Kim Kardashian Meets With Jared Kushner At White House To Talk Prison Reform

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By Haley Cohen May 30, 2018

Following months of talks, Kim Kardashian West visited the White House on Wednesday to discuss prison reform with Jared Kushner and President Trump, Vanity Fair reported.

The Oval Office meeting centered around the reality star’s plea for the president to pardon Alice Marie Johnson, a black woman from Mississippi who was sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for a first-time drug offense. West has publicly advocated for her release and funded lawyers to help with the case.

Johnson’s 63rd birthday fell on the day of the White House meeting. “Today is for you,” West tweeted, along with a happy birthday wish for Johnson.

Kushner, Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, has advocated for prison sentencing reform since taking on a White House role. He pushed Congress to support a bipartisan bill known as the First Step Act, which aims to better prepare inmates to re-enter society by encouraging participation in job-training and drug-treatment programs, and which would also give nonviolent offenders more options to serve the final part of their sentences in halfway houses or home confinement. Kushner’s father Charles served 14 months in prison in 2005-2006.

“Get a bill to my desk, and I will sign it,” President Trump reportedly promised. However, the president has also assured he would be tough on crime. Trump has extended a presidential pardon in only a few cases, such as with jailed kosher meat executive Sholom Rubashkin and former Dick Cheney aide Scooter Libby.

Contact Haley Cohen at hcohen@forward.com

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