President Donald Trump is looking at the possible pardon of a great-grandmother serving life without parole for a first-time, non-violent drug offense, the White House said Thursday.
The plight of 63-year-old Alice Marie Johnson was brought to the president’s attention by Kim Kardashian, who met with the president at the White House on Wednesday.
“He’s looking at that one, as well. It was a brief meeting, but one that — again, he takes these things extremely seriously. That’s a power outlined by the Constitution, one in which he understands the gravity,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters on board Air Force One en route to Dallas, Texas, on Thursday.
“And much like the other cases you guys mentioned and other ones you don’t know anything about that he’s already looking into as well, I can’t get ahead of the decision that he’s going to make, but he’s looking at all those seriously. He takes them seriously, because they impact people’s lives,” he added.
Gidley was asked about the possible pardons of Martha Stewart and commutation of Democrat Rod Blagojevich’ s sentence – the former governor of Illinois.
“Two of the people the president mentioned for pardons — he’s considering Blagojevich and Martha Stewart — they both have connections to ‘Celebrity Apprentice.’ Is there a reason he’s thinking about them and not some of the other 3,000 people on the list?” a reporter asked.
“He’s thinking about all of those people. One of the things he mentioned also is that Jack Johnson, the former heavyweight champion, was one of the ones that really impacted him. It was a great disservice done to him. The president felt as though it was a wrong that needed to be righted, and he has the power, under the Constitution, to right that wrong — and that’s what he did,” Gidley said.
As CNSNews.com reported, Trump pardoned conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza on Thursday, because he felt D’Souza was “a victim of selective prosecution for violations of campaign finance laws.”
“The same applies to Dinesh D’Souza. He thought there was some selective prosecution there, reviewed the case, looked at the merits, and made the decision. He also mentioned Mr. Blagojevich and also Martha Stewart. He’s looking at those, but I can’t get ahead of his deliberations or decisions on that,” Gidley said.
“The people you mentioned, though, were all celebrities. Is that a fair way — in their own right and in different ways. Is that a fair way to view the commonalities?” a reporter asked.
“Look, there are plenty of people the president is looking at right now under the pardon process, but I don’t have anything further than that right now,” Gidley said.
(Courtesy of CNSNews.com)
