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And Finally Artist News Legal
Donald Trump threatened trade war with Sweden over A$AP Rocky arrest
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 4 July 2022
Former US President Donald Trump threatened Sweden with trade restrictions if its government did not intervene to release rapper A$AP Rocky from jail after he was arrested in the country in 2019, the Swedish Minister For Justice Morgan Johansson has revealed.
The rapper was held in custody for a month after being arrested on suspicion of assault following an altercation in Stockholm with another man called Mustafa Jafari.
In a speech at the Swedish Bar Association’s annual dinner last week – reports newspaper Dagens Nyheter – Johansson recalled how Trump’s legal advisor Pat Cipollone had tried to pressure Swedish political leaders to intervene in the case.
“He was sitting in the White House’s situation room [when] we spoke about this A$AP Rocky”, Johansson said of a video call that took place back in 2019. “It was a completely surreal experience”.
Sweden’s Chief Justice Daniel Ström, who also took part in the meeting, told the newspaper: “It was a very special situation. In normal cases, the tone is very polite in international contacts, but this was [different]”.
Johansson added that he explained to Cipollone that the Swedish constitution prohibits the government from intervening in legal cases, in order to ensure the independence of the courts. Cipollone apparently then said that Trump would be willing to personally pay Rocky’s bail to fast-track his release – only for Johansson to explain that Sweden does not operate a bail system.
While the US may not have realised that there was no way to pay for the rapper’s release, Johansson said that Cipollone and his team did have some knowledge of the Swedish constitution. The US lawyer pointed out that there is actually a provision for the government to step in and force its own will on legal cases under “exceptional circumstances”. And this was such an occasion, Cipollone had insisted.
But Johansson countered that the last time that rule had been enacted was during a terrorism case in the 1970s, and he did not agree with the US legal man that a rapper being accused of assault was a comparable situation.
“They had looked up and read about [the provision for government intervention], so we had to argue and stand up for our Swedish principles”, added Ström.
When it became clear that the Swedish government was not simply going to allow Trump to get his way, Cipollone apparently then threatened trade restrictions against the country. With such tough talking from the Americans, Johansson went on, he subsequently asked the EU Commission for support in the matter.
“If you can try to do such a thing against Sweden, what can you then try to do against slightly weaker countries that do not have the EU behind them”, he mused.
“This story shows how important it actually is to stand up for our legal principles and not take our democracy for granted”, he went on. “We should be enormously grateful to be able to live in a state governed by the rule of law and with the basic democratic principles that apply to our country”.
Ultimately, A$AP Rocky was held for a month while awaiting trial before being convicted of assaulting Jafari.
Both sides involved in the altercation argued that they had been acting in self-defence and that the other side had attacked first. Although, either way, Jafari had been beaten and cut with a broken bottle by Rocky and two members of his entourage, leaving him with several cuts requiring stitches and some broken ribs. The rapper was given a suspended sentence and ordered to pay damages to Jafari.
Following his release, Trump and his team were reportedly angry that the rapper wasn’t more grateful for the President’s decision to get involved.
Trump associate Darrell Scott later told Yahoo that he’d commented to Rocky’s manager John Ehmann: “The White House didn’t ask for anything. There were no conditions attached, but my condition … was that all I’m asking for you guys to do is say thank you”.
A$AP Rocky has actually commented on Trump’s involvement in the case, although not entirely in the way Trump would have liked.
Speaking in a documentary about his time in detention in Sweden, ‘Stockholm Syndrome’, which came out last year, the rapper said: “It was a chess move and they tried to strong arm a lot. In reality, I had no problem saying thank you to the man, especially if he helped me. That’s the narrative they pushin – that he got me out. [But] he didn’t free me. If anything, he made [the situation] a little worse”.
