Donald Trump hit back at writer Jonathan Karl for a book published this week that's revealed dozens of bombshells about the former president.
But one revelation got particular focus from Trump — the ABC News reporter's claims involving Kim Kardashian.
While Trump did several taped interviews for the new book, "Tired of Winning," he said that the story that he requested Kardashian help him meet NFL players was "fake news."
"Failed ABC Fake News reporter Jonathan Karl just wrote another bad book. He works sooo hard, but has sooo little talent - Some people have it, and some people don’t," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
He went on to call Kardashian, "The World’s most overrated celebrity," and said that it was her pledge that she would "leverage her celebrity to get football stars to come to the White House."
His version differs from Karl's in the book, which detailed Kardashian's efforts to get Trump's support for her campaign to secure criminal justice reform.
"During the final days of the Trump presidency, Kim Kardashian pushed for more pardons and commutations," wrote Karl. "A source familiar with the conversations tells me Trump listened to her requests and demanded a straight-up quid pro quo. He would grant the commutations, he told Kardashian, if she leveraged her celebrity connections to get football stars who were friends of hers to come visit him at the White House."
"Trump was clearly stung by the refusal of Bill Belichick, head coach of the New England Patriots, to visit him at the White House days earlier," the book continued. "Trump had long considered Belichick a friend and supporter, and had offered him a Presidential Medal of Freedom — the federal government’s highest civilian honor. After January 6, however, Belichick announced he would not come to the White House to receive the award. He was 'flattered' by the offer, he said in a statement, but was turning it down because of 'the tragic events' of the week prior."
"Above all,” he said, “I am an American citizen with great reverence for our nation’s values, freedom and democracy.”
Trump goes on in his Truth Social post to claim he had no trouble getting players to come to the White House.
"If there was even a slight reluctance, I would immediately withdraw the invitation, there would be NO Negotiation - But this did not happen often," claimed Trump.
In the first two years of Trump's presidency, 20 major league sports teams were invited to the White House after championships, but only half agreed to come, The Fieldston News said in 2020.
While he refused to invite some teams, many made it clear they wouldn't have visited even if they were invited. There were also several team members of the 10 that did come to the White House who refused to attend.
Trump goes on to say that, though he helped with some of Kardashian's commutation request, they were only for those who were "deserving." It was more for Kanye West, Kardashian's then husband, than it was for her, he said, adding she "probably voted for Crooked Joe Biden, and look at the mess our Country is in now."
While West was part of the criminal justice reform lobbying group, it's Kardashian who has used her fame to press the issue for years. Kardashian, who was just revealed to have a net worth of $1.7 billion, came to the White House in May 2018 to appeal for a pardon for Alice Johnson, who was convicted of running a Memphis cocaine trafficking organization in 1996 and sentenced to life imprisonment
Trump gave the pardon and then promoted his criminal justice chops in a 2020 Superbowl ad.
But when asked about Johnson and Trump's demand for the death penalty for drug dealers in a June 2023 interview with Fox's Bret Baier, he seemed to forget Johnson and her case altogether.
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"Baier reminded Trump he had recently announced a plan to impose the death penalty for drug dealers," Karl's book recalls.
“But she’d be killed under your plan,” Baier said.
“Huh?” Trump replied.
“As a drug dealer,” Baier explained.
“No, no. No. Under my, oh, under that? Uhh, it would depend on the severity,” Trump fumbled.
“She’s technically a former drug dealer,” Baier explained. “She had a multimillion-dollar cocaine ring.”
“Any drug dealer,” Trump replied.
“So even Alice Johnson?” asked Baier.
“She can’t do it, okay? By the way, if that was there, she wouldn’t be killed, it would start as of now,” Trump insisted.
Just a week ago, Trump's daughter, Ivanka was invited to party with Kardashian for her birthday.
