When Kim Kardashian Denied Being Trump's 'Political Pawn,' Called It Kanye West's 'Legitimacy'

Back in 2018, Kim Kardashian successfully urged former President Donald Trump to commute Alice Marie Johnson's life sentence for narcotics offenses without violence. As per People, Johnson had been incarcerated in a federal prison in Aliceville, Alabama, for more than 20 years until she was pardoned and released in June following the reality star's months-long campaign to liberate her, which resulted in a meeting with Trump. After receiving severe backlash from fans who thought the Kardashian was being used as a 'political pawn' by the Republican leader, she set the record straight while appearing on CNN with Van Jones.

“I think Kanye’s already given him legitimacy in that way,” Kardashian said, referring to her ex-rapper husband’s open support for Trump, as per People. “I was working on this before. I don’t think I would be used. At the end of the day, he heard me out. We got the job done. What could he really use me for?” she told Jones. “I have to say I never get starstruck. I was starstruck over the Oval Office,” she continued to state about her visit to the White House.

“It says ‘Unknown.’ I remember I was on the phone with my husband and I said, ‘Wait, babe, I have to call you back.’ And it was a secretary on the line who said she had the president on the phone and I knew it had to be some news,” the Hulu star recalled about her phone call with the former President. “I was always really hopeful. And I had been in communication with Jared so I was feeling things were looking really positive.”

She also revealed that Trump 'really investigated this case' before granting Johnson’s clemency plea. “They spoke to [Johnson’s] warden and just spoke to everyone. Everyone had a unanimous feeling of Alice that she will live a great life and that she has done her time, has been a model person in prison. He felt her heart and he explained that to me. When he said he has the papers in front of him and he was signing it and my heart was so full,” she shared. 

Johnson expressed her gratitude towards the SKIMS founder in an essay for CNN, writing, “Some refer to prison as a place where hope dies. Some days I’ve found that to be almost right. Each time that I’ve come close [to giving up], God has restored my faith.” Adding, “So when the unlikely voices of Kim Kardashian West and Jared Kushner came together to shine a spotlight on my case, I could only thank God, for he works in mysterious ways.”

Meanwhile, Kanye West openly endorsed his support for Trump in 2018, and he also sported the iconic red 'Make America Great Again' hat when he paid the 2024 GOP frontrunner a visit that went viral. As per The NY Post, the Donda rapper had mentioned in an interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson that he felt 'threatened' because of his backing for Trump.

“My so-called friends-slash-handlers around me told me if I said that I liked Trump that my career would be over, that my life would be over,” West said. “They said stuff like, ‘People get killed for wearing a hat like that.’ They threatened my life. They basically said that I would be killed for wearing the hat.”

Even his 'friend' Trump, West admitted, had taken advantage of him politically. “For older white people, they’re quick to classify a black person only by the fact that we’re black. Even Trump, a person that we’d consider a friend of mine when I went to the White House, I called him after that to get A$AP Rocky out of jail. And one of the things he said to me is, ‘Kanye, you’re my friend. When you came to the White House, my black approval rating went up 40%,’” he said.