Donald Trump Was In Deeper With A$AP Rocky Than We Previously Thought
A$AP Rocky was arrested in Stockholm, Sweden after causing harm to another man that he fought in the street, according to BBC. In an Instagram video posted by A$AP Rocky after the incident, the rapper explained that a group of men had been following him for four blocks and would not leave him alone. While the case was investigated, he spent about a month at Kronoberg prison. He had the public support of former President Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian, according to the Los Angeles Times, who were attempting to get him released.
During an interview on "Desus & Mero" (via NME), A$AP Rocky spoke about the experience and said that it was scary because he wasn't very familiar with Sweden and there wasn't a bail system in that country. Trump tried to get the prime minister to release the rapper from prison and even celebrated when he was eventually released, but A$AP Rocky later revealed that Trump didn't actually get him out. He said, per NME, "In reality, I had no problem saying thank you to the man [Trump], especially if he helped me." However, he went on to clarify, "That's the narrative they pushin': that he got me out. And he didn't free me. If anything, he made it a little worse."
It was unclear what actually happened behind the scenes between former President Trump and prime minister Stefan Löfven at the time. But now, the truth has come out and Trump's threats were a bit more serious than people may have thought.
Trump apparently threatened a trade war over A$AP Rocky arrest
When A$AP Rocky was arrested in 2019 for assault in Sweden, Donald Trump attempted to get him released from prison. It was initially unclear what the former president was negotiating or threatening in order to have the rapper released, but the mystery has now come to an end. In an interview with Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, translated by the Independent, Sweden's Justice Minister revealed that Trump threatened trade restrictions if Rocky was not released immediately and nearly started an international trade war.
Luckily, the rapper was released in August 2019 after being found guilty of assault, but he was not ordered to serve any additional prison time, per TMZ. The Justice Minister, Morgan Johansson, is now claiming that Trump was bullying Swedish officials at the time. Johansson said, "This story demonstrates how important it really is to stand up for our legal principles and not to take our democracy for granted," he continued, "If you [Trump] can try and do something like this against Sweden, what will you then try and do to slightly weaker countries that don't have the European Union behind them?"
As previously noted, following the rapper's arrest and time in prison, A$AP Rocky was open about the fact that Trump was not the reason he was released. Thankfully, trade restrictions never came into play and Rocky was able to return back to the United States.