The Impeachment Investigation Brought A$AP Rocky (And The Kardashians) Into The Mix

now, democracy in the U.S. Is delicately balancing atop a pile of potential Ukrainian bribery, congressional partisanship, along with a lot of tweets. Yet all I can think about is A$AP Rocky — and what, if anything, the President is saying about the rapper.


On Wednesday (November 20), Gordon Sondland, the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, testified in front of the Residence Intelligence Committee. He mentioned that President Donald Trump was absolutely attempting to extort the President of Ukraine when he tried to hold $400 million in military aid hostage so that the nation would publicly promise to investigate a potential 2020 rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his family.


Sondland’s testimony countered the closed-door testimony he gave on October 17, in which he mentioned he “never” considered that Trump was engaged in such bribery. Nevertheless he fell back on that claim a few weeks later by attaching a four-page memo to the transcript of his testimony that was released on November 5, saying that he did not remember a lot of what happened because he is “not a note-taker, nor a memo-writer.” His memory was jogged by intelligence he procured from the White Residence and State Department, including statistics on one call he had with Trump on July 26. He mentioned he was at a restaurant in Kyiv while in the 5-minute call and that he and Trump didn’t talk about the Bidens — instead, they “primarily talked A$AP Rocky.”


“We did not discuss any classified information,” Sondland mentioned. “Other witnesses have recently shared their recollection of overhearing this call. For the most part, I have no need to doubt their accounts. It’s true that the President speaks loudly at times and it’s also true I think we primarily talked A$AP Rocky.”


While it's not clear what about the rapper the two spoke, it's easy to take a guess: On July 25, Rocky and two other males were charged with assault in Sweden, following an alleged altercation with two Swedish nationals. The rapper was jailed and released on August 2, following celebrity-driven outcry and much public spectacle.


At the time, Trump had been pretty vocal about getting Rocky released, tweeting “A$AP Rocky released from prison and on his way residence To the
U.S. From Sweden. It was a Rocky Week, get residence ASAP A$AP!”


This isn't the initial time the phone call about the Long. Live. ASAP artist was said throughout the impeachment hearings. Bill Taylor, a former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, shared part of the same story while in his public testimony on Wednesday (November 13). He said that one of his aides instructed him he overheard Sondland converse with Trump on the phone at the restaurant, yet didn’t add that the call included any specifics about A$AP Rocky.


And in a private testimony on Friday (November 15), U.S. Embassy Official David Holmes told impeachment investigators that Sondland imagined Rocky "should have pled guilty" in Swedish court. This call has been corroborated by a second official from the Embassy in Kyiv.


Per Holmes's testimony, Sondland imagined Trump should "let [Rocky] get sentenced [by Sweden], play the racism card, give him a ticker-tape once he comes residence The Ambassador also reportedly told Trump the Swedish Prime Minister "should have released [Rocky] on your word." The same day, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said that the nation admired to keep its politics out of the judicial system; this came immediately after Trump tried to pressure the nation on Twitter.


Nevertheless throughout the call, the Ambassador attempted to soothe Trump. “You can tell the Kardashians you tried," he reportedly said.