's a witchhunt, but they don't want to ask the questions. they know he is bad. there you have it. it depends on who you ask what kind of answer you are going to get. he is not fit for our country. he has disgraced us and he needs to be out of office. host: kathy out of saint martinsville, louisiana, an independent two things it has not been fair -- whohost: thinke process has not been fair. caller: i definitely would not like to be treated like he is being treated. i know a phone call cannot be considered high crimes and misdemeanors. i know since he has been elected they have been trying to call high crimes and misdemeanors, and he has done almost -- they have not found anything. host: how would you define high crimes and misdemeanors? caller: probably the seven like rape that they convicted president clinton on. we were real compassionate to him. we allowed america to stay together as a whole when that happened to him. everybody wants to take this guy down. he is not even taking a salary. if anybody could take what he has taken from the republicans and from the democrats, nobody could stand what he has been through. of mobile,a at alabama. she think the process is fair. think -- i think this is very fair. turn downhave got to your tv and finish your thought. why do you think it is very fair? caller: this man is mentally unstable to be in office. he should not be in office. he is so uneducated. i don't understand how he got elected. this is not right. he is a danger to our country. he has to go. he has to go. host: our last caller in this first segment of washington journal -- plenty more to talk about today. we will talk about the criminal justice reform forum set for this weekend in south carolina. we will speak with deray mckesson, black lives matter activist, and robert ehrlich, the former republican governor of maryland. in later charity wright will talk about the disinformation campaign already underway by foreign countries targeting the 2020 election. that is later on today. after our program today at about 10:00 a.m. eastern we will take you to the funeral services for former maryland congressman elijah cummings who died last week. the 13-term congressman's life will be celebrated in baltimore, maryland. you can watch live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span, c-span.org, or listen on the free c-span radio app. yesterday in statuary hall, congressman cummins laid in state. he was paid tribute by several of his colleagues and friends, including mark meadows. here is some of what mark meadows had to say. [video] >> he is called a number of things, father, husband, friend, chairman. for me, i was privileged enough to be able to call him a dear friend. it asave classified unexpected friendship. elijahse of us that no notnow elijah, it is unexpected or surprising. we were able to share a number of personal stories and intimate secrets that allies are never shared with anyone because -- elijah never shared with anyone because he was a man of his word and never would. through the tears of the past new days i am reminded of o conversation. he had a smile that would consume his whole face. you know that. conversation. he also had eyes that would pierce through anybody that was standing in his way. reminded me not to long ago of a quip he made. he said darrell issa would make him famous. i reminded him that he is not defined by other people. he is defined by the character honesty of hishe -- the mannd the man that we will miss. the scripture talks about let not your heart be troubled. believe also in me. house are many mansions. if it were not so, i would have told you. you.to prepare a place for his tent tos left go to a mansion, a better place. place and this country would be better served with a few more unexpected friendships. i know i have been blessed by one. god bless you. >> washington journal continues. the candidates had to columbia, south carolina this weekend to talk about criminal justice reform, we will take up that issue in this segment. you can join us on the phone lines that we put on the screen for you. we are joined by former maryland governor bob ehrlich. he is a member of right on crime. we may be joined by deray mckesson, a community organizer and cofounder of the group campaign zero. we are respecting him to join us at some point. until then -- -- you were dealing with this as governor of maryland. the group is right on crime. explain with that is. it is a conservative take on criminal justice reform. guest: it is counterintuitive to some. not to me, not to many in fact. groups,e of numerous probably the leading group of philosophically inclined conservatives who believe criminal justice is an issue in our country. man-made can is and is broken and we should achieve one central goal, justice. this has been running around conservative electoral circles for decades. it has really taken off. this may be the only purple issue of our time. there is a little bit of a nixon goes to china element. i found that out in maryland more than 10 years ago before it was the purple issue. my staff would say, say again why were doing this. i would say we are focusing on consequences of pardons and commutations. my democratic friends and the legislature -- i came from the maryland legislature. i went to washington as a member of congress and then came back as governor. i have a lot of friends on the democratic side in the legislature. doinge love what you are but i can't give you a lot of credit for this. is -- this ise still willie horton. the specter of willie horton was around the issue. for younger viewers who don't --w who he is, the infamous vice president gore against mike dukakis. i think i am correct on that. willie horton was not necessarily a consequence. he got out of prison early in massachusetts and committed at least one murder. he became the symbol of soft on crime. want to talk about the nixon goes to china analogy, republican governors, not necessarily coming together but on our own saying, you know what? the time is due. we can do sentencing reform. we can do reentry reform. we can do job training and drug treatment. we can do consequences, pardons, connie tatian's as a lot of commutations as a lot of times as governor. republican governors felt more comfortable doing this then more liberal governors who were fearful of the political repercussions because of willie horton and because philosophically. host: we saw democrats and republicans come together in december. to remind our viewers what the act does. it reduces mandatory sentencing guidelines for certain drug felonies. it allows judges greater latitude in sentencing nonviolent drug offenders. reduces mandatory minimum sentences in some cases. it makes retroactive the fair sentencing act of 2010. it expands present employment programs. that first step act now 11 months old and coming up on his first birthday. it was just a few much ago the deputy attorney general gave an update on the implementation of that act. i want to show the viewers a bit of what he said at that press conference. [video] >> first is the reduction of sentences and releases of inmates at -- back into their communities. since the passage of the act in december of 2018, approximately 1691 inmates convicted of crack cocaine offenses have received sentence reductions as a result of resurrected free sentencing under the first sentencing act of 2010. additionally, nearly 250 inmates have been placed in the expanded compassionate release and home confinement programs. starting today at prisons around the country nearly 3100 inmates are being released from dot increase into the goodtime credit applied to reduce their sentences under the first step act. that is the first item i wanted to cover. second, i am pleased to announce the department of justice has redirected $75 million in existing resources to fully fund the first step act in fiscal year 2019. we will work with congress and the administration to ensure additional first step funding is appropriated for fiscal year 2020 and future years. in this regard i want to underscore the attorney general and i both toward federal prisons and we saw the value and quality programs for inmates. the attorney general has directed additional funding for programs for fy 19, including resources to expand vocational training and job programs, to increase the availability of medication assisted treatment, to support programs tailored to the needs of female inmate populations, and to increase education opportunities for inmates. for by thealled first step act, we are announcing a new risk and needs assessment system designed to assess inmates risks of recidivism and to identify individualized needs to reduce risks of reoffending -- the reoffending whether terms are up. inmates will have the opportunity to receive earned time credit in addition to goodtime credit and to participate in evidence-based recidivism reduction programs. host: governor ehrlich, the deputy attorney general quantifying the first step program. guest: it does not do enough, by the way. host: could it be more successful? what is the second step? guest: let's get to the first at first because in this town, is thatometimes it counterintuitive measure. people have an idea. there was a coalition. there are press conferences. there is a vote. bill signings. you say i am great, vote for me. this is my addition if -- initiative. nobody measures if it will be effective or not. just a few much later, with regards to this major achievement, and we have numbers. we talked off-camera about the dichotomy. that was an issue when i was in the house. many years ago now actually. i got out of the house in 2002. i remember the debate on the floor. it was a racial issue quite frankly. -- there is soch much to this act to this issue generally. it is prison reform. it is consequences. it is reentry. nobody talks about reentry. it may be the most important issue of all. at some point, 90% of incarcerated felons are going to reenter our society. in what condition are they going to be and when they walk those sidewalks in your neighborhood? that's an important question for policymakers. host: bob ehrlich of maryland. we are taking your calls. the phone lines are (202) 748-8000 if you live in the eastern or central time zone. (202) 748-8001 and the mountain or pacific time zones. the special phone line in the segment, if you have experience in the criminal justice system, it's (202) 748-8002. governor ehrlich with a group signatory of the principles of the right on crime. come back to that group and talk about what conservative criminal justice reform means. -- forthe motivations some the motivations here are socioeconomic. for some it is racial. it is fair to say for those of us in right on crime the motivation is justice. blind justice in fact. we know criminal justice systems can be broken. they can give us unfair results. injustice being the enemy of what government should be. particularly at the governors level, extraordinary power. constitutions give governors extraordinary power to correct wrong. we took that seriously. other governors have as well. on the most part we focused consequences, pardons and commutations. there are people in jail for longer than they should be quite frankly. it's a multifaceted issue here. i will ask your listeners to categorize the issues into these general categories of sentencing reform and prison reform and consequences and reentry. host: the argument that advocates take is that longer sentences are leading to more crime. how does less incarceration translate into more public safety? guest: you become a professional criminal and at some point you will get out. that's the argument. particularly in nonviolent crimes. this bill increased the predicate offenses that would qualify you for some of the more egregious sentencing. what i liked about the bill was the revisitation of mandatory minimums. you of judges -- i'm sure have interviewed judges that hate mandatory minimums. the general public does not thesearily love it in cases. we debated in the house legislature. the predicate was a three-time loser. that qualifies with a crime of violence. that led to a 25-your parole. -- that led to a 25-year parole. giving 25 years with no parole. host: let's look at the original arguments on mandatory minimums. it would make sentencing more fair because regardless of your -- you would be sentenced to the same thing for breaking the same crime. guest: true, except you're creating a professional class of criminal. it is the same issue we had in juvenile justice reform in the 1990's. there are many savables in the juvenile system. that's my term. you want to increase the predicate offenses into adult court? okthe byproduct is more professional criminals because they will or how to be criminals. in the juvenile system you have a better chance of correcting them and saving them early on. host: bob ehrlich, our guest this morning. former governor of maryland. work in that building behind me for several years. the topic is criminal justice weekendheading into the where the democratic candidates and president trump will speak about this issue in south carolina. gracie from virginia, good morning. gracie, you have got to turn your television down and listen through your phone if you have a question. are you with us? caller: yes. president trump, when he first got into office he would manipulate the system. before obama left, obama had the first step act. trump changed a few words and tried to act like he made the first step act. he did not. i know it in half united states knows it. host: who should get credit for the first step act? guest: lots of people in both parties. the bottom line is -- thi
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