Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called the Biden White House’s negotiated prisoner swap deal with Russia “a win for [Vladimir] Putin,” while questioning just how bad the deal may be for America.
Trump was asked during an appearance on Fox Business Network’s Mornings with Maria about the deal resulting in the release of 16 people, including three Americans, five Germans, and eight Russian citizens. Among the Russians freed was a suspected colonel in Russia’s GRU military intelligence services, and an alleged hitman for Russia’s FSB, who was jailed for life over the murder in a Berlin park of exiled Chechen-Georgian dissident Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili.
“Big news today,” host Maria Bartiromo said. “Russia and the U.S., in an exchange — prisoner swap. Largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War. What is your reaction, that Russia freed the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gorski and others?”
“Well, as usual, it was a win for Putin or any other country that deals with us,” Trump replied. “But we got somebody back, so I’m never going to be challenging that.”
(Video Credit: Fox Business)
“It wouldn’t have happened with us. We would have gotten them back. We wouldn’t have had to pay anything,” the former president continued. “We wouldn’t have had to let some of the great killers of the world go, because that’s what’s happened, as you know.”
“And the deal is very complex because it just came out. So nobody understands the deal yet. And they make it complex. So you can’t understand how bad the deal is for us,” Trump said. “But we got him back and we could have had him back. We should have had him back a long time ago. It should have never happened. It would have never happened — he shouldn’t have been taken in the first place — and it would have never happened with us if I was president.”
Bartiromo asked about the possibility of Russia receiving more than just prisoners, with Trump referencing the $6 billion that was unfrozen for Iran as part of a September 2023 prisoner swap with the Persian Gulf country.
“I have no idea what they did. I just know they announced it’s a very complex deal. That’s usually a way of saying we made a bad deal, and we made it complex so nobody understands it,” he said. “So we have to find out was money involved — and we paid billions like last time. We paid $6 billion. In addition, everything else. So did we pay money?”
“And I put something in Truth [Social] today. It was very interesting. How much did we pay? Who are the people? How are they? Are they bad people? Are they killers? Who are the people? Now we’re finding out that the people that they’re getting back are serious — very serious people,” Trump added. “I want to be nice about it. They’re getting back some real killers.”
The Truth Social post suggested that Biden negotiators “are always an embarrassment to us.”
“So when are they going to release the details of the prisoner swap with Russia? How many people do we get versus them? Are we also paying them cash? Are they giving us cash (Please withdraw that question, because I’m sure the answer is NO)? Are we releasing murderers, killers, or thugs? Just curious because we never make good deals, at anything, but especially hostage swaps,” he wrote.
“Our ‘negotiators’ are always an embarrassment to us! I got back many hostages, and gave the opposing Country NOTHING – and never any cash,” he continued. “To do so is bad precedent for the future. That’s the way it should be, or this situation will get worse and worse. They are extorting the United States of America. They’re calling the trade ‘complex’ – That’s so nobody can figure out how bad it is!”
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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