Trump asked, ‘Do you think I oughta tweet?': The yearslong journey that got Washington to 'yes' on criminal justice reform

WASHINGTON – A frustrated Chuck Grassley pulled over on a gravel road two miles from his Iowa farm to talk to the president who was flying home on Air Force One.

It was 3:15 p.m. Friday and the criminal justice reform bill the Iowa Republican had been championing was stuck at a roadblock – Mitch McConnell.

Grassley made his pitch.

“I used what I consider a historical argument. I said, ‘Listen, majority leaders, if they’re the same party as the president, ought to be carrying out the president’s agenda,'" Grassley recalled to USA TODAY.

Despite broad bipartisan support, including an unusual coalition of civil rights groups, conservatives and Donald Trump, the Senate majority leader had not budged on the call to bring the "First Step Act'' to the floor for a vote.

“He said well, ‘Do you think I oughta tweet?’” the senator remembered.

At 3:56 p.m. Trump fired off a tweet.

“Hopefully Mitch McConnell will ask for a VOTE on Criminal Justice Reform. It is extremely popular and has strong bipartisan support,'' he wrote. "It will also help a lot of people, save taxpayer dollars, and keep our communities safe. Go for it Mitch!”

Four days later, to the surprise and relief of supporters, McConnell went to the Senate floor and announced he would put the bill to a vote. On Monday evening, the Senate is scheduled to vote to open debate on the bill. It's likely to pass later this week.

The measure aims to reduce the number of inmates in the nation’s crowded prisons. It would, among other things, give judges more discretion in sentencing offenders for nonviolent crimes, particularly drug offenses, and strengthen rehabilitation programs for former prisoners.

If the Senate approves the measure it must go back to the House, where it's also expected to pass. Trump has already said he would sign it into law.

But the path to finally becoming law hasn't been easy. It has been a yearslong fight of compromising, stalling and maneuvering in public – and behind the scenes.

“If you’re wondering why this thing ever came up, we’ve done everything everybody asked us to,” Grassley said. "It’s kind of how do you eat 10,000 marshmallows? One at a time. How do you get a co-sponsor or how do you get another person to say yes to the whip call? You do it one at a time."

Haunting stories

For many lawmakers and advocates, work on criminal justice reform goes back years and in some cases, decades.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee, a conservative, was a federal prosecutor in 2004 when he heard about Weldon Angelos.

Angelos, an aspiring rapper, was arrested for selling $350 worth of marijuana three times while in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to 55 years. The judge wrote a blistering opinion disagreeing with the harsh sentence, but said he was bound by the guidelines.

The judge "said something that would haunt me ever since then, he said 'only Congress can fix this problem,'" recalled Lee, who was elected to the Senate in 2010. "Many years later, after I got to the United States Senate, that’s one of the things that caused me to start looking for allies on criminal justice reform."

One of those unlikely allies was Dick Durbin, a progressive Democrat from Illinois.

Durbin’s drive to reform the system stems in part from what he calls the “worst votes I ever cast.”

While in the House, he backed a 1986 measure that led to tougher sentences for crack dealers than for those trafficking cocaine. The measure has been condemned for the disproportionate impact on African-Americans, who were more likely to possess crack than the more expensive cocaine.

Durbin vowed to fix it. When he got to the Senate he teamed with Sen. Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, to craft a bill that reduced the disparity. But it didn't go far enough for Durbin.

Six years ago, he started working with Lee on the "Smarter Sentencing Act.''

“I can't remember what brought us together, but it was a terrific alliance because it really puzzled people why Durbin and Lee would be doing something together,” Durbin recalled. “Our biggest problem was Chuck Grassley. He hated the bill.”

Grassley, who was in line to chair the Judiciary Committee, not only voted against their bill, but slammed it.

“I thought to myself, ‘We're going nowhere unless we have Chuck Grassley,'" said Durbin, who would reach out to him.

Grassley said he eventually came around and became a supporter, but the bill still never made it past the committee.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, another Democrat, also joined the effort.

When Booker got to the Senate in 2013, one of his first conversations was with conservative Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., about their mutual support for criminal justice reform.

For Booker, a former mayor of Newark, that passion came, in part, from watching men and women return from prison then struggle to find jobs or housing or aid to go to college.

"Not only was the criminal justice system focused on certain communities not others ... but it was a huge blow to the economy in our city,'' he said.

'Jared Kushner came to town'

Despite their passion and bipartisanship, including the backing of then-President Barack Obama, the efforts stalled.

Then, Durbin said, several things happened.

“The most important was Jared Kushner came to town,” he said. "I met him about two years ago and within minutes after our meeting he said, 'You know my father was in prison' and talked about what an impact that had on him.”

Kushner's father, Charles Kushner, went to prison in 2005 for tax evasion, witness tampering and illegal campaign contributions. He spent just over a year there.

Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser, became a key player, working with lawmakers in both chambers. He was critical to getting Trump to back the efforts.

Over in the House, Rep. Doug Collins, a Georgia conservative, and New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the incoming House Democratic Caucus chair, had bonded and decided to work off a criminal justice reform bill that had gone nowhere. Collins is expected to be the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee next year.

They teamed with Kushner on a narrow bill that didn't address mandatory minimum sentencing. It easily passed in the spring.

'Faces behind the lines'

Proponents of criminal justice reform in the Senate were furious. They wanted to reform mandatory minimums.

"We basically said we're going to do everything we can to defeat this bill in the Senate,'' said Booker. "That basically signed the death warrant."

That move forced everybody, including Kushner, to the table to craft a more comprehensive bill. Collins and Jeffries were also involved.

“When you work all three legs of the legislative triad … you can get some good stuff,” Collins said. “This is truly one of those bills that has faces behind the lines."

While lawmakers were negotiating, advocates were making their case.

It was early one July morning when Quovadis Marshall, pastor of Hope City Church in Waterloo, Iowa, walked into Grassley’s office in Washington.

Marshall, who had served seven years and four months for armed robbery, brought along his wife, Angela, his daughter, Kaylee, 23, and his 11-year-old son Jonathan.

After small talk about corn and soybeans, they got down to business

“We’ve got this idea of the person on the other end of crime and incarceration, but those people have families,'' said Marshall, who works with local agencies to host a sports camp for troubled teens and a gang prevention program. "Those men and women can be released to become productive citizens. We didn’t want to send him a letter without a face, but we wanted him to know that every name has a story and every story has a future.”

Marshall said Grassley vowed to get enough support for prison and sentencing reforms.

“True to form, he was right,’’ Marshall said. “It seems like the old senator from Iowa knew a thing or two about his colleagues.”

'Sweated blood and tears'

In the weeks leading up this week's vote, Grassley, Durbin, Lee, Booker and other key lawmakers, including Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., were "massaging'' language in the bill to sway reluctant colleagues.

Texts and phones calls were flying between senators and Kushner. Vice President Mike Pence and Kushner showed up at a Senate GOP policy lunch to tout the bill.

Durbin and Grassley even tagged-teamed on stage at a Washington Post Live Center event to tout the bill and call out McConnell for not bringing their measure up for a vote.

"It's been nonstop,'' said Durbin.

Advocates, including some who had been in prison themselves, were cornering senators in the halls and knocking on doors telling their stories about life behind bars.

Just last week, Louis L. Reed and a team from #cut50 met with Lee, Grassley and Durbin.

Since June, Reed, a national organizer for the group, has been to Washington 17 times to lobby for the bill. The group recently shifted its attention to Kentucky, McConnell's home state, after the senator said he wanted to hear from folks on the issue.

“Hear from us is what he got,” said Reed, who served 14 years in prison for among other things illegally possessing ammunition.

The group helped mobilize organizers in Kentucky, set up a phone bank and ramped up a social media campaign. They generated 30,000 calls to McConnell’s office.

“We have sweated blood and tears behind this issue,” Reed said. “We can’t wait for another Congress. We can’t wait for another midterm. We can’t wait for another president. People’s lives are literally hanging in the balance.”

There was still fierce opposition from other Republicans.

Conservatives like Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ted Cruz of Texas blasted the bill, saying it would allow early release for too many people with violent criminal histories.

Cruz crafted an amendment that would exclude inmates who committed certain crimes from being eligible for early release.

With a nod from bill sponsors and the White House to include his language, Cruz added his name to the list of supporters Dec. 7. That list grew to 34 by last Monday.

“I think the momentum we've seen in the last couple of days is a direct reflection of (that change),’’ Cruz said Wednesday.

Cotton never got on board, but has since been promised a vote on amendments he proposed with Sen. John Kennedy, R-La..

Still, all eyes were on McConnell, who would decide whether the bill could even come to the floor for a vote.

Democratic supporters left convincing McConnell to his fellow Republicans.

“I think Jared did a great job on this. I think that Chuck Grassley did a great job," said Booker.

Outside groups were anxious and wanted to help. But supporters urged them to sit tight.

“Nobody wanted ... to upset the discussions,’’ said Marc Morial, executive director of the National Urban League, who had called Jeffries, Booker and Kushner.

Then word spread early Tuesday that McConnell would allow the vote.

'Thinking about you all day'

Angelos – the former-inmate-turned-advocate – said he was so excited to hear a vote was scheduled he couldn't focus at his job fulfilling orders for an oil company. He messaged his friends still in prison.

Then he messaged ''this is exciting" to his friend in the Senate, Mike Lee.

"I've been thinking about you all day," Lee replied.

More: Here's what's in the criminal justice reform bill now headed to a vote in the Senate

More: Mitch McConnell, in reversal, says Senate will vote on criminal justice bill

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump asked, ‘Do you think I oughta tweet?': The yearslong journey that got Washington to 'yes' on criminal justice reform