President Donald Trump on Thursday appointed Alice Marie Johnson, a woman he pardoned during his first term, as “pardon czar.”
The announcement came during a Black History Month event at the White House.
The “pardon czar” will be responsible for making recommendations about who should be granted clemency.
Alice Marie Johnson, who had her sentence commuted by U.S. President Donald Trump (L) after serving 21 years in prison for cocaine trafficking, thanks the press during a celebration of the First Step Act in the East Room of the White House April 1, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The New York Times first reported Trump was thinking about naming Johnson “pardon czar.”
Johnson was convicted of nonviolent drug trafficking in Memphis, Tennessee, and after serving 21 years, her life sentence was commuted by Trump.
Reality television star Kim Kardashian West met with Trump at the White House a week prior to her release to discuss the great-grandmother’s case.
Alice Marie Johnson and Kim Kardashian attend an event celebrating Johnson’s five years of freedom and honoring Kim Kardashian on June 8, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. (Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for ABA)
WHO IS ALICE MARIE JOHNSON, THE GREAT-GRANDMOTHER TRUMP GRANTED CLEMENCY TO?
She was arrested in 1993 and convicted of drug conspiracy and money laundering in 1996.
A series of unfortunate events, including the death of her son, financial troubles and a divorce, led her to involvement with cocaine dealers.
“Back in the 1990s, I was a single mother about to lose my house,” Johnson wrote in a Fox News Digital opinion article. “In a desperate moment, I made a life-altering bad decision to become a low-level player in a drug operation. When law enforcement authorities broke up the drug operation, I was prosecuted and sentenced to life in prison.”
Alice Johnson revisits Aliceville, Alabama, after she was granted clemency and released from a prison in the city back in 2018. (Stand Together/Gina K. Danals)
While Johnson claims she never “touched, saw or sold a single drug,” she admitted to assisting in communications.
While in prison, she worked in the prison hospice, volunteered in the prison church, became an ordained minister, and started writing and directing plays.
After being pardoned, she remained under federal supervision for five years.
KIM KARDASHIAN WEST ADVOCATES FOR ALICE JOHNSON, OTHERS WHO ARE JAILED
She became a champion for overburdened case officers and has fought against unnecessary supervision post-incarceration.
Her work on criminal justice reform led her to launch “Taking Action For Good,” which advocated for clemency and pardons for over 100 people.
She also published a book and partnered with the philanthropic organization, Stand Together.
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Fox News Digital’s Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Emma Colton and Alice Marie Johnson contributed to this report.
