michael milken has done a great deal since he exited prison in 1993 for the good of humanity. a prostate cancer foundation. the milken family foundation, from which he makes very generous donations -- he runs the milken institute, an economic think tank. he has done a lot. the question is whether it is expunging, ifant you will, the record of the crimes to which he pleaded guilty. vonnie: that was my next point. he pleaded guilty. bargain.a plea this was in connection with the insider trading scandal that involved vernon lambert, the firm for which he worked, and dennis levine, that ultimately caused drexel to collapse under a racketeering investigation. milken himself was indicted on counts of racketeering in fraud -- and fraud in 1996, but he did not plead guilty to those things. he pleaded guilty to six counts of tax and securities violations . he did not go to prison willingly. this is not something -- this again was a plea bargain, a deal with prosecutors. drexelsecutor against was none other than rudy giuliani. vonnie: a lifetime ban on trading other people's money. if p

and an playr, scaramucci who may or may not an effort to pardon michael milken. is this an important thing for them? erik: because they are friends with mike milken. that is pretty much what it comes down to. if you are going to get a pardon you need friends in high places. you don't get much closer than rudy giuliani and jared kushner. michael milken has been campaigning for a long time. there is no question that since he left prison in 1993, he has done a lot of good. he gives away -- he and his brother have given away hundreds of millions of dollars. possibly more than that. he is a huge benefactor to medical research. good friends with francis collins, the director of the nih. michael milken has it done his best to be a good public citizens. say what you will of what he did at the time. the issue here though is that michael milken wants to reserve -- reversed his security broadband. erik: that is something altogether. not mean pardon does that the sec lets you go back to trading on other people's behalf were serving in the securities industry. as part of his

scarlet: david, you have also been on the record for supporting a pardon for michael milken. ght now? david: i think the issue is be in ahat he seems to streak of granting different pardons. as far as mr. milken in particular, the genesis of my request to the president a year ago or nearly a year ago at this time was, if you recall, tesla issuing high-yield bonds and my belief that the entire premise of the milken prosecution in the this1980's was junk-bond craze was an invalid aspect of capital markets rooted in greed, and over 30 years we not only had the validation of the asset class, but now we have this ever so popular, pop culture friendly company like tesla utilizing the very vehicle that milken himself had popularized. as far as the timing for the president, i believe that he will have to figure that out. the white house counsel has written me to suggest that these things will play out in a given timeline. i do not think this falls into of same category as some these other pardons in recent weeks, but as far as the principle behind it it represents an incredible opport

briefly, the junk-bond becomes the financing the equal of choice for corporate takeovers and michael milkenenter of that. ultimately, they go out of business, michael goes to jail, as david mentioned, for securities fraud and tax fraud. and he is prosecuted. this comes around again, more recently, by none other than rudy giuliani, who has been in the headlines lately. so michael gets out of jail. and then, another superlative, probably create the most powerful second act in wall street history by funding cancer research, prostate cancer research specifically, and creating this davos of the west. everybody comes together at the beverly hilton,, every year, to talk about not just business, but how to cure cancer, the environment, it is a who's who and michael is at the center of it. david: it has sponsored really serious medical research and he has made a difference in the world. he was a victim of prostate cancer himself. >> one of the ways he has rehabilitated himself is he is the guy that if you are a powerful person, usually a powerful man, he is the guy that you call and he will put you

michael milken might get a pardon. greg: he has been thinking about it, yes then talking about it, and much has been made of the d inesh d'souza and scooter libb departed this might be a signal to people. at this point, nothing has happened. manafort can still go to trial. to temptation or the dynamic keep an eye on is whether the president tried to do something unprecedented and have a preliminary -- pardon someone even before anything -- guilt has been determined. shery: what has been the reaction so far in washington? kevin: with regards to pardoning, the president has not shown the usual showing of support from republican leadership, notably house speaker paul ryan. all of these republicans in the upper echelon of republican leadership has been very, very cautious. the president on the issue of self pardoning and even on the issue of pardoning other individuals, like greg mentioned. beyond that, some of the most conservative members of congress have shown to have support for the president on these particular issues