“The seven former federal inmates knew they were visiting the White House to talk about their experiences with senior administration officials.
“But as they sat in the Roosevelt Room on Wednesday, they didn’t realize that another guest was coming to see them.
“’All of a sudden, the door busts open and we hear, ‘How’s everyone doing?’ and the president walks in,’ Philip Emmert, who served 14 years for a meth sales charge, remembered. ‘He said, ‘I have a little spare time, so let’s go out to eat.’”
“That led to a possibly unprecedented lunch with Obama and the seven former inmates, all of whom served years for nonviolent drug charges and had received presidential clemency.”