Making Pardon News Today

Comey, even though the president has a right to fire him for any reason, for no reason, whatever. the president likes to issue pardons whenever the president wants to issue a pardon. you heard the congressman suggest that intent could be a possible level of obstruction. >> so to prosecute obstruction, one of the elements is that the activity has to be done with some type of corrupt intent or done corruptly, is the words that are used. so his intent, what he was thinking when he made the decision...

Reviewed drug cases and they gave about 2600 commutations. thats not a pardon. it says, you served enough time, youre out. thats what he should have, a system set up with criteria to say if you fit the criteria, your sentence is commuted. there are tens of thousands of people. president obama and general holder didnt act swiftly enough to get as many people out as they should have. i know these dont have to do with russia, but it has to do with pardons, and if he pardons manafort, cohen, et cete...

Pattern here, and i think that the president is making it very clear there is no nuance to donald trump, weve learned over this year, and what hes saying is, you know, ive got a lot of power and i can use it where i want, and you guys had some big wins here, you thought you did, well, guess what? im undoing it, and for the future i can do that, too. >> carrie, youre a former assistant general for security. how do you see it? >> i was county assistant general, but thanks for the promotion. i thin...

Time the state department was involved that had an office that actually reviewed pardon decisions as a matter of policy process. what this president has done, which we have not seen in centuries literally, is the president making unilateral decisions, not just disregarding a recommendation that might be made from the office of the pardon after a justice department review, but absolutely 100% bypassing any of that policy process. so i think that he is looking toward ways to expand his presidency ...

The president continuing his assault, his fight with james comey here trying to undo the legacy that he had in many of these very high-profile cases by talking about pardons. >> yeah, he seems to be sending a clear message at the same time to others who may be witnesses, may be involved in the russia investigation. and thats causing some concern, jeff zeleny in houston traveling with the president. were going to get back to you, were going to get a lot more reaction from our analysts. right now ...

James comey. many republicans blasting the move of tariffs, calling it dumb. but first, a pardon that may be sending a strong political signal right now, the secret memo in the hands of the investigators. the president saying hes given a full pardon to desouza. desouza pleaded guilty to violating campaign laws back in 2014. among the presidents previous pardons, vice president cheneys previous staff scooter libby and joe arpaio. is this a message that he has their backs if they stand by his ...