Kim Kardashian is headed back to the White House. This time, however, there will only be one, not two reality TV stars present. Per Axios, the Skims founder will join the current Vice President Kamala Harris today for a roundtable discussion centered on criminal justice reform. The outlet, which received the scoop from a White House aid, explained that Kardashian will be featured alongside four people who received clemency from President Joe Biden earlier this week relating to non-violent drug offenses. The Vice President will reportedly announce the finalization of the Biden administration’s efforts to remove loan restrictions for those with criminal records.
Kardashian famously traveled to the White House in 2018 to meet with former President Donald Trump. There, she and Trump were joined by Alice Marie Johnson whose life sentence for a non-violent drug offense was brought to national attention and ultimately commuted by the then president. In his book Breaking History, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner explained that Kardashian was instrumental in advocating for Johnson to be pardoned—a move many credit with leading to the passage of the bipartisan First Step Act. “[She] gracefully presented Alice’s case to the president,” the former White House Advisor wrote. “She knew the details backward and forward.”
The influencer later returned to Trump’s White House in 2019—where she delivered a speech on initiatives aimed at helping former inmates get jobs out of prison—and a year later in 2020 to meet with Trump, and three women whose sentences he commuted, in the Oval Office.
However, despite their supposed goodwill, the relationship between Kardashian and Trump has become strained. In a November Truth Social rant, the ex-president called Kardashian the “World’s most overrated celebrity,” in response to what he said are false claims in Jonathan Karl’s book Tired Of Winning. He added that he “did help with prisoner commutation, but only if deserving, and much more so for Kanye West than for Kim, who probably voted for Crooked Joe Biden.”
During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live this week, Kardashian addressed her presidential feud. “Listen, I don’t think he likes me very much,” she said. “But I’m okay. I think he did amazing stuff with prison reform.” Kardashian clearly views the fight for criminal justice reform as something that’s beyond the traditional Republican and Democrat divide. Still, with 2024 being an election year, her appearance alongside Harris holds an extra bit of weight.
