we have more on that in just a moment. and that all comes on the day the president doubled or tripled his demands for an apology from abc in the wake of roseanne barr's firing for that racist twitter attack on valerie jarrett. the president making it all about him again, tweeting, iger, where is my call of apology? you and abc have offended millions of people, and they demand a response. how is brian ross doing? he tanked the market with an abc lie, but no apology. double standard. the president completely ducking the point there. roseanne's tweet was straight-up racist, yet the president failed to condemn it. why? because he can't. because his own words and actions are racist too. so let's review. back in 1973, trump's family real estate company was sued by the justice department for racial discrimination. they settled without admitting wrongdoing, but required to take steps to prevent discrimination. and that was just the beginning. 1991, in a book called "trumped" by former trump casino executive john o'donnell. donald trump said, quote, black guys counting my money? i hate it. the only kind of people i want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day. those are the kind of people i want counting my money, no one else. racism and anti-semitism rolled up into one quote. in 1989, trump took out this infamous full-page ad in four new york city newspapers demanding the death penalty for what he called, quote, roving bands of wild criminals. this is in the wake of a rape of a white female jogger in central park. five black and latino teenagers were wrongfully convict to have had crime and later exonerated. yet trump was still insisting on their guilt. in 2016. and listen to what donald trump told nbc. this was in 1989. >> a well educated black has a tremendous advantage over a well educated white in terms of the job market. and i think sometimes a black may think that they don't really have the advantage or this or that, but in actuality today, currently, this is a great -- i said on one occasion even about myself, if i were starting off today, i would love to be a well educated black because i do believe they have an actual advantage today. >> well educated black. fast forward to 2011, when donald trump embraced the racist birther lie that barack obama was not born in this country. >> i wanted to show some his birth certificate. i want him to show his birth certificate. >> why? >> there is something on that birth certificate that he doesn't like. >> oh my god. >> i brought it up just routinely, and all of the sudden a lot of facts are emerging, and i'm starting to wonder myself whether or not he was born in this country. >> i would like to have him show his birth certificate. and can i be honest with you? i hope he can. because if he can't, if he can't, and if he wasn't born in this country, which is a real possibility, if he doesn't, it's one of the greatest scams in the history of politics. >> and remember, he asked for the college records too on top of that. finally, september of 2016, trump said this. >> president barack obama was born in the united states, period. >> yet he reportedly still clings to that birther lie today, and there is so much more, much, much more. >> they're bringing drugs. they're bringing crime. they're rapists. >> donald j. trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states. >> i don't know david duke. i don't believe i've ever met him. i'm pretty sure i didn't meet him, and i just don't know anything about him. >> you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. you had people in that group, excuse me, excuse me, i saw the same pictures as you did. >> and on and on and on. those are the receipts. why doesn't president trump condemn racism? his own words and actions tell you why. he is a racist. i want to bring in now cnn's chris cillizza, a politics editor at large here. also cnn politics analyst kirsten powers and april ryan. good evening to all of you. thank you for joining us. so chris, are we see a presidential pardon edition of "celebrity apprentice" here? >> i do think -- you mentioned this in the opening, don. i do think this is sort of a clear bat signal sending that exists here. you have the pardons of joe arpaio last year, scooter libby earlier this year, and then this latest, and thing is a very clear connection between arpaio, libby, and dinesh d'souza, which is people who are heroes in a certain element within the conservative party, within a conservative element of the republican party, i would say sort of conspiracy-minded conservatives who view them as enemies of the deep state, people who were unfairly persecuted, unfairly prosecuted. and what message is donald trump sending? why dinesh d'souza who he admits he didn't meet, and scooter libby either, why now, why today, why in this period of time? because he wants to send a message that says hey, michael cohen, hey, paul manafort, i know you're under extreme pressure here to flip, tell the special counsel bob mueller what you know. just so you know, i'm willing to pardon these sorts of offenses. i just -- timing is very rarely accidental in politics, and it's especially not accidental right now because otherwise the dinesh d'souza thing makes zero sense. it comes out of absolutely totally nowhere. >> it's one of the things that's so obvious, they think this is so obvious, no one will believe it, they won't even see it. like when someone does something right in front of your face and you won't notice it. if they try to hide it. yeah, no one will suspect because i'm going do it right in front of your face. april, the president issues this complete pardon to far right pundit and conspiracy theorist dinesh d'souza and signals he may pardon martha stewart and issue ooh commutation for former illinois governor rod blagojevich, blago. is he telling folks like michael cohen and paul manafort that i've got your back, as chris just said? >> yes. like chris said, the president is saying tune in. same bat time, same bat channel, because this too can happen for you. he is definitely doing that. but, you know, it sends more of a resounding message to me with martha stewart and the former illinois governor. but here is the issue for me. what the crimes, the convictions were for, conspiracy and corruption. and the former governor of illinois, he was actually impeached. and i think it sends a resounding message on what they were convicted on and what's happening with him with this russia investigation. so it's sending multiple levels of messages to the community, to those that he doesn't want to flip to say, look, this could happen. take a look at the bat signal that's up in the sky. that's what the president is saying. >> i want you all to take a look at this. >> as air force one flies by. >> take a look a moment. the president was visibly annoyed when a reporter asked him if he considered a pardon for michael cohen. watch this. >> thank you very much. >> mr. president, what about michael cohen? >> stupid question. >> so is it really a stupid question considering what the president is saying today, april? and then i'll get to kirsten. >> no, it's not a stupid question. russia is on the table. it has grown from the moment they walked in the door, and it's growing even more. there is never a stupid question in that white house, no matter what people think. everything comes to the white house and michael cohen happens to be everything in between. >> any time a president pardons someone, right, kirsten, the media questions why did they pardon it? whether it was a good pardon or bad pardon, why did you do it at this time? we discuss it, right? there is nothing unusual about that. >> yeah, absolutely. and i think one of the distinctions you also would make between donald trump and other pardons that presidents have done is that, you know, if you look at obama's pardons, he went through the doj process. he wasn't just sort of picking and choosing random people that he decided on a whim to pardon. look, they've also portrayed people like dinesh d'souza or martha stewart -- i've been listening to the trump surrogate -- sort of portraying them as people who didn't do anything wrong. they were caught up in these so-called perjury traps and that's not what happened. >> yeah. they were unfairly treated. >> they're criminal, you know. they lied. they committed crimes, and they lied about the crimes. i mean, it wasn't that they mixed up the date that they were having coffee with somebody. they actually -- martha stewart was doing insider trading and lied about it. >> lied to investigators. >> so they're trying to present them as though these are minor issues, and you have these overzealous prosecutors. and that's not what happened. >> hang on, kristen. let me just say this. >> sure. >> john harwood over at nbc pointed this out on twitter, and roseanne's racism by pardoning a guy who said of obama you can take the boy out of the ghetto, ridiculed michelle obama as an affirmative action princeton student, said slavery wasn't racist. slaves were treated pretty well. also mocked rosa parks. i think he said what's the big deal about rosa parks not moving to the back telephone december? kirsten, and then i'll get to you, chris. >> yeah. i mean, and the only thing that matters today is samantha b., right? it's not -- and i think what samantha b. said was wrong and i think she should have apologized, and she did. and yet you have the president pardoning a person like this who is a complete conspiracy theorist. so that's another thing he and the president have in common and has said and done the most hateful things imaginable about president obama, and yet, you know, the big problem in the world is samantha b. >> let me ask you this, chris. okay sos dinesh d'souza was prosecuted by former u.s. attorney and cnn contributor preet bharara, who trump fired. in the case of martha stewart, the prosecutor was james comey. let's see. mr. blagojevich was convicted of 18 charges, sentenced to 14 years in prison. but when you look at this, when you look at that, it's preet bharara or whether it's anyone else who is connected to the president, is this settling scores? >> so i actually think it's more. i mean, look. it's -- i'm not a huge believer in coincidence, don. certainly not in politics. so i'm not willing to dismiss that. my belief is the prime mover, the prime motivator here, and donald trump said this on air force one on the way to texas today. he was asked about dinesh d'souza. and he said i never really met him. i called him last night. boy, was he surprised. i heard him on the radio and saw him on television. that to me is part of this too. martha stewart was on "the apprentice." rod blagojevich was on "the apprentice." dinesh d'souza, scooter libby was to a certain extent sticking it in the eye of the bush administration who weren't willing to -- remember, george w. bush was strongly lobbied by dick cheney among others to pardon scooter libby and did not do so. a lot of it is relationship driven and remember, he does so many things, he, donald trump, in opposition to what he doesn't like. so so much of his presidency to date has been what did barack obama do? okay. we're doing the opposite. it doesn't even matter really what that is. it's just the opposite. i think it's relationship driven. and there is a score settling piece. i don't think there is any other question. one other quick thing to kirsten's point, don't underestimate what a big deal it is. this is a huge deal to pardon people. this is usually at the end of administrations because they're often controversial. you remember mark rich in the bill clinton days. this is a big deal that a president steps in and does something like this. kirsten is right. we should not overlook it. >> just do it and then say you're not doing it for that reason. there you go. okay, stick around, everyone. lots to talk about. when we come back, so much more -- so much i should say for roseanne barr's promise to leave twitter after her racist attack on valerie jarrett who she says she wants to now help, and why the president still hasn't condemned her racism. appliance got you down? head to the sears memorial day event. up to 40 percent off appliances. 52% off this kenmore refrigerator. 50 percent off kenmore elite laundry pairs. find your new appliance at the sears memorial day event. wait what? 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so then she tweets, so she answered my question. i thought she quit twitter. so i'm staying on twitter to try and help build a movement of grassroots people who wish to solve the problems of this neighborhood, the usa. but wasn't that the problem because of what she tweeted in her conspiracy theories that she is building a grassroots movement of people who believe in conspiracy theories and who tweet racist, bigoted, homophobic, xenophobic things? i mean, so why is she complaining that she is being attacked? >> i don't know. i don't understand why roseanne has been on twitter at all, frankly, because here she got a second chance with this new reboot of her show. she had all these people that were depending on her, and she continued to say a lot of crazy things on twitter, and it culminated with this horrific thing that she said about valerie jarrett, which she could have easily anticipated she would be fired for. so if i were her, i would get off twitter, personally, and deal with my issues. but i guess she wants to keep engaging. >> she's american. she can do what she wants. but as they say around the way, she needs to have several seeds. april, then there is the president who refuses to call out roseanne's racist tweet. instead he is again attacking the president of disney. he's says iger, where is my call for an apology? you and abc have offended millions of people, and they demand a response. how is brian ross doing? he tanked the market with an abc lie. yet no apology. double standard. so this is about him, right? >> no, it's not about him. although the president said on twitter basically it was about him. sarah huckabee sanders -- >> that was sarcasm. >> i know, i know. but sarah huckabee sanders buried the lead yesterday saying it was inappropriate, no one defended it. but this was a chance for the president to say it was wrong. but you have to remember, if you point fingers, you got to point some back at yourself. this president has said things that people have been offended by. this president -- i mean, i'm thinking of several examples, one that comes immediately to mind. the pocahantas comment, you know, that was unnecessary. in the white house. the charlottesville thing where he was wavering back and forth, and then he was listening to david duke on twitter about how he should handle it. this president should not at this moment as there is racial tension and racial sensitivities, because we are not a post racial society. he needs to listen to america, listen to his base. not just roseanne, who wants to get the neighborhood right. my question is what does her neighborhood look like compared to someone else's neighborhood? baltimore, chicago, l.a., you know. i'm not talking about in indiana or iowa or north dakota. i'm talking about all of america so we can come together as we the people who are still forming a more perfect union. so with this said, this president has a moment, a pregnant moment where it's still not too late for him to be able to come out and condemn what she said, but also still say she is my friend, but i condemn it. there is nothing wrong with that. >> it's not going to happen. >> as he is working on an urban agenda. >> it's not going to happen. >> well, i don't know. >> you're wasting your breath. it ain't going to happen. kirsten, you wrote a piece on cnn.com. today can be summed up in something donald trump said to "playboy." this is back in 1990. the show is trump, and it is sold out performances everywhere. it all becomes about him in the end. >> yeah, it is. look, that was 1990. this is a guy who in the 1980s made up a figure named john miller, a young pr executive in the trump organization to call the new york tabloids and out the donald trump's virility and appeal to women. like that happened in real life. so yes, he is someone who has always made it about him. and remember, it's not about good press, don. it's just about press. it's about attention, buzz, the failure in donald trump's world is not being talked about. it's not being judged poorly. not being judged by people. it's being irrelevant. that's what he fears. that is failure. >> narcissism. >> it's why, by the way. all the talk of oh, he won't run for a second term. he's bored. he hates the job. no one who has learned anything about donald trump's life thinks that. he loves it. he is the center of attention. he is a prime mover, and he is going to hold on to that for as long as he can. and yes, it will always, whether it's this fight over roseanne, or let's remember a few days ago, don, for memorial day, a tweet commemorating the soldiers by touting the good unemployment rate, which, again, something worth touting. but i don't think that most families on memorial day, while they're thinking of their loved one, are also thinking, man, i sure am glad that the unemployment rate is low. he doesn't get that piece. he doesn't understand that connection. he never has. he is not going to. >> kirsten, this is your piece in "the washington post" right here. it's a terrific piece. it's called "yes, liberals can be condescending. trump is still conservatives' fault." here is what you wrote. stop being elitists or trump supporters will vote for him again. so you say the way to absolve the president for laundry list of things, that's what it is. that's what's going on here. >> yeah, i mean my point is you hear this over and over. it was interesting. even when i tweeted it today, i got a loft tweets back. saying, oh, it's this kind of condescending column that you made me vote for trump. and my point is who votes for somebody because liberals are mean to them? it's so weird, you know. i don't understand why anybody would choose the leader of the free world on that basis, and yet we hear over and over whenever the media does something that conservatives don't like, this is how you got trump, right. so it just seems like a way to sort of absolve them of having to come up with any kind of positive reason for supporting him. it's just more to get back at liberals. but i also want to follow up on what we were talking about before, because i think it's an important point. i think the reason the president isn't going to condemn roseanne and doesn't ever really apologize for anything like pocahantas, no matter how offensive it is because he is a racial demagogue. that's why. it's not just about him wanting to be the center of attention. it's that he -- this is what the people who follow him want to hear, and he knows that. and they don't -- he is not going to apologize. >> the bottom line is racial tensions are ramping up. >> of course they are, april. and he likes that. that's my point. >> and he needs to do something. >> but he likes that. that's how he got elected. >> let me tell you guys this. let me just say this, because i have to go. if we're looking we should not look to him for that. he is not capable. so we need to look somewhere else. >> that's right. >> maybe we have to be the moral conscience. he should be. but he is never, ever going to happen. and this is sad to say. it's a shame. thank you, all. appreciate it. >> when we come back, what's really behind the president's refusal to condemn roseanne's racist tweet? 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what's really behind his strategy of always playing the victim in chief? here to discuss cnn political commentator charles blow and alice stewart. also, tim wise, who is the author of "white like me." good evening. charles, so when roseanne compared valerie -- did that awful comparison on twitter of valerie jarrett. it was a lay-up. why can't he do that? >> i assume that's not in him. when you refuse to confront. he had the option of not weighing in. >> right. >> but when you choose to weigh in, and you choose to ignore the bigger part of this story, which is that you must condemn. if you're going to weigh in, you must condemn what she has said, chose not to do that. so that -- choosing not to do that says a lot about him, himself. whether he either does not see it as a big problem, accepts it, approves of it. those are the options. and it would not surprise me. you keep saying this because it is true. that the man is just a racist. it's not even something -- i think we need stop arguing about this. >> it's not an argument. and i hate it when people say i don't know what's in his heart. you don't know what's in anybody's heart. you know from his actions and words. >> you can deduce from the evidence. the evidence is there for everyone to see. it's not like some big mysterious thing to draw a conclusion based on evidence. i walk outside. i see the sky is blue. i don't need to stand arguing with somebody about is it turquoise? is it lapis? is it cerulean? no, it's blue. i can deal with the fact, the conclusion i have drawn from the evidence. so we need to stop. so once you just accept that and deal with that part, this other things start to make sense. his actions start to make sense on issues like this. >> okay, so tim, charles said the evidence is there. i said in the open, here are the receipts. why are we arguing about. why do people argue about it? why can't people now -- some, not everybody obviously in this society just distinguish what racism is and what is acceptable and what is not? we can't even come to a consensus about what is racist now when it's obvious. >> we never have been able. we never have been able to do that. i mean, the fact is historically, white americans by and large, again, not all white folks, but the majority of white americans have never actually seen racism for what it was at the time that it was happening. so even during the civil rights era, which now we look back on as this golden age and everybody says they marched with dr. king, et cetera, the reality is that two out of three white folks in 1963 didn't think that black people were treated unequally according to a gallup poll taken that year. so if white folks didn't see racism even when it was blatant in your face bull connor, jim clark, selma and 1965, all of that, then why would we be shocked that white americans are in denial about racism even on the part of the president in this case? it's a long tradition of denial. he is not the one who originated it. he is just the current example of it. >> so alice, if the president is offended by about what samantha b. said about his daughter ivanka, which was offensive, why is he not offended by what roseanne said about valerie jarrett? >> because he has made similar comments. look, the unfortunate thing here, don, he had really three options on how to respond to this. one, the best option would have been to use this as a teachable moment and say this kind of rhetoric, this kind of dialogue, racist statements, homophobic statement, misogynist statements cannot be tolerated. i'm guilty of it. we should not do it. he is busy focusing on more important things like north korea and the economy and not commented at all. but for him to take the worst option by saying it's not about me, apologize to me for the times i've been criticized, that's not the way to go about it. and unfortunately he did make it about him. and it would be the height of hypocrisy for him to come out and criticize even samantha b. or roseanne barr for the statements they've made when he's made many himself. it's unfortunate. i'm a republican. i support him. i support his policies, but i don't support this kind of rhetoric. and that would be a great opportunity for him to lead the country in trying to stop, a, this kind of dialogue, and b, stop the normalizing of this kind of talk and do the best we can as grown-ups, people with children watching and trying to make sure that we don't continue to do this hurtful dialogue. >> okay. let's talk about some of these pardons. i know you want to weigh in. >> but that's just the thing. because donald trump has lived the life he has lived, said the things he has said, done the things that he has done, and to my knowledge never apologized for any of it, sought -- been contrite about it, repented of it in any way, it means that he can never lead us in a moment of unity. i hate when people say trump needs to bring us together. we need to come together. no, you can't bring me together under donald trump. it is an impossibility because i cannot be led by a man who is morally corrupt in this way, who refuses to even acknowledge that he is lying every day. refuses to acknowledge that he is offending people, sometimes without any merit at all. in this way, and never apologizing for that you cannot lead me. you cannot bring me together. >> so someone said this. you can take the boy out of the ghetto. and the president pardoned him. we'll discuss when we come back. ♪ how do you like me now ♪ now that i'm on my way ♪ do you still think i'm crazy standing here today ♪ ♪ i couldn't make you love me applebee's 2 for $20, now with steak. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. for a single mother,mutuality? 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[park announcer] all military members stand and be recognized. sometimes fans cheer for those who wear a different uniform. no matter where or when you served, t-mobile stands ready to serve you. that's why we're providing half off family lines to all military. ithe race for governort. has turned into a scam. gavin newsom's trying to elect a republican who was endorsed by trump. and villaraigosa's being bankrolled by a handful of billionaires. it's everything that's wrong with politics. and none of it is helping struggling families. here's my pledge to you. i'll keep our budget balanced. invest in affordable housing. fight for universal healthcare. and stand up to donald trump. as governor, you can trust me to do what's right- because i always have. so the president is issuing one presidential pardon today and hinting about more. i'm back now with charles blow, alice stewart and tim wise. tim, today the president tweeted will be giving a full pardon to dinesh d'souza today. he was treated very unfairly by our government. by the way, d'souza plead guilty to violating federal campaign finance law in 2014. he was indicted on charges that he illegally used straw donors to contribute to republican senate candidate wendy long in new york in 2012. but i just want to read some of what he said about president obama. he tweeted you can take the boy out of the ghetto. watch this vulgar man show his stuff while america cowers in embarrassment. he tweeted i am thankful this week when i remember that america is big enough and great enough to survive grown-up trayvon in the white house. and in his book he said in summary, the american slave was treated like property which is to say pretty well. so he's got a history of saying vile things about the president, saying vile things about other people who are in power. what message does this send, other people of color who are in power. what message does this send? >> well, i mean, it says that he is not only willing to tolerate, but to give his stamp of approval to people who make blatantly racist comments. dinesh d'souza said in his book "the end of racism" in 1995, the reason black folks lagged behind america is because of a civilizational deficit with white people. this is the kind of person that donald trump will align himself with. now, i doubt he knows anything about dinesh's actual case regarding election fraud. i doubt very seriously he knows anything about the contribution that he made, the fact that he plead guilty. all he knows is this is a guy who says nice things about him on the radio, on television, and in social media. and that's all you have to do. a grifter knows a grifter. game knows game. and dinesh d'souza is a grifter from a long time back and as is donald trump, and they are birds of a feather both in terms of their racial view, but also the way they scam the system and have scammed the system for years to become famous, to become wealthy, to become influential. >> i know you have a very strong opinion, alice, about some of the pardons, or possible pardons. >> sure. first of all, yeah, first of all, all presidents have the authority to pardon anybody they want. they can do it as part of the authority of the president, and it's in some cases it's a perk of the presidency. but the difference here is that we had the president today indicating that he was going to pardon dinesh d'souza, also indicating to the press he was considering the same for martha stewart, as well as rod blagojevich, the former governor of illinois. all three of these people committed crimes, and they were convicted of crimes. and there are plenty of other people that are well deserving of pardons. but the difference here is that the president to -- these people haven't been fully vetted. and for the president to go about issuing pardons willy-nilly like he is, it does raise concerns. and there are concerns about what kind of signal is he sending. the fact that there are questions about whether he is in potential legal jeopardy with regard to the russia investigation, others may provide information on him. he telling them that hey, look, i can provide pardons to you just like i'm doing with these people. i'm here in little rock. 2001 bill clinton issued a pardon to mark rich. i didn't agree with that pardon. a lot of people didn't agree with that but bill clinton did that on his way out the door as he was leaving the presidency. he had nothing to lose or gain other than he wanted to pardon his friend mark rich. the president has a lot to gain by issuing the pardons now, by sending signals to people that potentially could provide information against him. >> yeah. >> that's the issue have i with the pardons he is doing. now. >> and we've been talking about dinesh d'souza and some of the other folks. listen, let's get become to this issue. and you were talking about moral leadership, right? this is a gallup poll this week. and it says that 77% of republicans believe trump provides strong moral leadership. does that number surprise you? what does it mean? >> i don't know what it means. that's one of those broad questions that i don't know exactly how people are reading it and hearing it, right? so people can read that and think about, you know, can immediately go to abortion right issues or things like that and say that's the morality they're talking about, not individual interpersonal morality. i think it is clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that on the interpersonal kind of moral of the man, he is in a deficit, and an incredible deficit. whether or not you think that his policies help your cause's moral standing, that's a very different question. you can read that question any kind of way. i'm not exactly sure what that question tells us. >> tim, i want to ask about this. this is when i interviewed him before when he was running, and he told me that he was the least racist person that you'll ever meet. watch this. >> are you racist? >> i am the least racist person that you have ever met. i am the least racist person. >> so he often repeats that. >> okay, go on. [ laughter ] >> what does that even mean? what is the standard by which we even judge that? look, when someone has to tell you not racist they are, that's probably because they are racist as hell. like that is probably the reason why. it's like saying i am the least rapiest person that you ever met. why would you say that unless you were a rapist? it just doesn't make any sense, except you're trying to cover. look, and here is the thing. you brought this up earlier. it isn't about the man's heart. i've long said it's like asking whether a drug dealer is also an addict. i don't know if this guy gets high on his own supply, but i know what he is dealing, right? he is dealing racism. he is playing that card with his constituents. he is the leader of the biggest victim cult in the history of the world. white conservatives who think they are the ones who are discriminated against. they're the ones who can't get jobs. they're the ones who can't get scholarships, even though they get the vast majority of the jobs, the vast majority of the scholarships, white families 15 times the net worth of black families on average, but white folks are still the victims. that's the group he is playing to. that's why he won't apologize. that's why he won't criticize roseanne, because he knows that the people who defend him are the same people who were on twitter right now not just angry about roseanne being canceled, but actually defending her comments and saying that she did nothing wrong. he is the leader of a victimhood cult. >> right. >> and when you're the leader of a cult, you don't apologize for anything. that just goes with the territory. >> we're also using stupid people's definition of racism. >> i was going to say, do we really know? but does he know. hold on, alice. >> stupid people's definition is unless the person is articulating and saying i am a racist. >> or using the "n" word openly or saying i'm discriminating against you now. >> have a swastika tattooed on their forehead, we say anybody short of that it's a question. no, it's not. it's not a question if they have a record, they have evidence. >> i got to go. they're telling me i got to go. quick, quick, quick. >> i'm just saying this. he was this before he was elected and we knew what we were getting when people elected him. >> true. >> people voted for him for his policies, unfortunately not for his moral leadership. >> you get what you vote for. thank you, everyone. when we come back, president trump claiming he didn't fire james comey because of the russia investigation, but that's not what he himself said a year ago. washing machine dying) appliance got you down? head to the sears memorial day event. up to 40 percent off appliances. 52% off this kenmore refrigerator. 50 percent off kenmore elite laundry pairs. find your new appliance at the sears memorial day event. wait what? directv gives you more for your thing. your... quitting cable and never looking back thing. directv is rated #1 in customer satisfaction over cable. switch to directv and now get a $100 reward card. more for your thing. that's our thing. call 1.800 directv. hey, i'm curious about your social security alerts. oh! just sign up online and we'll alert you if we find your social security number on any one of thousands of risky sites. that sounds super helpful. how much is it? well, if you have a discover card, it's free. no way! yes way! we just think it's important for you to be in the know. all right! hey... ewww! everything ok? being in the know is very good. yeah, it is. ooo don't shake! don't shake! ahhh! know if your social security number is found on risky sites. free from discover. (baby crying) ♪ fly ♪ me to the moon (elegant music) ♪ and let me play (bell rings) president trump trying to rewrite history, tweeting today, "not that it matters, but i never fired james comey because of russia. the corrupt mainstream media loves to keep pushing that narrative, but they know it is not true." no, it's the president's claim that it's not true. he clearly said on camera that russia was on his mind when he fired comey. so who is the president trying to fool? so let's discuss now. cnn contributor john dean is here. he is a former nixon white house counsel and former clinton white house general counsel nelson cunningham. good evening, gentlemen. so, john, i just want to play what president trump, in his own words, what he told nbc's lester holt about why he fired comey. >> why did you fire director comey? >> because he wasn't doing a good job, very simply. he was not doing a good job. 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's an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election that they should have won. i thought that this would be a very popular thing that i did when i terminated comey. >> some of the people at the top were rotten apples. james comey was one of them. i've done a great service for this country by getting rid of him by firing him. >> so as a lawyer, have you ever seen a client like this? what do you think of those comments? >> well, it's broader than just those comments even. there has been a mosaic. he did this act of firing comey three months into his -- over three months into his presidency. he could have done it immediately if he thought it was such a problem. he didn't. he waited until he asked comey if he could have his loyalty, which comey said no. he asked comey if he would say he is not involved in the investigation. comey said i can't say that. he also asked comey if he could go light on flynn, give him a pass, if you will. comey refused to do that. so there is a lot that happens before he's got russia on his mind, as he explained to lester holt. and after that, some time after that, we know either during the day of the taping or the day before the taping, he meets with russians in the office and says he's had a burden taken off his back by firing comey. >> so nelson, what is the strategy here? what is the strategy of trying to rewrite history? >> well, this is donald trump's m.o., isn't it? he does two things. he tries to rewrite history and get you to believe what he wants you to believe, and the second is he tries to work the ref. and right now he is trying to work the ref by telling jeff sessions maybe you'll be fired. by telling rod rosenstein maybe you'll be fired, trying to work those guys. at the same time try to make us remember the past differently than the actual videotape shows it. it's a pretty bold strategy. >>s on it tape. >> it's on tape. >> i don't -- i don't get it. i guess some people will believe it, even though it's right. do you believe me or are you lying ears and eyes? so, john, sources tell cnn that president trump pressured attorney general jeff sessions to unrecuse himself from the russia investigation, that he did it multiple times in addition to that time at mar-a-lago reported by "the new york times." legally, you unrecuse yourself from an investigation? >> well, i guess technically you can. it's certainly not very usual there is a lot of thought given into recusals. there are regulations in the department of justice that in this instance the attorney general actually followed. he got the advice of lawyers in the department. i don't see how he could have possibly done it. it was rather imaginative of trump to try to concoct it, and it shows again trump's intent, which is not a healthy thing for him to be displaying in this situation. >> so a lot of times you'll say listen, it's not illegal, but it's certainly out of the ordinary. it's not appropriate. nelson, is there anything wrong with the president pressuring the attorney general on this? is it obstruction? >> well, what the president fails to understand and keeps on failing to understand from day one of his presidency is that the justice department is different. prosecutors and law enforcement officials are not loyal political appointees who do whatever the boss says. lawyers, prosecutors, law enforcement officials have a duty to obey certain values, certain principles, to uphold standards of the rule of law. you cannot -- the reason why jeff sessions recused himself is because he realized he had told the public that he'd had no conversations with russians during the campaign. well, it turned out he'd had multiple conversations with russians during the campaign. because that was at the heart of what mr. mueller was looking at, he concluded on the basis of counsel i have to recuse myself. that's a judgment which i think every lawyer, if you asked, would agree with. you cannot unring that bell. the only way he unrecuses himself is if he decides well maybe i didn't lie all those times about the number of contacts i had with the russians. you can't do it. and the president doesn't understand that he can't just exert his will on lawyers, prosecutors, and law enforcement officials the way he can on others. there is indeed a higher loyalty, as james comey said in his book. >> nelson, john, thank you so much. i appreciate your time. when we come back, what the president's pardons have in common and what they might mean for the mueller investigation. picking the right style takes time. one picky customer shouldn't take all your time. need something printed? the business advisors at office depot can assist with exactly what your business needs to grow. get your coupon for 20% off services, technology and more at office depot and officedepot.com. technology and more i'm all-business when i, travel... even when i travel... 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. the digital divide is splitting this country. we have parents who are trying to get their kids off of too much social media and computers, and then we have parents who would only hope their children have access. middle school is a really key transition point, right. the stakes start changing. students begin to really start thinking about their futures. what i like about verizon's approach is that it's not limited to just giving kids new tools, it's really about empowering educators to teach in different ways, and exposing kids to more active forms of learning. giving technology is not a total solution. teaching technology, now that is. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. 11:00 p.m. here on the east coast live with all the new developments tonight. president trump handing down a surprise pardon for conservative flame throw