Rapper A$AP Rocky has been jailed in Sweden since July 2 following a June 30 altercation in Stockholm with fans who were following him and his friends. Though those fans have since been charged with molestation and assault, Variety reported, the American music star (real name: Rakim Mayers) has yet to be formally charged as authorities continue their investigation.
Swedish authorities have refused to release the rapper as they continued looking into what happened — prosecutors and a judge deemed him a flight risk — so pals Kanye West and Kim Kardashian West got involved. The couple reached out to Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a senior adviser, who, along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, encouraged the president to advocate for the music star's release.
And he did. "Just had a very good call with @SwedishPM Stefan Löfven who assured me that American citizen A$AP Rocky will be treated fairly. Likewise, I assured him that A$AP was not a flight risk and offered to personally vouch for his bail, or an alternative," the president tweeted on July 20, adding, "Our teams will be talking further, and we agreed to speak again in the next 48 hours!"
Now, TMZ reports, the State Department's and the president's decision to get involved might be backfiring. A$AP Rocky, TMZ writes, might "actually be in even more peril as he lingers in a Swedish jail BECAUSE the U.S. government tried to help him." IN fact, TMZ adds, "The fear now [is that] the prosecutor may actually go harder on Rocky to show he is not kowtowing to U.S. government officials."
TMZ reports that, according to sources connected to the case, the prosecutor — who on July 19 mistakenly released a statement indicating that an indictment was coming — simply will not be swayed on the issue of releasing the Grammy-nominated music artist.
The Swedes don't appreciate that Trump is attempting to meddle in their investigation and protocol, TMZ reports. (Also worth noting: Trump's offer to "vouch for [A$AP Rocky's] bail" wouldn't help anyway as Sweden's criminal justice system doesn't use a bail system like America.)
After Sweden's prime minister spoke to Trump, the foreign leader's press secretary, Toni Eriksson, said that the men's conversation had been "friendly and respectful and lasted about 20 minutes," the Chicago Tribune reported.
However, the press secretary added in a statement, the prime minister "made certain to emphasize the complete independence of the Swedish judicial system, prosecutors and courts. He underlined that in Sweden everyone is equal before the law and that the government cannot and will not attempt to influence the legal proceedings."
Though the president and the prime minister could indeed speak again in the future, "nothing has been booked or planned," the press secretary said.
On July 2, A$AP Rocky took to Instagram to post a few videos of the events that led to his arrest in which he, his security guard and entourage can be seen repeatedly trying to diffuse drama with men who were following them as they walked around the city.