UPDATED Nov. 14, 9:47 a.m. ET: LiAngelo Ball and his UCLA teammates are free.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Ball, Jalen Hill, and Cody Riley were seen at Pudong International Airport, getting ready to board a flight to Los Angeles late Tuesday night local time.
That guy who's in the White House was asked about Ball and co., and spit out some word salad.
"President Xi has been terrific on that subject... But that was not a good subject. That was not something that should have happened," he said. "What they did was unfortunate. You know, you’re talking about very long prison sentences. They [Chinese officials] do not play games."
Original story below:
According to The Washington Post, President Trump asked Chinese president Xi Jinping for his help in resolving the case of the trio of UCLA basketball players who were arrested for shoplifting six days ago. Those three players (Cody Riley, Jalen Hill and, of course, LiAngelo Ball) are still in China after they were accused of swiping sunglasses (which was allegedly caught on surveillance cameras) from a Louis Vuitton store while in the country for a tournament.
The Post writes that Trump made his request just a day after the three Bruins were apprehended, and that after he did Xi told him the student-athletes would be treated "fairly and expeditiously." The anonymous official who relayed this info to the Post adds that charges have been reduced and that a resolution to the matter is quickly approaching. Additionally, this anonymous official's info was corroborated by an email sent to the paper from press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Further reports on the matter state that Chief of Staff John Kelly has been in touch with the players' families, Chinese authorities, and UCLA coach Steve Alford. If convicted the boys (all of whom are freshman) could face 10 years in prison, which seems highly unlikely, but who knows.
