CELEBS/PRISONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Kim Kardashian West met with President Trump at the White House on Wednesday [5-30-18], and the subject seemed an unlikely one for a glamorous celebrity and cosmetics mogul: prison reform. But the reason for Ms. Kardashian West’s interest is the case of Alice Johnson, a 63-year-old Tennessee woman who, according to the nonprofit project Can-Do, was sentenced in 1996 to life in prison on charges related to cocaine possession and money laundering. 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…The White House is reviewing Ms. Johnson’s case, an administration official said. As a driving force behind her family’s sizable empire, Ms. Kardashian West’s ability to successfully champion causes, sell her wares and denounce her critics rivals the president’s. She is also one of the few high-profile celebrities to break through the resistance-leaning force field much of Hollywood has drawn around itself when it comes to interacting with the Trumps.”
-Katie Rogers, “Trump Meets With Kim. Kim Kardashian West, That Is.,” The New York Times online, May 30, 2018