LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill, the three UCLA basketball players who had been detained in China stemming from an alleged shoplifting arrest, have officially returned home to Los Angeles. All charges against the freshman were dropped and President Trump believes he is the reason they’re not spending years in a Chinese jail.
Trump, who spoke with China’s President Xi Jinping over the weekend about a number of issues, including the UCLA basketball case, is hoping he gets a “thank you” from Ball, Hill and Riley.
Today, the President took to his twitter account to ask, in the third person, whether or not he’d be thanked for his efforts.
Do you think the three UCLA Basketball Players will say thank you President Trump? They were headed for 10 years in jail!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2017
Trump reportedly brought up the issue during his meeting with Xi on Saturday in Beijing, and Xi promised that the three players would be treated fairly and expeditiously. Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill were allegedly caught on camera shoplifting from three stores inside a high-end shopping center, which includes Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Salvatore Ferragamo stores.
The Bruins, ranked 21st in the country, picked up a win over Georgia Tech in Shanghai last Friday and flew back to the States over the weekend without Ball, Riley and Hill. Their status with the team, and whether or not they’ll face suspension, remains unclear. LiAngelo is the most well known of the three players, but Hill and Riley are both consensus top 100 recruits who were part of a UCLA recruiting class ranked among the top five nationally.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said the school is looking into further punishment for the players.
“I want to be clear that we take seriously any violations of the law,” he said in a statement, per the Daily News. “We remain one of the world’s top academic institutions in large part because of our values and standards, which we work hard to infuse throughout our campus community.”
