Transcripts For CNNW Wolf 20180606

Corker, the Senate Foreign relations chairman, earlier this week. Clearly, wolf, this was a testy phone call that played out between the president and Prime Minister trudeau. Obviously does not set the table very well for this summit coming up this weekend, wolf. Yeah, certainly doesnt. Let me play a clip from canadas foreign minister. She was clearly appalled, as so many other canadians have been, the entire leadership over there, that the president of the United States, was imposing these tariffs on canada because of a National Security threat facing the United States from canada. Listen to this. So what you are saying to us and to all of your nato allies is that we somehow represent a National Security threat to the United States. And i would just say to all of canadas american friends, and there are so many, seriously . So what does this say, jim, about the state of relations between right now arguably the closest ally the United States has, certainly the number one trading partner of the United States . Reporter its not very good, wolf. I think she told cnns dana bash over the weekend that she would describe this as not a trade war, but a bad rift between the u. S. And canada. When the president of the United States says there are National Security implications for imposing these trade tariffs and citing the war of 1812, saying that canadians burned down the white house, to the canadian Prime Minister justin trudeau, its reached a point where the president of the United States is clearly frustrated that the canadians are pushing back. Obviously, this is something thats going to come up in this briefing in just a few moments with larry kudlow, one of the president s top economic advisers. Hes going to be asked about this tense relationship between the president and the Prime Minister. Obviously, wolf, the president has other big items on his agenda moving into next week. Hes supposed to sit down with kim jongun. But it shows you as the president is trying to negotiate with the north koreans, hes walking into a hostile situation in canada, where he hs important allies of the United States just ticked off that the u. S. Is imposing these tariffs and the canadians are not responding well to the president saying, didnt you burn down the white house, when that was the british. And beyond that, they dont see this as a laughing matter. Theyre taking this very seriously, wolf. That happened during the war of 1812, thats a while ago. Jim acosta, thank you very much for that. National security threat, clearly thats what the president is calling canada to justify these new steel and aluminum tariffs. Lets discuss with our panel, cnn National Security analyst is joining us, and cnn politics reporter and editor at large Chris Cilizza is here. And phil mudd and david sanger of the New York Times. David, justify from the president s perspective why you can cite National Security concerns for imposing these tariffs on canadian imports into the United States. Well, wolf, first just to set the scene of the next week, you could see from jims report, its more likely that the president is going to go into a friendlier welcome from kim jongun when he gets to singapore than what he will have left in canada after this g7, which is in and of itself pretty remarkable. So the National Security argument is being made for one reason and one reason only, that there is an exemption in the world trade organizations trading rules that you can do certain things to protect your National Security. So they are twisting the definition of National Security here. The only argument they can make for the steel and aluminum is that this undercuts the American Industrial base. Canada is not a big violator in that arena. Previously, weve seen National Security offered in trade cases, mostly involving technology. So for example, it was a National Security argument for banning zte parts from the american market. The president has now allowed them to come back into the market without explaining how we resolve a myriad of National Security concerns, and is going ahead with this on canada. And last point, Chris Freeland made the point that canada and other allies fought with the United States in afghanistan, sent troops to iraq. So they find it deeply insulting to be told that their exports are a threat to american National Security. Its one thing, phil mudd, and were waiting for larry kudlow to begin this briefing. Its one thing to cite National Security in dealing with imports to the United States, lets say from china or russia. But canada . To pick on what david is saying, this is a technical point. The u. S. Is going to make a point in global trade negotiations to say under certain rules we can do this. Thats not how the population in america and canada will interpret this. But remember, we had the president at the u. N. Calling the north Korean Leader little rocket man. When he decided he wanted a high impact summit, he referred to the leadership skills of the north Korean Leader and thanking him for releasing hostages after this new friend, the north Korean Leader, murdered an american who was a hostage. And now were going the canadians saying you guys have been with us since selfincluding the catastrophic mistake of iraq, and youre a National Security threat. Doesnt make sense. To add to that, look, i always think we overthink broadly policy, diplomacy, donald trump. Hes playing eight dimensional chess and somehow theres a strategy here. I would argue largely that he likes people who like him and or do things he likes. So canada, germany, australia, these are not typically countries in the modern age where we would say the u. S. Is these are our dagger drawn enemies. And yet, donald trump has clashed repeatedly with the leaders of those countries while kim jongun and other authoritarian dictators, he has had some level of praise for. Let me get ranna. Youre our Global Economic analyst. Talk about the Economic Impact of this potential trade war . Were going to hear more about it from larry kudlow, the president s economic adviser. I would just start by saying if youre going to have a trade war, and they do tend to be losing battling. Theyre usually zero sum games. I cant think of one example where a trade war has been good for the country that started it. But if youre going to have one, its good to fight the folks that you have a real legitimate beef with. This is what is so very ironic about the president calling canada a National Security issue, fighting with the your pe europeans. These are the allies that we might come together with to put pressure on china, which, to be fair, has been a serial infringer in a number of areas, not just around steel, but around tech transfer, around the High Growth Industries of the future. And thats really where we should be putting our energy. We are in such a losing game here by alienating the very allies that we could be working with. Europe in particular is at a point where it could be pushed closer to china. Germany is now a larger trading partner with china than it is with the u. S. So we could be at a real Tipping Point which the president could destabilize things in a way very bad for america in the short term and midterm. And the president is going to canada on friday for this g7 summit. Hes going to be meeting with the heleaders of france, canada uk, japan, italy. Its going to be a pretty tense meeting. Walk us through what he can anticipate given these trade war threats. Its not just the trade wars. We have to remember the g6, basically the g7 members except for us, are coordinating against us on tariffs and on iran policy and on climate change. So were the outlier on all of these issues. And to the last point that was 345 made, its not just allies pointing the finger at us as the rule breaker rather than the rule maker. Russia and china are echoing the statements being made about our trade policy. And lets just call this what it is. We have to stop beating around the bush on this National Security provision. This was the quickest way that the president could find to impose these tariffs. There is no National Security argument. They have not heard any articulation about how they harm our National Security. We havent heard ambassador bolton talk about an nsc meeting that led to this process. This was a way to punish our friends a and to make us, im sorry to say, the skunk of the g7 party thats starting on friday. And as we await larry kudlow to start this briefing here he is right now, the president s economic adviser. Im larry kudlow. So some brief stuff on the g7 meeting. Basically, the key points, number one, economic growth. The United States now has the Fastest Growing economy in the world according to the oecd, or at least the Fastest Growing economy among the industrialized nations. Second, there will be trade discussions, as you might imagine. Third, there will be some important bilateral meetings. President trump will be meeting with Prime Minister trudeau and president macron. Important bilaterals. And finally, i think one of the key points, of course, on the eve of the north korean summit in singapore, one of the key points will be shared Security Issues among the allies. And if i may, just perhaps because its my favorite subject, the United States economy is growing. Were pushing through 3 . Some said it couldnt be done. It is being done, and were proud of it. And i think President Trumps policies by lowering taxes and major regulatory rollback are a key part of this issue. And i also think his role as a probably the strongest trade reformer of the past 20 years, not only protect American Interest but to open up avenues of growth, for our business and workers, and to help open up world growth, World Trading system is a mess. It is broken down, and so far as fairness and reciprocity and ultimately free trade, i think this is contributing to our economic growth. And our confidence. The key point here on the economy is, Small Business confidence, record high or nearly so. Consumer sentiment, i guess best in 15 or 20 years at least. Of course, the jobs numbers have been superb. A recent article in the New York Times suggested Nothing Better could be written about the job performance. I love reading that. And unemployment rates are down across the board. Really, we havent seen such low unemployment in many, many decades, for all categories i might add. So i think the policies are working, and my great hope is that our friends at the g7 will take notice of these policies and work with us to extend and expand them so we can have a prosperous u. S. And world economy. So these will all come up. Yes, maam . Thank you, mr. Kudlow. A couple of questions on trade with china, if i may. First, have you reached a deal to lift the ban on zte, and if so, what can you tell us about it . No decision has been reached by both sides, as of now. Of course, i refer you to wilbur ross, secretary of commerce. As of this moment, no decision has been reached by both sides. In terms of the focus on china and tariffs on china, there seems to be a dual focus of this administration on lowering the trade deficit with china and on structural reform. How do you see the more important of those goals and what are you doing to proachieve the structural reform in particular . You know, they are absolutely related, integrated thoughts. In other words, the negotiations between the u. S. And china regarding trade will lower the trade deficit, if it works out. There are no deals at the moment. But the way you do that, this is an important point. Im not sure folks have picked up on this, and i appreciate your question on this. This is not a government to government, this is not the Chinese Government buying a bunch of natural gas and soybeans from america. This is about reducing nontariff barriers that will increase export sales to china. Thats the actual mechanism. And i dont think thats been a clear point. Thats an economic point. Thats how you do it. And that represents structural change, important structural change. There are other issues here regarding technology, transfers, and theft of ip and so forth. But in terms of the and if you do that, if you lower the tariff rates, and if you lower the nontariff barriers, and you permit increased u. S. Export sales, and we are the most competitive economy thin the world, then the trade gap will probably fall. Thats how that will work. Yes . The finance ministers meeting over the weekend, merkel said it could be contentious discussions are these alliances a low point and how does the u. S. Plan to respond to these criticisms . Look, were talking everything through. There may be disagreements. I regard this as much like a family quarrel. Im always the optimist. I believe it can be worked out. But im always hopeful on that point. This is a g7 meeting, and the president and heads of state will get together. Let me add one thoug to that, though. The president President Trump is very clear with respect to his trade reform efforts, he will do what is necessary to protect the United States, its businesses, and its workforce. So that we may have disagreements, we may have tactical disagreements, but hes always said, and i agree, tariffs are a tool in that effort. And people should recognize how serious he is in that respect. Do you expect him to make any changes on canada or the eu in this meeting . There are some reports that secretary mnuchin is pushing for changes with canada. Im going to leave that to the meetings. The meetings will produce that. Lots of hands. Yes, sir. Thanks, larry u. You mentioned the president will be having a bilateral during the g7 with canadian Prime Minister trudeau. How would you relations between the u. S. And canada, better which goes way beyond, which is how china is preparing to win in the industries of the future. They have a china 2025 policy. They want to be free of western tech and dependance by them. We need to have a strategy at home, but we hear nothing about that. Its not sexy. Its about retooling education and supporting a policy that supports american jobs, but were not hearing anything about that. David, the its not just on trade where there seems to be these serious splits between the u. S. And its closest allice, but a bunch of other issues, including the paris climate accord, the iran nuclear deal, that have divided the United States from some of its closest allies. Thats right, wolf. What was most interesting about mr. Kudlows presentation is what he didnt say more than what he did. He didnt get into justifying the National Security split. On the two points that you make on the paris accord and on iran, the president will be hearing a lot about that, particularly iran, because thats going to intersect with the trade issues, because the president is threatening to put secondary age shun secondary sanctions on european firms that do business with iran now that we have pulled out of the deal. So the europeans are going to feel as if we are blowing hot and cold out here. And i think there was a time period where this administration was saying that America First did not mean america alone. And i think this is going to be the first meeting of the g20 and the last one, the g7, the last one that took place, President Trump was still pretty new, where people are going to begin to get the sense that America First really does mean america alone to the president. And in recent days and weeks, take a look at whos participating in this g7 summit the presint has had rather tense phone calls w the Prime Minister of canada, france, the uk, germany, with Angela Merkel, japan, and italy are also there. He seems to have a decent relationship with Prime Minister abe of japan. Italy, theres a change in government right now. Well see what happens over there. But this is a tense time between the u. S. And its closest allies. I think that what we just heard makes sense in a narrow sense of looking at the economic relationship with these countries. But lets be clear, if you look at traditional alliances and where were heading with American Foreign policy jap r apparatus, no viz it to the uk because hell be booed out of town. Tense phone calls with macron, the leader of france. Hes insulted Angela Merkel on immigration issues and he has a cordial relationship with a man who interfered with american elections and the chinese, and hes going to visit and has complimented the north Korean Leader. Aside from the tactical trade issue, where is the sort of balance of power going between people who threaten the United States and people who have been allies . I dont get it. Everybody, stick around. Theres more were following, including a new president iial following. Well have details. Also ahead, agreeing with trey gowdy. Two republicans in congress now say the republican congressman was absolutely right, that the fbi did nothing wrong. Its the latest blow against President Trumps unproven claims of spying on his campaign. Ancestrydna told my dad he comes from the Southern Coast of ireland. I think its why weve been doing this. Forever. My dad has roots in the mountains of northern mexico. Home to the strongest runners in the universe. My dads ancestors were african bantu. I bet they told the most amazing stories. With twice the detail of other tests. Ancestrydna can show dad where hes from and strengthen the bonds you share. Its only 69. Give it to dad for fathers day. Its only 69. In the water, in the water, you ready for this . She doesnt like it. Youve gotta get in there. Okay. Careful not to get it in her eyes. I know, i know what a bath is. Smile honey. This thing is like. First kid. Here we go. Second kid. You coming in mommy . 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Amid news that President Trump was on the verge of issuing dozens of new pardons, he has offered a lifeline to a woman named alice marie johnson, convicted on a federal drug offense. Last week, Kim Kardashianwest was at the white house, there you see a picture with the president , to plead johnsons case. Jeremy, the also on the phone by the way, were going to get he is reaction from van jones. But tell us about this decision by the president. Reporter thats right, wolf. Today, the president signed the paperwork to commute alice johnson, who was sentenced to life in prison more than 20 years ago for a firsttime, nonviolent drug offense. She was convicted on charges of attempted possession of cocaine and conspiracy to possess cocaine. This has been a week in the works, with Kim Kardashianwest traveling to washington, meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office Last week to plead Alice Johnsons case. It appears she did so successfully, working in tandem with Jared Kushner, who has also been working on priso reform wests. Kim kardashn thanked the president and Jared Kushner, and shes made cheer slear shes go continue working on thesish shoes. We know that the president has been turning to his power to pardon. Cnn learned that the president is considering and has the paperwork for as many as 30 other potential pardons or commutations. So this is an issue that the president is increasingly looking towards. Ive also been told that a handful of an captain pplicants pardons, their cases are being reviewed. The handful of people that ive heard about would be shimilar t alice johnson, nonviolent offenders, not necessarily people linked to politics or celebrity. We have seen the president pardon a number of political allies, such as sheriff joe arpaio. Lets get the reaction from van. Van, you know alice marie jones, and youve been anned a sl advo her. What do you think about this action by the president . I think its extraordinary, people going to prison with crazy long sentences. This is a particular case where a number of things lined up. Ms. Alice is a grandmother, she made horrible mistakes, but she literally had no opportunity for parole ever. She was going to die in prison for a nonviolent drug offense, first time. You also had britney barnes, who is a young black attorney, a young female africanamerican, quit her Corporate Law job to go fulltime trying to get in woman out and other people like her out of prison. You had a viral video that went nuts showing this video behind bars, and then Kim Kardashian stepped in. Buthe final piece was Jared Kushner. Im a strong democrat, i disagree with Jared Kushner on 99 things, but on one thing, Jared Kushner has been a shockingly effective advocate inside the white house. He went toe to toe with kelly and others inside that building and said, this is an injustice and it has to be stopped. And trump acted. And listen, i think trump is wrong 99 of the time. But on some of these issues around Prison Reform and criminal justice, i think youre starting to see some bipartisan agreement that even in the age of trump, something needs to be done. But Kim Kardashianwest needs to be given credit. She was vilified in the press and may made fun of her, but she had a victory in the age of trump and she needs to be acknowledged. What youre hearing, van, john kelly opposed this decision . Well, my understanding is that this was strong opposition inside the building from all quarters, and that Jared Kushner was willing to stand his ground to get this thing done and to get it pushed all the way through. And you have seen reporting out there that kelly was not a fan of this, didnt like this. And i think that, again, Jared Kushners father went to prison, and he has been an advocate. This Prison Reform bill has made it through the house with 360 votes to 56, a big bipartisan Prison Reform bill. Kushner was pushing that. We have to acknowledge Jared Kushner on 99 issues, liberals and progressives disagree with him. But on Prison Reform, hes opinion an effective advocate, and we need to keep pushing. This is a particular case that was outrageous. But there ather outrageous cases that americans knew people were going to die in prison for firsttime nonviolent drug offenses, most americans would do what the president did. Were hearing more pardons in the not too distant future. Van jones, thank you very much. Still ahead, two high profile republicans now openly, publicly breaking with the president and defending the fbi. Youll hear what theyre saying and why. Thats next. Ed to geico and got more. More . Theyve been saving folks money for over 75 years. A company you can trust. 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Top republicans, including the Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman richard burr, and the House Speaker paul ryan, are now openly, publicly siding with republican congressman trey gowdy over President Trump today, saying they have seen no evidence to support the president s claim that the fbi placed a spy inside the trump campaign. First, listen to the speaker, paul ryan. I think chairman gou maman g initial assessment is accurate. I think but we have some more digging to do. Were waiting for more document request. We still have some unanswered questions. It would have been helpful if we got this information earlier, as chairm chairman nunes said, if we got this earlier, we could wrap this up faster. The president has been repeating this unproven claim now for weeks, even as recently as last night. Lets go straight to our correspondent manu raju. It was your question that elicited the response from the speaker. How significant is that, and maybe even more significant, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee, richard burr, also a republican, once again siding with trey gowdy. Reporter very significant, those two developments. Burr has refused to talk about what he heard in these private classified briefings last month about this confidential fbi source. But after paul ryan did say that to me earlier today, that he doesnt see hegrees with what trey gowdy said, the fbi did what it was supposed to, do richard burr said the same thing. He also agrees with trey gowdy, that the fbi did exactly what it was supposed to do. So now there are five republicans in that classified briefing. Four of them have poured cold water on the notion that there was any major conspiracy, spygate, a big political scandal as President Trump suggested. One republican, who has been push thing is devin nunes, the house Intelligence Committee chairman, who has suggested that the media is not report thing correctly. Hes demanding more documents. I tried to get him to comment about this today and he declined. But paul ryan pushed back on the notion that the president could pardon himself, saying its a bad idea if he were to go that route. Mr. Speaker, do you believe the president has the power to pardon himself . I dont know the technical answer to that, and the answer is he should. A is he shouldnt, and no one is above the wlaw. Reporter youre hearing pushback pushback, and in particular on this spygate issue, does he drop this given he appears to not have any evidence to substantiate those claims, wolf. Manu, thank you very much. This is very, very significant, that those republicans who were in on that highly classified briefing, almost all of them, now going against the president , siding with trey gowdy saying the fbi did nothing wrong. Lets stay up on capitol hill and get more reaction now, these remarks from paul ryan and senator richard burr. Among the strongest pushback against the president of the United States right now. Its unclear, though, what if any effectt will have on the presiden and s if hell stop push thing narrative of a spy being placed inside his campaign. Lets bring in congressman ted lou of california, who serves on the Foreign Affairs committee. Give us your reaction to these late developments, significant pushback against the president by republican leaders. Thank you, wolf, for your question. As Many Americans now know, the president just makes stuff up. And in this case, theres no evidence that there was a spy put into the trump campaign. But there is a lot of evidence that what the fbi did is they ran a counterintelligence operation because they were so freaked out by what some Campaign Associates were doing with their interactions with russia. The republicans and democrats looked at this and said it was appropriate what the fbi did. Lets get to some other news. The president , as you just heard the breaking news, commuted the sentence of alice marie johnson, serving a life sentence for nonviolent drug offense. Kim kardashianwest met with the president in the oval office the other day to advocate for her release. What is your reaction . The pardon process is supposed to be based on justice and to vinunfortunately, the prt has perverted the pardon process and now hes pardoning people on their celebrity status or because a celebrity talked to him. In this case, its clear that the only reason trump pardoned ms. Johnson is because Kim Kardashian talked to President Trump about this case. It shouldnt be based on which celebrities have access to the president. It should be based on a process, and i urge the president to go back to the same process all previous president s have used. Some president s in the past have averted that process of going through the office of pardons and clemency over at the justice department. But this president clearly has done so in these first initial pardons. We learned by the way that hes assembled already the paperwork at the white house to pardon dozens of other people, some of the pardons would be instance where is he thinks the justice department, the u. S. Attorneys overstepped. Would you support these pardons moving forward . It would depend on what those cases are, and the facts of each case. But we know from many of the pardons hes already given, they are based on crimes over which he and his associates are being investigated. Such as perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements. That troubles me greatly. And i hope the president doesnt send a message that he thinks these crimes are somehow okay. I want to ask you about the former fbi director Andrew Mccabe who was fired a few days before he was eligible for his pension. He agreed to testify in an upcoming congressional hearing on the fbis handling of the clinton email probe in exchange for immunity. Does this give you any cause for concern . Why would he need immunity if hes done nothing wrong that would warrant criminal charges . There are allegations that Andrew Mccabe lied to investigators in connection with how he had information disclosed to the press, that actually hurt the Hillary Clinton campaign. So i can see why hes asking for immunity. But its important for the American People to understand, this is related to Andrew Mccabe, who potentially hurt the Hillary Clinton campaign. It has nothing to do with special counsel mueller or any of the investigations ongoing against our current president. I know you have to go vote, congressman. Thanks for joining us. Thank you, wolf. Democrats in the u. S. Are determined to retake at least one house of congress in the midterm elections. But did they get enough momentum from tuesdays crucial primaries . Well break down the results. And a lot more news right after this. And automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. Does your bed do that . Im the new sleep number 360 smart bed. Lets meet at a sleep number store. 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 hi, and believe us;uys. We dont want this or this for fathers day. 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I knew having the right partner we could turn this place around. It was only one bank that could finance a project this difficult and this large, and that was citi. Preserving Affordable Housing preserves communities. So we are doing their kitchens and their flooring and their lobbies and the grounds. And the beautification of their homes, giving them pride in where they live, will make this a Thriving Community once again. So democrats are breathing a sigh of relief today. They appear to have avoided a major primary disaster in california. The outcome of some key race there is wont be known for several days or maybe even weeks. Meanwhile, it appears there will be Democratic Candidates in every competitive Congressional District out in california. Theyre trying to recapture the house. California has whats been called the jungle primary where the top to vote getters advance to a runoff in november. There is good news for republicans as well. They avoided a shutout in the states governors race. Trump endorsed businessman john cox coming in second. Hell challenge the Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsome in november. Lets bring in our political analysts. Ron brownstein lives out in california. Ron, what stood out to you most . I think it was a good night overall for democrats from coast to coast. They got all of the candidates they wanted in new jersey, where they may have almost as many opportunities as in california. They had record turnout in iowa and most important they avoided being excluded from any of the races in california, in the house races where it appeared that was a possibility the tom two primary was a unique challenge for democrats. The primary electorate in california is older and whiter and thus more republican than the general electiorate. And then they had the new problem of this flood of candidates that came out. The risk of having too many candidates and foo to an ftoo f and the Democratic National Campaign Committee that gets a lot of grief when it doesr doesnt intervene, they wont all hand on deck t get credit to appear being shut out of any key races. The president tweeted, a great night for republicans. Congratulations to john cox in californi california california. Do you agree . Its too early to talk about a big red wave or blue wave. Youre going to have a twoparty race, which you dont always have in california. For the president to be saying nothing to see here for the democrats is trying to see it through a very specific lens of this one race where theyre still in the running. To predict a red wave in california is not happen ing. Let me ask ron. He knows a lot about california. Red wave, blue wave, if you had to bet right now, what do you think . I think its the governors race is not going to be competitive. Gavin newsome is going to be the governor by a big margin. It will in the process test a big division among democrats. Most democrats thought they would be better off if the second challenger in the race would have been a democrat, the former mayor of los angeles because that would have excruded republicans, depressed republican turnout and provided incentive for latino turnout. Newsome spent heavily for john cox a cox. Were going to see the seven republicanheld seats that clinton carried in 2016, democrats i think are in a strong position to win some of them. Theyre not going to win all seven of them but in many ways the primary was what the democrats had to get through in some of these districts because of the structural advances that republicans have. I think republicans have fight on their hands in these five los angeles districts that republicans hold but clinton carried in 2016. Democrats are really hope they go can do something in those republican districts now held by republicans. Another good night for women out there, not only in california but across the country. Right. You saw a lot of women getting the backing of their party to go into these governors races. I think in south korea it will be the first time if theres a victory there. Congresswoman now but its a very heavily republican state. Theres a fairly decent chance there. Youve seen more women kind of being nominated to be the to be the standard bearers for their party in these states that youve got races that are featuring these women now, too. That is maybe kind of keeping in lock step with the trend that we thought this would be the year of the women. That has meant various things to various political parties. But certainly youre seeing more of the big name top of the ticket female names out there. Very quickly, ron. Some ballot irregularities. Some folks in the los angeles area, their names were not appropriately listed. What happened . They say it was a mess. They say it was a printing error and theyll respect all the provisional ballots. One red fla f democrats in california shows they still have th chaenger turning out minorities and young people in a midterm election. If you look from new jersey to california, they have a lot of opportunity in blue states that voted for clinton to get very close to retake the house. Thats it for me. Ill be back 5 p. M. Eastern in the situation room for our international viewer. Amanpour is coming up next. For our viewers in north america, newsroom with Brooke Baldwin starts right now. This is cnn breaking news. You are watching cnn. Im Brooke Baldwin. We got the breaking news now. The litte elatest president ial clemency. President trump has just commuted the life sentence of alice marie johnson. She has spent the last 21 years in prison on drug charges. She was a first time nonviolent offender. Johnson in part wrote this, trump has the power to give me a second chance. He truly has the power to change our Justice System for the better