White House: Trump wasn't being literal when he tweeted he should've left UCLA players 'in jail'
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
- The three UCLA basketball players who were arrested in China and charged with shoplifting returned stateside after President Trump met with Xi Jinping to ask for help in the case.
- LaVar Ball, father of LiAngelo Ball, downplayed Trump's involvement with his son's release while speaking with ESPN.
- On Sunday morning, Trump sent out a tweet suggesting Ball was ungrateful for his help and that he "should have left [the players] in jail!"
- At the daily press briefing on Monday, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders clarified that Trump's comments were "rhetorical" and that he was pleased that the players were back stateside.
The White House has clarified President's Trump tweet from Sunday morning, in which he said of the three UCLA Bruins who had been arrested in China, "I should have left them in jail!"
At the White House daily briefing on Monday, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders clarified that the president did not regret intervening in the case when asked about the tweet, and that he was happy to see their release.
"The president was certainly very glad and thankful to see the release of the three UCLA athletes by the Chinese government," Sanders said.
Sanders was then asked if the president really believed he should have left the players in jail, to which Sanders said, "No, I think if that was the case he wouldn't have taken the action that he did, and acted in order to help get those individuals released and brought back to the country."
When asked why President Trump tweeted, "I should have left them in jail!" when he did not believe that he should have left the players in jail, Sanders said that his words were meant as "a rhetorical response to a criticism of the father."
The father in question is none other than LaVar Ball, who downplayed Trump's involvement in the release of his son LiAngelo after he was caught shoplifting with two of his UCLA teammates in China. Trump was in China at the time of the players' arrest, and reportedly spoke with Chinese president XI Jingping and requested help with getting them released.
After their safe return stateside, Trump had openly wondered on Twitter whether or not the players would give him credit for bringing them back, which they did at a press conference, but LaVar Ball later went on to downplay the role Trump played in his son's release while speaking with ESPN. It was this dismissal that drew the ire of the president and prompted his Sunday morning tweet, which we now know to be "rhetorical."
You can watch the odd exchange below.
.@PressSec says that Pres. Trump's "I should have left them in jail" tweet on UCLA players was "a rhetorical response to a criticism by [LaVar Ball]" https://t.co/RaXxJ56RvO pic.twitter.com/hW3K0nnyxT
- CBS News (@CBSNews) November 20, 2017
- I'm an interior designer. Here are 10 things in your living room you should get rid of.
- Higher-paid employees looking for work are having a tough time, and it could be a sign of a shift in the workplace
- A software engineer shares the résumé he's used since college that got him a $500,000 job at Meta — plus offers at TikTok and LinkedIn
- 7 scenic Indian villages perfect for May escapes
- Paneer snacks you can prepare in 30 minutes
- Markets crash: Investors' wealth erodes by ₹2.25 lakh crore
- Stay healthy and hydrated: 10 immunity-boosting fruit-based lemonades
- Here’s what you can do to recover after eating oily food
- Nothing Phone (2a) blue edition launched
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market