President Donald Trump directed his team to work on securing the release of rapper A$AP Rocky (Rakim Mayers) currently held in Sweden.
Superstars Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are lobbying for Rocky’s release, according to TMZ and Axios after Kardashian contacted Jared Kushner about the situation. Trump ordered his team to resolve the issue.
The rapper was arrested by Swedish authorities on July 2 after he voluntarily presented himself to answer questions about a street fight that occurred in Stockholm with two individuals. Last week a Swedish court ordered Rocky to spend two weeks in pre-trial detention while police investigate the June 30 fight in downtown Stockholm. Quickly after the news broke, the movement #JusticeForRocky pushing for the rapper’s release trended on social media.
Rocky denied the charges in a public post on Instagram.
Currently, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is working to secure Rocky’s release, but sources speaking to TMZ are not happy with the progress.
U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (NY-D) has spent weeks lobbing for the release of A$AP Rocky.
“I will continue fighting until A$AP Rocky is released from Swedish prison and brought back. Everyone deserves to be treated equally and A$AP Rocky’s rights continue to be violated. It is not a fair process,” the congressman said in a statement to The Associated Press. “Currently, I’m speaking with the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Sweden and ask that everyone continues showing their support to help us in this process of getting justice for Rocky.”
Swedish authorities will decide Friday whether to charge Rocky or delay the proceedings.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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