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

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

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

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. he'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 withartha stewart in particular which they saw as a real perverstice, because she was 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, h soun little bit like spygat

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

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

remember joe arpaio was convicted in arizona of ignoring a judge's warning to stop racially profiling. and dinesh d'souza has a log of racially charged tweets. that's a common denominator. there are democrats complaining saying the use of president much power has been improper. nobody at this point is say lg they can take it away from him. >> thanks very much. i want to bring in our panel. jennifer, do you see a commonality in this? do you think it's trying to send a message? >> i think it is. these are people being prosecuted for the same kind of crimes that the trump circle is facing. there are people the president knows personally and people that are prosecuted by people the president doesn't like, his enemies, comey, fitzgerald. the question is is it illegal the sending of the message? i don't think we're there yet. >> jason, is a message being sent? >> no. i think that's silly. jack johnson has been dead for 70 year. >> he's an out liar. >> look at martha stewart who served her time and done with that. trying to say it's sending a message to trump associates is silly. every presi

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

he spent a lifetime in law enforcement. [ cheers and applause ] sheriff joe arpaio!: 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 and fleas, like us. kills? kills! studies show at the end of the month, it kills more ticks in less time than frontline plus and nexgard. guess we should mosey on. see ya never, roxy! use simparica with caution in dogs with a history of seizures or neurologic disorders. the most common side

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

if you also look at the d'souza pardon as well as joe arpaio, both are on record for saying dangerouss the most dangerous about these pardons is it sends the message what these men have done is okay. arpaio was told not to discriminate against immigrants in arizona. he did it anyway. d'souza called 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 wha

you have the pardons of joe arpaio last year, scooter libby earlier this year, and then this latest, and thing is a very clear connection between arpaio, libby, and dinesh d'souza, which is people who are heroes in a certain element within the conservative party, within a conservative element of the republican party, i would say sort of conspiracy-minded conservatives who view them as enemies of the deep state, people who were unfairly persecuted, unfairly prosecuted. and what message is donald trump sending? why dinesh d'souza who he admits he didn't meet, and scooter libby either, why now, why today, why in this period of time? because he wants to send a message that says hey, michael cohen, hey, paul manafort, i know you're under extreme pressure here to flip, tell the special counsel bob mueller what you know. just so you know, i'm willing to pardon these sorts of offenses. i just -- timing is very rarely accidental in politics, and it's especially not accidental right now because otherwise the dinesh d'souza thing makes zero sense. it comes out of absolutely totally nowhere. >> i

think about presidential pardons you even knew about and the fact that joe arpaio was the very firstardon he gave last august over something that was so con contentious and grotesque, and there are living people who need their own legal counsel. >> i have to take a break in. when we come back, tariffs, trade war and the economy. my exclusive interview with justin trudeau of canada. >> you said you will retaliate. how serious do you think you are and can you make a dent? . >>> welcome back. it took guts to start my business. but as it grew bigger and bigger, it took a whole lot more. that's why i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. everything. what's in your wallet? 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 interesting way to get your protein. wait what? directv gives you more for your thing. your... quitting cable and never looking back thing. directv is rated #1 in customer satisfaction over cable. switch to directv and n

remember that joe arpaio was the sheriff of maricopa county and he was not complying with a judge's orderthat 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 congress has not been able to completely dismantle the affordable care act is because it is popular and it is actually has support, and it is popular because the people need to see a doctor when they are sick, and they couldn't get all of their own party to agree, because of the con

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

used to describe pardons he gave to people he thought were unfairly political prosecuted, like joe arpaio and dinesh d'souza. there could be hints that manafort could get a pardon and thatight make him less likely to cooperate with mueller. laura: president sees to today in his freewheeling ess conference on the that inspector general report on james comey and the handng of a hillary clinton e-mail probe -- he said it totally exonerates him, but the report was not on donald trump. anthony: no, it wasn't, and it did not exonerate him on anything as far as collusion or what he sayse is tch hunt. it dealt specifically with the nbi's handling of the clin investigation, and in this case the ig said comey mishandled the investigation in a way that probably hurt hillarton. the public announcement in july and that letter to congress right before theel presidential tion. but on the flipside, people who are pointing to this and saying this is an example that there was not bias by the fbi in probe, thatussia wasn't handled either. w those interpretations from that is going a step too far. this sti c

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

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

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

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 pa

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

applause ) and this one-- this is just the latest in a string of pardons that's included sheriff joe arpaio, scooter libby, dinesh d'souza, and the late boxer jack johnson. that last one, that last cause was championed by legal scholar sylvester stallone. ( laughter ) so, remember, if you ever get wrongly convicted, don't call a lawyer. call mickey rourke. and last week, trump floated the idea he might also pardon martha stewart and disgraced illinois governor rod blagojevich, after blagojevich's wife, patti, asked for a pardon on fox news. well that is-- going on fox news is one of the best ways to make sure trump gets your message-- other than writing it on his steak in ketchup. and, and cnn-- ( applause ) why not? we love meat jokes!" and cnn is reporting that the administration has prepared the pardoning paperwork for at least 30 people. "okay let's see who we got here, iron mike tyson, charlie sheen, the hot mugshot convict, the noid, hannibal lecter, fred flintstone, and osama bin laden. take that, obama. now you murdered an innocent man." ( laughter ) and-- thank you, jon. thank you.

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

i believed from his first pardon of joe arpaio that the president was trying to send messages, don't cooperate, you can obstruct justice, you can be in contempt of court, i have your back, don't worried about it. the problem is a hardened fifth amendment witness -- it's not necessarily in the president's best interest to pardon people because them they can testify against him. so we have to assume that paul manafort was there long enough to know enough to be dangerous to him, so it may not help to pardon paul manafort. >> jeremy, you get the big wrap-up question. how did our understanding of this case advance today and, part two, what in your view should we not lose sight of right here an now? >> i don't think we should lose sight of the fact that there's a russian government official indicted by the special council for colluding with the chairman of the trump campaign to influence american and european politics. that's effectually what council mueller is investigating. if you focus on the big picture it shows a clear conspiracy so under mine our politics. >> our thanks to joe who is

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

i'm also going to bring in another hard liner well known for his immigrant roundups, joe arpaio.arizona sheriff. pardon pd by the president. and now running

you could, in theory -- and he, for example, pardoned joe arpaio earlier in the process than he might. certainly something he could potentially do and yet he isn't. >> well, i thought actually the most striking thing about the comments there was what he didn't say and he didn't rule it out. he has kept this open, this idea open. he has never said he's never closed it off. he's never definitively said he won't do this. the audience, all these people cooperating with mueller, you still have in your head maybe the big guy will pardon me in the end. i think that's actually the most significant thing. >> and manafort seems to be acting as though that might be a possibility, right, in holding out. >> i don't know because i don't have insight into how he's thinking off feeling or the motivations behind his behavior. so, i wouldn't want to speculate. >> ken vogel -- >> i can tell you he's increasingly isolated because there are a succession of people who flipped on him including his son-in-law, rick gates, his long-time deputy, these two other folks who were allegedly -- >> the two people he

paul: i really do think that it undid a mistake that president bush had made and then you get to joe arpaioourt order, that was a different thing, what about these individual cases, you list them, i agree with you that he is sending a message but are these justifiable cases do you think just -- on the standard of does this increase respect for the rule of law? >> well, look, paul, this is a complicated subject, danesh dsuoza for violations and martha stewart, insider trading, rod for political corruption, now in every one of those cases we have editorialized that there are not clear lines on some of these issues, you want to respect the rule of law but as the attorney harvey silverglade, there are now thousands of ways to break federal law, you can get into trouble very easily and the pardon wower is one -- power is one way to correct the balance against prosecutorial abuse. there's legitimate issue raised of just how the public, the people, including celebrities find some sort of compensation against what prosecutors can do to them. paul: briefly, bill, you wrote about the martha stewart c

for example, his pardon of joe arpaio, even before the recent extravaganza of pardons with people likea. even if someone is convicted of defying a court order, to stop discriminating against and mistreating immigrants of color. it's okay, if he's on our team we can send him a signal of out of jail free. and dangling the out of jail free card in front of the people who might be witnesses against this president is something that he's doing continually. that builds up a strong record which will be only stronger if a democratic house conducts full and fair investigations of all that's going on. problem with the mueller investigation, fair and full as it is, is that when the report is issued to the public, through rod rosenstein and through possible leaks or whatever happens, officially released, it will be filled with redactions. we won't know what the grand jury testimony was. in nixon's case, we had an extended process about ten months of meaningful investigation by the house judiciary committee. very different from what the delawar delaware -- nun es show was about. if we have that kind

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 decent neighbor to remember the good people who rise with every challen

obviously, effusive in his praise of donald trump but his aides worries sometimes it's over the top, joe arpaior example, jeopardizing his future and looking to 2024, maybe sooner, they joke. never know. positioning him, and he got rid of some of his loyal indiana aides and replaced them with washington political types like nick heiairs, someone very connected who,solates him but keeps him safe from scrutiny and doesn't let him talk to a lot of people. >> your past book focused and first ladies. an intersection in the book. melania trump was sort of a person who said, look, pence is the type o perso we need for then candidate trump's vice presidential nominee, because no drama. doesn't come with baggage. >> her word for it was "clean." a decisive voice. surprising. i don't think people think of her weighing in on politics at all. we need a clean v.p. and trump had michael flynn on his list. newt gingrich, chris christie. she recognized her husband doesn't need more baggage and illustrates her roam. >> thanks for being here. >>> and coming up, family matters, epa chief scott pruitt used his posi

we have seen the president pardon a number of political allies, such as sheriff joe arpaio. >> let's get the reaction from van. van, you know alice marie jones, and you've been anned a sl advo her. what do you think about this action by the president? >> i think it's extraordinary, people going to prison with crazy long sentences. this is a particular case where a number of things lined up. ms. alice is a grandmother, she made horrible mistakes, but she literally had no opportunity for parole ever. she was going to die in prison for a nonviolent drug offense, first time. you also had britney barnes, who is a young black attorney, a young female african-american, quit her corporate law job to go full-time trying to get in woman out and other people like her out of prison. you had a viral video that went nuts showing this video behind bars, and then kim kardashian stepped in. buthe final piece was jared kushner. i'm a strong democrat, i disagree with jared kushner on 99 things, but on one thing, jared kushner has been a shockingly effective advocate inside the white house. he went toe

political allies and will please some segment of his base like disouza and scooter libby and zrif joe arpaio. i think he's making it clear, whether he's sending a message, that he's prepared to pardon anyone for any reason without review. it was suggested he review the case. i don't think president trump does anything of the sort. he decides in a moment. what's the he did in the states. i think that's what he will keep doing. >> aside from the signal he might be sending the pardons he is making just happen to be cases prosecuted by people like you, not his best friend, others at little odds with. do you think he's intentionally undoing cases that people like you tried successfully? >> obviously, the suggestion he made he might pardon martha stewart wart was prosecuted by james comey. >> and rod blagojevich. >> you are supposed to pardon people because they are worthy, not because you are trying to please anyone in your base or spite anyone you think is a adversary, it's a power that could be taken away in the future. if you abuse the pardon power in a particular way, there comes a point, may

very strange way going about things where the president will -- you know, his first pardon was for joe arpaio. that was somebody who was a big campaign supporter, who appeared with trump at his rallies. 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

help those caught up in the investigation in the russian meddling in 2016 as he pardons sheriff joe arpaio last year for his criminal contempt conviction. >> there is thousands of people that deserve comeutation and anoio t white shouldn't take k house to get something like that done. >> reporter: and two sources familiar with the matter say the white house counsel is reviewing potential clemency for a handful of people who were just like johnson who aren't celebrities and who were not politic allies of the white house. jake. >> pamela brown at the white house. >>> joining me now from chicago is simona poppa bapadopoulos an wife of george papadopoulos. and thanks for being here. you're here to ask president trumo pardonour husband? i know that -- i know that his kind of formal request to the white house to pardon your husband. why haven't the lawyers done that? >> actually this is an interesting question. good evening. i am n sure i can share the opinion i could just say that this doesn't ire in my view with the plea agreement. he feld guilty for lying to the fbi. my appeal to the argument

was brought to the president's attention by stallone and right wing agendas like former sheriff joe arpaio. the white house keeps hinting more are on the way. the administration has prepared the paperwork for at least 30 people. it doesn't seem to be a kynecy dense the press is exercising this power just as his legal team is claiming he has unlimited constitutional authority over federal criminal prosecutions and investigations. in a memo to mueller that leak to the "new york times" last weekend, the president's attorneys argue he cannot obstruct justice because he could if he wished terminate the inquiry or even exercise his power to pardon if he so desired. the president tweeting i have the absolute right to pardon myself. today in interviews during a trip to zrashlgs rudy giuliani reearth issed the president's authority to pardon himself and though he denied the president's plans to use the authority, he made what sure sounds like a threat to the special counsel. >> does he have the power? yes, is he going to do it, no. >> he's innocent. i think in mueller's case, it's more he's not tak

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.

joe arpaio. people who have not taken responsibility for their crimes and in fact two of them have claimed they were the victim of political witch-hunts, despite judges saying that's flatly not the case. an appropriate pardon the president gave today, but we ought to be worried if the process for getting a pardon is that someone that can either, a conservative gaffe fly, manages to get booked on fox news or a celebrity who sgegets a meeting with the president. some are appropriate and others likely that are not. >> josh in our great democracy, there are very few powers that the executive that are absolute. this is one of those powers. an absolute power that the president enjoyed. "washington post" on why this particular president enjoys pardoning seems to enjoy pardoning perhapsalities more than predecessors. trump entered the white house expecting few powers. envisioning the presidency is more like his private business than applauding bureaucracy. mueller's sprawling investigation and aides at t