Page 8 - Pardon Process News Today

He pardon jack johnson, a black boxer who was convicted in a racist prosecution of taking a white woman over state law. no way of benefiting from that. and joe arpaio, that was not a great pardon, but he did it because he like sheriff joe and his immigration policy and he took care of them. in the case of scooter libby, people say this is sending a signaling about loyalty. and judith miller who was the person who testified that he had told her about valerie claims that it was that she was mistak...

That goes through the department of justice where they make recommendations, my understanding is that donald trump is not listening to that. he is not even getting the names from that pardon process. thats why i say, it feels like it is more based on celebrity and famous people that he knew. i think that is weird. >> martha: he is definitely a person who operates that way to some sort of extend by gut, and he mustve seen "the wall street journal" piece where blagojevich said when an investigatio...

Johnson also just got a posthumous clearance from the president. it also goes to his impulse, i think, to deal with big names. and yes, of course, theres a big discussion we could have about how you use a pardon process and if he will use it to continue the work of what president obama did for people who are serving in these drug cases. >> let me get john briefly on one other piece of this. do you think that any of this could itself become a subject to muellers probe? >> absolutely. i think that...

Today. whats important here is that there is actually a pardon process in the department of justice that in normal times people go through. if you want a pardon, theres a way you can get one. but this extra process that the president is putting on where a film actor can call up and say pardon this person, or someone whos giving him legal advice can say pardon my other client. thats not normal. thats not how the pardon process is supposed to work. when you dont have a functioning pardon process, ...

So this is something -- on going. >> why tweet about it this weekend. >> because were getting close to a second conversation on that front. >> so jeffrey toobin, youre a lawyer, do you see anything interesting or does anything raise questions about the timing of that tweet, the decision on scooter libby as the attention on michael cohen has gotten more intense? >> this is always the biggest challenge in law enforcement. which is to determine intent. what was the president s intent? is it just a ...

Plame. got convicted, hooked by a jury on four out of five counts that went to obstruction, his efforts to keep people from understanding what happened with the leak of her name. fair analysis of what he did and why pardon him now? >> thats right. and earlier he also pardoned joe arpaio, both arpaio and scooter libby, were pardoned outside the usual department of justice pardon process. which is very slow and meticulous. this is just the power of the president and he wanted to do it. he has sent...

The process, we shouldnt gloss over the significance, ive never before heard a president talk about pardons so much. and the pardon process, maybe you can help our viewers understand this. it goes through the justice department and the white house counsels office. and donald trump, in deciding to pardon scooter libby, would have had to involve his white house counsel don mcgahn who we know spent two days with bob mueller investigators. if donald trump said anything about the purpose of that pard...

Another meeting today on syria? >> there is another national security meeting later this afternoon at the deputies level. >> reporter: talking about the bribing process. how is the president deciding to take action on the case. how are you deciding when to take action on his case? can a normal person feel like theyve been unjustly convicted. can they get their case to the white house? theres a justice department process, but it seems like the president is taking special interest in certain cases...

The case. but we dont know. and, look, kate, the important thing here too for the president is that he doesnt send e-mail, hes known not to communicate in any ways that leaves a record, so if hes on any of these recordings, i mean, that changes everything. >> it absolutely would. jamil, different topic-ish. the reporting that the president is considering pardoning scooter libby. you to think he should be pardoned? >> i think obviously president bush had the opportunity to do it to and chose not ...

Level. >> ask about the process. seems like we have had three. they were all somewhat high profile or gotten the medias attention. how is the president deciding when to take action on a ohio. the scooter libby case was very old. so, and so how are you deciding when to take action on these cases and can a normal person who feels like they have been unjustly convicted, can they get their case to the white house? i mean, does the justice department process, but it seems like the president is taking...