Kim Kardashian traveled to the White House to discuss prison reform with President Donald Trump on May 30, 2018.

22 years into the sentence, along comes Kim Kardashian West who picked up her children’s long campaign to commute their mother’s inhumane sentence. Kim took the fight to congress, before requesting a summit with the White House seeking the release of Alice Johnson. The summit turned out to be a rousing success.

President Trump commuted the sentence of Alice Johnson on Wednesday, days after Kim Kardashian traveled to the White House to advocate for the Tennessee grandmother’s release.

Alice Johnson, alights from the SUV and screams joyfully as she races to be reunited with her family the moment she was released from prison, at 6:25 PM  on  Jun 6, 2018   

“BEST NEWS EVER!” Kim mogul tweeted Wednesday, thanking the President, his son-in-law Jared and “everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson.”

The reality star added: “Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are also deserving of a second chance. 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.”
Kardashian got to break the news to Johnson over the phone.

“Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget,” the social media sensation tweeted, saying it “will forever be one of my best memories.”

The reality television star initially became involved in Johnson’s case in October after watching a Mic Opinion video of Johnson sharing her story from behind bars. She tweeted the clip and then enlisted the help of her personal attorney Shawn Chapman Holley for legal support.

Holley told the website The Blast that she was on the “wonderful, emotional and amazing phone call with Alice, Kim and Alice’s lawyers.”

“It was a moment I will never forget. Once Alice’s family joined the call, the tears never stopped flowing,” she said.
Speaking to NBC a day after her release, a very happy Alice Johnson smiled from ear to ear on Thursday as she spoke out for the first time since being freed from federal prison on Wednesday.
The 63-year-old grandmother had her life sentence commuted by President Trump, after Kim Kardashian West went to him with her story and asked for a pardon.
Sitting next to her 45-year-old daughter, who she has been separated from for the last 22 years, Johnson said she’s excited that she has another shot at life.
‘We are going to appreciate every single moment that we have. Sometimes, we take family and life for granted. I’ll never do that again,’ Johnson told the Today show.

Alice Johnson sprints towards her family after being released on Wednesday evening

Johnson is enveloped in the warm embrace of her daughter and other jubilant family members on Wednesday evening after she was reunited with them

One of Johnson’s attorneys, Brittany K. Barnett, similarly applauded Johnson’s clemency.

“Justice has been served today, and it’s long overdue. Alice has more than paid her debt to society by serving over 21 years of a life-without-parole sentence as a non-violent drug offender,” she said in a statement.

“Life without the possibility of parole screams that a person is beyond hope, beyond redemption. And in Alice’s case, it is a punishment that absolutely did not fit the crime. President Trump saved Alice Johnson’s life today. We are extremely grateful and hope the President continues to use his clemency power to save lives.”

Samuel T. Morison, a criminal defense lawyer in Washington D.C. and former staff attorney at the pardon office, commended Trump and his willingness to show “some independence from the Department of Justice” while emphasizing the importance of having a “defined process” for issuing pardons and clemency moving forward.

“My concern would be that we’re going to be seeing a free-for-all. That everybody and their brother , typically the people that have money and connections, are going to go directly to the White House to get pardons,” he explained.
“There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just not a strong practice.”

Kim herself broke the news to Alice that her sentence was being commuted 

President Trump wished the newly released Alice Johnson a ‘wonderful life’ in a tweet Thursday morning

Others had reservations if about the specific pardon of Alice Johnson, but the process involved in obtaining that presidential reprieve.
Political commentator and author Jared Yates Sexton was significantly more put off by the President’s decision to commute Johnson’s sentence. It “should terrify everyone,” he tweeted.

“Trump can be manipulated into anything by anyone willing to flatter him. She deserved a pardon, but it’s completely contradictory to the only principles Trump has held firm with. He moved on it because a celebrity flattered and appealed to him. That’s… not great.”

 Johnson’s release comes amid reports that the President has become “obsessed” with his constitutional power to intervene on such matters. A White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Washington Post Trump’s power to pardon has become his “new favorite thing” to talk about.
“It’s all part of the show,” said veteran Republican consultant Ed Rollins, a former strategist for a pro-Trump super PAC.
“It’s not a rational or traditional process but about celebrity or who they know, or who he sees on ‘Fox & Friends.’
He’s sending the message, ‘I can do whatever I want, and I could certainly pardon someone down the line on the Russia probe.’ ”

The President had taken took to Twitter on Monday to tout his ability, claiming he has the “absolute right” to pardon himself. He also noted he would do no such thing, given that he has done nothing wrong.

Kim Kardashian successfully nudged the Trump administration to circumvent Dept Of Justice protocol and commute the life sentence for Alice Johnson, after she had served 22 years on a life sentence, for a non-violent drug crime

The White House, it has been reported, recently assembled the pardoning paperwork for at least 30 people, two sources familiar with the situation told CNN.

Trump has reportedly bypassed the traditional method of reviewing possible pardons and clemencies through the Justice Department, taking action on his own.

Earlier this week, Trump pardoned conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, who pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance laws in 2014. He also recently told reporters he was mulling a pardon for Martha Stewart and a commutation for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Trump’s pardoning spree stands in contrast to habits of recent Presidents past. Historically, presidents have issued clemency and pardons throughout their terms, though the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations mostly waited to the conclusion of their time in office.

Since taking office in 2017, Trump has either pardoned or granted clemency to six people he felt were treated unfairly.

In addition to D’Souza and Johnson, he’s handed forgiveness to former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson, Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby and former Navy sailor Kristian Saucier.

Democrats in the House Judiciary Committee say they’re concerned Trump’s gotten pardon-happy, and wrote a letter to White House counsel Don McGahn to explain his pardon process. Trump’s actions, they noted, “appear to cut against legal consensus and long-established practices at the Department of Justice.”