Why is Kim Kardashian West Taking Up Prison Reform with Jared Kushner?

By 
Kim Kushner Trump

On May 30, Kim Kardashian West headed to the White House to meet Jared Kushner to discuss prison reform. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. Kim Kardashian West has taken it upon herself to solve the problem of America’s prison-industrial complex. Yep.

The Background

After watching a Mic video about a grandmother, Alice Marie Johnson, imprisoned for more than 20 years for a low-level drug offense, Kim tweeted, “This is so unfair…” Subsequently, she reached out to Ivanka Trump, who put Kim in touch with her husband, Jared Kushner. Apparently, Kardashian and Kushner have been in “back-channel talks” for months, whatever that means.

This was the video:

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Vanity Fair explained, “Prison reform is an issue near and dear to Kushner, whose father, Charles, spent more than a year in a federal prison camp in 2005 and 2006 on charges of tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions, and witness tampering. The experience left an indelible mark on the young Kushner who, for years, carried a wallet his father made for him in prison; when he joined the White House as senior adviser, he vowed to help improve the system that his father had come through.”

Recently, Kushner has been working on a prison reform plan that goes against the goals of some members of his father-in-law’s administration. It’s all a mess.

What Happened at the White House?

As Vanity Fair reported, “According to a person familiar with the meeting, Kardashian plans to ask Trump to pardon a woman serving a life sentence without parole for a first-time drug offense.” On May 30, Kim tweeted about Alice, wishing her happy birthday and proclaiming “Today is for you.”

And yes, Kim met with Trump himself. (Kushner is nowhere to be seen.) The New York Times reported, “Brittany K. Barnett, a member of Ms. Johnson’s legal team, said Ms. Kardashian West and her lawyer, Shawn Chapman Holley, were scheduled to meet with a group of White House officials — including the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner. Their goal was to raise the issue of clemency for Ms. Johnson. They ended up meeting with not just the initial group, but with the president, too.”

Trump tweeted a photo of him and Kim:

And Kim didn’t tweet a photo with him, but tweeted to her 60 million followers:

What was the result?

Instead of pardoning Johnson (which may still come, TBD), President Trump announced this morning, May 31, that he is pardoning the racist, all-around terrible person who outed gay students at Dartmouth, and actual convicted criminal, Dinesh D’Souza. YIKES.

How do people feel about this?

Surprise surprise, Twitter has a lot of thoughts about Kardashian’s visit to the White House…

https://twitter.com/SymoneDSanders/status/1001822810476634113

https://twitter.com/KaraRBrown/status/1001827730722205696

https://twitter.com/TheOpposition/status/1001834461930098688

https://twitter.com/KayOyegun/status/1001999467384659968

https://twitter.com/pacelattin/status/1002181057641201665

https://twitter.com/ira/status/1001963905856540672

2018: Proving once again that things can always get weirder.

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