Lawyers Brittany Barnett, a member of Johnson's legal team, said Kardashian West also hoped to meet Trump to discuss the case.

In an interview with the website Mic, Kardashian West said she had been moved by Johnson's story after seeing a video by the news outlet on Twitter and had been in touch with Kushner over the case.

"I think that she really deserves a second chance at life," Kardashian told Mic. "I'll do whatever it takes to get her out."

Trump last week granted a rare posthumous pardon to boxing's first African-American heavyweight champion, clearing Jack Johnson's name more than 100 years after what many saw as his racially-charged conviction.

The boxer's pardon had been championed by actor Sylvester Stallone, who brought the story to Trump's attention in a phone call.

Trump has issued just a handful of pardons, including one for former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a staunch campaign supporter; one for Scooter Libby, who served as chief of staff to former vice president Dick Cheney; and one for a US Navy sailor convicted for taking photos of classified portions of a submarine.

Kardashian West supported Trump's rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, during the 2016 election. But her husband, rapper Kanye West, recently offered his support for Trump in a series of tweets, saying they both share "dragon energy".

The rapper also paid a visit to the then-president-elect in New York before his inauguration. Trump said they talked about "life" as they posed for photos in the lobby of Trump Tower. West has said he didn't vote in the election, but if he had, he would have cast a ballot for Trump.

The White House declined to comment on the visit. Trump has talked about the need to get tougher on drug dealers, including suggesting that some should receive the death penalty. Kardashian West appeared to preview the visit on her Twitter feed, writing: "Happy Birthday Alice Marie Johnson. Today is for you."

Alice Marie Johnson was convicted in 1996 on eight criminal counts related to a Memphis-based cocaine trafficking operation involving more than a dozen people. The 1994 indictment describes dozens of deliveries and drug transactions, many involving Johnson.

She was sentenced to life in prison in 1997, and appellate judges and the US Supreme Court have rejected her appeals. Court records show she has a motion pending for a reduction in sentence, but federal prosecutors are opposed to it, saying in a court filing that the sentence is in accord with federal guidelines, based on the large quantity of drugs involved. The US Attorney's Office in Memphis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A criminal justice advocacy site, CAN-DO, and one of Johnson's attorneys said a request for clemency was rejected by former president Barack Obama. The reasons are unclear.

A 1997 Associated Press story on Johnson's sentencing said she led a multimillion-dollar drug ring. But Memphis attorney Michael Scholl, who filed the latest court documents, said she was not a leader in the cocaine operation.

"What is the purpose of putting a lady with no prior criminal record, on a non-violent drug offence, in jail for her entire life?," he said in a telephone interview. "She's a model inmate."

Scholl added that Johnson has admitted her wrongdoing, which is borne out in letters she has written to US District Judge Samuel Mays, who now oversees her case.

"Judge Mays, I'm writing to you to express my deep remorse for the crime that I committed over 20 years ago. I made some bad choices which have not only affected my life, but have impacted my entire family," she said in a February 2017 letter in the court record.

In a hand-scrawled letter last June she wrote: "I'm a broken woman. More time in prison cannot accomplish more justice."