'I like him': Trump denies helping GOP operatives who are trying to get Kanye West on the ballot in several states

‘We’ll see if he gets on the ballot. But I’m not involved,’ president says of West’s campaign

Donald Trump praised rapper and presidential rival Kanye West, but denied any involvement helping GOP operatives add Mr West’s name to the presidential ballot in several key states this November.

“I like him. He’s always been very nice to me,” Mr Trump said of Mr West, who visited him in the Oval Office in 2018 wearing the president’s signature red “Make America Great Again” hat.

“I like Kanye very much, but no, I have nothing to do with him getting on the ballot. We’ll have to see what happens. We’ll see if he gets on the ballot. But I’m not involved,” Mr Trump said.

Multiple Republican campaign veterans are reportedly working to get Mr West’s name on the ballot in Colorado and Wisconsin in an apparent effort to siphon votes away from Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

Lane Ruhland, a lawyer and longtime GOP operative who has ties to Mr Trump, submitted Mr West’s election paperwork and petition signatures to have his name appear on the ballot in Wisconsin, Vice reported.

Rachel George, a longtime Republican operative based in Colorado, is working in a similar capacity to aid the West campaign in Colorado.

“I have the most random favour to ask of you ever... would you help me get Kanye West on the ballot in Colorado? No, I am not joking, and I realise this is hilarious,” Ms George wrote in an email to another GOP operative, obtained by Vice, soliciting signatures for Mr West’s candidacy.

In addition to praising Mr West — a highly unusual move given he is one of the president’s electoral opponents — Mr Trump complimented his wife, Kim Kardashian West.

“She’s got a good heart, a very good heart,” Mr Trump said of Ms Kardashian West, noting that she was the impetus for his decision to commute the sentence of a 63-year-old woman, Alice Johnson, serving a lifetime prison sentence for drug trafficking.

Mr Trump’s kind words about Ms Kardashian West lie in stark contrast to his frequent targeting of Senator Ted Cruz’s wife, Heidi, during the 2016 Republican presidential primary campaign.

On more than one occasion, the president taunted Mr Cruz over what he believed to be the superiority of First Lady Melania Trump’s looks compared to Ms Cruz’s.

“Donald, real men don’t attack women. Your wife is lovely, and Heidi is the love of my life,” Mr Cruz tweeted at the time in response.

Mr Cruz later spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention endorsing Mr Trump and has since become a strong ally.