LiAngelo Ball and his UCLA teammates Jalen Hill and Cody Riley were suspended indefinitely pending a "complete review" by the school Wednesday as their shoplifting case came to a close. The three players returned home from China and held a press conference, and it sounds like Trump's involvement may have played a role in their release.
As a quick refresher, during a trip that he took to Asia last week, President Trump discussed with Chinese president Xi Jinping the little matter of the three UCLA basketball players who had been detained in Beijing after they were apparently caught shoplifting sunglasses from a few stores, including a Louis Vuitton. In fact, that small international incident occurred just a day before Trump arrived. And now, just a little more than a week later, those three Bruins are back in the United States.
While it's unclear just what exactly Trump and Jinping discussed (or what role the president played in it) what is clear is that Trump wanted a "thank you" from the three freshman just hours after they got back from the other side of the Pacific:
Though it's also not clear just how long the boys were going to actually be stuck in China (previous reports said 1-2 weeks, though we don't know if that's after the presidents talked or not), Trump did get the thanks he was looking for in a very humbling press conference that the three ballplayers had to take center stage in on Wednesday:
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Chinese authorities have reportedly dropped the charges against Ball and his teammates.
While it seems odd that the president would tweet this out (or, at least, it would've in the past) it will hopefully put a wrap on this story.
