President Donald Trump says he will try to free A$AP Rocky from a Swedish Prison after talking to Kanye West.
Trump tweeted that he received a call from the rapper and has since vowed to speak to Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven to try to help the situation.
It’s claimed by TMZ that West wanted to get ‘personally involved’ in Rocky’s case and spoke to Trump through a direct line he has to the Oval Office.
‘Just spoke to @KanyeWest about his friend A$AP Rocky’s incarceration. I will be calling the very talented Prime Minister of Sweden to see what we can do about helping A$AP Rocky. So many people would like to see this quickly resolved!’ he wrote.
Melania Trump also said she would be working with the State Department to try to bring him home.
President Donald Trump said he will call the Prime Minister of Sweden in a bid to help to free rapper A$AP Rocky. Melania is also said to be working with the State Department
In a tweet, Trump shared that he had spoken to West about trying to free A$AP Rocky
President Trump said that Kanye West (left) called him to ask him if he could help ASAP Rocky (right), who has been detained in Stockholm since July 3, sparking a social media campaign for his release
Trump says that West was one of many African Americans to call him about the hopeful release of A$AP Rocky. The two embraced after meeting in the Oval Office in 2018 when Kanye wore a hat with Trumps ‘Make American Great Again’ catchphrase
‘We’ll be working with the State Department and we hope to get him home soon,’ Melania told reporters in the Oval Office while celebrating the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
It was a rare comment on a diplomatic and political situation from the first lady.
President Donald Trump said he is also trying to help the singer, who has been held for another week by investigators. But added that the first lady was the one who brought Rocky’s plight to his attention.
‘Many, many members of the African-American community have called me, friends of mine, and said can you help. I personally don’t know A&AP Rocky but he has tremendous support from the African-American community in this country,’ Trump said.
‘When I say African-American, I think I can really say from everyone in this country because we’re all one. I have been called by so many people asking me to help A$AP Rocky. Actually the one who knew about A$AP Rocky was our first lady. Right? She was telling me about,’ he added.
He said talks have already started with Swedish authorities.
‘Sweden is a great country. They are friends of mine. The leadership. And we are going to be calling, we’ll be talking to them. We’ve already started,’ the president said.
There were reports Thursday that Kim Kardashian West, who has campaigned for criminal justice reform, contacted the White House over the case.
Kardashian West thanked Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House Counselor Jared Kushner, who is also Trump’s son-in-law, on Twitter Thursday evening for their ‘efforts to Free ASAP Rocky & his two friends.’
Kim Kardashian has contacted the White House about his release and thanked President Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House Counselor Jared Kushner via Twitter
She said their ‘commitment to justice reform is so appreciated.’
A Stockholm court on Friday ordered that Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, should be kept in custody in Sweden for another week while an investigation is completed into an alleged assault during a street brawl.
Fans and fellow artists have launched a social media campaign for the 30-year-old artist to be freed since his arrest shortly after midnight on July 3 following the street fight on June 30.
Rocky was in Stockholm to perform in a concert.
The Stockholm District Court ordered on July 5 that Rocky should be kept in custody while the investigation was on-going as he was considered a ‘flight risk’.
The court then gave the prosecutor until July 19 to decide whether to press charges.
But the prosecutor requested the deadline be extended a week for more time – a request the court granted.
The rapper’s lawyer Slobodan Jovicic called the court’s decision disproportionate.
He said that it was unreasonable to assume Rocky was a ‘flight risk’ since not returning for a potential trial could mean that the rapper would never be able to visit Europe again out of a fear of being arrested.
Prosecutors have now asked to hold the 30-year-old until July 25. Video of the incident appeared to show Rocky violently throw a man to the ground, but footage he released shows him trying to avoid a confrontation (left and right)
An online petition called #JusticeForRocky has garnered more than 600,000 signatures
A video of the brawl shows ASAP Rocky throwing a man to the floor and punching him, but footage released by the rapper himself shows two men following him and throwing the first blow at his security
‘I am very disappointed, even though this was very much expected, given (Sweden’s) regulations for detentions and that it’s very easy to detain someone,’ Jovicic told reporters.
Jovicic also said if the prosecutor presses charges and the case goes to trial he was confident that ‘Mayers in the end will be acquitted and that he will be able to go home’.
The platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated artist claimed he was acting in self-defense, reacting to the provocations of two young men who harassed and followed him and his entourage.
Three other people were arrested alongside Rocky and one of them – the rapper’s bodyguard – was later released.
Part of the incident was captured in a amateur video published by TMZ.
In the video, the rapper can be seen throwing one of the men into the street and then aiming several punches at him while he is down.
However Rocky posted his own Instagram videos to show the lead-up to the clash in which the young man can be seen arguing with the rapper, who repeatedly asks the man and his friend to stop following them.
One of the young men also can been seen hitting a member of Rocky’s entourage.
A separate investigation into assault and harassment committed by the plaintiffs is also ongoing, according to the Swedish Prosecution Authority.
The rapper’s lawyer Slobodan Jovicic said he was ‘very disappointed’ with the court’s decision
Post Malone, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Nicki Minaj, Meek Mill and Justin Bieber have taken to social media to voice their support for Mayers.
An online petition called #JusticeForRocky has garnered more than 600,000 signatures, and posters with the words ‘Free ASAP Rocky ASAP’ have been put up around Stockholm.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, Carl Risch, met with the rapper in Stockholm on Friday morning and he is scheduled to meet with representatives of Sweden’s foreign ministry.
Several members of Congress have also called for the New York-born rapper’s release.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a Democrat who represents New York’s 13th Congressional District, which includes Rocky’s home neighborhood of Harlem, also called in Pompeo to do more to secure the rapper’s freedom as well as that of two others detained with him, Bladimir Corniel and David Rispers.
He expressed concern that the three Americans were being held in solitary confinement.
‘It is unconscionable that young men that are doing well, they are on the right track in life, they’re very successful, they’re icons in the hip-hop community, are treated under these inhuman conditions,’ Espaillat said at a Wednesday press conference.