The rapper, whose name is Rakim Mayer, was arrested and charged with assault in Stockholm in July 2019 after video emerged of him beating up a fan on the street. Mr Trump petitioned Sweden to “free” the rapper ahead of his trial, and even took to Twitter at the time to say he was “very disappointed” in Sweden’s then-prime minister Stefan Lofven for being unable to release Mayer. The country’s justice minister Morgan Johansson said the former US president went as far as warning the Swedish government of “trade restrictions” should ASAP Rocky not be released.
The then US president also allegedly told Stockholm that he had approached the European Commission, the head of the European Union, for backing. “This story demonstrates how important it really is to stand up for our legal principles and not to take our democracy for granted,” the minister and MP argued. “If you can try and do something like this against Sweden, what will you then try and do to slightly weaker countries that don’t have the European Union behind them?”Mayer was eventually found guilty in a Swedish court and handed a suspended sentence, much to the disappointment of the former US president.
