President Trump pardons former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich — Transcript

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1. 0:00president Trump is using his powers to
2. 0:02give clemency to nearly a dozen people
3. 0:04including high-profile white-collar
4. 0:06criminals among them is disgraced former
5. 0:09Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich who
6. 0:11was out of prison this morning he was
7. 0:13set free when President Trump commuted
8. 0:15his sentence last night the president
9. 0:16pardoned former junk bond King Michael
10. 0:19Milken and former NFL owner Eddie
11. 0:21DeBartolo jr. they were all convicted of
12. 0:24charges that included fraud corruption
13. 0:25and lying
14. 0:26Paula Reid is at the White House with
15. 0:28more on this story so Paula what's the
16. 0:30backstory here why did the president do
17. 0:32it good morning Gail the president says
18. 0:34he is relying on personal
19. 0:36recommendations when deciding where to
20. 0:38apply his vast pardon power now the
21. 0:41Justice Department has a formal vetting
22. 0:43process for pardoned petitions and the
23. 0:45president's unusual approach is raising
24. 0:47concerns that in this administration
25. 0:49clemency is mostly going to those with
26. 0:52connections everlasting gratitude to
27. 0:55President Trump for for doing what he
28. 0:57did the former Democratic governor of
29. 0:59Illinois Liguria thanked the president
30. 1:01and maintained his innocence rod
31. 1:07Blagojevich was convicted in 2011 of
32. 1:09trying to sell then President Barack
33. 1:11Obama's vacated Senate seat and was
34. 1:14sentenced to 14 years in prison he
35. 1:16served eight years in jail there's a
36. 1:20long time to go many people disagree
37. 1:23with the sentence the president's
38. 1:24decision prompted Swift backlash from
39. 1:27the prosecutors on the case who said a
40. 1:29justice system must hold public
41. 1:32officials accountable for corruption
42. 1:33blow guy ovitch was a contestant on
43. 1:36Celebrity Apprentice but President Trump
44. 1:38said what got his attention was
45. 1:40Blagojevich his wife pleading his case
46. 1:43on Fox News a corruption of my husband's
47. 1:45trial also seen on the network former
48. 1:48New York City police commissioner
49. 1:50Bernard Kerik who is convicted of tax
50. 1:52fraud and lying to the government just
51. 1:54Monday Carrick argued New York should be
52. 1:57tougher on criminals we're going back to
53. 2:00where we were in 1990s early 1990s 1980s
54. 2:03and and it shouldn't be President Obama
55. 2:06granted clemency to more than 1,900
56. 2:09people more than any other president but
57. 2:11over 1,600 of them
58. 2:13were nonviolent drug offenders most of
59. 2:15whom had received mandatory minimum
60. 2:18sentences NFL star Derrick Brooks who
61. 2:21praised the pardon of former San
62. 2:23Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo
63. 2:26jr. defended the president against
64. 2:28allegations he's only pardoning those
65. 2:30with connections that's not about a
66. 2:32status in society that's the status
67. 2:34about someone that has a willing heart
68. 2:37in a desire to give something back to
69. 2:40someone else
70. 2:41president Trump will not say if he will
71. 2:43grant a pardon to his longtime friend
72. 2:45Roger stone who is scheduled to be
73. 2:47sentenced tomorrow after being convicted
74. 2:49of seven felonies Tony will Paul on that
75. 2:52subject there have been reports that
76. 2:53Attorney General Bill Barr has
77. 2:55threatened to resign over the
78. 2:56president's tweets regarding stone what
79. 2:58can you tell us about that
80. 2:59Tony CBS News has learned that the
81. 3:02Attorney General has told people he's
82. 3:04considered quitting over the president's
83. 3:06tweets but president Trump has a long
84. 3:08history of pressuring his own Justice
85. 3:10Department on Twitter he called former
86. 3:12attorney general Jeff Sessions unfair
87. 3:15beleaguered and even disgraceful on
88. 3:17Twitter so Barr was on notice that these
89. 3:19Twitter attacks are part of the job
90. 3:21and this really appears to be part of an
91. 3:23effort to put distance between the
92. 3:24Attorney General and the president amid
93. 3:26these increasing concerns about
94. 3:28political influence over the Justice
95. 3:30Department last night a Justice
96. 3:32Department spokeswoman though said Barr
97. 3:34has no plans to resign Tony for now
98. 3:37anyway Paula thank you very much