The White House said Monday that President Trump was "happy" to help secure the release of three college basketball players who were jailed in China, even though he expressed misgivings after the father of one of the players criticized him.

“Certainly, the president was happy to intervene," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters. "Whenever the president is able to use his office and those relationships to help Americans held overseas, he’s certainly going to do that," she added.

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Sanders spoke one day after Trump lashed out at LaVar Ball, the father of UCLA's LiAngelo Ball, for downplaying the president's involvement in his son's release.

“Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!” Trump tweeted.

Sanders said the tweet was "a rhetorical response to criticism by the father."