Alice Johnson, granted clemency by Trump, to speak at RNC
After having her life sentence commuted by President Trump in 2018, Johnson will speak during the 2020 RNC.
The GOP has called on Alice Marie Johnson to speak during the 2020 Republican National Convention following her commuted life sentence in 2018.
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Set to live out her remaining days behind bars on her first offense of nonviolent drug conspiracy charges, Johnson was granted clemency by President Donald Trump after serving 21 years. Lobbying from Kim Kardashian-West assisted with the administration’s decision.
As theGrio previously reported, the reality star learned of Johnson’s story browsing social media and was moved to action.
“It’s funny because people will just hear something and not understand, ‘What does Kim have to do with prison reform?’ Seven months ago I saw a story on Twitter and it was about a great-grandmother that just tugged at my heart and it was just that simple connection,” Kardashian-West said in an interview several years ago.
Now free to tell her own story, Johnson hopes her message of criminal justice reform will resonate with the RNC audience, The Daily Beast reports.
“I’ll be there talking about criminal justice reform, that is my main mission,” she tells the news outlet. “I’m there because I’ve been affected by our criminal justice system.”
Johnson was part of an ad that ran during this year’s Super Bowl in support of the Donald Trump re-election campaign.
She joins a colorful list of citizens, politicians, celebrities and more slated to speak during the RNC. theGrio reports Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the Missouri couple who gained notoriety after waving guns anti-police brutality demonstrators, will also take the stage.
According to CBS, the lineup includes the aforementioned guests as well as Ben Carson, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, former NFL players Herschel Walker and Jack Brewer, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, and more.
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The RNC begins today, Aug. 24 from Charlotte, North Carolina, with some events in Washington, D.C., and some online. Trump is expected to accept his nomination from the White House. The event can be live-streamed on multiple platforms, including Facebook and YouTube, according to the official website.
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