Kim Kardashian West goes to the White House
WASHINGTON >> Reality TV star Kim Kardashian West paid a visit to the White House Wednesday to make a star-powered case to President Donald Trump and his staff on behalf of a woman serving a life sentence for drug offenses.
Kardashian West has been urging the president to pardon Alice Marie Johnson, 63, who has spent more than two decades behind bars and is not eligible for parole.
It had been unclear whether the socialite would have the chance to sit down with Trump while she was in Washington, but Trump confirmed the meeting — as he often does — via Twitter, writing, “Great meeting with @KimKardashian today, talked about prison reform and sentencing.”
He included a picture of the two in the Oval Office — Trump seated behind his desk and Kardashian West, dressed in all black, standing to his right.
Kardashian West arrived at the White House just after 4:30 p.m. for what was expected to be a meeting with Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, who is overseeing the administration’s push to overhaul the nation’s prison system. She appeared to preview the visit on her Twitter feed, writing: “Happy Birthday Alice Marie Johnson. Today is for you.”
Johnson was convicted in 1996 on eight criminal counts related to a Memphis-based cocaine trafficking operation involving more than a dozen people.
The 1994 indictment describes dozens of deliveries and drug transactions, many involving Johnson.
She was sentenced to life in prison in 1997.