patty blagojevich, wife of rod blagojevich. as you know, if you are a regular justice viewer. i do an opening statement at this time every saturday. more often than not it's whatever has gone the me fired up this week. this week i am fired up, i am angry, but i am even more confused. confused as to why congressman trey gowdy chairman of the house collect committee on intelligence. one of the few people in washington who has the intelligence, the expertise and the ability to see through the nonsense if not illegality going on at the fbi and the department of justice. fray gowdy would say this about a spy placed in the trump campaign. >> i am even more convinced the fbi did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do when they got the information they got, and it has nothing to do with donald trump. judge jeanine: why was i stunned and upset with that answer? number one, trey gowdy knows he's not supposed to confirm nor deny spygate. saying that the placing of a spy or a confidential human sort as the big shots call it in the trump campaign has nothing to do with donal

he prosecuted blagojevich when he was u.s. attorney chicago. he's saying people who were appointed by comey, special counsel, no power over me at all. >> jonathan, i'm getting in your reading, he has it about right. we've put together a graphic that shows all these tangential -- not so tangential direct connections between these cases. i looked out of deference for a rugby term to explain this, but sadly i fall back on baseball and say this touches all the bases, does it not? >> it certainly touches all the bases. what i don't have is that missing piece of reporting, which is that, you know, the ideal thing being trump actually saying this to somebody. it's certainly what people are inferring from it. what i would say is there was a very interesting interview earlier tonight on fox news with the wife of blagojevich, speaking to martha mccalum, and she says that she sees parallels between the way these people -- and she's obviously referring to fitzgerald, who is a close friend of comey's -- treated her husband, perverted the law, and now they'r

blagojevich had been on "the apprentice" and then there was this, oh, of course moment. he also knows martha stewart personally. dinesh is the odd one out there and that's much more a play for his base and his supporters. let's be honest, i think roger stone said it to the "washington post," these are pardons that send a message to people who either have pleaded guilty in the special counsel's investigation into possible russia collusion between the trump campaign or russian officials or who could plead guilty in other cases and plead to a lesser offenwccasion -- >> i actually have that. "it has to be a signal to mike flynn and paul manafort. the special counsel has awesome powers, as you know, but the president has even more awesome powers. >> that awesome powers that roger is referring to is something that my colleagues and i referred to when the main lawyer john dowd had conversations with lawyers for paul manafort and i believe it was flynn as well about leaning into a pardon. this is before the flynn guilty plea, i believe. i think when you put all of that together,

rod blagojevich was charged in 2009.at his trial he was targeted for prosecution back in 2003, early on in his first term as governor. they used -- made deals with some shady characters in order to get wiretaps. they got wiretaps on eight phones. listened to all of his conversations for 40 days, including his private calls with his wife. all of his aides. >> yes. >> selective excerpts were leaked in order to make him appear corrupt. so there's a lot of very troubling aspects. and the one other thing about rod blagojevich, very much a populist governor. he was not in bed with special interest. his main accomplishments and efforts as governor were for the people of illinois. >> leonard, hold on one second. >> he advocated for -- >> you say he was made to appear corrupt. in "the wall street journal," he wrote an op-ed four days ago. you know about this. but he said he's done nothing wrong. he writes here i am in my sixth year of a 14-year prison sentence for the routine practice of attempting to raise campaign funds while g

he mentioned martha stewart and he mentions rod blagojevich.ake jack johnson out of it. that was righting a wrong long in the making. what is the theme? >> he is flexing his presidential power and saying the law is unfair in many cases and i am going to defend those oppressed by the law. he is helping celebrities which i don't think is an accident. i think he is someone who understands what the public likes to read about and pardoning celebrities will get attention for this message he wants to send. >> if you are inside the halls of the justice department and your job is to root out public corruption and prosecute it. does this have a chilling effect? >> absolutely. it sends a message that the president is not necessarily going to stand by you. the president very early in his term is willing to flex this muscle aggressively and frequently. that could turn to other issues like the russia probe. >> patti blagojevich, rod's wife, talked about this last night. here is that from last night. >> the same people that did this to my family. secretly tap

brother, robert blagojevich, a co-defendant in the ex-governor's first trial. he wrote "fund-raiser a, my fight for freedom and justice." robert, nice to have you on. welcome, sir. >> thank you, brooke. >> first off, just what's your reaction to hearing that the president is considering commuting your brother's sentence? >> i'm cautiously optimistic. if president trump were gracious enough to commute rod's sentence and return him to his family, i think that would be a great justice and a reversal of what i think is a major injustice of 14 years in federal prison for a guy who did not take any money and for a guy who i know quite well who had no criminal intent during the time that we were wire tapped for 50 days. the government can make a federal case out of anything if they're wire tapping you and surveilling you and they will connect dots that can make a federal case, as in my situation. an innocent man who they ultimately let go after our first trial because they had nothing on me. ethey want they wanted me to flip, compose against my brother. >> but, robert

both martha stewart and blagojevich made an here answpp "the apprentice." made offensive and racially loaded comments over the years about former president obama. the president is considering each case on merits. here is what deputy raj shah told reporters. >> is he sending a message to his allys? -- allies? >> each of the president's actions on pardons or other things should be judged on the merits and circumstances surrounding that case. >> reporter: the president has shown a willingness of pardons for controversial figures. including sheriff arpaio. he was convicted in court of ignoring a judge's order of stopping racially profiling latinos. dave and christine. >> thank you. the white house admitted to jim that you can't ignore trump's considerations. consider this, former u.s. attorney preet bharara prosecuted dinesh d'souza and james comey and martha stewart. as well as patrick fitzgerald. >>> and the u.s. is hitting tariffs and they are hitting back. the u.s. slapped tariffs on the eu, mexico and canada. 25% on steel. 10% on aluminum. the three had te

and martha stewart and rod blagojevich could be next. is this signaling something to those caught up in the investigation? roger stone, the president's political adviser said, yes, this is a clear signal. let's begin with kaitlan collins live at the white house. >> reporter: well, john, you're asking the question why is the president pardoning people like dinesh d'souza. the president told him he was a great voice for freedom. shy note d'souza has an inflammatory remarks about barack obama, adolf hitler and rosa parks. back to why he is pardoning these people. there is an underlying theme for everyone the president is considering pardoning. that is they were treated unfairly by the united states justice system. martha stewart, treated unfairly. joe arpaio, treated unfairly. scooter libby, also the president believed treated unfairly. john and alisyn, there are two other people the president said has been treated unfairly. that is michael cohen and ni michael flynn. president trump on a pardoning spree hinting he may pardon martha stewart

blagojevich and martha stewart were both celebrities, both on "the apprentice." james comey convicted martha stewart because she had lied. dinesh d 'souza was convicted, he apologized and said he deeply regretted what he had done. so for him to go out there and wipe it all away, i think it's a perversion of justice. >> your thoughts? >> i agree it's a perversion of justice and i think that president trump is blatantly skirting justice and the criminal justice system to pardon people who were convicted of crimes, pled guilty of crimes that he potentially could be charged with in the future or people in his orbit could be charged with in the future. we're talking about campaign finance violations, we talking about false statements to the fbi and we're also talking about the crime of insider trading which now is something people are talking about because of his tweet yesterday, before the jobs numbers came out. so what information is donald trump telling his cronies on the phone when he's having his executive time in the white house? and i think that this is a reall

patti blagojevich recently appealed to trump to help her husband.ere she is last month. >> he has a relationship with him from when he was on "the apprentice." president trump has said numerous times and made public statements astonished at the length of the sentence. >> reporter: the president said the recent pardons are not meant to send a message to his political allies tied up in the russia investigation. but democratic senator mark warner suggesting otherwise tweeting the possibility that he may also be sending a message to witnesses in a criminal investigation into his campaign is extremely dangerous. in the united states of america, no one is above the law. and the president says that he's also considering a pardon for alice marie johnson, the grandmother serving a life sentence on a first time drug charge. kim kardashian has urged himo pardon johnson. >>> nationwide protests are set for today demanding an end to the separation of children from their illegal immigrant parents. what's being called the national day of action for children kicked

hinting martha stewart and commute the sentence of disgraced former illinois governor rod blagojevich. the president defending the two former apprentice contestants and insisting they were treated unfairly. >> i still like martha. >> reporter: in 2004, stewart convicted of obstruction of justice after a probe of insider trading. >> governor, you have a hell of a lot of guts. >> reporter: in 2011, blagojevich was convicted of 17 public corruption charges, including trying to sell the obama senate seat. this coming hours after the fifth pardon for the author and filmmaker d'souza who pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations in a strong donor scheme, once again bypassing to fast track his pardon, arguing that d'souza was treated unfairly by the government despite d'souza acknowledging that what he did was wrong. he claimed he was targeted because he made inflammatory remarks about president obama. >> my case is quite clearly a political hit. >> but all three cases tied in some way to the president's critics. stewart's case was prosecuted by former u.s. attorney and fired fbi directo

blagojevich appeared on president trump's reality show "the apprentice." here is a former governor's wife tonight. >> president trump is a kind man, compassionate, he's always been kind to my family. he knows how important it is that my husband gets home, to be a father to our daughters, we can't help to be helpful. >> today the president officially pardoned dinesh d'souza, tweeting that he was tweeted treated fairly and fairly by the government operated 2014, he pleaded guilty to a count of making illegal contributions to a republican candidate. the president is considering pardoning martha stewart, who spent five months in prison after pleading guilty for lying to investigators about insider trading. president trump happens to have a connection to stuart, who also hosted a spin-off is as reality show. the president is sending a message to michael flynn, the former national security advisor, paul manafort, the former campaign advisor, and michael cohen, the president's personal attorney. the message? not to cooperate with the mueller investigation and the

stewart used to be my biggest fan and insisting blagojevich said something stupid many other politicians say. it comes after the latest controversial pardon, dinesh d' dld souza, posting this photo of president obama appearing to take a picture with a selfie stick, writing you can take the boy out of the ghetto. the writer and film maker pleading guilty to finance fraud complaining he was targeted by the obama administration for his conservative views and the judge found no evidence of that. mr. trump tweeting he was treated very unfairly by the government. >> what my case shows in miniature is the way obama and hillary, too, have gangsterized the politics. >> reporter: is the president sending a signal to those wrapped up in the russia investigation? >> each of the president's actions on pardons should be judged on the merits. >> reporter: still, there is a pattern. >> president trump has abandoned the vetting process that his predecessors have used to ensure that the pardon process isn't used just for political purposes. >> reporter: for president trump, star power and a potentially pa

signals he may pardon martha stewart and issue ooh commutation for former illinois governor rod blagojevich, blago. is he telling folks like michael cohen and paul manafort that i've got your back, as chris just said? >> yes. like chris said, the president is saying tune in. same bat time, same bat channel, because this too can happen for you. he is definitely doing that. but, you know, it sends more of a resounding message to me with martha stewart and the former illinois governor. but here is the issue for me. what the crimes, the convictions were for, conspiracy and corruption. and the former governor of illinois, he was actually impeached. and i think it sends a resounding message on what they were convicted on and what's happening with him with this russia investigation. so it's sending multiple levels of messages to the community, to those that he doesn't want to flip to say, look, this could happen. take a look at the bat signal

apprentice" family, martha stewart who's done time, and former illinois governor rod blagojevich, who is still doing time. earlier today president trump pardoned conservative author and filmmaker dinesh d'souza who pleaded guilty back in 2014 to making illegal campaign contributions. at the time da souza argued he was being politically targeted because of his opposition to president obama. the white house released a statement that read in part, quote, mr. da souza was in the president's opinion a victim of selective prosecution for violations of campaign finance laws. former u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york preet bharara, who oversaw da souza's case, wrote this on twitter today, quote, the president has the right to pardon, but the facts are these. da souza intentionally broke the law, voluntarily pled guilty, apologized for his conduct, and the judge found no unfairness. the career prosecutors and agents did their job, period. da souza wrote back on twitter, quote, bharara and his goons

we got the blagojevich pardon bloat floeti floating out there and the martha stewart one.gojevich, in egregious corruption. arguably, the most corrupt state official of his era. what message do you think it sends, not just to the country but the message to particular constituents that trump may be speaking to through these pardons, what message would it send to them if trump decided to pardon rod blagojevich given his egregious level of political corruption? >> it would send a message that that in trump's view is not worthy of the prison sentence he was given of 14 years. trump feels like blagojevich was wronged by the justice system and it's a signal he just simply doesn't think these acts of political correction are that bad relatively speaking and remember, president trump is somebody who's come under attack for his own ethics and own conduct in office and his own conflicts of interest with his businesses and so forth. so in a way, it's him signaling that all this stuff that maybe sort of against the rules or against the law, really, isn't that big of a deal. >> rules,

rod blagojevich sentenced to prison. is this settling scores? >> i think it's more. look, i'm not a huge believer in coincidence, certainly not in politics. my belief is the prime motivator here is -- president trump was asked about dinesh d'souza. he said i never met him. i heard him on the radio and saw him on television. that's part of this too. martha stewart was on the apprentice. rod blagojevich was on the a apprentice. scooter libby. joe arripaio is sticking it to e elite. donald trump does so many things in opposition to what he doesn't like. so much of his presidency to date has been what did barack obama do? we're doing the opposite. doesn't matter what that is. it's relationship driven and it's score settling. don't underestimate what a big deal this is. it's a huge deal to pardon people. remember mark rich in the bill clinton days. this is a big deal. kirsten is right. we should not overlook it. >> just do it and don't say you're not doing it for that reason. stick around. so much more coming. so much for roseanne's promise to leave twitter and why the pr

. >> patty blagojevich has been pleading for the pres. to pardon her husband, former democratic governor of illinois rod blagojevich so it is not a crime the president acknowledged he is considering the pardon. in 2012 he was convicted on several corruption charges mostly related to trying to sell the senate seat left vacant when barack obama was president. the former governor was tape-recorded by the fbi saying president-elect obama's senate seat. and he was sentenced to 14 years in a federal prison outside denver since 2012. >> he filed a series of appeals to the supreme court and they were all denied. now his only hope is the pres. and the two happen to know each other. he appeared on donald trump's reality show the apprentice. >> we know donald trump is a kind man, compassionate god has always been kind to my family, knows how important it is my husband gets home to be a father to our daughter, we can't help but be hopeful. >> the pres. officially pardoned him, he was treated very unfairly by the government. in 2014 he pleaded guilty

considering shortening a sentence for governor robb blagojevich? would koh it be a signal to michael cohen the president's long-time loyal who is feeling pressure from robert mueller as he closes in on folks involved with this. or does this have to deal with mueller himself with james comey? rib he served as fbi director and back in 4 james comey was the whoub brought federal charges against martha stewart. peter, there's nothing more frustratings a journalist than having the question we don't know answer to. i'm not sure we know the answer as to white president is considering this, but there are signs of where that is going. >> i think that anybody can sort of read this the way they like, including those individuals you named like the president's attorney michael cohen, perhaps his formal national security advise irrelevant micha adviser michael flynn. it's one of the president's most unfettered powers. he can wave a wand and say you get a pardon, you get a pardon just in the same way oprah might be offering a car. and it appears the president's b

blagojevich is people are understanding that message. they're picking up on it. robert stone, people now going to fox news, apparently the most effective way to communicate to the president directly. and pleading their case. >> thank you, both. susan hennessey, appreciate kaitlan, thank you for being here. >>> big interview tonight, 9:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn, fareed zakaria sits down with steve bannon for a fascinating hour. you'll see it right here. >>> and ahead, kim jong-un with a new letter being hand delivered today to president trump for the summit soon be officially back on? 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. only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol® p3 it's meat, cheese and nuts. i keep my protein interesting. oh yea, me too. i have cheese and uh these herbs. p3 snacks. the more interes

now the president is considering commuting the corruption sentence of rod blagojevich, and pardoning another "apprentice" alum, martha stewart. tbs is not firing samantha bee. she apologized for a crude remark about the president's daughter. youth football players team up to save lives. and a bittersweet moment as brothers of a fallen hero celebrate the birth of the daughter he never saw. this is the "cbs evening news" with jeff glor. >> glor: this is our western edition. good evening, we're going to begin tonight in hawaii with new evacuation orders in what appears to be the most urgent situation since the volcano emergency began four weeks ago. the images tonight are breathtaking, the danger explosive. 1600-degree lava is blasting more than 25 stories high, flowing rapidly downhill, cutting off escape routes, potentially leaving hundreds with no way out. carter evans is there. >> reporter: jeff, just look at this. this is the most active eruption behind me right now. we've been watching it go like this for days. at times it was blasting lava up to 250 feet into the air. and today,

attorney who prosecuted stewart, and fitzgerald who prosecuted blagojevich is a comey friend. and he also investigated the valerie plame leak, and convicted scooter libby for lying to the fbi. as you remember, trump pardon libby last month. but there's other connections to contemplate as well. dinesh desouza was pardoned. there are still other connections to contemplate, and this one starts with reality and ends with show. both the former governor and the lifestyle guru appeared on the former reality show "the apprentice" which stewart once plugged on her program. >> so donald, how is your you apprentice? >> i think it's going to be great. it's on thursday night. and i think it's the best we have done so far. >> there are other common taalis in the pardons, each the president said was treated unbelievably unfairly which is the kind of language he uses to describe his own treatment by the mueller probe. jeffrey toobin, and jeff, we'll get to the celebrity apresen"ce apprentice"pardoned edition in a moment. but do you see similarithese as to paul manafort and others to hang toug

den ni d d d 'souza. >> conservative commentary. >> and rod blagojevich. what do you make? >> when you look at the common theme. joe arpaio and these three. what is the theme that emerges and what is that saying to. >> could this be a signal to those of you out there, manafort, flynn, others who have been vconvicted or considering taking a deal that hey, pardons are abundant to you. hey, the pardon power in itself is a way controversial. it's a tradition that was brought over from hundreds of years ago from the royal tradition. framers debated as to whether or not it should be included in the constitution because it's a paradox. you're undoing the work of your own u.s. attorney. it's almost unlimited. there are very few things the president can't pardon, so it's a power that we will maybe never know the strictures of. >> there's a lot of undoing these days. >>> we're going do talk to you again. >> >>> still ahead, bill clinton responds to senator kristin j-- >> median samantha b gets fried for her vulgar comments. you made a promise you agreed to never give up to be a decen

never made any promises to contributors for any official acts.er >> tucker: blagojevich was a screaming keeping him behind bars until elderly helping anyone? we're rooting for him. that's about it for us tonight. good night. sean hannity live from new york city is right here right now. >> hannity: great show. to "hannity."eat show. stay with us for the hour. deep state is cracking right before your very eyes. according to new reports tonight, the fired f.b.i. deputy director andrew mccabe supplied robert mueller with a confidential memo with the firing of james comey. we'll totally blow this out of the water and tell you how absurd this all is plus we'll show you how this uncovered document reveals a a stunning nw revelation about the deputy attorney general rod rozenstein. also tonight, major developments surrounding the president and spygate. john solomon is here and will be breaking a brand-new report detailing what our extreme measures the deep

rod blagojevich was on "the apprentice." dinesh d'souza, scooter libby was to a certain extent sticking it in the eye of the bush administration who weren't willing to -- remember, george w. bush was strongly lobbied by dick cheney among others to pardon scooter libby and did not do so. a lot of it is relationship driven and remember, he does so many things, he, donald trump, in opposition to what he doesn't like. so so much of his presidency to date has been what did barack obama do? okay. we're doing the opposite. it doesn't even matter really what that is. it's just the opposite. i think it's relationship driven. and there is a score settling piece. i don't think there is any other question. one other quick thing to kirsten's point, don't underestimate what a big deal it is. this is a huge deal to pardon people. this is usually at the end of administrations because they're often controversial. you remember mark rich in the bill clinton days. this is a big deal that a president steps in and does something like this. kirste

president trump got to know rod blagojevich when blagojevich was on the celebrity apprentice in 2010. felt sorry for the blagojevich family. he felt like he had been treated unfairly. just last week president trump said that he was, seriously considering doing something about rod blagojevich and his prison sentence. patty blagojevich appeared on fox news and she talked about how her husband had been treated unfairly by the fbi, and how she was praising the president for this consideration. so now, the formal papers have been filed. the family is hopeful. they're seeing that the president is really into these pardons and he is enjoying his power of pardoning. they thought they were at the end of the line when they filed with the supreme court. they asked the supreme court to hear this case. it was rejected just last month. seemed like the end of the road, but now hope is bag up here in chicago. steve: indeed it is, joanie lum from our affiliate in chicago. thank you, joanie. brian: i'm not a legal expert, 1years for a conversation seemed a little steep. steve: trying to sell the seat.

>> blagojevich is in prison, served six of 14 years. martha stewart went to jail for 5 1/2 months.ople have gotten off scot-free. you know, they suffered a hefty penalty for this. of all these people that he is considering pardoning, martha stewart probably makes the most sense from the standpoint of what eric holder was talking about, contrition and recognition of wrongdoing, having served her time, et cetera. the other ones i'm not as sure. and eric and i, i think, are making the same point. you go through the pardon attorney and get their recommendation and let it go. that said, of course, eric, i think, was in the department of justice when bill clinton pardoned mark rich. >> we all remember that. >> i think eric was there at that time. and so these things happen. presidents exercise their constitutional prerogatives and pardon who they want to pardon. >> they do not have to go through doj. >> they do not. >> thank you so much, michael zeldin. ahead, enjoy reid apologizing again, a photoshopped image depicting senator john mccain as the virginia tech shooter. we'll be back. it'

he is looking at pardoning a couple of democrats, you mentioned blagojevich and martha stewart. you try to get them on this process crime and it would be just for him to pardon her and others who have been witch hunted for the purposes of their own careers. no one can doubt that james comey and patrick fitzgerald who is a two-timer there with scooter libby. they should not be allowed to abuse their positions to do. this and i think others would applaud the president for righting those wrongs and i hope he does that. >> laura: conrad black another outrageous prosecution by patrick fitzgerald. the media are pushing jim comey's events in the russia probe. we may have uncovered the reason for it. and we're going to discuss it next. >> laura: president trump is firing back after "the new york times" leaked a supposedly secret memo by andrew mccabe. trump tweeted i never fired comey because of russia. the main stream media pushes the narrative but it's not true. the inspector general report on the fbi and doj's handling of the e-mail probe will be released imminently. is that why we'r

the other thing you're talking about, will he pardon rod blagojevich, who tried to sell his senate seat in the state of illinois and is somebody who was convicted by patrick fitzgerald. patrick fitzgerald is a close friend of james comey and is also james comey's attorney right now. so you have this kind of little play playing out. so the question is would that be about mercy or would that be about getting back at enemies? and the answer is, you know, selling a senate seat is selling a senate seat. >> but your point about president obama or previous presidents, they do this at the ends of their term. >> and they're controversial. when bill clinton pardoned a big contributor, mark rich at the end of his term, it was usually controversial. so it's not that these things are without controversy, it's just that they usually don't happen in this timeframe, and usually you can't draw these direct links to people the president likes or doesn't like. u know? >> and remember, the boxer jack johnson who was part -- >> exactly. >> two weeks ago who sylvester stall o stallone. >> then you look at ma

comey prosecuted stewart and comey's close friend, patrick fitzgerald, prosecuted blagojevich.l these pardons, critics say the president is sending a clear message to a looks caught up in the russia probe: stay loyal, you will be rewarded. even roger stone tells "the washington post," quote, it has to be a signal to mike flynn, paul manafort, and even robert s. mueller iii, indict people for crimes that don't pertain to russian collusion and this is what could happen. the special counsel has awesome powers but as you know, the president has even more awesome powers. joining us now, cnn presidential historian douglas brinkley. doug, what's your reaction to stone's comment? >> well, i think stone's telling us the way it really is. donald trump right now is starting to realize that it's the home stretch of the horse race of mueller report and the midterm elections coming up. and in some of these pardons that he's been doing, sheriff arpaio and scooter libby, those were just rheed meat for the trp base. but this week with dinesh d'souza, you're seeing him send a clear smoke signal

the other case is rod blagojevich, martha stewart they fall into a different category, he's also tried to make a political statement with the potential for pardoning those folks because of all of the people who are under scrutiny in his own world who he thinks may face a similar fate. >> that requires a little bit of mind reading which is beyond my ken. it's not at all clear to me that his potential commutation of the sentence or the pardoning of rod blagojevich is a attempt to say to paul manafort don't flip on me. it's possible i suppose. >> martha: when you look at those cases, many of them were adjudicated by fitzgerald, by comey, by mueller, the same team he feels unjustified by in rod blagojevich's case he had the same rate that paul manafort had at his house. it's not that he's trying to send a signal to people who may talk or may not talk he may be sending a signal about justice and how he feels about what is right and what is wrong. >> he may be thumbing his nose at the prosecutors a little bit but i wouldn't say that about the scooter libby pardon, a lot of people had been en

the president said he's also considering pardoning or commuting the sentence of rod blagojevich. the former politician is currently serving a 14-year sentence for corruption. trump says that he considers the sentence excessive. >>> oakland is honoring the band that made funk famous. the legendary group tower of power was founded 50 years ago in oakland, and today the city honored the musicians who created some of the biggest r, and b hits of our time with the tower of power day. at a ceremony at the plaza, oakland mayor libby schaaf praised their sound and their stamina. >> don't they look good? you all look good for a band that's celebrating its 50th anniversary. don't return the favor, gentlemen. >> tower of power will perform at oakland's fox theater tomorrow and saturday. >>> for the first time in more than 20 years, a fully crewed navy ship is in port. the ship and her crew got a hero's welcome as they came in. >> reporter: it's been a while since vallejo's waterfront has seen this much activity on a weekday afternoon, not since the ship yards closed in 1996. today the crowd

and martha stewart and rod blagojevich, who both have ties to "the apprentice."sylvester stall own is making a movie about the first black champion, and his words could caroline kennedy to clemen clemency. let me start by asking to reflect by what we've seen this week. i'll use dinesh d'souza as an example. we seen it happen with scooter libby and jeff johnson. president trump saying again he had no relationship to this person, hadn't talk to him before. i'm talking about dinesh d'souza, it was brought to himself attention over dinner by senator ted cruz. >> it's three things that comes to mind. one, he went around what is the usual, where you have the pardons group in the justice department make recommendations, give a reasoning for it, give justification for it or they give adverse reasons why it should not happen. he totally went around that and doesn't appear to have any of those considerations. so then if that is not the procedure, then what is the motivation? are we now saying that you do pardons by who has a social access to the president? and then the thi

or yesterday to dangle clemency for martha stewart or rod bl blagojevich yesterday.the president was looking at and there were plenty of people for possible pardons going forward with no specific time frame in terms of the woman. kim kardashian was speaking about alice marie johnson. white house officials say the president is still considering whether to grant a pardon to her. the bottom line, i think, is what's notable here is the president has been acting earlier than other presidents and has been abandoning the traditional justice department review process. the justice department confirming he did not go through the office or this petition. there was no petition that would have gone through the office of the pardon attorney before the decision yesterday. >> so those who are speculating this is president trump and rudy giuliani's sort of laying the field for a president to maybe be sending messages to the likes of michael cohen or other people under investigation who could flip on him saying i'll pardon you if things continue to get hot? >> you can imagine a way th

in terms of rod blagojevich, who i knew and worked for, i think he did commit crimes. he has acknowledged it. and frankly, a commutation i think is in order. denish is a friend of mine pled guilty. i'm glad he will have his voice back. it is not my voice. he acknowledged he made campaign finance violations for which he got a sentence. >> heather: let me get to matt quickly. at the same time he said that he didn't do it. he kept saying he hasn't done it ever since then. in terms of the names let's go back to the names that keep popping up over and over again, comey prosecuted martha stewart. >> i think presidents have unlimited power to pardon. and presidents have different things that they feel sympathetic about. barack obama pardoned and commuted the sentence of thousands of people who had low-level drug offenses and other folks and he has the right to do that. i believe in second chances. i believe in mercy. and in a lot of these cases people did commit crimes. martha stewart committed a crime but the question is that she is in the winter of her life. if it's okay fo

he said that rod blagojevich did nothing wrong when he got caught on tape trying to sell the appointmentrack obama's senate seat after barack obama was elected president of the united states. that is a classic case of bribery. but today the president said that all politicians do that, there was nothing do it and that rod blagojevich saying he wanted to sell the senate seat was just, quote, a stupid thing to say. he also said he was thinking about pardoning martha stewart who was convicted of lying to the fbi. he already decided to pardon dinesh d'souza for violating campaign finance laws. it seems the president is sitting around the oval office looking to pardon people who were convicted of the offenses that donald trump's friends and staff and others near donald trump just might be charged with. joining our discussion now, lawrence tribe, harvard law school professor and author of a new book "the power of impeachment" thank you for joining us tonight. i want to get your reaction to what the president revealed today about his use of the pardon power. >> i think he made absolutely clear t

she also talks about how he -- he, rod blagojevich, is much like donald trump, a victim of the deep stater prosecution. that's not by accident. look, to the extent these people are listening to their lawyers, their lawyers may well be saying, your best case -- and rod blagojevich's case, all his appeals ran out, supreme court denied to hear it. the only option to not stay in prison through 2024 lies with donald trump. his wife knows that. he knows it. and they know at least they inkd persuade the president of the united states and that is through an appearance on fox news. yes, is that weird? sure. but it is the reality. >> it is 2018, nothing is weird anymore. let's be honest. michael, we heard from rudy giuliani speaking with chris cuomo last night and shifting story, lies, however you want to define them, about thatmp tower statement. >> tritten word seems pretty clear as to what we know about that. even if the narrative we're getting on tv is different. how much of this matters to the investigation? >> i think it fits in, if you look at on instruction of justice, or abuse of office, a

why is he now floating the idea of pardoning martha stewart and rob bd blagojevich? we'll discuss.e "cnn newsroom". you could mortgage like it is 1970... or do it now with better. you could hope you are getting the best price... or know you are, with better. you could mortgage on their time... or with better, on yours. you could pay their commission... or mortgage with better, and save. go to better.com to mortgage right. start by finding out how much house you can actually afford in just three minutes. 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. i'm a small business, but i have... big dreams... and big plans. so how do i make the efforts of 8 employees... feel like 50? how can i share new plans virtually? how can i download an e-file? virtual tours? zip-file? really big files? in seconds, not minutes... just like that. like everything... the answer is simple. i'll do what i've always done... dream more, dream faster, and above all..

blagojevich. 14 years in prison for basically bad language and bs-ing in the back room and conniving.liticians connive. i think the second purpose is to tell people like michael flynn, like paul manafort, like all the people, especially perhaps michael cohen, i know how to do this thing. i know how to pardon people. you could be on my list. >> before we get to bobby kennedy, i want to do this a little bit backwards. i want to share a snippet from sunday night's broadcast. we'll watch it together, and after that we can discuss it on the other side. >> robert kennedy's life was shaped by tragedy. >> president kennedy was murdered. >> he was overcome by the ghost of his brother. >> which compelled him to help others. >> there's more that we need to do within our local communities. >> his passion for the underdog, from every background, made him want to unite people. >> i run to seek new policies, policies to end the bloodshed in vietnam. >> but he never got the chance. >> the president has been shot. >> is there a doctor in the house? >> senator kennedy has been shot! >> it was a crushin

expect that there are going to be m pardons beyond what we had already been talking about with blagojevich and martha stewart? >> i do, katy. i think there are going to be many more pardons or acts of clemency, rather. potentially dozens over the in ex -- the next few weeks and months. keep in mind, he's doing this in a sort of haphazard fashion. there is a traditional process at the department of justice where people can apply for a pardon, their case is reviewed by the u.s. pardon attorney, then it advances to consideration by the white house. in this case the president is picking people based on those he has relationships with or somebody that -- a select like kim kardashian brings to his attention and he is acting unilaterally on his own outside of that department of justice >> why is the doj not getng -- ottitself more in this procr are ty behind the scenesrying to reassert themselves? >> this is reall more about donald trump's one-off to grab at any given moment.s i really do -- i salute kim kardashian for champio gllandin getting the president to actually follow through in a way the

patty blagojevich, wife of rod blagojevich. as you know, if you are a regular justice viewer. opening statement at this time every saturday. more often than not it's whatever has gone the me fired up this week.

rod blagojevich? martha stewart? roger stone suggested they might not be the only beneficiaries of a presidential pardon. it has to be a signal to mike flynn and paul manafort and even robert mueller, indict people for crimes that don't pertain to russian collusion, and this is what could happen. but if trump does go that route, could it backfire? joining me is the white house reporter for the los angeles times. and also still with me chris who served as the white house cabinet secretary and assistant to president obama. is there a pattern in the people that the president is giving his pardons to? >> reporter: you see a pattern of people conservatives, and people in da s'soud'souza's cas. the through line seems to be the president's belief these people have been treated unfairly by the justice system. he spoke to a few of us who were on air force one yesterday at length about his belief that the blagojevich sentence was just way too long. it was ridiculous. he had gotten 18 years. you could tell the president was bas