Former President Trump has demanded more details about Thursday’s massive prisoner swap that freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan from Russian custody.
Trump responded to the news by publicizing his own history of prisoner exchanges in a post on Social Truthwhile also questioning whether the US gave money in exchange for Americans once detained.
“So when are they going to release the details of the prisoner swap with Russia? How many people do we have against them? Are we also paying them in cash? Are they giving us money (please remove this question because I’m sure the answer is NO)?” the former president asked in his post.
“Are we releasing killers, assassins or criminals? Just curious because we never make good deals, on anything, but especially on hostage exchanges,” Trump added.
The former president continued, saying that giving money to an opposing country is a “bad precedent for the future.”
“They are extorting the United States of America. They’re calling the trade ‘complex’ – That’s so no one can figure out how bad it is!” He wrote.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan rejected that idea at Thursday’s White House briefing, saying no money was exchanged and no sanctions were eased as part of the deal.
President Biden revealed on Thursday that Gershkovich and Whelan, alongside Alsu Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza, were freed as part of the largest prisoner exchange with Russia since the Cold War. Five Germans and seven Russian citizens held as political prisoners were also released.
Trump has frequently criticized Biden over the detention of Americans in Russia and predicted that the president would not be able to secure the release of Gershkovich, who has been detained in Russia for more than a year.
A reporter asked Biden on Thursday about Trump’s suggestion that he brought detainees home without giving anything in return.
“Why didn’t he do this when he was president?” Biden responded.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
