Trump calls father of freed UCLA player an 'ungrateful fool'

At 5:25 am in Washington, Trump rehashed his beef with Ball, who has been reluctant to thank the President for his role in his son's release from China.

"It wasn't the White House, it wasn't the State Department, it wasn't father LaVar's so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence - IT WAS ME. Too bad! LaVar is just a poor man's version of Don King, but without the hair," Trump tweeted in part from his Florida vacation home..

Trump called Ball an "ungrateful fool," adding that getting his son home is "a really big deal."

The tweets come after Ball said Monday in an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo on Monday that he didn't know what the President had done to get his son and two other UCLA basketball players out of China.

Trump also warned that Ball “could have spent the next 5 to 10 years during Thanksgiving with your son in China, but no NBA contract to support you” had it not been for his intervention.

“But remember LaVar, shoplifting is NOT a little thing. It’s a really big deal, especially in China,” he wrote.