“We’re giving Alice a full pardon. I just told her,” Trump said in the Oval Office alongside Johnson on Friday afternoon. “That means you can do whatever you want in life. Just keep doing the great job you’re doing. Alice has done an incredible job since she’s been out, and recommending other people” to grant clemency.
Johnson had already served 21 years of a life sentence after she was convicted on charges of conspiracy to possess cocaine and attempted possession of cocaine.
“It was real justice reform,” Johnson said of the First Step Act. “And it brought joy, hope and freedom to thousands of well-deserving people. I hollered, ‘Hallelujah!’ My faith in justice and mercy was rewarded. Imagine getting to hug your loved ones again. It’s a feeling I will never forget. And to think, this first step meant so much to so many.”
This is the second pardon the President has granted this week.
Ponder’s pardon was taped at the White House and rebroadcast during the RNC.
The list includes several orders absolving friends and conservative politicians of their crimes, including clemency for former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, conservative author Dinesh D’Souza and former New York City Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik.
More recently, Trump commuted Roger Stone’s prison sentence, after Stone, a longtime friend and former Trump adviser, had been convicted of crimes that included lying to Congress in part, prosecutors said, to protect the President.
CNN’s Jason Hoffman Jeremy Diamond and Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with comments and background.