Fox News TV || Trump 'pardon czar' shares how she'll help imprisoned Americans at another chance

Fox News TV

Fox News TV || Trump 'pardon czar' Alice Marie Johnson, who herself has been in prison, explains how she will help find Americans who 'deserve a second chance' on 'My View with Lara Trump.' #foxnews #news #fox #trump #pardons

Transcript

00:00Speaking of second chances, few embody that better than my next guest.

00:05She was one sentence to life behind bars for a first-time nonviolent drug offense

00:10until President Trump stepped in and gave her the freedom she deserved.

00:15She has been just so outstanding and I'm so proud of you and we're giving Alice a full pardon.

00:22That means you can do whatever you want in life and just keep doing the great job you're doing.

00:26Now, Alice Marie Johnson is leading the charge as the president's pardons are,

00:33working to bring hope to those still trapped in a broken system.

00:38I sat down with Alice to learn more about the road ahead for reform

00:41and why redemption matters more than ever.

00:46Alice, thank you so much for sitting down with me.

00:49Your story is so incredible.

00:52When you think back on all of it, I mean, it could be a movie script.

00:56It could be a book that people would say, this couldn't even be real.

01:00Do you pinch yourself sometimes thinking about all of it?

01:02I do.

01:03Every single day that I walk into this building, I've gone from prison house to the White House.

01:10And it's just incredible to me that my life would take a full circle journey.

01:18Seven years ago, I was sitting in a prison cell.

01:21Wow.

01:22It is really remarkable.

01:24And then you're here today.

01:25You are President Trump's pardons are.

01:28Yes.

01:29What does a pardons are do?

01:31And how do you determine the people who you then take to the president and say,

01:34maybe you should consider a pardon for this person?

01:37It's really easy for me because I've lived it.

01:40And so the president has entrusted me with this mission to find, help him find those people

01:46who deserve this second chance, who are similarly situated, not just like me, but who have served

01:53enough time, who have paid their debt to society.

01:57Plus, there are those who have been, I'm going to say, the victims of lawfare the same way our

02:04president was.

02:05You were a first-time nonviolent offender.

02:08Yes.

02:09And you were given a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

02:15Were you prepared for that sentence?

02:17And did you feel at all that what you had done warranted that?

02:20Absolutely not.

02:22I was not prepared for it.

02:23And I definitely did not think that it was warranted.

02:26Never been arrested before.

02:28Never was criminally minded.

02:30Just a bad situation came into my life where under duress, I made a very bad decision to

02:38become involved in something that I didn't think it would lead to this.

02:44I've never sold drugs.

02:45I've never used drugs.

02:47And to be labeled with even a queen pin, if I was, I was the worst one in history.

02:53But thank God that my case came to the attention of President Trump, and he had compassion on

03:00me.

03:01He was the first one who really pulled back the layers to my case to say, this is wrong.

03:07I had appealed to President Obama three times and been turned down all three times.

03:14But when it came to President Trump, he is the reason I'm sitting here today.

03:18You got the same sentence as serial killer Charles Manson.

03:22Worse.

03:23So why do you think you were given that sentence?

03:27They really came for me very strongly.

03:30When my attorney told me that they were offering me three years, he said, don't take it.

03:35He said, there's no way you're going to be found guilty because you have no money, you

03:39have no drugs.

03:40But little did I know about conspiracy.

03:42That someone can come and testify about something to save themselves, and then I could be sentenced

03:49like this.

03:50So when they told me life plus 25 years, it was unbelievable.

03:57My family couldn't believe it.

03:59I thought it was a mistake.

04:00To go from this moment where you're given a life plus 25 years sentence without the possibility

04:07of parole to 2020, President Trump giving you a full pardon.

04:12Tell me that moment when you heard Alice Marie Johnson, you've been fully pardoned by President

04:18Donald Trump.

04:19When President Trump gave me a full pardon, I felt that my life was starting all over again,

04:27not knowing that I would be advocating and fighting so hard for the freedom of others.

04:33President Trump had asked me to go find people like myself, and I brought many to the White

04:40House, and President Trump gave those individuals a second chance also.

04:45Do you know the number, how many people you've allowed to have that second chance?

04:49I sent over 100 clemency and pardon petitions to the White House when President Trump asked

04:57me to look for them.

04:58Over 46 people really were able to get a second chance in life.

05:03Wow.

05:04That probably gives people a lot of hope.

05:06People who either have been wrongfully convicted, they've had a sentence like yours that just

05:12went way above and beyond anything that should have been appropriate.

05:15Do you think about yourself back whenever you were in prison and thinking, would anyone

05:21even care that I'm here?

05:24I know that it gives families and prisoners around the nation hope that someone like me

05:31has been elevated to the position of pardon czar.

05:36For the President of the United States, they see themselves in me.

05:41They see themselves with the ability to move beyond their mistakes and to go into a future

05:49that they're not defined by the worst thing they've done in their lives.

05:53I really represent what America is about, second chances, the grit to come back even stronger

06:01as a nation, that we've gotten beyond our mistakes from our past.

06:05We've learned from them.

06:08We have grown from them.

06:09We are not a perfect nation.

06:12We are an imperfect nation, striving, striving for excellence, striving for the ability to

06:20be a beacon to the rest of the world.

06:24Would your story have been possible in any other country?

06:28No, absolutely not.

06:30Only someone like President Trump could make my story possible.

06:34We needed someone right at that moment, and in this time we're in now, who has the courage

06:41to make right decisions.

06:43And there are so many others who are serving long, unnecessary sentences, who pose no safety

06:50risk and who have rehabilitated, who deserve that second chance.

06:54What would be your hope over the next four years, while President Trump is in the White House,

06:59while you or his pardons are?

07:01There are laws that have to be changed, because even in my position, I'm not going to be able

07:07to find everyone.

07:08I am going to find as many as I possibly can find.

07:13But I'm also going to be advocating and looking at the things that are out there on the law,

07:19on the books that need to be changed, but to also do what the president has entrusted me

07:26to do, and that's find those individuals who need that second chance, those individuals

07:32who had lost hope in a system that was totally corrupt.

07:37We now know it's not about how much money you have.

07:41If you have a corrupt system in place, there is no one safe.

07:46For those people out there who might just be in a dark place of their own, what is your

07:51message of hope to anybody who's facing something really tough right now?

07:56The message I will give to them is the sun is going to shine again.

08:02Don't make a decision in your life based on a dark time in your life.

08:08I want to just tell you about an amazing young man who was caught in a prison called addiction.

08:14He's someone who I'm advocating for.

08:17But this young man had committed different crimes, petty crimes, misdemeanors.

08:25They were all related to his addiction.

08:27But he's been clean for 14 years now.

08:31He's gone on to get his degree from Columbia, a bachelor's.

08:35Wow.

08:35And now he's about to graduate from Yale University.

08:39And he's someone that I'm looking at for a full pardon because he needs that ability

08:44to pass his bar and to practice law.

08:49And he's someone that will be a beacon of hope for those caught in addiction.

08:53There are so many cases that I've been looking at and reviewing that I'm hoping that these

08:59people will get a second chance.

09:01And I think that these individuals will give hope to others the same way I've given hope,

09:07that someone sees you, someone hears you, and that someone understands.

09:12Alice's passion is inspiring, but she's not the only one fighting hard to change our system.

09:17Savannah Chrisley went from TV personality to prison reform advocate, and she joins my view next.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended