Senate Passes Sweeping Criminal Justice Reform Bill
BROWN: Well, just hours ago, there was a rare moment of bipartisanship in Washington. The Senate passed a criminal justice reform bill by a whopping 87-12 vote. It's expected to clear the House and get the president's signature. The bill is called the First Step Back and it aims to reduce the federal prison population. Part of it includes lighter sentences for non-violent offenders. I want to bring in CNN's Jeremy Diamond. Jeremy, you've been covering this story from the beginning. You wrote an article detailing how this bill was dubbed by opponents a zombie bill because it would not die. Tell us how it finally made it to the finish line.</s>JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Allies and opponents alike call this the bill that would not die. Opponents called it the zombie bill for that very reason. It was the product of this unlikely coalition that emerged. President Trump, when he was elected in office, private prison stocks soared because he had been talking about bringing back these tough-on-crime policies during his campaign but the president's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, pushed this effort from within. over the opposition from several key administration officials, including at the time the Attorney General Jeff Sessions, working with Democrats as well. Kushner was able to convince the president to support this measure and get it through Congress, which this has been attempted in the past, and this was ultimately successful. It passed the Senate yesterday, a key hurdle, 87-12. And the president is expected to sign it later this week.</s>BROWN: You mentioned how many hurdles and that included the president's initial fears. Explain what that was all about. What was he afraid of?</s>DIAMOND: That's right, Pam. There were multiple moments that supporters of this bill said where they felt it was about to die, and one of the reasons was because the president had been told about Willie Horton. Willie Horton, of course, was the subject of a 1988 devastating presidential campaign ad attacking Michael Dukakis over the fact that Horton was out on a weekend furlough from prison while Dukakis was governor and he ultimately raped a woman during the furlough. And a devastating racially charged ad. Tom Cotton, one of the chief congressional opponents of the measure, talked to the president about Willie Horton and became concerned he could be saddled with a similar ad in 2020 if he went through with this measure. But in an Oval Office meeting with Kim Kardashian and Van Jones, they told him about Alice Johnson, the woman he pardoned from prison, and that helped eased some of the president's concerns and, ultimately, he came to support this -- Pam?</s>BROWN: It's truly a remarkable story about how all of these different sides came together and how Kim Kardashian, Van Jones, Republicans, everyone came together to make this happen. Jeremy, thank you so much for that great reporting. Right now, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch is behind closed doors on Capitol Hill getting grilled over the investigation into Hillary Clinton's e-mails. Details just ahead.