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

attorney preet bharara will be here. identity crisis? prominent republicans say they no longer recognize the gop. >> i think the republican party has gone dormant. >> reporter: what is the party's image to voters? house majority kevin mccarthy will be here in momentt. their trade, president trump hits u.s. allies with steep tariffs on steel and alluminum. >> i love canada, i love mexico. but they take threats economically. >> these tariffs are totally unacceptable. >> is the president risking a trade war? canadian prime minister christian freeland will be here. hello, i'm dana bash in for jake tapper in walk, where the state of our union is debating executive power. we are getting a new look against the russia investigation in a confidential 20-page letter obtained by the "new york times," president trump's lawyers argue the president cannot be compelled to testi in the russia probe and he has full authority over all investigation. the letter was submitted to the special counsel's team by the president's lawyers in january. it asserts in

he's a petty, vindictive guy, and he unleashed his coppos like holder and preet bharara to go after me. >> gwen in alabama, democrats line. go ahead. >> caller: good morning. first of all, i want to ask him a question. then i want to mak comment. were you not found guilty of campaign finance violation? were you not found guilty of that? >> i was. >> caller: okay. first of all, what is idiotic and stutyat y'r thng we, the american ople, are stupid and idiotic. what's all the stuff you said about president obama? as a black woman, you are darn right, i am offended. i am offended that you would go after the first black president to demean and malign him. and what you said about michelle obama, as a black woman, you are darned right, we are very upset! and you're talk being narcissism? wait a minute! what about this narcissistic person that's in the white house right now? that is not narcissism? and the only reason you're on tv and c-span, i am very offended that you have this person when we have african-americans about what the president has done with the philadelphia eagles, why you don'

the prosecutions have some connections to james comey, as well as preet bharara, the southern district of new york federal prosecutor, which is where the michael cohen case is right now and we know that donald trump fired preet bharara along with a other u.s. attorneys. i don't think you can ignore the celebrity aspect of this. 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 powe

if this was a routine case, preet bharara was on cnn saying, this was a garden variety case handled justy are my politics highlighted in my fbi file? the reason i suspect -- >> that is your evidence? >> no, the fbi is signaling to the justice department. look, we got one for you. here's a prominent critic of obama. you need to know this is your political enemy. you may want to go after this guy. >> wouldn't any complete fbi file, you are a prominent conservative. wouldn't any complete fbi file describe you as being a conservative or a critic of the obama administration or whatever? >> anderson, if someone is compiling a file on somebody and particularly a file of political sensitivity and you want to be careful not to target people politically, why put this information -- >> that is the only evidence you have. that you were mentioned as a critic. >> no, there is actually more. there is actually more. the fbi decides early on at the very beginning to allocate $100,000 to investigate my $20,000 case. recently, as you know rosie o'donnell has been in the public and admitting. to five times

but the zeal with which preet bharara went after him, the justice administration, the justice departments so out of line with what he did. if you look at campaign finance laws what are we trying to avoid? we're trying to avoid undo influence in elections. did he have undo influence in that election when his friend lost by 45 points, no. it was his first-time offense, he should have gotten a slap on the wrist. >> what do you say to that, matt? >> well, look, you know it's really hard to prove whether or not they went after him with more zeal than they would if -- have somebody else. but it's hard to make that argument when you're actually guilty. okay. so he clearly did this, he admitted to doing this, and then it's hard to say, yeah, i did this, i broke the law, and i did it in such a way to clearly try to avoid detection. it's not like i accidentally gave too -- gave more than my limit. i was trying to funnel money, you know, through other people to avoid detection to intentionally avoid the law. so it's hard to then say -- >> what's he saying then, matt? i did it, but i shouldn't have

attorney and cnn contributor preet bharara, who trump fired. in the case of martha stewart, the prosecutor was james comey. let's see. mr. blagojevich was convicted of 18 charges, sentenced to 14 years in prison. but when you look at this, when you look at that, it's preet bharara or whether it's anyone else who is connected to the president, is this settling scores? >> so i actually think it's more. i mean, look. it's -- i'm not a huge believer in coincidence, don. certainly not in politics. so i'm not willing to dismiss that. my belief is the prime mover, the prime motivator here, and donald trump said this on air force one on the way to texas today. he was asked about dinesh d'souza. and he said i never really met him. i called him last night. boy, was he surprised. i heard him on the radio and saw him on television. that to me is part of this too. martha stewart was on "the apprentice." 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

this is the holder justice department and preet bharara, the prosecutor in new york.trump said i want to set this injustice right and clear your record. that's what the pardon did. >> i heard you say that before that you were politically purse cuted. you pled guilty. why did you plead guilty if you didn't think you were guilty? >> the government in these cases uses all kinds of strong arm tactics behind the scenes. for example, they'll say we'll get you for mail fraud. you say mail fraud? yeah, because you put the check in the mail. we'll gt you for bank fraud. because you withdrew the money from the bank. >> right. >> we'll put additional charges that carry five years in prison. alisyn, would you risk five years in prison? what would that do to your life and career? they bludgeon you -- >> just to be clear, this is what prosecutors do in every case. you make a deal about to get a guilty plea and prosecutors tell you what you're facing. this is basically dinesh -- hold on. >> it's not what you're facing. >> these are your options. this happens in every single criminal

my prosecutor preet bharara has been on cnn. the nash voluntarily pleaded guilty. what he does not say is all of the strong-arm tactics the government uses to get you to do that. they basically bludgeon you into it and put on a pompous road and go he voluntarily did it. i'm glad we are having this debate. political justice is a terrible thing. we want lady justice to be blind and not selective. hod in a way. u say? guest: twitter is a rough medium. we tend to fire back and forth sometimes in the heat of the moment. i did what i call my karma is a bitch tweet. you thought you could advance your career by being a little water carrier for obama in getting me but now you got fired and i got part -- pardoned. host: jessica in virginia. caller: i have two quick questions. the first is, you have claimed that in your act of committing election fraud that there was no corrupt intent. you used donors which would be indicative of premeditation and from premeditation would conclude there's corrupt intent. how would you go about explaining that? if you generally believe you wer

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attorney preet bharara prosecuted dinesh d'souza and james comey and martha stewart.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 temporary exemptions, but the white house let those expired after it did not get what it wanted in negotiations. the president calls this fair trade. the goal is to help u.s. steel workers. metal tariffs could raise prices. raise prices on cars and appliances and food cans. it puts the u.s. in another trade dispute as it is targeting $50 million in chinese goods. these three struck back. eu and mexico with tariffs on u.s. goods. canada will tariff on equal amtd ever amount -- amounts of tariffs for the u.s. justin trudeau says this just won't hurt canada. >> unfortunately, we know this will lead to harm for the american industries. our economies are too inter linked to not have significant disruption in american families and american communities south of the border. >> the chamber of commerce says this mov

preet bharara. the president fired him. and it's that office that is prosecuting michael cohen.think the implication is clear here. he's thumbing his nose at southern district prosecutors in this instance and he's sending a clear message to michael cohen. margaret is also right that many of these crimes have a lot to do with sort of the questions swirling around trump and potential witnesses in the larger russia investigation. what was martha stewart convicted of? lying to federal prosecutors, lying to fbi agents. that's what michael flynn pleaded guilty to. so people are defending trump in this instance saying that it's his constitutional right, he has sort of an unfettered right to pardon whom ever he feels but the fact is this is a clear message. it couldn't be more clear, brianna. >> is he saying in your view, carolyn, if you defense me, i am going to be there for you? >> yes. and, look, dinesh d'souza, his hole ta whole take is on -- he pleaded guilty to the campaign finance violations. he knew he was breaking the law. but his whole claim is that he was selectively prosecut

preet bharara, thank you. >> chris?> first we're going to tackle the heart, then we're going to tackle the head. does god really want the law enforced the way it being done by the government on the border right now? families separated, children sometimes taken from mothers,mothers and then we're going to look at the good facts and the bad facts in the i.q. report. partisans are seeing what they want to in this i.d. report. we'll show what the facts and conclusions we came with big appetites. with expedia, you could book a flight, hotel, car, and activity all in one place. ♪ proven to protect street skaters and freestylers. stops up to 97% uv. lasts through heat. through sweat. coppertone. proven to protect. non-drowsy children's claritin allergy relief. the #1 pediatrician recommended non-drowsy brand. because to a kid a grassy hill is irresistible. children's claritin. feel the clarity and live claritin clear. >>> north korean state television broadcast images of the singapore summit we hadn't seen before. president tr

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 bludgeoned me into the plea by threatening to add a second redundant charge caring a prison term of five years. president trump flew to texas to meet with families affected by the shooting in santa fe, and during the flight, the president returned to the subject of pardons. he told reporters onboard air force one that he's considering clemency for martha stewart and rod blagojevich. martha stewart was convicted in '04, and former democratic governor rod blagojevich is serving a 14-year prison sentence on corruption charges including trying to sell president obama's senate seat once vacated. jill colvin of the associated press writes tonight, quote, in the tr

attorney preet bharara. thanks for joining us. amidst this, paul manafort is awaiting trial. do you think mueller is hoping this will lead manafort to flip? >> speaking as a former prosecutor myself, if you think there are crimes that can be prosecuted or proven through cooperation against someone else, higher up in the food chain, yeah, you are hoping for people to cooperate. everything they have been doing in bringing the case in two districts, prevailing on the motions, indicates that they are ready to go and try the case with a bunch of very serious charges that are going to be hard to defend against. assuming paul manafort has information about other people, yes, the hope of every prosecutor is the person will cooperate. >> what about michael cohen, the president's longtime lawyer, worked with the president for a dozen years? how much pressure in this criminal investigation is he under to cooperate? >> same as manafort. he is under a lot of pressure to cooperate. the difference in the cohen case is we don't know what he will be facing. in the weeks leading up to flynn's

a way to punish his critics, in this case the prosecutors who brought these cases, people like preet bharara, pat fitzgerald, and to reward allies and, you know, people who are supportive of him. it's very hard to justice any of these pardons on their own. when you lay over the top of that, the message he's sending, it's a clear message to people in the russia investigation, and that is i am ready and willing to use this power to my benefit. "the washington post" has a quote from roger stone, one of the targets of the investigation who makes it clear to the post that he got that message loud and clear that the president is willing to use his pardon power in these cases and potentially the russia investigation. >> maya, he talked about the possibility today of pardoning martha stewart. it seems like he's trying to in a certain extent, turn this into a reality show, the pardon power. >> i think you're right. i think it's also that martha stewart was prosecuted by james comey in the southern district of new york where michael cohen that is i am ready and willing to use this power to my benefit.

. >> preet bharara.d president trump's national security adviser try to sabotage the meeting with kim jong-un. john bolton's libya model comments. stay with us. as his horse loves snacking. ♪ ♪ that's why he uses the chase mobile® app, to pay practically anyone, at any bank. ♪ ♪ the first survivor of ais out there.sease 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. no one thought much of itm at all.l people said it just made a mess until exxonmobil scientists put it to the test. they thought someday it could become fuel and power our cars wouldn't that be cool? and that's why exxonmobil scientists think it's not small at all. energy lives here. >>> breaking news about the president's summit with north korea, one of the top foreign policy advisers stands accused within his administration trying to sabbo taj the meeting. the state department officials believe that the national security adviser john bolton made those libya mo

dinesh d'souza was prosecuted by preet bharara, and blagojovich was prosecuted by patrick fitzgerald. guess who he is representing right now? james comey. >> let me also say this as a possible -- i think this is an absolute honest expression of the president's view of law and law and order which is that the law is forly people. it's for other people and not for him and not for people like me. martha stewart is a person like me. these are powerful famous people. these are not the thugs of ms-3, not the thugs of the central park jogger case. those are the people that deserve to be in prison. those are the people the law should be used against and the people that go to my parties and buy my condos and occupy my offices the law means nothing to them. he is using that philosophy to govern the country right now in front of all of us and using the pardon power. it's going to get worse before it gets better. paul and dan. >> don't forget "the apprentice." >> blagojovich was on there. >> that's right. coming up, recordings of the president's lawyer threatening a journalist during the campaign.

the case against d'souza was prosecuted by none other than preet bharara.hen investigation also reportedly includes campaign finance violations and many are concerned the president is signaling to cohen and others snared in the russia investigation like michael flynn and paul manafort that if they look out for the president they, too, could be pardoned. yesterday the vice chairman of the senate intelligence committee, democrat mark warner tweeted "the president's ad hoc use of the pardon power is concerning enough. but the possibility he may 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 this is well within the president's legal powers but he is blowing through many norms again that surround the use of this power. >> no doubt about it and jonathan lemire, you were on the -- on air force one when the president made this announcement. tell us what you know. >> took us by surprise, the din fi -- dinesh d'souza announcement surprised us. the pre

d'souza was prosecuted by preet bharara who has been very critical of president trump.secutors, of course, don't like when pardons are issued because it undoes all of your work and it seems in most cases like it's not appropriate in terms of the rule of law. there were some cases, again, with president obama who issued a lot of pardons for people who had been caught up in the failed war on drugs, but then you had to go through such a long process to get people pardoned through that. there's all these rules, whole office of pardoned attorney, got to wait five years after your sentence. you have to show that you've been rehabilitated and express remorse. president trump has completely gone around that. the pardon power comes from the devine right of kings. that's what president trump thinks he is. >> it's interesting. so now we have three options to choose from, right? because pardons can be thematic. president obama also did try to pardon a lot of people sentenced under the drug laws that a lot of people feel are unjust. there's a theme to that. with trump you do have a

attorney to stay strong in the face of offers to flip, or to one of his most vocal critics, preet ba bharara who convicted d'souza. donald trump uses whatever hour he has to attack people he feels wronged him and he'll do whatever he feels he must to protect himself. for him pardons are a means of vengeance. those he issued to date are a smaller hint of what could be coming as the russia investigation heats up. >>> joining us in washington from the washington post is the washington post bureau chief phil rucker. hi, phil. joining the table mimi rocca, former u.s. district attorney, now at pace law school. we quoted "the new york times" editorial, i want to start with you. there are a lot of things to say about these pardons and some were said on the show yesterday. the notion of the pardon as not a form of clemency, not a form of forgiveness, but a form of retribution. not what the pardon was designed to serve, but it seems at least one of the things donald trump is doing here is trying to exact punishment on his enemies. >> absolutely. i mean, i think it's a great reflection of who he is an

my prosecutor preet bharara has been on cnn. the nash voluntarily pleaded guilty.hat he does not say is all of the strong-arm tactics the government uses to get you to do that. they basically bludgeon you into it and put on a pompous road and go he voluntarily did it. i'm glad we are having this debate. political justice is a terrible thing. we want lady justice to be blind and not selective. host: you did respond in a blunt way. you say? guest: twitter is a rough um. we tend to fire nd forth sometimes in the heat of the moment. i did what i call my karma is a bitch tweet. you thought yocovanc your career by being a little water carrier for obama in getting me but now you got fired and i got part -- pardoned. host: jessica in virginia. caller: i have two quick questions. the first is, you have claimed that in your act of committing election fraud that there was no corrupt intent. you used donors which would be indicative of premeditation and from premeditation would conclude there's corrupt intent. how would you go about explaining that? if you generally believe yo