CNN host Van Jones praised President Donald Trump for his prison reform agenda on “CNN Tonight with Don Lemon” Wednesday and said he deserved “credit” and “applause.”

“Jared Kushner, his father went to prison. He’s been a passionate advocate on this issue for awhile,” Jones said. (RELATED: Trump Makes Room Laugh With Bipartisan Joke)

“I think that when you have formerly incarcerated people taking the lead, which has really been the driving force here, and law enforcement and, you know, strong senators on both sides of the aisle — President Trump said listen, if this is going to make the streets safer, if it’s going to give people a fairer chance, some of these forgotten men and women, some of them are in Appalachia as well, let’s do something,” Jones said.

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Trump called on Congress to pass the First Step Act on Wednesday to address mandatory minimum sentencing, vocational training for prisoners and several other pillars of prison reform.

Jones said Trump is accomplishing things former President Barack Obama could not, and said the president deserved a “salute” for his efforts.

“I think you got to give [Trump] some credit. When Obama was in office, no matter what he did, the right wing just kicked his butt. I mean, he did stuff that the conservatives have been begging him to do and then they kicked his butt,” Jones said.

“So I say, the 99 times I don’t agree with the president, I’m going to give him hell, but on this one, I’ll give him a salute and an applause. We’ve got to come together to help the people at the bottom.”

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