While talking to Rep. Bobby Rush (D., Ill.), MSNBC host Tamron Hall asked whether the Clintons were trying to have it both ways when talking about the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which then-president Bill Clinton signed into law.
The law has received heavy criticism during the current campaign, especially from various Democrats and the activist group Black Lives Matter. Critics of the law say that it disproportionately affects blacks and has led to them being targeted more frequently by police and receiving longer jail sentences.
After Rush apologized for having voted for the original law, Hall asked him about it in the context of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Bill Clinton has defended parts of the law while campaigning for Hillary Clinton, who has had to be more critical of it.
"I covered crime and reported in Chicago for ten years, having the former president hearing what you say now with this apology, is it enough, though? We were looking at a law that allowed for the prosecution of children 13 or older for certain crimes, to prosecute them as an adult," Hall said.
"There is no one who would doubt the sincerity of the apology you just presented. But on the campaign trail, you seem to hear the Clintons having it both ways, apologizing for the crime bill but then pointing to some of the good, if that is even the word to use, that may have come out of it."