and tens of thousands of folks that will be impacted in a positive way moving forward over time. in terms of the specific retro active application, in 2010, congress, under the leadership of bobby scott, passed the fair sentencing act, which reduced the crack cocaine, powder cocaine disparity from 100-1, which was morally outrageous and not justifiable, to 18-1. but because jeff sessions and the senate blocked it from being retro active, that provision was not included in the 2010 fair sentencing act. the 2018 version of the first step act will make the fair sentencing act retro active so that the people who are impacted by these unjust crack cocaine sentencing laws will finally get some relief. what is your theory about why donald trump, with the world view he has, and the politics he has, and the rhetoric he uses to talk about criminals, and law
step act will make the fair sentencing act retro active so that the people who are impacted by these unjust crack cocaine sentencing laws will finally get some relief. what is your theory about why donald trump, with the world view he has, and the politics he has, and the rhetoric he uses to talk about criminals, and law and order, is going to sign this piece of legislation? that s a great question i get asked a lot about it. when i was initially on this journey, i had to be convinced first that jared kushner was authentically committed to dealing with this issue. first, prison reform. and over time, sentencing reform, as well. and in working with him, along with tremendous leadership from the chair of the congressional black caucus, cedric richmond, i think we both concluded that there was an authentic commitment within the administration to deal with overcriminalization within america. donald trump would have to be convinced of that. jared kushner was an ally in that regard. but
obama has said time and again this is a nation of second chances. but i think when you get to those death row cases, clearly they re a little more complicated because oftentimes they re dealing with violent crimes where this massive push we ve seen in the latter part of president obama s presidency has focused primarily on those street crimes. when you talk about reversing the disparity between the crack cocaine sentencing laws and the powder cocaine. we re talking about that ilk. first-time offenders who end up being sentenced to 20, 30, 40 years in prison. that s a little more complicated than those death row cases. but again in these last days as president obama tries to shore up his legacy, trying to push and firm up as much as he can before donald trump steps into office and then, you know, all is to the wind. but again to your point he s been aggressive but we have five days and we ll see. i have to ask you very quickly in the few seconds we have left, should we expect to see m
there you go so obviously, brooke, a different posture from herman cain, he s been known throughout this campaign as somebody who is sort of laid back and has an easy going style out on the campaign trail. that was very different today. he had security guards pushing reporters out of the way, he was refusing to answer questions all of this. the main question that was being asked of him, brooke, to put it very quickly is whether or not he would call on the national restaurant association to release from these nondisclosure agreements, these confidentiality agreements, these these two accusers allegedly signed back in the late 1990s, keep the stories quiet in exchange for payment settlements and so you know that is the big question at this point for the cain campaign, one they have not answereded yet and still waiting to see if it develops. sounds to me like it most definitely could sounds like the national restaurant association and also the attorney of one of the accuse
decision in the sexual assault case against him. prosecutors say the maid accusing him of sexual assault lied, but her attorney is speaking out in her defense. we have the late details for you. also, up to 12,000 prisoners nationwide are now eligible for reduced sentences, after a federal decision to reform crack cocaine sentencing laws. those penalties were 100 times more harsh for people convicted of crack crimes than those convicted of powder cocaine crimes. why the disparity? jesse jackson will join me live. and arianna huffington coming up next, but first, which political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? msnbc contributor chris cillizza joins us on this getaway day. hey, chris, all the candidates hitting the trail, and some actually going to the same place at the same time. that s right. amherst, new hampshire, is the place to be. there s a july fourth parade,