U.S. President Donald Trump intervened on behalf of rapper A$AP Rocky who was arrested and jailed earlier this month following a street fight with 2 Afghan migrants in Stockholm, Sweden on June 30.
In a Friday tweet, Trump said he had “a very good call” with Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, and he assured Lofven that he, Trump, would personally vouch for the rapper’s bail.
“Just had a very good call with @SwedishPM Stefan Löfven who assured me that American citizen A$AP Rocky will be treated fairly. Likewise, I assured him that A$AP was not a flight risk and offered to personally vouch for his bail, or an alternative,” Trump tweeted.
“Our teams will be talking further, and we agreed to speak again in the next 48 hours!” Trump said.
But Fox News called Trump’s statement a “hollow offer” since the Scandinavian country does not have a bail system.
The prime minister’s press secretary, Toni Eriksson, told U.S. news media that Lofven and Trump’s conversation “was friendly and respectful and lasted about 20 minutes.”
But he said Lofven advised Trump that “in Sweden everyone is equal before the law and that the government cannot and will not attempt to influence the legal proceedings.”
Trump’s call with Sweden’s PM came after a Swedish judge ruled to keep Rocky in jail for the foreseeable future or until his next hearing.
Trump said his wife Melania Trump and influential friends in the Black community urged him to intervene on Rocky’s behalf.
Melania brought the matter to Trump’s attention after speaking with musician Kanye West and his wife Kim Kardashian-West.
A$AP Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, has been held in jail for 3 weeks in Sweden. The 30-year-old rapper reportedly said race is not a factor in his ongoing incarceration.
Despite the president’s goodwill gesture, many celebrities are not so sure of his intentions. They criticized Trump for his policies affecting immigrants at the border.
Director Ava DuVernay, who is a Democrat, took to Twitter to say, “nobody cares about your token concern.”
And singer Justin Bieber, also a Democrat, thanked Trump for his help before tweeting, “can you also let those kids out of cages?”
But Rocky’s hometown congressman Rep. Adriano Espaillat welcomed the president’s help. In an interview with TMZ on Sunday, Espaillat graciously said any help is appreciated.
Photos by Getty Images
