Trump seems to be applying Kim Kardashian West's prison reform message to famous people he likes
President Trump met with Kim Kardashian West on Wednesday to discuss prison reform, and the reality star highlighted the appalling case of 62-year-old Alice Marie Johnson, who is serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense. Kardashian West has become a champion of Johnson's cause, saying she will do "whatever it takes" to get the grandmother out of prison.
But Trump apparently intends to go in a different direction, instead applying the prison reform message to famous people he likes. While Johnson remains an inmate, Trump said Thursday he is considering commuting the prison sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) and issuing a presidential pardon to Martha Stewart.
Blagojevich is six years into a 14-year sentence for corruption charges mostly focused on his attempt to sell the Senate seat previously held by Barack Obama. Stewart was convicted of charges related to insider trading in 2004 and sentenced two five months in prison plus two years of supervised release.
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Trump previously issued a posthumous pardon to Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion, who was arrested in 1912 for driving his white girlfriend over state lines. Earlier Thursday, he announced he will pardon right-wing provocateur Dinesh D'Souza, who pleaded guilty to felony charges related to campaign finance violations in 2014 and was sentenced to a fine, probation, and eight months in a halfway house.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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