A$AP Rocky keeps popping up in Trump’s impeachment hearings

A$AP Rocky's fate and career hung in the balance earlier this year when the rapper was arrested in Sweden and charged with assault, though he was eventually found guilty and allowed to leave the country. The case attracted global attention, with President Donald Trump periodically weighing in publicly to call for his release. Now the case, and Trump's interest in it, have been brought up at least twice during the House's impeachment hearings.

Rocky himself and his case are not directly connected to the matter surrounding Trump's potential impeachment — House Democrats are currently determining whether the President withheld aid to Ukraine in exchange for the promise of investigations into Hunter Biden, the son of Vice President Joe Biden, a frontrunner for the 2020 Democratic nomination. However, Rocky's case was the subject of a phone call between Trump and Gordon Sondland, the U.S.'s ambassador to the European Union. According to a New York Times report, a State Department official named David Holmes testified on Friday that he heard Trump and Sondland discuss Rocky's case over the phone at a restaurant in Kiev on July 26. During the call, Sondland reportedly advised Trump to allow Rocky to be sentenced to a month in prison, so Trump could "play the racism card [and] give him a ticker-tape when he comes home."

On Wednesday, during his public testimony, Sondland said he recalled this conversation as he was questioned by the House's counsel. "What triggered my memory was someone's reference to A$AP Rocky, which I believe was the primary reference of that phone call." Watch a clip of his comments below:

So, while A$AP Rocky has nothing to do with Trump's impeachment, his case may have indirectly helped the proceedings. Which, in my view, more than makes up for TESTING.