'I didn't know who she was': Freed drug convict Alice Johnson reveals she had no idea who Kim Kardashian was when she started advocating for her as the reality TV queen reveals what she said in the Oval Office to break the ice with 'compassionate' Trump

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Alice Johnson, the freed drug convict who Kim Kardashian has been campaigning on behalf of for months, revealed on Thursday that she did know who the reality TV queen was when she launched her crusade. 

The pair's first joint interview since Johnson was released earlier this month was aired on Thursday.

As part of it, they told Today's Hoda Kotb how they love one another and 'haven't stopped hugging' since they met.

Kardashian, 37, also revealed what she told President Donald Trump to break the ice after finding herself in the Oval Office after months of campaigning for Alice's release.  

'He was at his desk. I first said, "I am here because I really want to know why you kicked Khloe off The Apprentice." 

'He laughed and it broke the ice and then we got focused,' she said. 

Alice, who spent 20 years in prison for a first time, non-violent drug offense, revealed that when Kim started tweeting about her case and asking her lawyers to get involved, she had no idea who her new celebrity savior was. 

'I did not know her name. As soon as I found out who she was, I started getting every magazine I could find and I started finding out, reading everything I could about her. 

'Everyone was amazed. I was amazed!' she said.  

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Kim Kardashian and Alice Johnson gave a joint interview on Today on Thursday where they discussed Johnson's prison release and what the reality star did to secure it

The pair met in Memphis at Johnson's sister's home. Despite having spoken on the phone several times, it was the first time they had laid eyes on each other since Johnson's release. 

Reflecting on the unlikely and astonishing process which brought them there, Kardashian said: 'It became this mission that I just didn't want to give up. 

'To some people it might seem like, "Oh. Kim made a phone call to the president, showed up." 

'We had been in talks, working on this for seven months. It wasn't an instant thing.' 

She told how her first call was to the president's daughter Ivanka who was, Kardashian said, 'immediately receptive' to her pleas.

'We had a really great conversation about women and wanting to help each other and I knew that she would have understood Alice. 

'She immediately was so receptive and so great,' she said. 

The pair hugged throughout their interview and told each other they 'loved' one another 

Kim and Alice laughed as she showed off her bible which she keeps a picture of the reality star and her husband Kanye West in 

These are the high school yearbook photographs of Kardashian and her husband Kanye West that Johnson keeps in her bible 

To find herself in the Oval Office, months later, she said was 'crazy'. 

'I was like, "I can't believe we're in the Oval Office. This is crazy. This is insane. Just the history in this one room. 

'It was overwhelming in the most amazing way,' she said.

Kardashian has been vocal in her criticism of President Trump in the past but she sang his praises.

'We spoke about Alice and I spoke about how I found her, why I believe in her and why people deserve second chances. 

'The president had compassion for her right away. He felt that it was the right thing to do,' she said. 

Kardashian said that she believes their meeting and Johnson's case may be softening his tough resolve on drug offenders, a criminal group he has applied particularly harsh measures to since assuming office.

'I think his mind is being changed already. To me, I saw compassion.' 

While the fight has inspired her to carry on advocating for prisoners to get second chances, she shot down the notion that she may enter politics herself and explained why she set her personal beliefs aside to have a one-on-one with Trump.

Kim Kardashian met President Trump in the Oval Office on May 30 to discuss Alice's release 

'There were people around me like, "Are you sure you should go to the White House?" 

'To me, this has nothing to do with politics. This has to do with people. I hope this inspires more people to talk to the people in power that you can have an effect over for the greater good of other people. 

'People have been asking me, "Are you getting into politics?" and like, no. I'm still doing me. But I enjoy this.    

'This has like fulfilled my heart so since I feel so fulfilled, why would I stop that?' she said. 

Johnson vowed to use her second chance to work on behalf of other prisoners who she thinks deserve the same opportunity. 

'I plan on continuing to magnify this issue. I can't stop, I can't stop. I've lived it, I've walked with them. My life is completely intertwined forever with those who are left behind so it can't end here,' she said.  

Kardashian later posted adorable pictures of them smiling together on Snapchat, with an array of different filters.

In their sit down with NBC News’ TODAY, Hoda Kotb, which airs tomorrow, Kardashian and Johnson discussed the moment they first laid eyes on each other.

And it was a love fest.

'I love this woman,' Kardashian said, to which Johnson replied: 'I love this lady.'

'I mean I already knew just by talking to you on the phone and just seeing you in videos, but I mean you are everything and more than I ever thought,' added the star of Keeping up with the Kardashians.

Johnson said her only reaction when she met the star was 'This is Kim!'  

'Y’all haven’t stopped hugging, I did notice that. I think that you guys are going to be connected for a long time,' Kotb noted, adding that Johnson had been nervous ahead of the meeting.

'Literally before you got here, Alice was ringing her hands and we were talking about - I go ‘okay. Kim is coming,’ she’s like ‘I’m ready. I’m ready to meet Kim. I’m ready to meet Kim.’ 

She also described the former inmate as being 'lit from inside.' 

The social media starlet, 37, who had been working on behalf of the grandma for months, was the first person to tell the nonviolent drug offender about her commutation back on June 6.

But while the pair have spoken on the phone, today was their first in-person encounter. 

Kardashian later posted adorable pictures of them smiling together on Snapchat, with an array of different filters

Talking to Good Morning America on June 7, Johnson said: 'When Kim told me that I was being released, I started jumping and screaming and crying, and everyone else was crying.'

'It was wonderful. I'm so glad that she was the one who was able to deliver the news to me. It was a perfect ending.' 

Johnson was jailed for life in 1996 for being part of a cocaine ring, despite having an otherwise clean record and violence not featuring in the case. She had applied for clemency during Obama's 2014 push to free non-violent drug offenders from jail, but her application was denied.

The meeting with Kim comes after video emerged of Johnson sprinting into the arms of her waiting family in Aliceville, Alabama. Wearing an all white outfit, she welled up as she was greeted by waiting relatives, one of whom was carrying a bunch of flowers. 

Johnson was not the only one celebrating the news, as Kim posted a story about her release with the caption: 'BEST NEWS EVER!!!!'

'So grateful to @realDonaldTrump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson,' she said in a follow-up message.  'Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are also deserving of a second chance.'

She said: 'I hope to continue this important work by working together with organizations who have been fighting this fight for much longer than I have and deserve the recognition.'

Kardashian said later that she'd had a call with Alice Johnson and that it 'will forever be one of my best memories.'

'Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget,' Kardashian tweeted.

Trump met with Kardashian earlier this month to discuss Johnson's case in the Oval Office. The White House shared a picture of Kardashian and Trump, who was grinning from ear-to-ear, after the meeting that reporters were not allowed anywhere near.

Johnson was filmed running into the arms of her waiting family on Wednesday, June 6, after spending 22 years behind bars 

She has since dismissed any suggestions that she'd been used as a 'political pawn' by the president.  

'I think Kanye has already given him legitimacy,' she said, referring to her husband's many tweets and vocal support for the president, in an interview on CNN. 'And I was working on this before, so I don't think I would be used.

'And at the end of the day, he heard me out. We got the job done. So what could he really use me for?' 

Johnson's attorneys had prepped Kardashian for the meeting with Trump where she begged for clemency for the great-grandmother.

An official White House statement later said her sentence had been commuted because 'Ms. Johnson has accepted responsibility for her past behavior and has been a model prisoner over the past two decades.'

'Despite receiving a life sentence, Alice worked hard to rehabilitate herself in prison, and act as a mentor to her fellow inmates,' the White House statement said, noting that even her warden had said she 'exhibited outstanding and exemplary work ethic.' 

The White House said: '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 move to commute the sentence came after internal debate among his top advisers. 

Trump met with Kardashian to discuss Johnson's case in the Oval Office

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn are said to have been less than thrilled, with the president's recent reprieve. 

Trump had already told reporters that he's also considering pardons for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Martha Stewart. 

Johnson's case had a powerful ally in not just Kardashian, but the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who set up the face-to-face with with the celebrity who's married to Kayne West.  

Trump reportedly thanked Kardashian at the meeting for boosting his popularity with African-Americans, a group that has not strongly supported his presidency.

Two sources familiar with the conversation recounted it to Bloomberg News.  

  About a month before, her husband, West, had praised Trump in a tweet that said: 'You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy.'

He later revealed that his 'Make America Great Again' hat is signed by Trump himself, posting a picture of the accessory.

Trump retweeted the message and wrote, 'Thank you Kanye, very cool!'

WHO IS ALICE JOHNSON AND WHY IS KIM KARDASHIAN INVOLVED?

Inside time: Alice Johnson in federal prison

Alice Marie Johnson, a mother-of-five, grandmother-of-six and great-grandmother of one, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of drug dealing in 1996. 

It was her first conviction and some of her co-conspirators testified her against in exchange for plea deals.

The 63-year-old grew up in Olive Branch, Mississippi, and was married and pregnant by age 15.

In 1989, she and her husband divorced. Her life started to crumble as she struggled, as a single mother, to try and be financially stable for her five children, reports Mic. However, in 1990, because of a gambling addition, she was sacked by FedEx Corporation. 

After filing for bankruptcy in 1991, Johnson lost her house. The next year, a scooter accident claimed the life of her youngest son, Cory.

It was while she was at rock bottom that Johnson became involved in a drug syndicate that imported cocaine into Memphis, Tennessee, where she acted as a go-between and passed on messages to drug dealers, relaying coded messages like 'everything is straight' by telephone.  

While admitting to acting as a middle man for the drug traffickers, passing on the messages in code via telephone, Johnson claims she never directly sold drugs.

She was arrested along with 15 others in 1993 on charges including conspiracy to possess cocaine, attempted possession of cocaine and money laundering.

But ten of her alleged co-conspirators turned against her in exchange for reduced sentencing or dropped charges. 

During the trial, evidence showed an operation with Texas-based Colombian drug dealers and their Memphis connections trading tons of cocaine for millions of dollars in cash.

At the time of Johnson's February 1997 sentencing the amount of drugs and money involved meant that federal laws mandated a life sentence, despite the fact Johnson was a first-time, nonviolent offender.

US District Judge Julia Gibbons, who sentenced Johnson, called the then 42-year-old the 'quintessential entrepreneur' of the drug ring.

Mom: Alice Johnson is now a great-grandmother as well

'And clearly the impact of 2,000 to 3,000 kilograms of cocaine in this community is very significant,' Gibbons said at the sentencing.

The quantity of cocaine - up to three tons - would now be worth about $85 million. 

Johnson was 21 years into her life sentence at FCI Aliceville, in Aliceville, Alabama before it was commuted by President Donald Trump on May 6.

Her eldest daughter Tretessa Johnson, told Mic several years ago, 'It's like a waking death; it's like the person is alive but they're not. There's never a point of closure, ever. It's heartbreaking for me.'

Tretessa has organized an online petition, via change.org, calling for her to be released, explaining that her family's life 'changed forever' when she was sentenced to life in federal prison.

She said her mother had explained that she became a telephone mule passing messages between her co-conspirators after losing her job at FedEx.

Alice Johnson is quoted on Tretessa's petition: 'I couldn't find a job fast enough to take care of my family. I felt like a failure.

'I went to a complete panic and out of desperation I made one of the worst decisions in my life to make some quick money. I became involved in a drug conspiracy'.

Tretessa said that her 'mom's desire upon release is to assist the community with the needs of ex-offenders to help reduce recidivism. 

'It serves no purpose or benefit to society to have her locked up for life. Her large and loving immediate and extended family and friends would welcome her return.'

During her time in prison, Johnson has displayed exemplary behavior, become an ordained minister, a published writer and a prison tutor, a biography from Can Do Clemency reports. 

She had gained a large following of people pushing for her to be granted clemency. Part of this push saw her story turned into a short video, which went viral on social media.

Kim Kardashian saw the video and retweeted it to her millions of followers with the caption: 'This is so unfair' in October last year. 

Since then, she has been working to help Johnson receive clemency from Trump.

The reality star had her personal lawyer begin working on Johnson's case, and has spent months in conversation with Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser, on the topic.

Kushner - whose father Charles is himself a federal felon - is pushing a criminal justice reform agenda. 

A grateful Johnson penned a moving letter to Kardashian, saying her efforts were 'literally helping to save my life'.

'I was drowning, and you have thrown me a life jacket and given me hope,' she wrote. 

On May 30, Kardashian went to the White House to secure Johnson's release.  

 Johnson was released on June 6 after having her sentence commuted.