WASHINGTON — Flexing his clemency powers once again, President Donald Trump on Wednesday commuted the life sentence of a woman whose cause was championed by reality TV star Kim Kardashian West.

“BEST NEWS EVER!!!!” was the exuberant twitter response from Kardashian West, who visited the White House last week to press the case of Alice Marie Johnson, 63, who has spent more than two decades behind bars, serving life without parole for drug offenses.

Unlike a pardon, the commutation will not erase Johnson’s conviction but will end her sentence. Michael Scholl, a member of Johnson’s legal team, praised Trump for “a courageous move.” He spoke with The Associated Press as he was driving to the federal prison in Aliceville, Alabama, for Johnson’s release.

“She was speechless. She was in tears. She was just delighted. She was just beyond words,” Scholl said of Johnson’s reaction to the news.

Trump’s decision, his latest inspired by a celebrity champion, comes amid a flurry of recent pardons issued by the president. He says he’s considering a long list of other clemency actions for those famous and not, including former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is serving 14 years in prison for corruption, and celebrity homemaker Martha Stewart, who served about five months for insider financial trading.

Trump has been working outside the traditional pardon process usually overseen by the Justice Department, and has appeared to favor cases that catch his attention — either because they’ve been championed by friends and celebrities or conservative media. Trump has also been drawn to cases in which he believes prosecutors may have been motivated by politics — situations that may remind him of his own predicament at the center of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling.

Trump recently pardoned conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza, who was convicted of a campaign finance violation. And he granted a posthumous pardon to boxing’s first black heavyweight champion, which had been championed by actor Sylvester Stallone.

Some have seen the pardons as sending a message to former campaign aides now ensnared in the Mueller probe or other legal inquiries, including Trump’s longtime lawyer and legal “fixer” Michael Cohen, whose finances are under federal investigation.

In an apparent effort to lobby her husband’s case, the wife of former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his Russia contacts, appeared on Fox News to talk about how committed he’d been to Trump’s campaign.

“I trust and hope and ask to President Trump to pardon him,” Simona Mangiante Papadopoulos told Trump’s favorite network.