President Donald Trump on Wednesday denied any involvement in the effort by rapper Kanye West to get on the ballot in presidential battlegrounds – amid a skein of revelations about GOP-connected officials aiding the effort.
‘I’m not involved,’ Trump said at the White House when DailyMail.com asked him about new disclosures about figures assisting West in his petition-drive to get on state ballots for his 11th-hour presidential campaign.
‘I like him. He’s always been very nice to me,’ Trump said, praising the rapper-producer who appeared with him at the White House in 2018 and sported his trademark red Make America Great Again hat.
But Trump denied a role in West’s latest actions.
‘I’m not involved,’ President Donald Trump said when DailyMail.com asked him about officials with longtime Republican ties helping Kanye West get on the presidential ballot in key states
‘No, not at all. No, not at all. Other than I get along with him very well. I like him. I like his wife. His wife recommended certain people as you know for, including Alice Johnson who’s a fantastic woman,’ Trump continued, praising Kim Kardashian and pointing to her successful push for Trump to grant clemency for her life sentence on a drug conviction.
The president briefly veered into a discussion about prison reform.
‘But his wife recommended certain people to get out of prison. They were in prison for a long time. A long, long time. And should have never happened. And I took what she said very strong – Kim Kardashian,’ Trump continued. ‘And she’s got a good heart. A very good heart. And I like Kanye very much.’
Then he added: ‘No, I have nothing to do with him getting on the ballot.’
The president briefly mulled how having West’s name on the ballot might impact his race against Democrat Joe Biden, then stopped short.
Kanye West’s presidential campaign dropped off signature papers Tuesday at the state Elections Commission building in Madison.Saying “no comment” to WISN 12 News, Lane Ruhland entered the building just after 5 p.m. Tuesday in Madison to drop off the signatures
Kanye West had, until recently, been a feverent public supporter of Trump, insisting he and the incumbent president shared a ‘dragon energy’
‘I like him. He’s always been very nice to me,’ Trump said of West, while also saying he likes his wife, Kim Kardashian West
West first announced his intentions to run for president in a tweet on July 4. Since then, the rapper-producer has filed paperwork in seven states to become the next White House occupant, including Oklahoma, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Vermont, West Virginia and now Wisconsin
West’s nominating petitions were dropped off with state regulators in Madison by Lane Ruhland before Tuesday’s 5pm deadline. Ruhland, a top Republican lawyer and former general counsel for the state GOP, was filmed dropping off the signatures
West’s ties to four individuals has raised questions about the intentions of his White House bid and whether it is a GOP-designed effort to siphon votes from Joe Biden
‘We’ll have to see what happens. We’ll see if he gets on the ballot. But i’m not involved,’ he concluded.
Trump’s 2016 victory came in a year when Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Libertarian Gary Johnson were on the ballot, with a late push by Evan McMullen to try to throw a wrench into the outcome.
The president’s comments come as a series of GOP officials have been tied to West’s effort.
West turned in ballot petitions Tuesday in Wisconsin, a critical swing state that Trump carried narrowly in 2016 where Biden is leading in public polls.
Gregg Keller, the former executive director of the American Conservative Union, has been listed as a contact for West’s campaign in Arkansas
The rapper announced his campaign July 4th on Twitter, then filed papers in Oklahoma, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Vermont, and West Virginia.
Top GOP lawyer Lane Ruhland was filmed and identified dropping off West’s Wisconsin petitions at the state capital in Madison. She is a former general counsel for the state Republican Party.
‘It appears that Kanye West made a smart decision by hiring an experienced election attorney,’ said state GOP spokeswoman Alesha Guenther told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Another official, Gregg Keller, the former executive director of the American Conservative Union, was listed as a contact for West’s effort to get on the ballot in Arkansas. Trump reportedly consider Keller to be chair of his 2016 campaign before settling on Corey Lewandowski.
Chuck Wilton is listed as a convention delegate for Trump in Vermont and an elector for West. His wife, Wendy is a Trump Agriculture Department appointee. New York Magazine identified officials assisting West with GOP ties.
The group Let The Voters Decide is also assisting West.