“I cannot imagine the outcry if ... Hillary Clinton had spoke at the Democratic convention in 2012”

“I cannot imagine the outcry if Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had spoke at the Democratic Convention in 2012,” Tapper said. “Colin Powell in 2004 said he ‘obliged’ not to participate…and yet, Mike Pompeo is going to be doing exactly that.”

Tapper went on by noting that President Donald Trump also intends to flout tradition by taking time at the convention to issue a pardon to Jon Ponder. While the CNN host acknowledged there’s “no doubt [Ponder] deserves a pardon” after being granted clemency from the state of Nevada, “the idea this is done as part of a political convention, it’s just completely norm eroding, norm-busting tradition.”

“I just can’t even imagine what Republicans on Capitol Hill would be doing if Democrats were doing these types of activities during a convention,” Tapper said. “They would be rioting, quite frankly.”