Tag: Muhammad Ali

ESPN alum and current writer for The Atlantic Jemele Hill sounded off on all things sports and politics on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Thursday. Colbert praised her for her tweet last year that Donald Trump is “a white supremacist who surrounds himself with other white supremacists,” which in part led to her suspension at the sports network. "Number one, I was super impressed he spelled my name right," she said when asked what her reaction to Trump's tweet was. But she added that as a journalist “you live for that moment,” and she was ultimately amused and took it as a compliment. As for whether Trump's presidency has meant politics and sports are more connected than ever, Hill said this is nothing new. “In my experience, people who object to that intersection [of sports and politics] don’t like the opinion or viewpoint being expressed,” she added. But she explained that she believes “some of this is simply right or wrong.” "To me politics is when you have a pro argument and a con argument. Is anyone out there pro racism? Or pro police brutality? Right now the two most important athletes of this generation are LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick."

Donald Trump said on Friday that he may grant a posthumous pardon to Muhammad Ali, seemingly unaware that the great boxer’s conviction was overturned by the supreme court 47 years ago. Departing for the G7 summit in Canada, the president told reporters at the White House he was looking at “thousands of names” of people who could be granted clemency. He received a draft-evasion conviction in 1967 and was stripped of his world heavyweight title. “He was, look, he was not very popular then, certainly his memory is popular now,” Trump said. “I’m thinking about that very seriously, and some others.” Ali was sentenced to five years in prison but he appealed and in 1971 the supreme court overturned his conviction, finding that the justice department improperly told the draft board Ali’s stance was not motivated by his religious beliefs as a Muslim. Trump’s gesture is therefore meaningless. Ali’s lawyer, Ron Tweel, said: “We appreciate President Trump’s sentiment, but a pardon is unnecessary. Earlier this week, he also commuted the life sentence of a woman whose cause was championed by Kim Kardashian West. “The power to pardon is a beautiful thing,” Trump told reporters. “I want to do people who are unfairly treated like Alice [Marie Johnson].” Trump has also floated a possible pardon for TV personality Martha Stewart and potentially commuting the sentence of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted on corruption charges in 2011.

The Morning Joe panel and reporter Peter Alexander discuss President Trump's Friday morning White House Q&A session Friday where he discussed everything from Russia, Michael Cohen, Melania Trump's surgery, the G-7, Rudy Giuliani and Muhammad Ali. » Subscribe to MSNBC:…

Before departing for the G-7 summit in Canada, President Donald Trump spoke to reporters about a potential pardon for the late boxer Muhammad Ali. Trump also spoke about his "absolute right to pardon himself." » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc About:…