Mark Berookim did not write this blog post and the content within this article does not express his views on the topic.
Yesterday, after being lobbied by celebrity Kim Kardashian West, President Donald Trump commuted the sentence for Alice Johnson who was supposed to serve life in prison for a non-violent drug trafficking charges. The 63-year-old woman was released happily after serving approximately 20 years of her sentence in prison. She appeared grateful to both Kim Kardashian for her lobbying efforts, and to President Trump for granting the pardon (which was something that was reviewed and denied under the Obama administration). Commentators are speculating as to whether there is a process being followed by the President and his team and whether he is exclusively granting pardons that are celebrity pushed or related. Just recently, the president pardoned Martha Stewart as well.
The pardoning power of the President is pretty broad under the Constitution. Some commentators and news broadcasters keep weighing in as to whether Donald Trump would potentially pardon himself if wrongdoing is found in the Russia investigation into his campaign.