Keeping Up
Kim Kardashian Is Teaming Up with Jared Kushner for an Actually Good Cause
The unlikeliest crime-fighting duo.
By Erika Harwood
Left, by Jerritt Clark/Getty Images; Right, by Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call.
While Kanye West doubles down on his recent (and bad) opinion on slavery, Kim Kardashian is finding her own cause to champion: working to pardon a 62-year-old woman serving a life sentence over a nonviolent drug offense. According to Mic, Kardashian has already spoken with Jared Kushner on behalf of Alice Marie Johnson, who had spent 21 years in prison as of October 2017. That same month, Kardashian shared a Mic video on Johnson to her Twitter page writing, "This is so unfair . . ."
Kardashian's team confirmed to Mic that she has been in touch "with the White House and is working to bring Johnson's case to the president's desk" in order to arrange a presidential pardon or clemency. In November, she hired a team of lawyers including Shawn Holley, known for her work with celebrity clients including Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Snoop Dogg.
Kushner has been an unlikely proponent of criminal-justice reform, putting him at odds with Attorney General Jeff Sessions who has been vocal about his tough-on-crime approach. Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, have hosted dinners, inviting both Democrats and Republicans to discuss the cause, and they support a bill that would lighten sentences for nonviolent offenses and promote education, drug rehabilitation, and work training inside of prisons.
At one of the dinners he co-hosted, Kushner explained that his interest in criminal-justice reform began when his father, Charles Kushner, was sentenced to two years in prison for illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering. The elder Kushner was released in August 2006.
It's unclear where Johnson's case currently stands on the list of priorities with Donald Trump, but now that West's tweeting has his attention, maybe West can also lend his microphone to the cause?
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