As if 2019 wasn’t weird enough, the Kardashians were mentioned in the impeachment proceedings against President Trump.
The family’s mention came during the opening statement of David Holmes, the counselor for political affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, who testified Thursday about overhearing a call between Trump and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.
Holmes said Trump was speaking so loudly during the July 26 call that Sondland, who was at a restaurant in Kyiv with Holmes, held the phone away from his ear.
The two spoke about whether the Ukrainians were going to “do the investigation,” which referred to looking into his political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter and the 2016 election.
“The conversation then shifted to Ambassador Sondland’s efforts, on behalf of the president, to assist a rapper who was jailed in Sweden,” Holmes said, referencing A$AP Rocky, who was jailed on assault charges.
“Ambassador Sondland told the president that the rapper was ‘kind of f’d there’ and should have plead guilty. He recommended that the president ‘wait until after the sentencing or it will only make it worse,’ and he added that the president should ‘let him get sentenced, play the racism card, and give him a ticker-tape [parade] when he comes home.’”
“Ambassador Sondland further told the president that Sweden ‘should have released him on your word, but that you can tell the Kardashians you tried,” Holmes testified.
Reality TV star Kim Kardashian West thanked Trump after A$AP Rocky was released from a Swedish jail earlier in July. The rapper had been detained in connection with a street fight in Stockholm.
Thank you @realDonaldTrump , @SecPompeo, Jared Kushner & everyone involved with the efforts to Free ASAP Rocky & his two friends. Your commitment to justice reform is so appreciated ???? https://t.co/Ym1Rzo5Z6c
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) July 18, 2019
Kardashian West, who has worked with the White House on prison reform, lobbied the administration to help with A$AP Rocky’s release.
The rapper was found guilty of assault in August but was not sentenced to any prison time having already spent a month behind bars.
