White House

James Prince thinks it's stupid to avoid interacting with people who have a different world view, and that's why the rap mogul tells us he's willing to have a conversation with President Trump in the Oval.

J Prince was on Van Lathan's 'Red Pill Podcast' talking about his new book, 'The Art & Science of Respect,' when he said he'd accept an invitation to the White House ... promising to lobby for the black community if he goes to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

The Rap-A-Lot Records CEO has tons of experience with famous rap beefs ... so he's no stranger to reaching across the aisle to try and ease tension and settle differences.

Some critics have said Kanye West brought a circus to the Oval, but J Prince says his visit would be totally different.

Check out the full episode with James below, and catch 'The Red Pill' weekly on SoundCloud.

8:20 AM PT -- Stephanie Grisham has elaborated on her initial tweet by releasing a statement, saying, "Like it or not, she is the First Lady and this is the White House. It's disrespectful and disgusting to portray her this way simply because of politics."

She continued, "These kinds of vulgar attacks only further the divisiveness and bias in our country - it needs to stop."

T.I. is going directly after President Trump and the First Lady with a salacious video of a Melania look-alike stripping in the Oval Office ... for T.I.!!!

Melania's office is firing back at Tip for the video he released over the weekend ... it shows him in the Oval, kicking back smoking a cigar. After Trump leaves the White House, "Melania" walks in wearing nothing but her infamous "I Really Don't Care" jacket ... but only for a few seconds.

Suddenly, she's naked and on the Presidential desk giving T.I. full view of ... everything.

T.I. was clearly trying to draw the ire of POTUS ... slapping the caption "Dear 45, I ain't Kanye" on the video.

Melania's rep Stephanie Grisham tweeted, "How is this acceptable? #disgusting #boycottT.I."

No response yet from T.I. ... but seems like mission accomplished for him.

President Barack Obama is turning to one of the greats to help him launch his Hollywood career -- KOBE BRYANT!!!

The Lakers legend was out in D.C. when we asked if he'd been helping his friend, Barry, launch his new Netflix projects and Mamba replied like De Niro in "Goodfellas" ... "Little bit."

Remember, Barack and Michelle recently signed a deal with Netflix to produce scripted and unscripted content along with documentaries and features through their company, Higher Ground Productions.

So, who do you turn to for advice on how make an immediate splash in Hollywood? An Oscar winner.

And, since Kobe's got the hardware thanks to his short film, "Dear Basketball" -- the Obamas clearly feel confident enough to hit up Mamba for some coaching.

President Trump's painting featuring him with Grand Old Party presidents set the internet ablaze during his "60 Minutes" interview -- but it also lined the painter's wallet with cash.

During 45's interview Sunday night, a lot of people noticed Trump had hung up a fantasy painting on a wall somewhere in the White House. It shows Trump drinking what appears to be a non-alcoholic beverage with guys like Abraham Lincoln, Richard Nixon, the Bushes, Ronald Reagan, Teddy Roosevelt and other Republican presidents ... who all got booze nearby.

Many art aficionados mocked 45's vanity and called the painting "tacky" and "trashy" -- and also ridiculously and slimmingly flattering. There are, however, fans ... 'cause Missouri-based artist Andy Thomas tells us business has been booming in the 24 hours since his artwork aired on TV.

Andy says he and his wife woke up Monday morning with 25 new orders for prints of his "Republican Club" painting. They typically get only 3 orders a day. He tells us 60 additional orders came rolling in an hour later.

It isn't just the GOP boys getting love -- Andy says prints of another painting he did depicting Obama and famous Democratic presidents have been flying off his digital shelves from his website.

Stormy Daniels is taking an "L" in court in her legal war with President Trump -- a judge just dismissed her defamation suit against him.

Stormy had sued the Prez for saying she lied about the mysterious man she claims threatened her in 2011 to stop talking about Trump. She had even released a sketch of the man ... which Trump immediately shot holes in on social media.

He tweeted, "A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!"

Monday, a federal judge tossed the suit, describing the tweet as "rhetorical hyperbole" against a political adversary. The court said it would be an unreasonable standard if politicians could sue every time an opponent fired verbal jabs.

It's interesting because ... the judge is characterizing Stormy as a politician. In the rule, he wrote ... Stormy had tried to "publicly present herself as a political adversary to [Trump]."

Stormy's lawsuit seeking to nullify the so-called "hush agreement" with Trump is still active.

Hillary Clinton is still firmly in Bill Clinton's corner more than two decades after his sex scandal with Monica Lewinsky ... with HC now saying he didn't abuse his power over her.

The former Secretary of State and two-time presidential hopeful went to bat for her husband Sunday during an interview with CBS, in which a reporter asked if then-President Clinton should have resigned after being impeached for lying about his affair with Lewinsky.

Her answer was telling ... "Absolutely not." The reporter follows up by asking if his relationship with Lewinsky might've been an abuse of power. She simply says, "No, no."

HC was presented with one last premise that she quickly and brutally deflected at Lewinsky's expense, with the reporter suggesting that a sitting president cannot have a consensual relationship with an intern because the power imbalance is too great.

She quickly interjected with, "... who was an adult" and pivoted to asking why there hasn't been such an expansive probe into the allegations of sexual misconduct against Trump.

Mally Mall says Kanye West is doing great work, trying to help the United States ... and he's nothing less than a genius.

We got Mally outside Staples Center Saturday night where Drake performed, and he sang the praises of Ye.

Mally was especially complimentary about Kanye's efforts to free Larry Hoover, who's serving a life sentence for murder.

Ice-T wants to make one thing crystal clear ... he and Coco are NOTHING like Kim and Kanye, but he does think Ye and Trump are birds of a feather.

We got Ice-T and Coco in New York City Saturday, and Ice had nothing but disdain for the Oval Office meeting.

He thinks Trump is so entrenched in his views, no one's going to change them ... and Kanye was just used by the Prez to score more African-American voters ... or at least that was the plan.

Donald Trump came to a startling revelation last night ... Kanye West is the black him!!!

Alec Baldwin made his return to 'SNL' to parody Ye's Oval chit chat. This one is especially interesting, because they danced around making fun of mental illness.

Also interesting ... most times 'SNL' takes a real event and makes it broader, but this one was pretty much true to form ... with all the hits, runs and errors from Thursday's pre-lunch meeting. The reporters in the crowd were definitely funnier than the real deal ... for sure.

Prince's estate is sick of President Trump playing The Purple One's music at his rallies and is demanding he stop STAT.

The late singer's half-brother, Omarr Baker, just said on behalf of the estate ... "The Prince Estate has never given permission to President Trump or the White House to use Prince's song and have requested that they cease all use immediately."

Trump played "Purple Rain" at his rally last week in South Haven, Mississippi. It's frequently played at his rallies ... and it's not the first time 45's been told to knock it off. Steven Tyler's lawyer fired off cease and desist letters after Trump played several of his songs, including "Livin' on the Edge."

The Rolling Stones also fired off a letter during the 2016 campaign after Trump used "Start Me Up" to get the crowd revved up.

Melania Trump brushes off allegations that her husband, Donald Trump, has had affairs with women ... saying it's just gossip orchestrated by the media.

The First Lady sat for an interview -- her first solo interview since taking up residence in the White House -- with ABC News. She dismissed claims, notably by Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, that the Prez has strayed during their marriage.

Melania says, "I'm a mother and a First Lady, and I have much more important things to think about and to do."

She added, "It is not concern and focus of mine."

Melania also said there are people currently in the White House she doesn't trust and who do not have her husband's best interests in mind.

The full interview airs Friday night at 10 PM ET.

T.I. has a fascinating take on Kanye's Oval meeting with Donald Trump ... saying some of what Ye advocated is awesome, but the most important message got lost -- that Trump has total disregard for people of color.

We got the rapper and wife Tiny Thursday night in WeHo leaving Craig's and he told our guy if he was in that meeting he would have led with Trump's attack on black people and other people of color. T.I. goes beyond that, because he's outraged how the Prez has separated innocent children from their parents in immigration raids.

It's interesting ... T.I. is measured and does not attack Kanye, saying some of what he advocated is noble, but he's clearly upset with the way the meeting went down.

T.I. revealed in a lengthy post why he declined Ye's invitation to that bizarre White House lunch meeting.

The American people deserve an FBI investigation into President Trump's taxes because where there's smoke, there's often fire ... according to Ron Howard, who says there's only one reason it hasn't happened yet.

The beloved director, producer and actor was at LAX when he raised a topic he and millions of other Americans find intriguing: why The New York Times bombshell on Trump's alleged tax evasion totally fell flat. Ron told us it's all about the source.

Watch the clip ... he strongly suggests 45 has poisoned the public against the media -- aka the "fake news" -- and the only solution is to get law enforcement on the job.

To be clear, Ron's not saying he's SURE Trump is guilty of anything, but he is sure America needs to know its President isn't a tax cheat. He says reporters got the ball rolling, but law enforcement should finish the job ... and quickly.

Kanye West may have heard the outcry over his MAGA hat, because we found out he changed it up after the media left the Oval and gave Trump a cap, sans the word, "again."

Check out the embroidery on the hat the Prez is wearing ... "Make America Great." Kanye tells us it's an acknowledgment America needs work. It also seems to do away with the concept Obama screwed up the country -- although it's unclear if Trump agrees with that sentiment. Ye says he lobbied Trump during lunch on prison reform, manufacturing and other issues toward that end.

He says he told Trump he was going to create a factory in Chicago called Larry's -- as in Larry Hoover, the Chicago gang leader who's serving 6 life sentences for murder -- and says he'll hire former inmates to manufacture the Make America Great hats, among other items.

Ye was wearing a MAGA hat, because he says he only brought one hat without the word "again" but says he'll also start wearing the new version.

He also brought hats for Ivanka and Jared Kushner -- hers reads "Make Earth Great Again" and his says "Travel Space Again." Kanye showed Trump his concept idea for a new Air Force 1 too, calling it iPlane 1.

He also gave Trump a pair of Yeezys, size 12. He says his staff asked Trump's people for his shoe size in advance. BTW ... Yeezys usually run half a size small.

5:55 PM PT -- Not so fast. An industrial designer says Kanye's so-called iPlane 1 is hardly Ye's original idea. He told The Verge it's from his 2012 master's thesis imagining the future of air travel in 2030. The designer says he has no idea how Kanye found his designs, or what compelled him to claim the design as his idea.

T.I. is destroying Kanye West for his White House visit, declaring he's taken ass-kissing President Trump to a disgusting new low.

Tip unloaded on Ye, saying ... "This s**t is next level,futuristic Sambo,Hopping Bob, Stephen off Django ass shit Ye!!!! From what I can gather... This is the most repulsive,disgraceful, Embarrassing act of desperation & auctioning off of one’s soul to gain power I’ve ever seen."

He's taking this very personally too ... revealing Kanye actually asked him to join him at the White House on Thursday, but T.I. says he rejected the offer, and he's damn glad he did. In a heated IG post he said, "You ass kissing and boot licking on a whole new level &I refuse to associate myself with something so vile,weak,& inconsiderate to the effect this has on the greater good of ALL OUR PEOPLE!!!!"

Remember, T.I. collabed with Kanye for the track "Ye vs. the People" -- but he's making it clear that won't happen again. "At one time it was a pleasure to work alongside you... now, I’m ashamed to have ever been associated with you."

Bottom line for Tip is he feels like Kanye is only looking out for himself -- putting himself in a position of power next to Trump. He included this plea -- "Don’t follow this puppet. Because as long as I’ve lived I’ve learned that it benefits a man nothing at all to gain the world,if to do so he must lose his soul. We just saw Mr.West’s Soul on auction."

2:02 PM PT -- 50 Cent's putting in his 2 cents, and while the image he posted might seem like a comical take on Kanye's White House visit ... his caption is clearly critical.

Fiddy included this faux quote from Ye -- "You make me feel like Superman, Obama said l was a idiot f**k these n***as lm wit you Master."

Ex-RNC Chairman Michael Steele has fully digested Kanye West's White House lunch meeting with President Trump ... and he's ready to puke.

We got Michael leaving the London Hotel in NYC Thursday and, naturally, had to ask him about what went down in the Oval. ICYMI (seriously, how?) ... Kanye dropped an MF-bomb, went off about abolishing the 13th Amendment and told 45 wearing the MAGA hat makes him feel like Superman.

Michael's take was well ... written all over his face. You gotta see his reaction when we asked if meeting Ye will boost Trump's poll numbers with black voters ... as the Prez claims it will.

Aside from what Kanye said, Michael also had strong words about what Ye did while seated across from the President. He's balanced, though, because he threw a jab Trump's way too.