Read more from the original source:
Source: Allen Berezovsky / Getty Big Ballers don’t lie. According to ESPN’s latest report on UCLA’s men’s basketball team, LaVar Ball was telling the truth when he went toe to toe with Donald Trump . LaVar Ball Was Right, Trump Had Nothing to Do With LiAngelo & Two UCLA Players Being Let Go From Chinese Jail & Lied to Make Himself Look Like a Hero https://t.co/Vpfuybiztp pic.twitter.com/NffjbkWuJT — Robert Littal (@BSO) March 2, 2018 via BSO and ESPN : Among the new details that have emerged: what the players stole from the other two stores besides the sunglasses from Louis Vuitton; that the players were required to leave the police station multiple times to return the items they stole to all three stores; that one player hid a pair of stolen sunglasses in UCLA head coach Steve Alford’s hotel room; how UCLA and Pac-12 officials bailed the players out of jail without committing an NCAA violation; how charges were dropped, the bail refunded and the players’ passports returned two days before White House chief of staff John Kelly called the players to inform them that President Donald Trump was working on their release; how UCLA appeased Chinese authorities by keeping the players in China for 72 hours after the rest of the team had returned to Los Angeles; and why school officials thought it wise to thank Trump and Kelly while still unsure of the impact of their efforts. Trump lied about when he found out, lied about helping them get out, lied about them potentially 10 years in jail. LaVar Ball was right when he said it was handled before Trump even knew about it https://t.co/Vpfuybiztp — Robert Littal (@BSO) March 2, 2018 Three UCLA freshmen, Ball (18 years old at the time), Riley (19) and Hill (17), walked to Pinghai Road, where they entered the Louis Vuitton store shortly after sunset, made their way to the second floor and looked at a display of sunglasses. Ball attempted to buy a pair that retailed for $730, but his credit card was declined, not an uncommon occurrence for people on a trip who had not alerted their credit card companies of their travels. Also it should be noted that ESPN which will plaster any LaVar negative story on the homepage, has this story so buried on their site, it isn't a headline on Homepage, NBA page or NCAA BBall page https://t.co/Vpfuybiztp — Robert Littal (@BSO) March 2, 2018 Ball, Riley and Hill left the store and talked outside before re-entering a few minutes later. The players returned to the second floor, and each took a pair of glasses and exited without paying. The trio then walked across Pinghai Road to a mall with more affordable retail stores such as Uniqlo, Zara and H&M and took more sunglasses, these of the $15 variety, from a local boutique store before walking into H&M and snagging a 5-pack of beaded bracelets retailing for $6. When Ball, Riley and Hill made the short walk around the street corner back to the Hyatt, the three freshmen had shoplifted from three stores in a span of 90 minutes. Trump routinely takes credit for other's people work. Media tried to force LaVar Ball to thank Trump when the reality is Trump purposefully lied & then threatened to leave black kids in a chinese jail they were never going to be in https://t.co/Vpfuybiztp — Robert Littal (@BSO) March 2, 2018 Donald Trump first found out about the situation, according to The New York Times, when members of his staff saw it on CNN just before Trump’s dinner with the president of China, Xi Jinping, in Beijing on Thursday. Trump would later tell reporters on Tuesday, Nov. 14, that he first heard about the situation “two days ago,” at which point he personally asked the Chinese president to look into the matter. The White House did not respond to requests to clear up the timeline, but UCLA sources say they didn’t become aware of Trump’s involvement until Sunday when White House chief of staff John Kelly called the players to say that Trump was intervening on their behalf and that he was optimistic of a quick resolution. A Pac-12 source, who was not present for the actual call from Kelly, confirmed the UCLA sources’ description of the timeline. “The situation was already resolved by the time we heard about Trump’s involvement,” one team source said. “That’s not to take away from the fact that he got involved, but the players already had their passports back and their flights booked to go home Tuesday night when Gen. Kelly called the players.” In a New York Times story headlined “How Trump Helped Liberate UCLA ‘Knuckleheads’ from China,” Kelly said Trump’s intervention, as well as efforts by State Department diplomats, led to the reduction of the charges to the equivalent of misdemeanors as well as the release of the three players to their hotel where they were placed under temporary house arrest. “The players were already checked into the hotel before the public discovered they were arrested,” a team source said. “They also were not under house arrest. It was our decision to keep them at the hotel until the situation was resolved. The charges were dropped, they weren’t reduced, and that happened two days before we heard from Gen. Kelly.”
