Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Politics/National
NationalNews

Kim Kardashian All Smiles Over Trump Granting Clemency to Alice Marie Johnson Following White House Visit

Posted byBy Kiersten Willis | Published on: CommentsComments (0)
trump clemency

(Change.org)

After meeting with Kim Kardashian to discuss prison reform last week, President Donald Trump has reportedly granted clemency to Alice Marie Johnson.

Kardashian had been working to free Johnson, a 63-year-old grandmother who was jailed in 1996 for a non-violent drug crime, and finally met Trump on Wednesday, May 30 to discuss her release.

Sources told Mic Wednesday, June 6 that Trump granted clemency for Johnson, who recently celebrated her birthday.

She was jailed for 21 years for her involvement in a multimillion-dollar cocaine ring, which she said she got into when she lost her job and could no longer support her family. She noted in a CNN op-ed that when she got a divorce and buried her son things “began to spiral out of control.”

“I made the biggest mistake of my life to make ends meet and got involved with people selling drugs,” Johnson wrote in the May article. “This was a road I never dreamed of venturing down. I became what is called a telephone mule, passing messages between the distributors and sellers. I participated in a drug conspiracy, and I was wrong.”

In response to Johnson’s clemency, several people have given their thoughts on the news.

“Good, but 45 and Kim are still trash.”

“It takes a tv star (using that word loosely) to get another tv star (using the word really loosely) to get something done.”

“🤔 Wonder what deal went down…what was offered on the side in return. I don’t believe Trump will do something for nothing.“

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top