President Trump Takes Victory Lap on Criminal Justice Reform

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — When President Donald Trump talks about how his policies are helping African Americans, he almost always mentions a new law that has allowed thousands of non-violent offenders to gain early release from federal prison.

He made the pitch again Friday at a criminal justice conference in South Carolina. And then he sought common ground with African Americans by saying he has had his own brush with a justice system that many say treats blacks and other people of color unfairly.

“I have my own experience. You know that,” Trump said at the gathering, held at historically black Benedict College.