Former President Donald Trump said the sketchy details revealed about the prisoner swap between the several nations and Russia are reason for Americans to be concerned.
“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)?” Mr. Trump asked in his post.
“Are we releasing murderers, killers, or thugs? Just curious because we never make good deals, at anything, but especially hostage swaps,” he said.
He said the negotiators from the U.S. “are always an embarrassment to us.”
He also said that when he negotiated to get hostages back during his administration, he never used cash.
“To do so is bad precedent for the future. That’s the way it should be, or this situation will get worse and worse,” he said. “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!”
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a press briefing Thursday that no money was exchanged and no sanctions were lifted or loosened.
Three Americans and a permanent U.S. resident were released in the swap that involved seven nations and 24 people — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Radio Free Europe journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and Russian-British activist Vladimir Kara-Murza.
The deal involved five Germans, seven Russian citizens held in Russia, and eight Russians imprisoned in the U.S., Germany and Slovenia.
“Their brutal order is over, and they’re free,” President Biden said at the White House.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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