You're listening to It's Been A Minute From NPR.

I'm Aisha Roscoe in For Sam Sanders.

So as a White House correspondent for NPR, I spent a lot of time at the White House,

and I run across a lot of interesting people there to say the least.

But one of the people that really stood out to me was Brittany K. Barnett, a lawyer

working to transform the criminal justice system.

In 2018, Brittany was advocating to the White House on behalf of her client, Alice Marie

Johnson.

At the time, Alice was a 63-year-old, great-grandmother serving a life sentence in prison without

parole for a first-time federal drug offense.

The only hope, the only possibility for Alice's release, was through an act of clemency

by then-president Donald Trump, which he did once he heard from someone famous.

I knew I had an attorney call, but I still didn't know what it was.

And when they all came on, then I heard Kim Kardashian, some boys.

And she was the one who told me that it had happened, that I was free, that I was going

to read your family.

The Kim Kardashian.

Kim K. had learned about Alice and advocated directly to President Trump for her release.

And Brittany, she felt all right about the media attention.

I always kept my focus lasered on Alice's freedom.

And I was elated.

We were all elated that Kim Kardashian was a part of the team, that she was dedicated

...