Moments ago. These are people that in my opinion hate our country and all im saying if theyre not happy here, they can leave. They can leave and you know what, im sure that there will be many people that wont miss them. But they have to love they have to love our country. Theyre Congress People and i never used any names. But these are people, quiet, quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. When i hear the statements that theyve made and in one case you have somebody that comes from somalia, which is a failed government, a failed state, who left somalia, who ultimately came here and now is a congresswoman whos never happy, says horrible things about israel, hates israel, hates yous, hates yous. Its very simple. One of them kept amazon out of new york. Tens of thousands of jobs, would have been a great thing. That was a terrible thing she did. A terrible thing she did. Theyre socialists definitely. As to whether or not theyre communists, i would think they might be. This isnt with our country is about. Nevertheless, theyre free to leave if they want. If they want to leave, thats fine f. They want to stay, thats fine. They hate our country. They hate it. I think with a passion. So not only is the president rejecting that he was being racist, he is also further slamming the lawmakers alexandria ocasiocortez, rashida tlib and aion na presley and all of them are women of color, not one was born in the u. S. The president tweeted theyre quote communist, antisemitic and antiamerica. While democrats are up in arms about the racist attacks, the majority of republicans have failed to condemn the president s words. I want to bring in cnns caitlin collins. You were with the president when he was asked about his tweets, it is clear he is not backing down. Reporter not only is he backing down, he made it clear he has no regrets on the Congress Women, instead insisting they hate the United States and saying there they complain all the time and that was the reason for the president s remarks. We asked the president , does he find these remarks racist as they have been labeled by pretty much everyone, even as republicans have stayed silent. The president says no, he does not find these attacks racist. Though he continued to go after these women in numerous ways, saying he wasnt going to name them. References ilhan omar and references alexandria ocasiocortez. During his remarks at this made in america event on the south lawn of the white house just a few moments ago. Now, we are told by Administration Official it was the president s idea to address these attacks that have become the subject of such scrutiny over the last 24 hours when he came out there, because he not only spoke to reporters initially but then again after he made those remarks, insisting he claims theyre not racist. When he was asked about the appearance that these remarks are racist, pamela, there are some White Nationalist groups identifying with the president s remarks. He says its not something that concerns him at all. He claims there are many people that agree with him. Who those people are, have stayed silent. White house aides are struggling to defend the remarks. Mark short referring to a naturalization ceremony the Vice President attended to recently. We should note the president did not attend. He was at his golf club and larry kudlow, the chief economic adviser saying he was not going to weigh in on the president s tweets. Thanks for breaking it down for us from the white house. While the majority of republican lawmakers are staying quiet. One texas congressman is not. Will herd says the president s comments make it hard for republicans to reach out to communities beyond his party. I think those tweets are racist and xenophobic and inaccurate. The four women are actually citizens in the United States, three of the four were born here. Its also behavior thats unbecoming of the leader of the free world. He should be talking about this i think so that unite us. Not divides us. And also i think politically it doesnt help. While you lad a civil war going on within the Democratic Party between the far left and the rest of the party, now they have circled the wagons and are starting to protect one another. We can disagree without being disagreeable. I dont agree with many of the this i think so that theyre talking about and that or proposals that they are putting forward. But thats where the debate should be on, not these other issues. So there is not the first time President Trump has said racist things and been accused of racism. For more on that, i turn to cnn politics reporter and editor at large, chris, have you quite a list you compiled, the president making racist or racially divisit comments. Tell us what you have learned. Pam, this is not in a vacuum. This is a feature not a glitch, trump in general, we dont have a full hour, so i will run through these fast. Their lots, housing discrimination. He was sued he and his father fred were sued bety Justice Department for Racial Discrimination not representing selling to africanamericans. Settled. They counter sued, they lost that. Donald trump has said there is a documentary out recently five youths who were nonwhite youths who were accused of a crime in central park. Trump said they deserve the death penalty. They were exonerated in 2006 with dfa evidence. Birtherism. He said barack obama, despite loads of evidence that barack obama was not born in this country. Barack obama happens to be africanamerican. That was not a habit, that happens to be the whole deal. Campaign rhetoric, if you need this one explained, you have been living on another planet for the last yearandahalf, three years. Remember, this was in charge of the Trump Organization suit curiel was his last name. He says he cant be fair because hes hispanic. He was born in indiana. Regardless. Pocahontas talking about Elizabeth Warren repeatedly does it because she has issues of her native american heritage. The muslim travel ban. His Administration Says its not a muslim travel ban. President trump says it is. Charlottes victim, donald trump saying both sides were involved in this bad people on both sides. Well, it was a white supremacist rally. Protesting the tweets about puerto rico. They should be glad for what we give them. Theyre barely in the United States. Donald trump talking about people coming from shole countries. Why couldnt more people come from countries like norway. Then his immigration policy targets, he is this is again feature not glitch. This comment, pam, does not exist in a vacuum. It exists in a laundry list of times in which, at best, taken one by one, donald trump is weaponizing racial an mus and at worse he is expressing flat out racist sentiment. Pam, back to you. Chris, thank you so much. Lots to discuss here. I want to bring in cnn contributor, a contributing oped writer for the New York Times and political commentator, a former Republican Communications director on capitol hill. Thank you both for coming on. So you just heard the president digging in his heels, not backing down from his tweets. And disputeing that theyre racist. If you would, tell us why, go back to your country is racist and how it is used against people of color. Why its so offensive . Its the abcs of racism. Its literally what they teach their babies in Elementary School before the alphabet. Ill give you an example. I have been born and raised in this country. Every single day on social media, i get told to go back to your country. Go back to where you came from. Anyone who is a person of color. I will make an assumption here at least once in their life has been told go back to your country. It is as pure and exquits as a racism as simple and transparent and bold as we have ever seen. So when donald trump and his defenders say this is not racism, i ask, what is racism . Susan collins was another republican today who said, oh, hes gone way above the line . Shes gone way above the line. Where is the line of racism . Id like to ask, what is your definition of racism, if this isnt it, what is . What struck me when he spoke moments ago, he was asked about does it bother you, concern you that what you are saying is what you hear from White Nationalists . Its the same kind of message. He said he wasnt concerned, instead of condemning white nationalism, which he doesnt do, given so many opportunities. What stuck out to you about that . The whole thing. This has been infuriating to me, well, donald trump and his entire presidency has been infuriating to me. But watching him sit there and triple down on there is just a further enrages me, not thats him. He is who he s. He has shown us that he is a despicable person from day one and people still made excuses for him and voted for him anyway, well, tax cuts, Supreme Court justices, prolife issues. Im a conservative. Im a republican and in political philosophy. But none of what donald trump has done is worth this. He is dividing this country. For people to sit there and still excuse whether this is racist or not. They are enablers. They are allowing him to do this. She doing it because he knows that there is a racist under belly in this country of people who are threatened by otherisms. Theyre threatened by ethnic minorities. Theyre threatened by the changing of this country demographically. She using that racial resentment to weaponize it politically. The republican party, which i am embarrassed to say has sat there in basic complicity and allowed him to do it. Paul ryan speaker said it was textbook racism saying he couldnt be fair because hes a mexican, even though he was born in indiana. This goes on and on. I watch this in horror as a biracial american, where, diz he want to tell me to go back to my country. Which country is that . Would it be germany or italy where my great grandparents or from or guatemala, my grandparents came here as political refugees. There is absurd. For the republicans, maybe they need to borrow of pair of minds, testicular fortitude to get up there and call it out for what it is. The guy is dividing this country in dangerous irresponsible ways. He s is full meanting it in places he meen needs people. The republicans know it. Theyre too afraid to ul ka him out. This clearly is is play to his base. She runing for reelection. Is that really. What do you make of that . That motivation played to his base, racist tweets. Is that enough . Playing to his base . So 2016 every single sober study that came out said there wasnt economic anxiety as the primary motivator of his base. It was, wait for it, racial anxiety. People of color said no you are being hysterical. Racial anxiety is being motivated by steve bannon and donald trump. And stephen mill early. Steve bannon said if we capture the angry white vote and voter suppression, we can run for 40 years. We can rule this country for 40 years. Wisconsin is a fascinating Laboratory Experiment for the republicans. Gerrymandering, voter suppression. Using this white anger and resentment. Chris missed this, he did a great job. He missed this one. People forget donald trump who all of a sudden today cares about israel and antisemitism tripled down on a white supremacist Conspiracy Theory saying George Soros Funded the caravan of invaders, rapists and criminals. That comes from the white supremacist theory swamp. That has now been mainstreamed. Lets not forget the Christs Church killer in new zealand left behind a manifesto repeating this talking point. He said donald trump is a renewed symbol of white identity and shares a common purpose with him. There is going to be trickling down. He knows it. On the election when he had all of a sudden amnesia who david duke was, when he referred to him in the past flirting for presidency if 2000. He knew dam well who david duke was. He knows these are racist tropes. He doesnt care, then you dont belong here. In his make America Great again, donald trump claims she a patriot. He is not. He hates this country. He hates what america stands for. He hates the diversity. He hates freedom. He hates everything he dits dissent. He hates the people who shed blood for the freedom of us to be able to dissent. I dont agree with anything that the squad, the progressive squad said. As a conservative, i find their world view to be objectionable. But they absolutely have a right to be here. They were duly elected. Donald trump cant stand that. Maybe someone needs to read the cushion constusion and remind him what that means, people that serve in the military fromologist countries who decide to put their lives on the line than she as a silver spoon draft dodger. He claims hes the one to define what makes America Great. How dare he. Stop making excuses for him. He tried to make this argument. They dont like america. They trash america. Remember he ran on the platform, make america again, its not great. He ran about fear talking about all the things he didnt like about america. Listen to what mark short said, the Vice President chief of staff. He says the president is not a racist. Lets listen. Reporter do you think the president s tweets were racist . Ah i think since returning to the white house one of the greatest plaeshs i had was joining the Vice President independence Independence Day when he swoer in 50 new naturalized citizens. I wish there had been more of you guys present for that ceremony. He was joined that day by a cabinet member who came to the United States as a young child unable to speak english, learned english and became a naturalized citizen. She still serves in our cabinet, elaine chow. I think he is trying to play out the fact since elected he is trying to find anything ilhan omar said that is supportive of the United States of many earthquake. You said yourself, look, i dont agree with the four Democratic Congress women, but what is your take on what he said . You know. I look at this when have you the trot out different members of the administration to white plains people of color what racism, then you know you have a problem. Okay. Holding up the fact that there is a chinese american as a cabinet secretary to say, look, were not racist in and of itself shows a certain racial insensitivity. You should not have to keep defending yourself are you not a racist. The president of the United States was golfing for goodness sakes so this is something that i think that people are, they know deep down inside that there is a problem here with this president. Hes a big ought a racist and not as reluctant in the beginning to put that on some of his supporters. I was one of the people that said, well, its economic anxiety. I understand that part of it. They want to give him a chance. But that went away sand for anyone that will try to explain away. Its xenophobic and not racist. Stop this. The president of the United States is a racist full stop. Now, everyone who supports him has to make a decision. Is this the type of leadership you want in this country. I dont care what the policies are. These things will tear the fabric of the seoul away. Thats what 2020 should be about. This will tear the country. Thats the only way were going to get this i need to ask you a quick question about another word not being used. And that is the president is a dem gock. Look at the definition. A leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power. A person especially in orator or political leader who gains power and popularity by arousing the emotions, passions and prejudices of the people. If you look at the people he praises, kim jongun, these are leaders who crush dissent. Donald trump doesnt look at the free press. He wants power. He defies subpoenas. If you look at the postsober historians, they come out saying we have studied the rise of fascism and authoritarianism. Donald Trump Reminds us of this. She using racism to rally up his base. We are witnessing in this country and europe the death rattle of white supremacy. It has turned into a death march. There are links in latin america, poland, hungary, italy, netherlands, to an extent brazil, donald trump is deliberately doing this. This is the division of steve bannon, Donald Miller and donald trump. After making several comments many viewed as racist. Will there be any price to pay . Thats sort of the questions. He lost the midterms. He still got elected president after he made similar offensive remarks. Right. This is where i get frustrated with the democrats and hope that they dont shoot themselves in the foot with focusing on these policies that are really far left that most of the country, especially in the middle places they need to win back. They dont resonate with that. Which is why i support joe bind. I believe he has the ability to connect with that middle ground base. But donald trump won in 2016 because, a, 5. 4 million obama voters didnt vote in 2016. They stayed home. So there was, the Obama Coalition stayed home. The new york sometimes just did an interesting report about turnout models in that there is a 70 interest in the upcoming election and that this really is still about turnout. Theyre not sure who thats going to be. Maybe donald trump needs to turn out more people he didnt before and then the democrats have to turn out the people at least that didnt come out last time so who is, you know, going to win the turnout race . This is why donald trump is doing there. He knows this racial resentment fires people up. Democrats better getter that acts together and recognize that and galvanize and unite them. And impact owe glow in the right places. Exactly. The sun belt. Those are the places they need. There is divisiveness among the democrats. I disagree quickly. I say you galvanize the base, be bold. Bring a vision that unites, bring out latinos, whites, people infuriated instead of being timid and mild and talk about restoration, go forward. I think you get voter turnout. I agree with that. Dont be timid. Take this head on. There are enough people that will vote against this man. Hillary clinton won and he won based on three states, thats it. What a discussion. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Well, we have been watching. We have been waiting all day for more republicans to respond to trumps racist rants and were tracking them down on camille. Plus, joe on capitol hill. Plus, joe bidens Healthcare Plan proposes a public option. Why there is pushback to this more moderate approach. Plus the mysterious death of a beloved activist. The 75yearold woman was found in the trunk of her own car. Very disturbing. Well be back after this break. Adjust your comfort with your sleep number setting. So, can it help us fall asleep faster . Yes, by gently warming your feet. But can it help keep me asleep . Absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. Will it help me keep up with him . Yup. 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Well, cnn is following the republican response to the president s racist tweets telling four Democratic Congress women who are also women of color to quote go back to where they came from. We just heard from the number five law maker in the Party Senator roy blunt. He said, quote, just because the socalled squad constantly insults and attacks the president isnt a reason to adopt their unacceptable tactics. There is plenty to say how destructive the House Democrats policies would be for our economy, our Healthcare System and our security, i think thats where the focus should be. Manu raju, we heard from a high level republican. He didnt call the president out by name. You heard from several republicans, are you hearing anything more substantial from them . Reporter its starting to trickle in. Pushback from rank and fire members. The leadership silent so far. The Senate Majority leader mitch mcconnell. We have not heard from him despite being asked, also the House Republican leader Kevin Mccarthy has not responded yet. We have seeing folks in the rank and file push back like Lisa Murkowski said in a statement, the president needs to stop, calling it unacceptable and senator tim scott called this racially offensive language. By and large republicans have not weighed in, sized up as two prop republican senators did when i asked them about it earlier today. You saw the president s tweets this weekend . Actually i didnt. Reporter he said the progressives should go back to the countries, im wondering what is your reaction to that . I am working as hard as i can on reducing healthcare. Im not giving a daily commentary on the president s tweets. Reporter these are racist tweets. Do you have any concerns about i it . President said these minority Congress Women should go back to their countries. I read that, i will go check it out. Reporter okay. As i mentioned, some other republicans are starting to speak out despite what those senators said they do not want to talk about it. Two senator versus, pat toomey of pennsylvania saying President Trump is wrong to suggest that four left wing Congress Women should go back to where they came from. Three of the four were born in america and the citizenship is as valid as mine and rob portman of ohio goes on to say thats fought something i would say. I think its divisive, unnecessary and wrong. So we are starting to see some pushback from republicans, but its been slow and Republican Leadership is still silent. Pamela. Thanks so much. And right now, a broken hearted family speaks out after a well known civil rights activist is found dead in baton rouge in a car trunk. Well be back with that story. Moving is hard. No kidding. But moving your internet and tv . Thats easy. Easy . easy . Easy. Because now xfinity lets you transfer your Service Online in just about a minute with a few simple steps. Really . Really. That was easy. Yup. Plus, with twohour appointment windows, its all on your schedule. Awesome. Now all you have to do is move. That thing. [ sigh ] introducing an easier way to move with xfinity. Its just another way were working to make your life simple, easy, awesome. Go to xfinity. Com moving to get started. Well, former Vice President and democratic president ial candidate joe biden rolling out his Healthcare Plan and in the same breath taking a swipe at his 2020 competition. The question was asked whether we support eliminating private health insurance. Some said yes. I said absolutely not. I believe we have to protect and build on obamacare. Thats why i propose a public option to obamacare as the best way to cover everyone. I understand the appeal for medicare for all w. Folks supporting it, it should be clear, it means getting rid of obamacare. Im not for that. Bidens plan is being dubbed obamacare 2. 0. Heres how it breaks down. She proposing a public option similar to medicare. It would allow anyone to join that and anyone whose state did not expand medicaid they would go to that public option. It offers massive new federal subsidies to make obamacare changes cheaper and allows it to negotiate drug prices. That raised the question, how much would all this cost . Well, the price tag 750 billion over ten years and he wants to foot the bill by reversing some of the trump administrations tax cuts. The bottom line here is that bidens plan preserves the popular parts of obamacare and builds on it. I want to bring in julie robner, the chief correspondent for kaiser healthcare news, health news. Now, healthcare as we know is one of the top issues among voters when it comes down to why theyre going to vote for a certain candidate. You call bidens plan ambitious. Why is that and what do you think is going to be the biggest pushback to it. Well, its a lot like the plan Hillary Clinton was pushing in 2016 and its a lot of things the democrats and more liberal democrats in the house wanted to do in 2009 and 2010 but they couldnt get it through senate so things like the public option, which has been kicking around. Things like having medicare negotiate drug prices, these are not new ideas. Hes basically taken all of the old ideas and put them altogether. It would not be as big as medicare for all, what a lot of the other Democratic Candidates for president are talking about, but it would still be large. It would be an expansion of the Affordable Care act. It would fill in some of the gaps that the Affordable Care act left. I think thats the main intent. It would still need professional approval. Thats a big hurdle they have to overcome. He wants to raiseing in taxes on the wealthiest americans. How affordable is that . It raiseding in taxes on the affordable, a number of different taxes. So this would roll back some of the tax cuts that congress did in 2017 in order to pay for this. It sounds like an enormous price tag. When you think about how big healthcare, its a fifth of the economy, its not all that much money compared to some of the other plans. So lets compare this to some of those other plans that you mentioned. We know that senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren support medicare for wall, which would push obamacare to the side and start all over. Senator Kamela Harris supports a single run health plan. Which plan has the best chance of winning over voters . Well, first remember you have to win over democratic voters in the primary. Thats what theyre talking about now. Then you have to come before the rest of the public. This is an issue whether democrats are perhaps pushing too far. Medicare polls well until you tell the tradeoffs would be. You have to give up your private insurance. You might pay higher taxes. Then support kind of falls a little bit. So finding some of the other candidates for president are pushing on more what they consider moderate and perhaps doable paths. We dont really know where the public is. We know that people have been talking about single payer for 30 some years now, no one has ever gotten close to really saying we should actually do this. All right. Julie, thank you for breaking down what is a very complicated subject. We appreciate it. Thank you. Well, the president s raids on undocumented immigrants real or a scare tactic . New details on what did and didnt happen. Plus, breaking news in the death of a civil rights activist whose body was found in a car trunk. We are now learning the cause of death. Too many people in pain settle for a restless nights sleep. Theres a better choice. Aleve pm. The only one to combine a safe sleep aid and the 12hour painrelieving strength of aleve. That dares to last into the morning. 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Patients that i see about dry mouth. They feel that they have to drink a lot of water. Medications seem to be the number one cause for dry mouth. I like to recommend biotene. It replenishes the moisture in your mouth. Biotene definitely works. [heartbeat]. We are following breaking news. An autopsy has determined that a Baton Rouge Louisiana Community Activist found dead in the trunk of a car is a victim of homicide. 75yearold Sadie Roberts joseph was a well known civil rights and anticrime activist. Her body was discovered friday in a car about 3 miles from her home this weekend. Cnns randi kaye joins us, what is this new autopsy report revealing about cause of death . Randy, can you hear me . All right. We lost randy, unfortunately, we had a technical issue. We will bring her back. Randy, go ahead. Okay. Sorry about that, pam, im hearing you now. I can tell you that this, we spoke to the coroner, he said that the cause of death was a homicide and more specifically he said that it was traumatic asphyxia and suffocation. It doesnt mean she was strangled. He is saying her nose and mouth were blocked. He wouldnt say what. He didnt say if there were any marks on her body. He said the toxicology test will be back in weeks. They told us this all began about 3 45 p. M. On friday afternoon when they got a report from an anonymous tip saying there was a body in the trunk of a car. So say that went over there. Apparently she had been baking cornbread. Her oven went out. She went over to her sisters. She was supposed to pick it up. They found her body in the trunk of the car. Police are stumped. She is a 75yearold woman, an acouldnt in this community. She worked for peace and at risk youth. She opened up the afric africanameric africanamerican community. We spoke to her niece here earlier. She says she cant think of anyone who didnt know anyone that didnt like her. What do you know about her whereabouts that day . She stopped by her sisters house to get cornbread. That was the last time anyone saw her. This was her car. Do you have any idea how long her car might have been there . Or was it somewhere else. Well, we know that she went somewhere and then her car was actually driven over to that adams street. Reporter that was what a witness told you . Thats what a witness told me. And its sadder that she is one of the last africanamerican oral historians in this community. Police dont know where to turn on this one. There isnt under surveillance cameras working in that area. Right now, pam, they have a lot of questions. They dont have any leads or suspects or a motive at this time. This is just so puzzling, so awful, randi kaye, thank you so much. Well, former president barack obama sent a personal letter to a prisoner he freed. Hear the back story when i speak with her live. So you have ten years experience. I do. But no phd . First kid heres all the numbers, foods in the fridge, oh and lucas likes to pull on jewelry so you might want to lose the nose ring. By their second kid, parents are more likely to choose luvs. Live, learn, and get luvs. Car vending machines and buying a car 100 online. Vented now weve created a brand new way for you to sell your car. Whether its a year old or a few years old, we want to buy your car. So go to carvana and enter your license plate, answer a few questions, and our technowizardry calculates your cars value and gives you a real offer in seconds. When youre ready, well come to you, pay you on the spot, and pick up your car. Thats it. So ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way at carvana. I switched to geico and saved hundreds. Thats a win. But its not the only reason i switched. Geicos a company i can trust, with over 75 years of great savings and service. Now thats a winwin. Switch to geico. Its a winwin. One womans story of resiliency has a heartwarming twist. It has been almost three years since president obama granted Danielle Metz clemency. She was arrested in 93 for nonviolent drug offenses and then at 26 years old she was sentenced to three life sentences plus another 20 years in federal prison. Laws prevented her from pursuing a College Degree in prison. But after obama granted her release in 2016 under clemency, his clemency initiative, she enrolled in classes the next year. And guess what . She made the deans list at Southern University in new orleans, and wrote about how thankful she was to obama, saying, you dont know what you did for me. Well, obama came across the story and wrote her a personal note. And it reads in part, i am so proud of you and am confident that your example will have a positive impact for others who are looking for a Second Chance. Tell your children i say hello and know that im rooting for all of you. So with me now is Danielle Metz. Danielle, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you for having me. Take us back. Take us back to that moment when you opened that letter and realized who it was from. Well, i was coming from the gym working out and my brother was coming out of the door at the same time i was coming in the door. And he says, someone just brought a letter here for you. You have a package. And im like, a package . And he said, yes. And i said, okay. So he gave me the package the fedex overnight express envelope. And i looked at it, and i was like, i wonder who this is from . So i tore it open, and when i opened it, i saw the office of barack obama. And im like, this has got to be a joke. So i tore it open. And when i tore it open, i went in here and i was just nervous and trembling and excited at the same time. And in disbelief, too. And i opened it, and i just opened it and you can see how anxious i was. The way its ripped, because i didnt take my time. I just wanted to get into it. So i opened it, and i read the letter and tears just came to my eyes, because it was just like a big deal to me. Because i wasnt expecting this. And when i read it, i saw the beautiful penmanship, and i was like and his signature at the end. And im like, he had to have written this. This is not a joke. And i was just surprised. Understandably. Not everyone gets letters from the former president of the United States. Congratulating you, telling you a job well done. And there is this journal you kept from the time you were incarcerated and inside was a note. To danielle, there are so many things we cant get in here, but knowledge and education cant be kept out by walls. Walk us through the challenges you faced to become a 50yearold freshman in college and making it on the deans list. I had many challenges, because when i was incarcerated, because i had three life sentences plus 20 years, i was unable to pursue my education. They would rather have offered it to someone who had two years or 24 months or 36 months, as opposed to someone who had a life sentence like myself. But that was something i always wanted to do. And i would pray about it and i would just always ask god that, you know, to give me the opportunity to become free. And when i did, i would kind of hit the ground running like president obama always said, he hit the ground running. So when i got the opportunity, that was the first thing i wanted to do, was go to school. There was something on my the first of my priorities. First list of priorities. And was it intimidating at all to go back to school after being in prison for so long, being a freshman at 50 . What was that like . It was a little intimidating, but when i went to the young man that brought me over to the school, he introduced me. I had never been inside a university before. And all of the people i began to tell them a little bit about my story. But they werent too interested in my story. They werent concerned with where i came from or where i was trying to go. And i explained to them, because i didnt want them to think that i was strange, because i didnt know how to work the phone and, you know, i had when i left, there were just phone booths. And not everything was about technology. And i didnt know anything about that. So one of the guys who do recruitment, he told me, dont worry about that. If youre serious about this, take this book home, study it. And were going to give you a test, a placement test. And that is what i did. And its just you know, im just so thankful to god for giving me this opportunity. Because it had been a journey for me. A journey. And even now with this letter and everything, how everyone is looking at this letter, i cant believe that my name is in the same sentence with the president , you know, former president obama. Its like since ive gotten the letter, i havent slept in two days. Because its like, my name and his name. Why would he write little old me a letter . Not little old you. I feel so blessed. Well, danielle, you have sent an inspiring message to others looking for a Second Chance like you. Just what you have accomplished truly is inspiring. Thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing your story. Youre welcome. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Of course. And we have a lot more on our breaking news. The president denying his racist tweets were racist. And escalating his attacks on four u. S. Congresswomen. So should the way you bank. Virtual wallet from pnc bank. Just one way pnc is modernizing banking to help make things easier. Pnc bank. Make today the day. Pnc bank. 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