Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called Biden's negotiated prisoner swap deal with Russia “a victory for [Vladimir] Putin,” while questioning how bad the deal could be for the United States.
Trump was asked during an appearance on Fox Business about the deal that resulted in the release of 16 people, including three Americans, five Germans and eight Russian citizens. Among the freed Russians was an alleged colonel in Russia's GRU military intelligence service and an alleged hitman from Russia's FSB, who was jailed for life for the killing in a Berlin park of the Chechen dissident -Georgian exile Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili.
“Great news today,” said host Maria Bartiromo. “Russia and the US in a prisoner exchange. The largest east-west prisoner exchange since the Cold War. What is your reaction, that Russia released 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 someone back, so I'll never challenge that.”
(Video credit: Fox Business)
“This would not have happened to us. We would have recovered them. We would not have had to pay anything”, continued the former president. “We shouldn't have let some of the world's greatest killers go, because that's what happened, as you know.”
“And the agreement is very complex because it has just come out. So no one 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 it back and we could have gotten it back. We should have gotten it back a long time ago. It should never have happened. It would never have happened — it should not have been taken in the first place — and it would never have happened with us if I were president.”
Bartiromo asked about the possibility of Russia getting more than just prisoners, with Trump referring to 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 that they announced that it's a very complex deal. That's usually a way of saying we made a bad deal, and we made it complex so no one would understand,” he said. “So we have to find out there was money, and we paid billions like last time. We paid $6 billion. Plus everything else. So we paid money?”
“And I put something in the 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 who are coming back are serious, very serious people,” Trump added. “I want to be gentle about it. They're bringing back some real killers.”
The Truth Social post suggested that Biden's 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 have against them? Are we paying them in cash as well? Are they giving us cash (please withdraw this question, because I'm sure the answer is NO)? Are we freeing murderers or thugs? It's funny because we never make good deals on anything, but mostly hostage exchanges,” he wrote.
“Our 'negotiators' are always a shame for us! I recovered many hostages and gave NOTHING to the opposing country, and never cash,” he continued. “Doing so sets a bad precedent for the future. It has to be, or this situation will get worse and worse. They are extorting the United States of America. They call trading 'complex' – so no one can figure out how bad it is!”
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