Donald Trump has commuted the sentence of a 63-year-old woman who was serving a life sentence for non-violent drug offences.
Alice Marie Johnson was convicted on charges of conspiracy to possess cocaine and attempted possession of cocaine, and had already served 21 years before Trump intervened.
The pardon comes after reality TV star Kim Kardashian West visited the White House to speak directly to Trump about Johnson’s case last week, after contacting his daughter Ivanka to help set up the meeting.
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Senior Trump advisers, including chief of staff John Kelly and White House counsel Donald McGahn, both expressed their disapproval of the decision to issue the pardon, with McGahn calling it “an unnecessary action by the president”.
The Washington Post reports that senior White House aides believe that Trump has become “fixated on his ability to issue pardons”, which they describe as his “new favourite thing”.
“The presidential pardon holds a special resonance for Trump, representing one area where he has almost unchecked power as other aspects of his presidency… remain outside his control,” The Post says.
CNN reports that the pardon is “the sixth act of clemency Trump has issued since taking office, and the second granted by Trump after a celebrity appealed to him”.
Boxer Jack Johnson was posthumously pardoned by Trump last month, after a lobbying effort by Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone.
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