When Kim Kardashian met with President Donald Trump at the White House, and posed for that deeply uncomfortable-looking photo behind his desk, people were rightly skeptical of Trump’s intent. After all, this is a man who craves posing for photos with famous people, even requiring those filming movies at his properties to give him a cameo—not to mention the many, many insults he’d lobbed at Kardashian’s body over the years.
But the summit bore fruit: Alice Johnson, a 62-year-old woman serving a life sentence for a first-time drug offense, was granted clemency by the president thanks in large part to Kardashian’s petitioning on her behalf. And since then, Kardashian, who has incredible social reach and influence, has gone on numerous talk shows to defend Trump despite his otherwise execrable record.
She made another late-night stop Sunday, joining her E! network-mate Busy Philipps on the latest episode of Busy Tonight, where she defended her White House confab.
“He started off saying that he wanted to be extremely tough on crime, and that this was never anything that anyone thought that he would do,” Kardashian explained. “But after, you know, meeting with him and talking to him, he really did understand it. He endorsed the First Step Act which is like such a big deal in getting all of these bills passed and these laws changed that will be so much better for people that have been incarcerated and will actually let out thousands of people.” (The First Step Act aims to combat recidivism by offering improved skills training behind bars, and helping the incarcerated find jobs and reintegrate into society upon release; it’s currently being blocked by a group of GOP senators).
As far as the public backlash to her Trump meeting, Kardashian said she couldn’t give a damn.
“I didn’t really think about it, you know. There was a moment at first that I felt like, OK well, everyone is going to be upset with this decision but I didn’t care,” she said. “I am very grateful to the president for helping us out in that situation. I might not agree with the policies, but I stay focused on this subject, and for me, it wasn’t about politics it was really about people and her. And I will tell you right now, everyone behind bars does not care who the president of the United States is, you know? They would rather me not wait four more years for another president to come, or eight more years for another president to come that they might like a little bit better to make this move.”
“So I just thought, you know what, everyone talks shit about me all day long anyway, I’m going to go, and not worry about what people say about me. I’m going to go and do the thing that I feel is the right thing to do and I’m going to talk to the person who has the most power to make this decision,” she added.
While the two discussed a wide range of subjects, from Kardashian’s ecstasy-infused night of passion with ex Ray J to her beauty habits, one subject she wouldn’t really touch was her husband’s support of the president—including his far less restrained White House visit.
“His thing is more, like, I’m going to fight for the freedom to like whatever I like,” Kardashian offered. “That’s his message and that’s been his message. So, I don’t know...”
