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President Trump is tapping Alice Johnson, the 69-year-old grandmother he granted clemency in his first term over long-ago drug offenses, to be his "pardon czar."

The president made the announcement during a Black History Month event in the White House East Room Thursday afternoon. Johnson spent over 21 years in prison for nonviolent drug-related crimes when Mr. Trump commuted her sentence and she was released in 2018. Mr. Trump later issued her a full pardon.

"You've been an inspiration to people, and we're going to be listening to your recommendation on pardons," Mr. Trump told Johnson on Thursday. " You're going to go over and you're going to be — you're going to, she's going to be my pardon czar, okay? And you're going to find people just like you that should not this should not have happened. It should not have happened. So you're going to look and you're going to make recommendations, and I'll follow those recommendations, okay? For pardons. All right?"

Mr. Trump said Johnson was "in prison for doing something that today probably wouldn't even be prosecuted."

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