More Pardons Coming? Trump Asks Kneeling Athletes to Suggest People for Clemency
President Donald Trump seems to have an idea on how to directly engage the NFL players who kneel during the National Anthem, as he calls for them to meet with him and recommend people who they think were unfairly treated by the country's justice system, for a possible pardon.
By the looks of it, Trump may be implying that the players take a cue from reality show celebrity Kim Kardashian, who directly approached the president with a petition for Alice Johnson, a grandmother who was serving life for first-offense drug charges.
Trump slammed players who refuse to stand for the anthem on Friday in his message at the White House on Friday, June 8. "You have a lot of people in the NFL in particular, but in sports leagues, they're not proud enough to stand for our National Anthem. I don't like that," he said.
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The NFL, in particular, has enacted a new policy where teams will be fined if their players or employees on the field failed to stand and pay respect to the National Anthem. The new directive, however, also allows players to sit out the anthem either in their locker rooms or other suitable places near the field.
It was not good enough for Trump, who insisted that players should go out and pay respect when the "Star Spangled Banner" is being performed, according to CNN. Instead of doing protests on the field or off of it, Trump has offered an alternative.
"What I'm going to do is, I'm going to say to them instead of talk ... I am going to ask all of those people to recommend to me -- because that's what they're protesting -- people that they think were unfairly treated by the justice system, and I understand that," he said.
Trump also added that if the players have friends or people they know that have been treated unfairly by the justice system, they can meet with him to let him know about it.
Earlier this week, Trump has commuted the sentence of Alice Johnson, who already served more than 21 years behind bars after being convicted for a drug trafficking conspiracy.
Johnson, already 63 years old at this point, would have died in prison if not for the intervention of reality star Kim Kardashian West who personally met with president Trump to plead on her behalf.
"While this administration will always be very tough on crime, it believes that those who have paid their debt to society and worked hard to better themselves while in prison deserve a second chance," the White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
Johnson was ecstatic on the day of her release but also took the time to praise the Lord for the "miracle" intervention.
"I want to first of all thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," she announced to the members of the media present. "Without Him I can do nothing. But with Him I can do everything," Johnson added upon her release.
