(8 Jun 2018)
ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP CLIENTS ONLY
Washington - 8 June 2018
++SOTS SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++
1. SOUNDBITE: (English) Donald Trump, US President:
"There will be more pardons. I thought Alice yesterday was beautiful. I thought Jack Johnson, which was recommended by Sylvester Stallone and some great boxers, I thought Jack Johnson was a great one. I'm thinking about somebody that you all know very well. And he went through a lot and he wasn't very popular then and he wasn't very popular then - no I'm not thinking about OJ .... Look, he was but he was not very popular then. He's certainly, his memory is very popular now. I'm thinking about Muhammad Ali. I'm thinking about that very seriously and some others and some folks that have sentences that aren't fair. But I am thinking about Muhammad Ali."
2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Donald Trump, US President:
"I'm not above the law. I never want anybody to be above the law. But the pardons are a very positive thing for a president. I think you see the way I'm using them and, yes, I do have an absolute right to pardon myself, but I'll never have to do it because I didn't do anything wrong. And everybody knows it. There's been no collusion. There's been no obstruction. It's all a made up fantasy. It's a witch hunt. No collusion, no obstruction, no nothing. Now, the Democrats have had massive collusion, massive obstruction. And they should be investigated."
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Donald Trump, US President:
"We have 3,000 names. We're looking at them. Of the 3000 names, many of those names really have been treated unfairly. You know, this is a group of 3000 that we've we've assembled. And I would get more thrill out of pardoning people that nobody knows like Alice (Johnson) yesterday. I thought Kim Kardashian was great because she brought Alice to my attention. Alice was so great and the way she left that jail and the tears and the love that she has with her family. I mean to me that was better than any celebrity that I could pardon."
STORYLINE:
President Donald Trump said he is thinking "very seriously" about pardoning Muhammad Ali, even though the Supreme Court vacated the deceased boxing champion's conviction in 1971.
Trump tells reporters he's looking at "thousands of names" of people who could be granted clemency.
Trump's already granted a posthumous pardon to boxing's first black heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson - convicted of violating a law that made it illegal to transport women across state lines for "immoral" purposes.
Ali refused to enter the military during the Vietnam War, declaring himself a conscientious objector. His decision resulted in a draft-evasion conviction, and he was stripped of his heavyweight boxing crown. Ali's legal fight ended in 1971, when the Supreme Court ruled in his favor.
It was not immediately clear why Ali would need a pardon because he has no criminal record. The Supreme Court overturned his conviction for resisting the draft in 1971. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about why the president feels one is warranted.
Earlier this week, Trump commuted the life sentence of a woman, Alice Marie Johnson, whose cause was championed by Kim Kardashian West.
Trump also asserted that he has "an absolute right to pardon myself," but added he'll "never have to do it, because I didn't do anything wrong."
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