Former POTUS Donald Trump allegedly threatened Sweden with “trade restrictions” over the 2019 arrest of ASAP Rocky.
As TMZ reported on Friday, Morgan Johansson—the country’s Minister for Justice and Home Affairs—recently opened up about Trump’s alleged bullying and noted his worries over how such threats might impact “slightly weaker” governments.
“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?” Johansson is reported to have said.
Though not cited in the piece, the claim stems from an article published by Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter on Thursday. That report also received a mention in a recent report from British tabloid the Daily Mail.
Rocky has also spoken about the extended ordeal in the past, including in the Architects-directed 2021 doc Stockholm Syndrome. In reports surrounding the film’s Tribeca Film Festival premiere, it was revealed that Rocky had pushed back against the once-prominent narrative being pushed about Trump’s involvement. Per Rocky, the truth of the situation was much more nuanced than some had claimed.
“In reality, I had no problem saying thank you to the man, especially if he helped me,” Rocky said in the doc, perRolling Stone. “That’s the narrative they pushin’: That he got me out. And he didn’t free me. If anything, he made it a little worse.”
Rocky’s widely criticized case ultimately came to a close with him being released from jail in August 2019 and later that month convicted on assault. In a statement at the time, per NBC News, lawyer Slobodan Jovic said he and Rocky did not “agree with” the final decision of the court. While the court had acknowledged Rocky was “followed and harassed,” Jovic explained, it had failed to back Rocky’s argument of acting in self-defense.
