Details about exactly why President Trump fired fbi director james comey. Comeys former Deputy Andrew mccabe wrote the memo and turned it over to the special counsel. In it, mccabe details a meeting with Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein in the days after comeys firing. According to mccabe, rosenstein said trump initially wanted him to reference russia as a justification to dismiss comey. Rosenstein did not end up doing that. This was first reported by the New York Times and now this raises new questions about why trump fired comey and rosensteins role in it all. The president already has something to say about this today tweeting this. Not that it matters, but i never fired jims comey because of russia, the corrupt Mainstream Media loves to keep pushing that narrative, but they know it is not true. Which, of course, requires us to cue up the nbc interview where the president said the opposite. Regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey. Knowing there was no good time to do it. And in fact when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made up story, it is an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election that they should have won. Laura jarrett has more on this. So much to talk about the memos and more. What more are you hearing . Hes following the suit of his former boss. But the reason this story matters is it provides yet another piece of evidence potentially about the real reason that james comey was fired. As you might remember, leading up to the firing, the Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein wrote a scathing memo laying out all the reasons why comey had essentially flouted doj protocols. Longstanding traditions in his handling of the clinton email investigation and initially the white house used that memo by rosenstein as justification for firing comey. But were now learning according to a source familiar that after comey was fired, rosenstein shared with a group at the Justice Department that the president had originally asked him to include the russia investigation in his own memo on the firing of comey. Now, we know that rosenstein did not do that. He stuck with the explanation on the clinton email investigation, but it raises questions about what exactly the real reason was. And we now know that this memo from mccabe, his contemporaneous notes have been turned over to the special counsels office. For months, the pressure on rosenstein has been raising mostly from allies of President Trump who have said that he has somehow conflicted in this, but as we have previously reported, he did consult with the senior most career person at the Justice Department on this and he continues to oversee the probe. Kate . Still seems amazing there is confusion over the most basic thing of why was James Comey Fired . Here we go again. Laura, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Breaking news out of the white house, the president announcing another pardon, the fifth since hes taken office. This time promising to pardon a conservative author and political lightning rod. Here is the president s tweet announcing all of this. Well be giving a full pardon to da initia Dinesh Dsouza today. Kaitlan collins is at the white house with more on this. Where is this coming from and lay out who is dsouza. Reporter where this is coming from is a great question, kate, also a question surrounding some of the president s other pardons that he have come to mind in the recent weeks and days. Now, Dinesh Dsouza is someone the tweeted this rather unexpectedly, he would be giving him a full pardon. This is a conservative author and filmmaker, someone who was convicted of violating federal Campaign Finance laws, something i should note that dsouza pleaded guilty to and said he knew he was in violation of the law because back during the Senate Campaign in new york, for wendy long, this candidate, dsouza donated to her but had other people donate to her, 5,000, the maximum Campaign Contribution with the promise that he would reimburse him. Thats considered a straw donation, that is illegal, something that dsouza admitted he realized when he pled guilty to these charges. The president says he was treated unfairly by the government, i should note he didnt do any jail time for this crime, he actually just was spent eight months living in a community center, had a 30,000 fine and few years of probation. However, the president says he was treated unfairly and thats why hes granting him a full pardon. But this pardon is notable for other reasons here, kate. Notably that dsouza is a very controversial figure. He has made inflammatory comments about former president barack obama in his relationship with his father who is from kenya. Hes also made inflammatory comments about adolf hitler saying he did not hate gay people. So certainly someone that is going to draw a lot of attention, that the president is granting him a pardon, but this isnt the first time that the president has granted a controversial figure a pardon. He did it with joe arpaio and dick cheneys chief of staff scooter libby. Several people the president has done typically, kate, president s wait until the end of the term to pardon people like this. Typically someone they had a relationship with or someone theyre allies have lobbied them to pardon. That doesnt seem to be the case here. The obvious question that is going to be raised here is is the president sending a message to other people by pardoning people like Dinesh Dsouza, is he sending a message . Thats the question were going to walk away from this pardon with here, kate. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Lets discuss it. Jamil jafer is here, and mark preston. Mark what do you make of this pardon . It seems out of the blue. It is out of the blue, but not unexpected in the sense that nothing is ever unexpected with this president. A couple of things i think we should really key in on here, and kaitlan mentioned them. One is sending a message now to those who might be in judicial peril. Those were his former allies, those who may have information that President Trump doesnt want them to necessarily speak about. At the end, it comes to any kind of federal charges, the bottom line is President Trump can part you, and he can get you off. You have to wonder if thats what we saw today. But also the second thing is, politically, we saw jack johnson, the famous boxer, who was pardoned, not necessarily political, that was just justice. But while we talk about scooter libby, of course, and talking about joe arpaio, one other person who was pardoned by the president was Christian Mark saucier. Who is he . Hes a former navy sailor who was charged with taking pictures of top secret equipment on a submarine. Long story short, put it all together, donald trump championed that case as somebody who was unjustly targeted by the government while Hillary Clinton was able to get off and we saw him pardon this sailor just a few months ago. Jamil, with as mark laid out, with at least most of the pardons that the president offered up, folks have wondered, wondered allowed, if this is exactly what mark lays out. Is it a signal to folks who are caught up in the russia probe . Do you see that . Well, look, the president has unfettered authority to pardon whom ever he wants. It is not like Paul Manafort or anybody else in the administration, mike flynn or the like, dont understand the president could pardon them if he wants to. And he showed with joe arpaio he can pardon them before any charges are really brought or the case is completed. So really, you know, i dont know this sends any new message to anybody and to be fair, a couple of the pardons of the five or six hes granted, wherefor Justice Purposes and you might argue theyre more political, but we have seen political pardons before, this is nothing new, happens all the time. I will say that, you know, your folks are right, that it is it happens toward the end of the term. This is unusual in that sense. Not sure about sending a message at the end of the day to be honest with you. Let me ask you about the mccabe memo. President s response today, not that it matters, but i never fired james comey because of russia. Why is he trying to make this case now . Whatever happened to i can fire him for whatever reason i want . Well, hell also make that case as well, but, you know, as kaitlan reported there at the top, we now know that there is another memo in the hand of the special counsels office, thats written by andrew mccabe, who was the acting Deputy Director of the fbi after james comey was fired. What is important is that the New York Times is reporting and cnn has corroborated some of this, that in fact as kaitlan had said, what we have seen in that memo is that donald trump had asked Rod Rosenstein to add russia to the memo, his own memo, that required the firing of james comey. So the fact that, you know, donald trump says this never has anything to do about russia, we heard it from his own words and now we have another corroborating source that it was said in another time. Jamil, add this all together with the other kind of developments that we have seen this week. President trump, according to the New York Times, asking Jeff Sessions to reverse his recusal when it comes to overseeing the russia investigation. Bob mueller has this, he sees what and it means what for Rod Rosenstein. I think what the Mueller Investigation is, what does it say about what the president was doing, was there other things the president was doing to prevent the investigation from going forward. That goes beyond the alleged russia collusion issue. But it is relevant because if the president was trying to instruct justice, thats a problem. There is a debate about whether the president can be charged with obstruction of justice at all, when using his unfettered authority to fire officials, but it is a problem for the president and it is his own words here to lester holt on nbc that are tripping him up. He can say as many times as he wants, the Fake News Media but thats on tape and thats a problem for him here. There are tapes, at least in this regard. Great to see you. Thanks so much. Right now, the dow is dropping triple digits. Lets check in on that after the Trump Administration just finally announced that they are going to go ahead with it and hit canada, mexico and the European Union with new tariffs on steel and aluminum. Are we headed to a trade war . Well check in. Hes a former republican president ial candidate, the Current Governor of ohio, calling on fellow republicans in congress to revolt against Republican Leaders and take action once and for all on immigration. Governor john kasich joins me next. Ordinary stains say they can do the job, but behr premium stain can weather any weather. Overall 1 rated, weathers it all. Find our most advanced formula exclusively at the home depot. Since joining ninehahi, ubmonths ago,o. My priority has been to listen to you. To cities and communities, and to my own employees. Ive seen a lot of good. Weve changed the way people get around. Weve provided new opportunities. 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For leisure. So i go national, where i can choose any available upgrade in the aisle without starting any conversations or paying any upcharges. What can i say . Control suits me. Go national. Go like a pro. This should be a slam dunk. Times up, get it done. Thats the message today from the republican governor of ohio to his fellow republicans in congress, asking them stage rebellion against Republican Leaders to take action for daca recipients. The some 800,000 people brought into the u. S. As children by their parents illegally. Theyre now facing deportation after President Trump rescinded protections. And now, Ohio Governor john kasich is sounding pretty fed up. Writing in usa today, in fact, inaction on daca suggests to me our Current Congress given todays hyperpartisan atmosphere may be totally incapable of solving any complex problem at all. Joining me now, Ohio Governor john kasich. Thank you for coming in. Really optimistic, isnt it . Kate, there is something very interesting happening in washington now. You know, they cant seem to get anything done, any major effort at all, everything is political, theyre all worried about their base. What youre seeing happening now is there are a group of republicans who are getting fed up with inaction for these young people, 800,000 of whom just would be shipped out of the country for not having done anything wrong. And what youre seeing is a rise of some leaders and new type of leader there, saying we had it, we dont want to participate with this anymore. And so theyre going about doing something called a discharge petition, it is a way to be able to unhinge something that they feel strongly about to give these young people a chance to stay and continue to contribute in a country. And theyre working with democrats now who are also, you know, want to work with them to be able to force a vote. Now, this say highly unusual process. I was there for 18 years and there were times when this was threatened. But wh what youre seeing is a group of people who said we had enough, we dont care much about the political party, we want to achieve something we think is justice. And it is a really cool thing. I wondered when it was going to happen, and now it is happening. You might think it is a cool thing. Paul ryan does not so much think it is a cool thing. What he says is there is no way that what theyre putting out there and trying to get on the floor, no way it is going to become law. In the end, is it a stunt . It doesnt matter whether the president is going to sign it or not. You send it to him. Let him veto it. Let him say that he wants these 800,000 people to be shipped out of the country. 800,000 people who no reason to ship them out of the country. So the idea that ive got to go and check with the principle to figure out whether i can Say Something is crazy. Ive known paul ryan for a long time, i like paul, on this issue. I think hes dead wrong. I think the Republican Party is has gone dormant. I dont know where the democrats are. I cant figure out what theyre for. But what i can say to you is this rise of people who are now disrupters is heartening to me. It gives me hope for the future of the congress. But, governor, if it is good politics and good policy, why cant republicans in control of both the house and the senate get it together . I cant figure it out. Yeah you can. It is because theyre afraid that if they do Something Like this, that somebody on the extreme right is going to be angry and yell at them. Part of being a political leader is who wrong . Are the people yelling at him wrong . The primary. Of course. But theyll get primaried. They should cave in and do anything they can to keep their job. I would ask you, arent there some things that might happen to you where you say im not putting up with this. We go into politics to try to keep our job, we go into politics to try to do something . It is interesting, i expanded medicaid out here, with viciously attacked by many in the republican establishment, now i turn around and i look and all of the states are signing up for it. It is really interesting. Do the right thing and it will pay off. If you have to pay the price electorally, so be it. At least you have your dignity. And at least you can look yourself in the mirror and feel good about yourself. What youre saying, a lot of people are saying out in the country. I will tell you that. Lets see if members of congress are listening because they dont think it is as clear cut as you are making it from the outside looking in. Look, let them be angry at me. Thats tough. Look in the mirror and figure out whether you want to provide justice or put them in limbo and ship them out of the country for no reason, think about it. This popped up today, and this is something that the president is talking about quite a bit. Would you consider bob mueller meddling, speaking of the Midterm Elections, would you consider bob mueller meddling in the Midterm Elections if he doesnt wrap up the investigation by november. Ski tha i ask that because thats what Rudy Giuliani and the president are pushing now. You have this guy mueller, hes doing his job. Let him do his job. You have to get to the conclusion. Thats the way it is. To try to say that, look, you know, people are so tired of this back and forth. Let mueller do his job, let him come up with a report, i hope the report vindicates the president , thats what i hope it will happen, but they need to go through all of this and figure out where they are. You saw this guy gowdy who is i guess from south carolina, speaking out, saying, if there was russian interference in the election, it should be pursued, i give him a lot of credit. Hes not running again. It took courage for him to say it. Let it run its course and stop politicizing this. Im not going to ask you about Roseanne Barr, but what played out this week does add to a pattern for the president. Racism occurs, people look to the white house leader of the country for a response. And he seems to go out of his way to just not call it out. David duke, charlottesville, why cant he get this right . What is your thought . He should condemn it. Of course he this uhuh cshould this. I couldnt believe the stuff in the tweet. Are we surprised at the kind of nasty name calling that is happening across our country . I mean, we are seeing a culture begin to seriously erode for our children and our grandchildren. It is happening. And this is just one other example of the fact that this is completely and totally inappropriate and abhorrent behavior. And we have seen it time and time again. Is it fault that the culture is eroding . A lot of conservatives speak to say, you cant by not condemning it it is all of us. By him not condemning of course he should condemn t it is ridiculous. I went through this on charlottesville, of course it should be condemned. I want us to think about the way that we behave. Let me be clear. What she did and what she said is totally wrong. The president should have condemned it. We have to all begin to realize were in the same boat together. And all we do is fight with one another, ultimately the boat will sink. Im more optimistic about our young people who believe that they need to show respect to one another. We need to respect one another. We need to realize that the lord is placed on our hearts the sense of love and compassion and humility and forgiveness and were not seeing much of it in too much of the country today. That is what will undo our country. That is what is a great threat is the erosion of our culture and no matter where i go, i was at harvard a week ago talking about this very thing. And talking about the power of caring about one another. And the reaction to that speech has been overwhelmingly positive and i even mentioned the word god. And they didnt walk out on me. It is pretty darn interesting. And if we dig down, we can get it right. And we must get it right for the health of america and what we mean to the rest of the world. And one other thing, i see theyll put tariffs on now, on the europeans. It is no longer america first. What were seeing now is america alone and i dont care who you are, how powerful you are, how rich you are, how famous you are, if you go alone, youre going to fall short and thats what im concerned about with our country. Were losing our worldwide leadership and what we need to do to inspire free people across our globe. Gl glad i got that off my chest. Im glad youre getting a lot off your chest, though. Youre thinking about these things. Thats why people are saying, theyre thinking about what comes when you leave the governors office. I do wonder with the passion i hear from you right now, if the gop is a party that separates, deports, moves to deport daca recipients, separates children from their parents when they cross the border illegally, puts slaps tariffs on our allies and rips up trade agreements, and is the party that pushes tax cuts with no regard to what it is going to do to deficits and debt, is this a party that you want to lead . Well, you know, i dont know where this is going to go. John boehner apparently said in a speech today that it is now the party of the president and no longer the party of the republicans, the republicans are dormant. Im hopeful that we have done in ohio, which is to boost the economy, to give people jobs, to make sure people who are developmentally disabled, minorities, all feels they can be included. I still believe this message can work for us. I think were in a stupor right now. Then i look at the democrats who are not doing so great for the Midterm Election and, you know why theyre not doing great . I dont know what their plan is. In politics, if you dont have ideas that can be projected to help people improve their lives, youre a failure. And right now it is like theyre donald trump has said to your brand of republican is youre outdated, youre not the message that republicans need. Thats, you know, thats part of the reason why i didnt endorse him, i didnt like his tactics and i just dont agree with him. On some things i agree, but on many things i do not agree. And ill continue to speak out. But what i will not do is personally attack him. That would go in contradiction to what i said earlier. Yeah, i get frustrated. There is things sometimes i would like to say not just about him but about a lot of people who are in Politics Today or those who are in business who forget their roots and put profit ahead of any kind of a value system, kate, heres the thing. We got to get a grip on ourselves. Every part of this society has to get a grip on itself and raise ourself, not lower ourselves with name calling and selfinterest, were not looking for sainthood, but what we are looking for is an opportunity to be the best of ourselves and to live a life a little bigger than ourselves. Thats what life is all about. We cant do it all the time, but we can do it a lot of the time. Political parties, philosophies, doesnt mean anything to me. What matters to me today is are you a truth seeker, are you rational, are you objective . And then once that is decided, we can get that big Team Together and figure out just about anything. And, by the way, i dont know if you noticed, there was a column today i wrote in the wall street journal about our debt. 21 trillion debt going up for ten years, a trillion a year this is going to suffocate our economy and destroy the Economic Future for our kids if we dont get it under control and it takes both parties and we did it before and we can do it again. Great to have you, governor. Been a while. You are fired up. Get a grip, america. Thats the message from john kasich today. Thanks, governor. All right, thank you, kate. Thank you. Coming up for us, much more on the new tariffs as john kasich was just talking about. For key u. S. Trade partners and how the markets, well they dont seem to like it. Thats next. The best way to hit the beach . With neutrogena® beach defense® sunscreen. Helioplex™ powered, uva uvb strong. Beach strength protection for the whole family. For the best day in the sun. Neutrogena®. 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This morning, the administration announced it will slap tariffs on steel and aluminum from three of the nations biggest trading partners. Canada, mexico and the European Union. And the markets already feeling it. Alison kosik is here. These were tariffs that were already announced. What is happening . In march, what the white house announced was that there was going to be this 25 tariff on steel and 10 tariff on aluminum. This did start for china but our three biggest trading partners, canada, mexico and the eu, they were exempted from that tariff. At least until the deadline of june 1st. We learned that President Trump announced or decided that those tariffs will go into effect as of midnight. What is it that mean . It means that important goods that those countries import from us, goods like motorcycles and bourbon and cigarettes and denim, all of those could have taxes of their own when they are shipped overseas. What could that potentially do to us . Companiwise, it could wind up hurting bottom lines for those companies, could wind up affecting jobs. That could wind up affecting consumers because those costs could be passed down to consumers, though the companies could still absorb those costs as well. Those are all what ifs. Right now what we are seeing is another salvo from the white house in this trading war not just against china, but our three biggest trading partners and you saw the market there, lower right now, not lower by too much because this wasnt unexpected, but we have to remember it was maybe ten days ago, treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin said the trade war was on hold. I say it is not. Seems like it is alive and well at the moment. The countries affected what does it mean for americans . How are they going to respond to us . Eu already said within the next few hours were going to learn about retaliatory tariffs from them, so what are they going to tax . What goods are they going to tax . I listed some of them they threatened in the past. Mexico is also threatening to throw out some retaliatory tariffs as well. This is just going to be a tit for tat situation, something that commerce secretary wilbur ross says has to be done to revive the Manufacturing Industry because since the recession the industry, you know, lost jobs, it gained some back. What wilbur ross wants to see is the Manufacturing Industry to be more selfit is taken isustaini. We dont have to import it from overseas. Many folks having folks on both side of the issue for sure. Allison, thank you so much. On that exact note, congressional reaction is starting to roll in. And the title of the statement coming from republican senator ben sass, sass statement on trade war. Here is the senators statement. This is dumb. Europe, canada and mexico are not china and you dont treat allies the same way you treat opponents. We have been down this road before. Blanket protectionism is a big part of why america had a great depression. Make America Great again shouldnt mean make america 1929 again. To some of the reaction coming in. Well have much more of that ahead. Coming up, the Trump Administration is defending its response to Hurricane Maria in puerto rico after a new study estimates that the death toll could be in the thousands. Thats next. First, a memphis nonprofit is helping inner city kids reach their potential with a sport most of them had never heard of. That high impact contest is this weeks impact your world. Didnt just build character, it reveals character. I think it does that for our kids. One, two, were ready for you. Three, four this is memphis inner city rugby. We are operating and serving six schools. Nearly 200 kids around the city. We have boys and girls. And the communities, were bringing rugby to, so many of the kids are lacking outlets in life and pathways to opportunity. We have to have a starting gpa. 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Youll be able to choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. Whether youre on medicare now or turning 65 soon, its a good time to get your ducks in a row. Duck quack call to request your free decision guide now. Because the time to think about tomorrow is today. Every death is a horror. But if you look at a real catastrophe like katrina, and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here with really a storm that was just totally overpowering, nobody has ever seen anything like this, what is your death count as of this moment . 17 . 16. 16 people certified. 16 people, versus in the thousands. That was President Trump in october congratulating the governor basically, congratulating the governor of puerto rico that the official death toll at that point, the official death toll after Hurricane Maria at that point. Fastforward to today, the death toll is 64 in puerto rico. A new harvard study says the actual death toll may be many times that. Many, many times that. Harvard team estimates it could be 4600 deaths in puerto rico. To put that in context, it would be more than double the number of lives lost from hurricane katrina. So why is there such a discrepancy so many months later . We dont know. Locals tell cnn a lack of clean water and lack of electricity is still threatening even more lives on the island. One example, cnn spoke to a woman who says her husband, her husband died when the machine that helps him breathe lost power. I saw him, like, get on the floor and i couldnt do nothing to help him. Thats why i say that. We had electricity, normal electricity. He could be alive, still today. Horrible. Asked directly about the shocking new estimate coming out of harvard of how Many Americans may have died there, White House Press secretary Sarah Sanders did not directly answer. The president takes the situation in puerto rico extremely seriously. And the administration has been monitoring that from the beginning. We have been supportive of governors efforts to ensure full accounting and transparency and those who suffered from this tragedy deserve nothing less than that. The two categories were historic and we have responded with the largest fema operation in history. And were going to continue to work with the people of puerto rico and do everything we can to be helpful. Thats Sarah Sanders. But now, joining me now is the first puerto rican woman to serve in the house of representatives, congresswoman nia havelazquez. Do you believe the estimate coming out of harvard . I do. But in december, Ranking Member ben townsend from the Homeland Security committee and myself wrote to the Committee Asking for an audit and congressional hearings because anecdotal information that we were getting out of puerto rico was telling another story, a different story. Investigative journalists and different organizations were refuting the official numbers that the governor was presenting. How could the numbers be so off . The official estimate still stands coming out of puerto rico, still stands at 64. How could the numbers be so off . It is really outrageous. What really bothers me, first of all, my heart is broken. It is so depressing, even in my hometown, we still have not electricity, no running water. And this is where your family still is . Correct. And what he tells us is that the fact that the numbers, the real numbers were concealed, that didnt provide a real story as to the severity of the disaster in puerto rico and gave this opportunity for the president to continue to say that the response of the federal government was a problem. Well, in fact it wasnt. It was incompetent at best. You state numbers were concealed. Do you think there has been a coverup . Well, i do not know given the conditions that puerto rico was going through. The lack of communications and many of the roads and the bridges were gone, that it was difficult at the time. But the fact that we didnt the federal government and the Trump Administration knew that this was a category 5 on its track to hit puerto rico, that they didnt deploy the kind of federal resources that we needed in order to assist. Now what . Well, now we are asking for a congressional investigation, im asking for the Government Accountability agency to conduct an investigation so that we have a better understanding and the American People really know what happened. And based on that, we need to have a type of resources that are needed in order to rebuild puerto rico. Look, the response that was provided by the administration and the steps they took prior to the hurricane is telling us that puerto rico was basically abandoned by the federal government. If Puerto Ricans are american citizens, they are they should deserve the help that any other state could will get if they are confronted with a natural disaster. Months and months later, still no clear answer, and Hurricane Season begins tomorrow. Congresswoman, thank you for coming in. Thank you. Thank you so much. Coming up for us, President Trump launching a new attack in the wake of Roseanne Barrs firing and it is not against the fired tv star or her racist tweets. Thats next. Find the remote yet . Nah. Honey look, your old portable cd player. My high school rethainer. Oh dont. Its early 90s sitcom star dave coulier. Cut. It. Out [laughing] what year is it . As long as stuff gets lost in the couch, you can count on geico saving folks money. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Ways to lthe northern belly fat. Percussion massage. Not cool. Freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting . Now thats cool. 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Comcast, building americas largest gigspeed network. President trump today attacking the head of disney, bob eiger. Doing that for a second day in a row. Also for the second day in a row, avoiding the elephant in the room, in this case his twitter feed. Not calling out antisemitic tweets from Roseanne Barr. This happens often. Racial tweets and he doesnt call it out. Do i think theres blame . Yes, i think theres blame on both sides. You look at both sides, i think theres blame on both sides, and i have no doubt about it, and you dont have any doubt about it, either. Joining me right now, keith boyk boykin, former Clinton White house aide, and host of the renewing firing line on pbs. Ma ark margaret, donald trump struggles to call it out. David duke, charlottesville, Roseanne Barr. Why does he resist calling out racism when it occurs . I cant pretend to understand or give some sort of sensibility or reason for the president s behavior here. It is deeply appalling and almost a universally understood phenomenon when someone likens i dont want to recreate what he did. Racism is racism. What i would like is to see us have more conversations about this and why inciting those words are harmful, what the history is so that people learn something from these tweets rather than just us talking about who is up, who is down, because there is a real history of racism in this country, and the racism today looks differently from the bill connor racism of the 1950s. But its still there, and we should have these conversations and use them as a teaching moment. Keith, with what happened in our tweeting moments in the last couple days, ive heard about whataboutism, right, since Roseanne Barr blew up. The latest occurred last night with samantha b. Watch. Ivanka trump, who works at the white house, chose to post the most oblivious post. Ivanka, let me just say, from one woman to another, do something about your dads feckless tweets, you worthless [ bleep ]. He listens to you. I think the point got lost in her comment, and i dont know how people are responding to it, but i think its horrible. What she said was disgusting. I think its inappropriate, i think its vulgar. I dont know if the point of it is is to try to equate that to what rosanne barr was saying, but thats not the issue. You have sexism, you have racism. Both are horrible, both what was said is disgusting, but there is a Historical Context behind what Roseanne Barr did that doesnt raise it to another level. Its different than a white person calling a black person an ape than a woman saying something negative about another woman. I think the large part that is missing is the culture that is being generated from the president and the time. We had president s in the past, democrat and republican, who tried to bring our world together. Obama tried to heal the nation, said there were no red states or blue states. Donald trump exists to divide us. Everything he does is divisive. This whole rosanne thing, he could have said something, but he didnt do that. I think hes doing it because he wants to continue to have this perpetual outrage among his base so they can have a reason to vote for the republican candidates in the midterms. There is no justification for him not to call out roseanne for her racist behavior. What he is doing is hitting on these things of cultural resentment that motivates his base, and youre exactly right. I dont think he even plans about it strategically like, what could happen in the midterms, but he knows it riles up the crowds and thhe loves it. Coming up, the Trump Administration hits key allies with new tariffs. The markets dropping in response. Details ahead. With tripadvisor, finding your Perfect Hotel at the lowest price. Is as easy as dates, deals, done simply enter your destination and dates. And see all the hotels for your stay tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites. To show you the lowest prices. So you can get the best deal on the right hotel for you. Dates, deals, done tripadvisor. Visit tripadvisor. Com welcome to inside politics. Im john king. We begin with somewhat bizarre breaking news from the president of the united states. Just this morning he said hes inclined to pardon a conservative pundit accused of campaign violations. Now on a flight to texas, the president telling reporters after landing there he was also considering pardoning the former
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