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President Trump has directed his administration to work to have rapper A$AP Rocky freed from custody in Sweden after Kim Kardashian West contacted White House adviser Jared Kushner about the issue, as first reported by TMZ.
The state of play: A person familiar with the situation told me the TMZ story is accurate and that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has taken the lead to work on Rocky's detention.
- Kardashian West did reach out to Kushner, who brought the issue to Trump's attention. The president told his team he wanted the issue resolved, the source added.
- Rocky’s team has also been directly in touch with the White House, the source said.
The backdrop: Rocky turned himself into Swedish police last week after he was wanted for questioning about a street fight in Stockholm, which he and his entourage say was started by two harassers, but Swedish authorities did not properly reach out to the U.S. officials, per Politico.
- Swedish authorities must decide by tomorrow whether to charge Rocky, who is currently being held in solitary confinement, with a crime or release him.
- TMZ reports that there is "real fear prosecutors might delay their decision ... and keep [Rocky] in custody."
Go deeper: Kim Kardashian has helped free 17 inmates in the past 3 months