Oval Office Love Fest: President Trump And Kanye West
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It is not often that President Donald Trump is left speechless.
But Chicago-born rapper Kanye West stole the spotlight at the White House Thursday, covering everything from his own mental health to hydrogen planes.
CBS 2 political reporter Derrick Blakley on the Oval Office ramblings.
It was a bizarre, 30 minute Oval Office lovefest: Kanye and the Commander in Chief. Billed as a meeting on Chicago street violence, Kanye pushed back against Trump's support for expanded use of stop and frisk.
"We feel that stop and frisk does not help the relationships in the city," West said.
Trump responded that he could reconsider.
"They have to do something and I'm totally open. We can do it a different way, Kanye. I'm totally open," said Trump.
Most surprisingly, Kanye pushed for clemency for notorious Chicago street gang kingpin Larry Hoover.
"Larry Hoover is an example of a man who was turning his life around. And as soon as he started turning his life around, they hit him with six life sentences," added West.
As leader of the Gangster Disciples, Hoover controlled the South Side drug trade. He was sent to prison in 1973 for murder and in 1997, convicted again of running a nationwide gang empire from prison.
"It can harden you or it can make you think," Hoover said in 1997. "And I've thought."
"It's very important to me to get Hoover out, because in an alternate universe, I am him and I have to go and get him free," said West.
But mostly, Kanye's meeting seemed to be about boosting Kanye and Trump.
"If he don't look good, we don't look good. This is our president," said the hip hop artist.
President Trump had no response to the clemency plea for Hoover, who is now 68 years old and has spent decades in prison.