Remember when President Donald Trump complained that LaVar Ball and the Ball family should’ve thanked him for getting LiAngelo Ball out of jail? It turns out they may have had nothing to thank him for.
Donald Trump actually didn’t help get LiAngelo Ball out of jail in China, per report
The situation was resolved before Trump ever got involved.
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
The situation was resolved and the UCLA players, including LiAngelo Ball, were out of jail before the president ever got involved, according to a report from ESPN.
“The situation was already resolved by the time we heard about Trump’s involvement,” one team source said. “That’s not to take away from the fact that he got involved, but the players already had their passports back and their flights booked to go home Tuesday night when Gen. Kelly called the players.”
“The players were already checked into the hotel before the public discovered they were arrested,” a team source said. “They also were not under house arrest. It was our decision to keep them at the hotel until the situation was resolved. The charges were dropped, they weren’t reduced, and that happened two days before we heard from Gen. Kelly.”
Read the full story about UCLA’s trip to China at ESPN.com
The players were never under house arrest in a hotel and the charges were dropped before Trump and other diplomats were ever involved.
Trump did eventually get a thank you from LiAngelo Ball.
But he never got one from LaVar Ball. In fact, Ball took to CNN to explicitly say he would not thank the president.
“I don’t even tweet, I’m just saying why is that on your mind? All of this stuff going on and that’s on your mind, that a father didn’t say thank you? And you’re the head of the U.S.? Come on. You not even talking about what I’m doing,” Ball said.
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