Donald Trump is continuing to garner up hype for himself, with his various announcements about pardoning folks…in particular, deceased African American celebrities, including the iconic Muhammad Ali. If you ask Ali’s family and attorney though, they can think of some better ways he can be spending his presidential time.

Trump’s Announcement About Muhammad Ali

“I’m thinking about Muhammad Ali. I’m thinking about that very seriously and some others,” said Trump said,  outside the White House just  before departing for the Group of Seven summit. “And some folks that have sentences that aren’t fair.”

He missed one minor detail though…just ask the Ali family’s attorney…

Ali’s Attorney On What Trump Didn’t Realize About Ali

In an interview with CNN, Ali’s family attorney, Ron Tweel, said Trump’s gesture is appreciated, but the “pardon is unnecessary.”

“The US Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Muhammad Ali in a unanimous decision in 1971. There is no conviction from which a pardon is needed,” said Tweel.

Attorney Tweel continueed:

Via CNN: “It’s not like for weeks or days the administration has reached out to the Ali family. None of that,” he told CNN. “This was all spontaneous and I think, as a lot of people like to say, impulsive. … This was quite a surprise to everybody this morning when we heard about it. … So this, to our knowledge, came out of the blue, for reasons that I’ll let you speculate.”

Ali’s Daughter Reacts To Pardoning Suggestion

Former rap artist, Maryum Ali, says her father, needs no parts of a posthumous pardon, but she did suggest who Trump should be ‘pardoning’ so to speak:

“If President Trump wants to honor Muhammad Ali, he can start by respecting the rights of athletes to peacefully protest. A pardon is NOT necessary,” Maryum Ali tweeted.

Ali’s Ex-Wife Had A Lot To Say

When speaking to TMZ, Ali’s ex-wife of 9 years (1967- 1976), Khalilah Ali, had some words for Trump and his posthumous pardoning suggestion for Ali:

“If you’re willing to say its okay for Muhammad Ali to be pardoned for his freedom and standing up his rights and standing up for not going to the army … then you’re telling me that you’re ready to pardon everybody that has done that in the same manner as Muhammad Ali has. …There’s no necessary need for a pardon. … I think [Trump] probably was a fan of Ali and he thought he would say something positive about him. That might be it … but it’s a little too late.””

Trump’s pardoning suggestion for Ali, comes after he collaborated with Kim Kardashian to commute the sentence of one African American prisoner, Alice Marie Johnson. Ms. Johnson served 20 years of her life sentence, after being convicted on a drug charge as a first time offender. So that was good…HOWEVER…

Trump’s pardon suggestion also comes after he and U.S. attorney general, Jeff Sessions, REVERSED former President Obama’s drug policy reform to reduce the far too harsh federal sentencing rules for nonviolent drug and/or first time low level drug offenders. Meaning, people who may have been arrested for less harsh drug charges, like marijuana, but ended up serving 15 years to life sentences (even if its their first offense), which primarily affects the African American community. Those Federal drug laws have long been opposed by millions of people for being racially biased, calculated moves by the government to intentionally keep Black people in the rotating door of the prison system.  Pretty sure Muhammad Ali would not have been happy about this one bit.