When Kim Kardashian West learned that Alice Marie Johnson — a nonviolent drug offender serving a life sentence — would be freed, she broke the news to her while sobbing on the phone.
“I was like ‘you’re going home,’ ” Kardashian said Thursday, recalling the conversation with Johnson.
Johnson, 63, who had spent a third of her life in prison, screamed.
“We cried, maybe, on the phone for like three minutes straight,” an emotional Kardashian told CNN’s Van Jones, recounting her advocacy for Johnson, and her role in President Trump’s decision to grant Johnson clemency on Wednesday. “Everyone was just crying,”
It was a sweet ending to the mission Kardashian said she joined after seeing a story about Johnson’s case on her Twitter feed about seven months ago.
Kardashian said she “felt this connection” to Johnson when she learned about her story. So, the reality TV star set out to help.
Ivanka Trump was one of the first people she called to plead Johnson’s case, Kardashian said.
Kardashian also asked the President’s daughter for a meeting with her father.
That meeting took place last week — on Johnson’s birthday. And Kardashian said she tried to use her platform to help those who had been working on the case.
She said the President “felt it. He was compassionate. He was sympathetic to her,” during their meeting.
Citing Johnson’s good behavior and rehabilitation, President Trump on Wednesday commuted her sentence a week after meeting with Kardashian.
Kardashian said the President shared the news that he granted Johnson’s freedom in a phone call to the reality star.
She said Trump said he had investigated the case, speaking to several people, including Johnson’s warden, and everyone had “a unanimous feeling of Alice, that she will live a great life,” Kardashian said.
“When he said he has the papers in front of him and he’s signing it … my heart was so full,” Kardashian said.
An emotional Johnson left an Alabama prison on Wednesday, marveling at her freedom after 21 years behind bars, grateful for a second chance and craving seafood.
Johnson was convicted in 1996 of conspiracy to possess cocaine and attempted possession of cocaine. At the time, Johnson was seven months pregnant, according to her daughter, Catina Scales.
“I told Alice, ‘I’m never going to give up. So, I’ll do what I have to do to … get you out or make this happen if I have the power to do that,’ ” Kardashian said.
