#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Trump Visits An HBCU, Talks Criminal Justice Reform, Receives 2020 Bipartisan Justice Center Award

Episode Date: October 28, 2019

Donald Trump delivered the keynote address today at the 2019 Second Step Presidential Justice Forum event, which was held in Columbia, South Carolina on the campus of Benedict College this weekend. Watch the 10.25.19 edition of #RolandMartinUnfiltered https://youtu.be/O-Qp2IOpewI - #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Ebony Foundation | Home by the Holiday Home by the Holiday aims to reunite Black and Latino families separated by bail, while challenging racial injustice and mass incarceration. For more info visit https://www.homebytheholiday.com/ - 📘 Check out #RolandsBookClub and some of his favorite tech gear http://ow.ly/M5zF50uJPam ✅ NOW AVAILABLE: #RolandMartinUnfiltered Merch - https://bit.ly/2VYdQok ✅ Subscribe to the #RolandMartin YouTube channel https://t.co/uzqJjYOukP ✅ Join the #RolandMartinUnfiltered #BringTheFunk Fan Club to support fact-based independent journalism http://ow.ly/VRyC30nKjpY ✅ Join the Roland Martin and #RolandMartinUnfiltered mailing list http://ow.ly/LCvI30nKjuj - Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. You can make this possible. All right, folks, today in South Carolina was the 2019 Second Step Presidential Justice Forum where the top 10 Democratic candidates were there as well as Donald Trump, who delivered the keynote address. It took place at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina. This has been going on for quite some time.

And so here is an excerpt of what was said today. And I'm very proud of being involved with criminal justice reform and getting it done, getting it passed. And we had a lot of votes that normally wouldn't have gone that way. And they really they were pushing me some of them at the end. And we have some of the folks here, Tim Scott, Lindsay. They're here, but I'm going to introduce them in a little while. But we had tremendous help.

This was a bipartisan bill. We had a lot of support on both sides. And people that you would have least suspected really helped us a lot. So they've been trying to get this passed for many, many years. But to everyone at the 2020 Bipartisan Justice Center, it's my great privilege to speak with you today and my true honor to receive the Bipartisan Justice Award. I am very, very grateful for that. And it will be at a very high level in the Oval Office, a place called the Oval Office. Have you heard about that? It'll be

right in the Oval Office with me. I'm very proud of it. Thank you. I also want to. Yeah, I think we've heard of the Oval Office. Dr. Card, I want to start with you. Donald Trump wants to ride this whole issue of criminal justice reform. But the reality is this was a very much stripped down bill than the one that was actually sought by Democrats. That was first. Folks like Jeff Sessions, folks like Senator Tom Cotton and others fought it in a significant way. And so what do you make of Trump holding himself up as this major leader when it comes to criminal justice reform? Well, I actually don't think it's just him doing it. I think he's gotten a lot of credit from a lot of corners

for the First Step Act. And even though it's, like you said, a stripped-down bill, it doesn't address any of the sort of more significant reforms that people have been talking about in terms of sentencing, but also even thinking about police contact, right, that lead many people to have these contacts with the criminal justice system. I mean, it is something.

And I know that might feel, you know, unsatisfying for many people, but it is something, right? It is getting in the right direction. And anytime you can get Congress to agree on something, I think that is a positive thing. Now, what this is going to mean for him in terms of the next election, I don't know it'll mean much. But he's going to say what he needed to say, and particularly to that audience. I think the fact that he was at a bipartisan center made it more likely that he kept his comments probably

more tame than we've seen from him in recent weeks. I mean, it was a good way to sort of say, hey, I did something something and take our mind off what is currently happening with these impeachment inquiries. And, you know, the Republican hijinks of earlier this week. So, I mean, I think it's one of those moments, right, that he can claim. And I think most people are willing to let him have it. Michael, the reality is when you talk about it was called the First Step Act, which means will there be a second step? Will there be a third step? Or will this be as far as Trump and the Republicans go

when it comes to true criminal justice reform? I know Dr. Carter just mentioned it, and Roland, you know where I am on this because we've had this discussion. I guess we can appreciate the First Step Act even if it was stripped down I know Dr. Carter just mentioned it, and Roland, you know where I am on this because we've had this discussion. And I guess we can appreciate the First Step Act, even if it was stripped down. And you've got to start somewhere. But until you tackle the issue related to sentencing reform and giving these judges, remember, life-appointed judges, at least on the federal side,

actual power to make a decision when they see a file in front of them. If somebody, for example, has a small bag of weed or a small bag of something and they get sentenced to 10 years, the judge should be in a sentencing guidelines. A judge should be able to say, you know what? It doesn't make any sense on this one, but if I see you back in the courtroom, then you're going to have some problems. Give the judges some discretion. They're there for lifetime appointments. They clearly have credentials to understand what the law is and then to look at a situation. Now, they get the file and they have to adjust relative to what the guidelines say. And until that is fixed, yes, first step is important, but we have a long, long way to go in the sentencing reform. That's where the battles will happen.

Because obviously for the hawks, obviously related to the hawks for criminal justice who like sending people to prison, they're not going to be able to fight it. And clearly other communities are not. Deontay, criminal justice reform is a very broad category. And so Trump talks about getting the credit for the First Step Act. But this is also the exact same administration that said we're going to go back to using private federal prisons.

This is the exact same administration where Jeff Sessions, followed by Barr, said they were rescinding the order of Attorney General Eric Holder, where he said that these attorneys did not have to prosecute people to the highest level to have far more discretion that they would actually could advance in their careers without having to say, I got the most years in prison. They also, again, rescinded that. And so when you begin to look at this whole issue of criminal justice reform, you have the First Step Act, which was positive. But there are some things that Trump administration has done that have been negative that have actually done nothing. Because if on one hand you're talking about how do we address folks who are being sent to prison?

But on the other hand, you say it's OK to prosecute folks at the highest level versus using proper judgment, you're actually doing both things, and you can't act as if it's not happening. Roland, let me start off by correcting you. The president has not taken full responsibility of criminal justice reform. If you played a part of the speech where he goes through a long list of people thanking them for their part that they have played in criminal justice reform. But he also talks about Jared Kushner and how Jared Kushner came to his office and pretty much begged for this to be done and how Jared Kushner and

Jaron Smith played a major part in this. That's the part that we have to understand. But the next thing is, it's bipartisan. Deontay, hold up, hold up, Deontay. That was this speech. Hold up, Deontay. Deontay, Deontay, one second. That was this speech. Donald Trump has before said numerous times, I got it done when nobody else could get it done. So he has taken credit.

So yes, he mentioned all the other different people. Yes, I'm fully aware of the role Jared Kushner played. I met with Jared Kushner at the White House while this thing was going, when it was in the House before it even got to the Senate. But Donald Trump has taken credit for it. The point I'm making here, though, is that the First Step Act is a piece of criminal justice reform. There have been actions taken by Trump's Department of Justice that actually are going to advance mass incarceration.

So you said a piece, hence first step. When you have three steps in something, the first step is the first step. So it means there actually are more to come. Are there three steps? There's more to come. We're at the second step now. When?

We'll be seeing a third step. Where is it? This is the second step. Where is it? The hiring process. The second step hiring has been something that was the name of the event today was the second step hiring has been something that this is the that was the name of the event today was the second step bipartisan form. And so there are more steps. That's why we named it the first. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's the form. Where's the bill?

OK, the second step. Whose bill is that? The bill, the bill will be going to Congress, but we have to obviously has to be prepared. No, no, no. Whose bill is it? No, no, no. You said there were three steps. There's a second step that is being prepared in the White House. Where's the second one? There's a second step that is being prepared in the White House. It's being prepared? Yes. And when is it going to be presented?

It just got passed. No, it didn't just get passed. So you... I mean, you could... So, what are we waiting on? You know how government works. You know how government works. You can't pass three steps in one year.

But if you want to hold yourself up as being the one who got it done, I'm saying, where's the second step? What was the first step in Obama's administration? I was wondering where that was coming from. What was the first step in Obama's administration? What was the first step in Obama's administration? The first step in the Obama administration was to actually do a review of the people who were actually in prison. So they reviewed for eight years. One second, I'm not done.

I'm not done. And create a real process to actually release folks from prison, shorten those sentences. That's actually what was happening. That's one. Two, Obama became the first president to literally visit a federal prison. Three, Eric, Eric Holder, changing the guidelines, telling his attorneys you do not have to prosecute people at the highest level for stopping the funding, the use of federal prisons. Do you want me to go on? Roland, you can continue to take away from the four people. Let me ask you a question. Why did criminal justice reform under Obama?

Who blocked it? Republicans blocked it. Oh, so that's the question what did Obama do if you don't own up to your party blocking criminal justice reform so who's blocking the second step now there's no presentation of it let me also remind you let me also remind you. Let me also remind you. The bill that was passed, the bill that was passed in the House was a weak version. When it went to the Senate, it was folks like Senator Dick Durbin and Senator Cory Booker and Senator Kamala Harris who made it clear that bill is dead on the arrival unless it was actually enforced. And luckily, you had Senator Chuck Grassley, who also told Donald Trump, hey, this bill is weak. So it was strengthened. So don't question what did Obama do on it when

Republicans were blocking it. What I'm simply saying is- Roland, you can continue to take away from the four blacks that were speaking today to thank the president on the help that they've received with with the first step that you can continue to take away from it but at the end of the day it happened there's more to happen and i'm not taking away from that because right now you're taking you what are you talking about right now i'm not taking away from that you take i'm taking away from it no you're talking about you're saying where's the family i'm speaking excuse me i'm speaking authoritatively about what is also happening by the Trump Department of Justice that is playing a role in controlling domestic incarceration. But I guess you deny that.

Your purpose is to make light of the first step, correct? No, no, no, no. You're wrong. That's your purpose. My purpose is... No, no, no. Anytime you go negative, your purpose is to make light of the first step that correct no no no that's your purpose is no no no any time you go negative your purpose is to make light of the first step that instead of saying we came together no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no Reform criminal justice reform. I'm not talking about one thing. I'm talking about multiple areas. And what I'm saying is if the Trump administration wants to do criminal justice reform, reverse the reverse the use of private federal prisons, reverse Jeff Sessions decision when it came to telling the U.S. attorneys, prosecute at the highest level. Reverse the decision when it comes to what they're doing, pulling back from dissent decrees. Reverse

those decisions, but don't say over here, hey, look what I've done that's great, but over here, I'm contributing to mass incarceration. Rolling Rome wasn't built in a day. Oh, here we go. Okay. CJ, what's your thoughts?

Well, first, I mean, if I was the president and I passed it, hell yeah, I'd brag all day long, all the way to Mississippi and back and to California and to Canada. So he deserves credit for it. No other president did it. Let it be. And have patience. I mean, there are a lot of people who at the table, whether it's Noble, FOP, the Urban League, NAACP, everybody's going to have various different degrees on what

criminal justice should be. And it's about the sausage is going to be grind. And we're now at second chance hiring. Is there a bill around second chance? No. But what the president did do, harnessed the bully pulpit of the White House, the Oval Office to bring corporate America together to talk about second chance hiring. Now, is there some stuff that's going to happen in a couple of days down the road? Sure. We just you know, it's like show me. He's about to show you what his next step is going to be. And when he comes, we'll come back and we'll discuss it. Also, don't forget, Deontay, when you questioned what Obama did, didn't he sign the Fair Sentencing Act to actually reduce the whole issue of crack and powder cocaine? Did he pass anything on criminal justice reform legislated?

Absolutely not, but we'll let Roland continue to have those comments. He couldn't pass it because your party was blocking it. See, here's the deal here that y'all, for some reason, don't want to own up to. Democrats had no issue working with Republicans on criminal justice reform under Obama. Oh, just like Clinton did in 1994, Democrats did that too. Under Trump. The problem under Obama was that Republicans wouldn't work with Democrats on criminal justice reform because they didn't want to give Obama a win.

At some point, y'all got to at least own up to the reality of your party. In eight years, in eight years, your party blocked criminal justice reform. Well, no, we didn't. And all the black folks and Hispanics got locked up. I'm sorry. Are we living in an alternate universe? Niamey?

I mean, I just... I think this is a conversation that'll go nowhere, right? You all will never agree, but I will say this. Look, black and brown communities have been over-policed for a very long time, and that's regardless of who has been in the Oval Office. And to the extent that any of these things can happen, I mean, what the federal government can do

is some part of this. I really think if we were talking about real criminal justice reform, we should just look at local levels. State levels. Because some of these things that we are talking about, about hiring, for example, ban the box legislation has been appearing in cities

around the country. I mean, this thing indemnifying employers so they will hire non-violent formerly incarcerated persons has been going around for years. So none of these things are novel or new. And I think anybody who's been hanging around the criminal justice space for a very

long time has been talking about these things for a really long time. So none of this is rocket science. None of this is new. And none of these are things, in fact, that this president or any other president should get full credit for because you really had pioneers at state and local levels, formerly incarcerated persons, nongovernmental organizations, all kinds of folks who've been talking about this stuff for a long time and giving people real common sense things that could be bipartisan, right? They just get papered over because we like the politics of it all, right? And not thinking about the fact

that these are real people's real lives. And so anything that we can do to lessen the burden on some of our most vulnerable citizens are always things that should not be political. Well, again, if people want to be serious about this, let's do it. But Michael made the most important point there. And that is, and let's be clear in the first step at Republicans fought sentencing reform. That was one of the biggest issues. And so let's see what actually takes place. All right, folks, of course, the holiday season is near.

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