Kim Kardashian is working with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to try get a presidential pardon for Alice Marie Johnson, a 62-year-old currently serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense, according to Mic.
Kim and the Kushner have reportedly taken several phone calls over the past few months, escalating in frequency and intensity over the last several days as Kim tries to get the pardon on Donald Trump’s desk. White House attorneys have also reviewed Johnson’s case.
Johnson has been in federal prison for more than two decades now, since October 1996, and captured KKW’s attention in a Mic video shared last fall. Since then, Kim has played an active role in trying to get Johnson released.
Johnson was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1997 on money laundering and drug conspiracy charges—her first offense. Her pardon is complicated, though, since it would go against Trump’s history of demonizing drug-related offenders and promoting the death penalty. Johnson told Micback in October that she became involved in drug trafficking as a way to make ends meet following a series of rough events in her life including the loss of her job, the death of her son, and a divorce. “I felt like a failure,” Johnson said at the time. “I went into a complete panic and out of desperation, I made one of the worst decisions of my life to make some quick money. I became involved in a drug conspiracy.”
According to TMZ, Johnson has written Kim a thank-you note expressing her "deep and heartfelt gratitude.” "Ms. Kardashian you are literally helping to save my life and restore me to my family,” she wrote. “I was drowning and you have thrown me a life jacket and given me hope."
