Van Jones praises Trump for 'very good' choice with new pardon czar pick

Former Obama advisor Van Jones praised President Donald Trump for his newly-appointed "pardon czar," Alice Marie Johnson.

"As somebody who has worked on criminal justice, as you know, for 30 years, having someone who's a formerly incarcerated person in charge of going through all these pardons and making sure that people get a fair shot - I think that's a very good thing," he continued.

Deutsch quoted a post Jones had written in late January, when he said, "Trump's heart CAN be touched. He has been moved, many times, to help downtrodden individuals - whether in his employ or in federal prisons (First Step Act). So don't assume that moral appeals can never work with Trump. In the right forum and circumstances, they can and do."

Jones stood by his words describing Trump's first term in office, saying that Trump brought formerly incarcerated individuals to the White House and allowed them to speak at press conferences. "I don't remember Biden or Obama or Clinton doing anything remotely like that."

However, Jones still had criticism of Trump. 

"Now I think we are in a five-alarm fire and I would be radically, rabidly opposed to even my beloved Barack Obama doing this stuff. We have a system. It's not perfect, but it's designed to work a particular way so that you don't have a king, you don't have somebody who just has unchecked power, and he's just, you know, he's grabbing authorities that are not allowed," he said.