A$AP Rocky's friend testifies that the rapper fired a prop gun, not a real firearm, in 2021 shooting

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A$AP Rocky's longtime friend and collaborator testified at his Los Angeles trial Friday that the hip-hop star fired a starter pistol that he carried as a prop during a scuffle with a former friend on a Hollywood street in 2021.

The testimony from the man who goes by A$AP Twelvyy — who was part of the same A$AP Mob crew as both the accuser and the defendant dating back to high school — is essential to Rocky's defense against two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. A conviction could mean up to 24 years in prison.

“He walked around with a prop, like a starter pistol,” Twelvyy said, looking at the jury. “I seen it on several occasions."

Rocky’s partner, the singing superstar Rihanna, returned to court for the last stretch of the day as she had Thursday, and for the first time they left the courthouse together. The two walked arm-in-arm and climbed into a waiting SUV past a small group of cameras.

Twelvyy's testimony suggested Rocky's accuser, their mutual friend who goes by A$AP Relli, knew the pistol wasn't real when Rocky first pulled it out.

“He told him to shoot that fake-ass gun,” Twelvyy said under defense questioning.

Twelvyy testified that when Rocky did fire the gun, it was only to deter Relli from attacking a fourth crew member at the scene, A$AP Illz,

Deputy District Attorney John Lewin seized on this during his cross examination.

“Can you explain to me," he asked, "how pulling out a prop gun that Relli knew was fake was going to act as a deterrent to anything?”

“The sound,” Twelvyy answered.

“The sound," Lewin repeated back incredulously. “Can you explain how the sound of a gun that somebody knows is phony and not real is going to scare anybody?”

Twelvyy replied, “It’s so loud that you would think it was a real gunshot and move away.”

The A$AP Mob was a crew of musicians and other creators that formed at a New York high school nearly 20 years ago.

But just one member, Rocky, became a major mainstream success starting in the early 2010s with a pair of No. 1 albums. He has since been nominated for three Grammys, but has become known as much for his dealings in fashion as his music, and for his relationship with Rihanna, with whom he has two toddler sons.

Twelvyy, a rapper whose legal name is Jamel Phillips, has acted as an on-stage hype man for Rocky and appeared in his music videos.

He said that he saw Rocky with the starter pistol three times, first on a New York music video shoot in July 2021, then at a Harlem block party in September of that year, and then in Los Angeles shortly before the Nov. 6 incident.

“This is still like COVID era so he didn’t have security,” Twelvyy said. “And that was basically his line of defense.”

Lewin later asked him how he could've known it was a prop gun in the first place, and how he might have known that the one he pulled out in Los Angeles was the one he'd seen earlier.

“He told me and I seen it," Twelvyy said.

Rocky and Relli's relationship had been growing increasingly hostile, and they met up in the street the evening after Rocky had performed. Twelvyy and Illz accompanied Rocky.

Twelvyy denied Relli's testimony saying Rocky had been the first to start physically fighting, that Rocky had pointed the gun at his head and stomach, and that Twelvyy had pulled a knife.

Both sides agree that Rocky and his two companions walked away after the initial scuffle, that Relli followed them, and that shots were then fired. Relli testified that his knuckles were grazed in the shooting, but he was otherwise not physically hurt.

The idea that Rocky had fired a fake gun was only revealed — including to the judge and prosecution — on the day jury selection began in the trial two weeks ago.

Authorities did not recover the pistol they allege Rocky used. The defense said it does not have the prop gun. Police searching the scene immediately after and found no evidence of a shooting, but Relli searched himself soon after that and said he found two shell casings, which he took to police when he reported the incident two days later.

Twelvvy was the first defense witness called after the prosecution rested its case Thursday.

Lewin brought up Rihanna in his questioning. Lewin asked if she and Rocky could ruin him for not telling the story the way they wanted.

“It’s your testimony that even if the defendant and his significant other Rihanna were upset with you, they would have no ability to impact your career whatsoever?” Lewin asked.

Twelvyy replied, “I’m an artist, I could start a new career tomorrow. I could be a painter.”

He denied that he was testifying for Rocky's benefit.

“I’m not trying to help him on the case,” he said. “I was actually there. I know the truth.”

Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec, left, shows a document to A$AP Relli during A$AP Rocky's trial at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (Frazer Harrison/Pool via AP)

Defense attorney Joe Tacopina listens to opening remarks from the prosecuting attorney during the trial of his client, Rakim Mayers, aka A$AP Rocky, at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool)

Rapper A$AP Rocky arrives at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Singer Rihanna, center, returns to Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Liam McEwan)

A$AP Relli testifies during A$AP Rocky's trial at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (Frazer Harrison/Pool via AP)

Singer Rihanna leaves Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Liam McEwan)

Rapper A$AP Rocky arrives at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

NEW YORK (AP) — Reviving a campaign pledge, President Donald Trump wants a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates, a move that could save Americans tens of billions of dollars but drew immediate opposition from an industry that has been in his corner.

Trump was not clear in his social media post Friday night whether a cap might take effect through executive action or legislation, though one Republican senator said he had spoken with the president and would work on a bill with his “full support.” Trump said he hoped it would be in place Jan. 20, one year after he took office.

Strong opposition is certain from Wall Street in addition to the credit card companies, which donated heavily to his 2024 campaign and have supported Trump's second-term agenda. Banks are making the argument that such a plan would most hurt poor people, at a time of economic concern, by curtailing or eliminating credit lines, driving them to high-cost alternatives like payday loans or pawnshops.

“We will no longer let the American Public be ripped off by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Researchers who studied Trump’s campaign pledge after it was first announced found that Americans would save roughly $100 billion in interest a year if credit card rates were capped at 10%. The same researchers found that while the credit card industry would take a major hit, it would still be profitable, although credit card rewards and other perks might be scaled back.

About 195 million people in the United States had credit cards in 2024 and were assessed $160 billion in interest charges, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says. Americans are now carrying more credit card debt than ever, to the tune of about $1.23 trillion, according to figures from the New York Federal Reserve for the third quarter last year.

Further, Americans are paying, on average, between 19.65% and 21.5% in interest on credit cards according to the Federal Reserve and other industry tracking sources. That has come down in the past year as the central bank lowered benchmark rates, but is near the highs since federal regulators started tracking credit card rates in the mid-1990s. That’s significantly higher than a decade ago, when the average credit card interest rate was roughly 12%.

The Republican administration has proved particularly friendly until now to the credit card industry.

Capital One got little resistance from the White House when it finalized its purchase and merger with Discover Financial in early 2025, a deal that created the nation’s largest credit card company. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is largely tasked with going after credit card companies for alleged wrongdoing, has been largely nonfunctional since Trump took office.

In a joint statement, the banking industry was opposed to Trump's proposal.

“If enacted, this cap would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives," the American Bankers Association and allied groups said.

Bank lobbyists have long argued that lowering interest rates on their credit card products would require the banks to lend less to high-risk borrowers. When Congress enacted a cap on the fee that stores pay large banks when customers use a debit card, banks responded by removing all rewards and perks from those cards. Debit card rewards only recently have trickled back into consumers' hands. For example, United Airlines now has a debit card that gives miles with purchases.

The U.S. already places interest rate caps on some financial products and for some demographics. The Military Lending Act makes it illegal to charge active-duty service members more than 36% for any financial product. The national regulator for credit unions has capped interest rates on credit union credit cards at 18%.

Credit card companies earn three streams of revenue from their products: fees charged to merchants, fees charged to customers and the interest charged on balances. The argument from some researchers and left-leaning policymakers is that the banks earn enough revenue from merchants to keep them profitable if interest rates were capped.

"A 10% credit card interest cap would save Americans $100 billion a year without causing massive account closures, as banks claim. That’s because the few large banks that dominate the credit card market are making absolutely massive profits on customers at all income levels," said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, who wrote the research on the industry's impact of Trump's proposal last year.

There are some historic examples that interest rate caps do cut off the less creditworthy to financial products because banks are not able to price risk correctly. Arkansas has a strictly enforced interest rate cap of 17% and evidence points to the poor and less creditworthy being cut out of consumer credit markets in the state. Shearer's research showed that an interest rate cap of 10% would likely result in banks lending less to those with credit scores below 600.

The White House did not respond to questions about how the president seeks to cap the rate or whether he has spoken with credit card companies about the idea.

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who said he talked with Trump on Friday night, said the effort is meant to “lower costs for American families and to reign in greedy credit card companies who have been ripping off hardworking Americans for too long."

Legislation in both the House and the Senate would do what Trump is seeking.

Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., released a plan in February that would immediately cap interest rates at 10% for five years, hoping to use Trump’s campaign promise to build momentum for their measure.

Hours before Trump's post, Sanders said that the president, rather than working to cap interest rates, had taken steps to deregulate big banks that allowed them to charge much higher credit card fees.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have proposed similar legislation. Ocasio-Cortez is a frequent political target of Trump, while Luna is a close ally of the president.

Seung Min Kim reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, Jan. 9, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

FILE - Visa and Mastercard credit cards are shown in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Feb. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)