Trump wonders in tweet if UCLA basketball players will thank him for intervening in shoplifting case

Getty Images/Pool photo

• Three UCLA basketball players returned home after being arrested on charges of shoplifting while in China.
• US President Donald Trump reportedly made a personal plea to the Chinese government to assist in the case.
• Trump wondered in a tweet on Tuesday if the players would thank him for intervening in the case.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday pondered in a tweet if the three UCLA basketball players arrested on charges of shoplifting in China will thank him for intervening in the case.

The three players — LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley, and Jalen Hill — were sent home from China after being held at the team’s hotel in Shanghai on charges of shoplifting at a Louis Vuitton store. During a trip to China, Trump asked President Xi Jinping to intervene in the case.

“Do you think the three UCLA Basketball Players will say thank you President Trump? They were headed for 10 years in jail!” Trump tweeted.

ESPN reported last week that the players were expected to remain in China for a “week or two” before they returned home on Tuesday.

“I had a great conversation with President Xi,” Trump told reporters prior to the report that the players were being sent home. “What they did was unfortunate. You know, you’re talking about very long prison sentences. They do not play games.”

Trump called Xi “terrific” in handling the subject.

Ball, Riley, and Hill returned to California on Tuesday. UCLA is reportedly weighing punishment for the players for the incident.

Here’s video of the players returning: