14/06/2019 11:38
Kim Kardashian Advocates for Criminal Justice Reform at White House (video)
Kim Kardashian spoke at the White House on Thursday, appearing alongside President Trump boosting efforts to help people leaving prison return to the workforce, Fox News reports.
Initially seated between Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Kardashian, 38, was met with applause after President Trump mentioned the reality star in his opening remarks.
"It really is such an honor to be here today," Kardashian, who has been advocating for criminal justice reform issues, said when she took the podium. She called Trump's support of the "Second Chance" program "magic," and added that the initiative had partnered with rideshare organization Lyft to hand out gift cards for reformed criminals to get to and from job interviews.
"My whole journey with criminal justice reform started about a year ago when I came to see the president after speaking to Ivanka and Jared who really fought for me to get here and I pled the case of Alice Johnson who the president granted clemency to," Kardashian said.
She continued: "And after that I really spent so much time going to different prisons because I really had no connection to anybody on the inside and really just felt like for me, I'm at the place in my life that I wanted to make a difference and just wanted to do the right thing, but I didn't know how or what to do or even really what was going on."
After visiting different prisons, Kardashian said her "heart just completely opened up" and she "wanted to do more," so she started to study the law.
Kardashian went on to introduce the new rideshare partnership. "I'm so happy to be here today amongst people that want the same thing and that really believe in supporting their re-entry."
She added: "I just want to thank the president for really standing behind this issue and seeing the compassion that he's had for criminal justice has been really remarkable."