Trump Slams Sweden Over Rapper's Detention

Sweden has decided to detain American rapper A$AP Rocky until his trial on an assault charge begins Tuesday—and President Trump is hopping mad about it. He slammed the country and its prime minister in tweets Thursday night, the Guardian reports. "Very disappointed in Prime Minister Stefan Löfven for being unable to act. Sweden has let our African American Community down in the United States," Trump tweeted. "I watched the tapes of A$AP Rocky, and he was being followed and harassed by troublemakers. Treat Americans fairly!" In a second tweet, Trump added: "Give A$AP Rocky his FREEDOM. We do so much for Sweden but it doesn’t seem to work the other way around. Sweden should focus on its real crime problem!"

Earlier this month, Trump said he had spoken to Löfven about the rapper and offered to "personally vouch for his bail," though the prime minister's press secretary said Löfven had explained to Trump that the Swedish judicial system is independent and "the government cannot and will not attempt to influence the legal proceedings." The rapper, real name Rakim Mayers, and two members of his entourage are accused of assaulting Mustafa Jafari in a June 30 brawl in Stockholm. Authorities deny accusations of racism and say there is more to the case than videos shared by the rapper suggest. "Racism in Sweden is very problematic," Swedish human rights activist Lovette Jallow tells the New York Times. "But it is not a case of racism in the A$AP Rocky case." (Trump got involved in the case after speaking to Kanye West.)