Van Jones says criminal justice reform bill wouldn't have passed without Kim Kardashian: She 'put her celebrity on the line for people she didn't even know'
The First Step Act is on its way to becoming law after the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed the federal criminal justice reform bill — and Van Jones says it wouldn’t have been possible without Kim Kardashian.
The CNN commentator and political activist spoke to TMZ, praising the reality star for putting her “celebrity on the line” when she met with President Trump this year. In May, Kardashian made an impassioned plea to the president to pardon Alice Marie Johnson, a 63-year-old great-grandmother who had been imprisoned for more than two decades for a first-time drug offense. Trump granted clemency to Johnson and later endorsed the bipartisan criminal justice reform bill.
“Let me tell you something, if Kim Kardashian had not gone to the White House and talked to Donald Trump we would not have passed this bill,” Jones states. “We would not have 50,000 people fewer in federal prisons because of this bill, 100 percent of people who are locked up in federal prisons can go home a little bit earlier if they stay out of trouble, 50 percent of them can come home a lot earlier if they work hard, 100 percent of women are not going to be shackled and mistreated. Why? Because Kim Kardashian was willing to put her celebrity on the line for people she didn’t even know.”
Kardashian, who supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, was criticized for meeting with Trump.
Jones continues, “And everybody who said she was being played and she was just being used for a photo op, how you like me now? Look at the scoreboard now — 87 votes to 12 in the U.S. Senate? You can’t get 87 to 12 to change the post office name and we got 87 to 12 to help people behind bars because Kim Kardashian West was willing to stand up for somebody.”
Jones, a frequent critic of Trump, is giving credit where credit is due. “I got 99 conflicts with Trump, but prisons ain’t one,” he quipped.
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