(DCNF)—CNN’s Van Jones praised President Donald Trump on Monday for appointing Alice Marie Johnson as his “pardon czar.”
Trump announced Johnson’s selection on Thursday after granting her a full pardon for her during his first term following her spending 22 years in prison for a non-violent drug offense. Jones, on “On Brand with Donny Deutsch,” argued that Johnson’s appointment is a major development, given her firsthand experience with the criminal justice system.
“He put Miss Alice Johnson — the formerly incarcerated black woman who he freed while working with Kim Kardashian — he just put her in charge of pardons. That’s huge,” Jones said. “Somebody who’s actually been incarcerated, been in the federal system, understands how the Department of Justice screws over people who should be coming home — some people who shouldn’t come home, but a lot of people that should come home and they get screwed by the pardon office.”
“She’s going to fix that. As somebody who’s worked on criminal justice … for 30 years, having someone who’s a formerly incarcerated person in charge of going through all these pardons and making sure that people get a fair shot — I think that’s a very good thing,” he continued.
Johnson had been serving a life sentence for her role in a multi-million dollar cocaine trafficking ring in the 1990’s. Trump commuted her sentence in June 2018 at the request of Kardashian, who came to the White House to push for criminal justice reform.
Jones collaborated with the White House during Trump’s first term to pass the “First Step Act” in 2018 which enabled nonviolent criminals to leave prison earlier by way of increased “earned time credits.”
“We’ve got to give Trump credit where credit is due,” Jones said in 2019. “He did fight hard to pass the bill and he made it possible for other Republicans to also be in the pro-criminal justice camp.”
Radio host Charlamagne Tha God told The New York Times in May 2024 that Trump’s signing of the bipartisan act could shift black voter support toward him in the November election.
“There’s people who actually saw family members and people they love actually get out of prison,” Charlamagne said.
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