Kim Kardashian Stood Her Ground Against Trump's Lawyer in Clemency Case, Writes Jared Kushner

Mar. 15, 2025

Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian.

Jared Kushneris offering more details aboutKim Kardashian’s influence on the Trump administration in his upcoming book,Breaking History: A White House Memoir.

An exclusive book excerpt provided to PEOPLE tells of the behind-the-scenes journey to getAlice Johnson’s prison sentence commuted, in which Kardashian and Kushner played significant roles.

Kardashian first reached out toIvanka Trumpabout the case in late 2017, Kushner writes, before the task was put in his hands. It caught his eye that Johnson, then 63, was serving her 21st year of a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense, particularly because she had spent her time behind bars transforming her life. (“She’d become an ordained minister, completed multiple vocational certifications, mentored fellow inmates, and maintained a spotless behavioral record,” he says.)

“With the president increasingly supportive of criminal justice reform, I decided it was the perfect moment to bring him Alice Johnson’s clemency case,” Kushner says. “In an Oval Office meeting in May, after working closely withKim Kardashianto vet the file, I presented Alice’s case to the president.”

Still, Trump was open to the idea, so Kushner arranged to bring Kardashian to the White House in an attempt to tip the scale.

“She gracefully presented Alice’s case to the president,” Kushner writes. “She knew the details backward and forward.”

Donald Trump/Twitter

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After some reassuring that it was the right thing to do, Trump continued with his plan anyway and watched Johnson reunite with her family on the evening news.

“Her emotion was raw, her joy contagious, her long suffering and love emanated from her smile,” Kushner says. “The president called me afterward. ‘Jared, that is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I’ve been around for a long time, and that was beautiful.'”

While Kushner describes Johnson’s release as a source of pride for his time in D.C., his account of the ordeal makes clear that Kardashian was a driving force in influencing Trump’s views on how to handle prisoners like Johnson.

Kushner’s memoir, whichcovers his entire White House stintbeyond partnering with Kardashian, is set to release on Aug. 23.

source: people.com