Donald Trump pardons Alice Marie Johnson after Kim Kardashian’s visit to White House

KIM Kardashian endured a big dose of mockery when she met with Donald Trump over a surprisingly serious subject. But she has just been vindicated.

DRAMATIC TV footage has captured a woman’s emotional reunion with family after more than two decades in jail following Donald Trump’s move to commute her life sentence.

Alice Marie Johnson had been sentenced to life for drug offences and the case for her release was championed by Kim Kardashian in a recent visit to the White House.

President Trump took the reality star’s words to heart and decided to pardon Johnson.

“Ms Johnson has accepted responsibility for her past behaviour and has been a model prisoner over the past two decades,” The White House said in a statement.

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An emotion Alice Johnson rushed to reunite with family after her release from prison. Picture: WVTM

Johnson is mobbed by family. Picture: WVTM

US President Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian at the White House. Picture: Supplied

“While this Administration will always be very tough on crime, it believes that those who have paid their debt to society and worked hard to better themselves while in prison deserve a second chance,” the statement added.

Shortly after the announcement news cameras caught Johnson’s joy as she reunited with family.

BEST NEWS EVER!!!! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 https://t.co/JUbpbE1Bk0

— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018

So grateful to @realDonaldTrump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson. Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are also deserving of a second chance.

— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018

I hope to continue this important work by working together with organizations who have been fighting this fight for much longer than I have and deserve the recognition.

— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018

The 63-year old has spent more than two decades behind bars and was not eligible for parole.

Kardashian later revealed she was the one who broke the news to Johnson.

“The phone call I just had with Alice will forever be one of my best memories. Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget,” she said.

The move comes amid a recent flurry of pardons issued by Mr Trump, who has seemed drawn to causes advocated by conservatives, celebrities or those who once appeared on his former reality show, The Apprentice.

The phone call I just had with Alice will forever be one of my best memories. Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget.

— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018

The commutation puts a renewed focus on the Trump administration’s push for prison and sentencing reform, but which has sometimes clashed with the president’s law-and-order approach, especially at the Justice Department.

Indeed, Mr Trump has called for getting tougher on drug dealers, including suggesting some should receive the death penalty.

Alice Marie Johnson has been pardoned. Picture: Change.org

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, and appellate judges and the US Supreme Court have rejected her appeals.

A criminal justice advocacy site, CAN-DO, and one of Johnson’s lawyer say a request for clemency was rejected by former US President Barack Obama. The reasons are unclear.

Donald Trump pardoned former world champion boxer Jack Johnson after a meeting with Sylvester Stallone (R). Picture: AFP

Donald Trump has flagged that he may pardon Martha Stewart. Picture: AFP

Memphis lawyer Michael Scholl, who filed the latest court documents in her request for a sentence reduction, said she was not a leader in the cocaine operation.

“What is the purpose of putting a lady with no prior criminal record, on a nonviolent drug offence, in jail for her entire life?” he said in a telephone interview. “She’s a model inmate.” Mr Scholl added that Johnson has admitted her wrongdoing, which is borne out in letters she has written to US District Judge Samuel H. Mays, who now oversees her case.

“Judge Mays I’m writing to you to express my deep remorse for the crime that I committed over 20 years ago. I made some bad choices which have not only affected my life, but have impacted my entire family,” she said in a February 2017 letter in the court record.

In a hand-scrawled letter last June she wrote: “I’m a broken woman. More time in prison cannot accomplish more justice.”

In this 1932 file photo, boxer Jack Johnson, the first black world heavyweight champion, poses in New York City. Donald Trump gave him a rare pardon in May. Picture: AP

Kardashian visited the White House in May to meet 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 also met with Mr Trump in the Oval Office, a photograph of which the president released on Twitter.

Kardashian said she’d been moved by Johnson’s story after seeing a video by the news outlet on Twitter.

“I think that she really deserves a second chance at life,” Kardashian told Mic. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get her out.”

Writer/director Dinesh D'Souza was pardoned by Donald Trump. Picture: AFP

The commutation comes days after Mr Trump pardoned conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza, who was convicted of a campaign finance violation, and granted a posthumous pardon to boxing’s first black heavyweight champion, clearing Jack Johnson’s name more than 100 years after what many saw as a racially charged conviction.

The boxer’s pardon had been championed by actor Sylvester Stallone, who Mr Trump said had brought the story to his attention in a phone call.

Former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, was pardoned. Picture: Getty

Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was pardoned. Picture: Getty

Mr Trump has also pardoned former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a staunch campaign supporter; Scooter Libby, who served as chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney; and a US Navy sailor convicted of taking photos of classified portions of a sub.

In May, he also suggested he was considering acting to commute the sentence of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who is serving 14 years in prison for corruption, and celebrity homemaker Martha Stewart, convicted of insider trading.