Smart Trade Insights
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Investing
  • Politics
Top Posts
CoTec Holdings Corp. Announces Second Closing of Life...
Hempalta Secures 90-Day FCC Forbearance Extension as Company...
BTV Highlights: North American Iron, West Red Lake...
Crypto Market Recap: Crypto Rallies As “Big, Beautiful...
Quimbaya Gold Closes $4 Million Financing and Expands...
Syntheia Signs Definitive Agreement for Call Center Acquisition
Lithium Universe LtdInterview with Executive Chairman
Stallion Uranium to Resume Trading on the TSX-V and...
Top 5 Canadian Mining Stocks This Week: Mkango...
Pinnacle Changes OTC Ticker Symbol to PSGCF
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Investing
  • Politics

Smart Trade Insights

Politics

Biden, Trump exchange jabs as Russia prisoner swap turns political

by admin August 2, 2024
August 2, 2024
Biden, Trump exchange jabs as Russia prisoner swap turns political

President Biden cast the release of several detained Americans in a multicountry prisoner swap as a vindication of his effort to cultivate international alliances, rebuking his predecessor’s isolationist impulses while celebrating a long-sought foreign policy achievement.

“The deal that made this possible was a feat of diplomacy — and friendship,” Biden said Thursday as he announced that three American citizens and one green-card holder had been released from Russian prisons. “For anyone who questions whether allies matter, they do. They matter. And today is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world — friends you can trust, work with and depend upon.”

The line was a thinly veiled jab at Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has often criticized allies while pushing an “America first” agenda.

Asked directly what he would say to Trump, who has previously attacked Biden over Americans held abroad, the president responded with a question of his own.

“Why didn’t he do it when he was president?” Biden said. About an hour later, Trump blasted the deal, saying it set a “bad precedent.”

The moment reflected how an intricate, seven-country prisoner exchange — coming just 96 days before Election Day and with less than six months before Biden leaves office — was quickly thrust into the nation’s fraught political landscape.

Members of Biden’s team credited Vice President Harris for helping facilitate the deal, aiming to burnish her foreign policy credentials in her presidential campaign against Trump. Lawmakers offered praise for the diplomatic push that led to the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan. Republicans were largely muted, though some questioned the wisdom of releasing Russian criminals for unjustly detained Americans.

Trump took to his social media site to suggest that U.S. negotiators had gotten the short end of the bargain, without expressing any gladness that the captives returned home safely.

“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)?” Trump wrote on Truth Social about the deal with Russia. “Are we releasing murderers, killers, or thugs?”

Trump falsely claimed he freed hostages with “never any cash.” In 2017, Trump authorized a $2 million payment to North Korea to bring home American college student Otto Warmbier, two people familiar with the incident told The Post. It’s unclear whether the money was ever paid. Warmbier, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student imprisoned in North Korea after being accused of pulling down a propaganda poster, was comatose when he left the country and died shortly after arriving in the United States.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that no money was exchanged in Thursday’s exchange.

He also praised the president for building the international relationships that helped facilitate the agreement, saying it “honestly could only be achieved by a leader like Joe Biden.”

For an 81-year-old president who was nudged out of his reelection bid by members of his own party concerned about his ability to carry out his duties in a second term, the swap amounted to the first major foreign policy achievement during a period in which he is aiming to bolster his legacy before leaving office.

As part of the deal, Russia agreed to release 16 prisoners: four Americans, five Germans and seven Russians, including pro-democracy dissidents. A convicted Russian assassin was released from Germany, and several Russian intelligence operatives held in the United States and Europe were also set free in the largest international prisoner exchange since the Cold War.

“It’s an important part of Biden’s legacy building phase in the lame duck period, the kind of success that has become part of the history books,” said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University. “And what’s good for Biden is good for Vice President Harris.”

The release of detained Americans undercuts one of Trump’s frequent lines of attack against Biden’s handling of foreign affairs. Trump has argued that only he would be able to free U.S. citizens imprisoned abroad.

“The entire world, I tell you this: We want our hostages back, and they better be back before I assume office, or you will be paying a very big price,” Trump said in his presidential nominee acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in July.

For the first year of Gershkovich’s detention, Trump remained conspicuously silent on it, part of a long-standing pattern of avoiding criticizing Putin. As reporters increasingly asked Trump about Gershkovich, he began claiming he would secure the reporter’s release after being elected before taking office. Trump did not explain how he would accomplish that but vaguely referenced a special personal dynamic with Putin.

“Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, will do that for me, and I don’t believe he’ll do it for anyone else,” Trump said.

As for Whelan, who was first arrested in Russia during Trump’s term, Trump claimed in 2022 that he turned out down a deal as president to free the former Marine in exchange for a Russian arms dealer nicknamed “the Merchant of Death.” The United States released the arms dealer, Viktor Bout, in 2022 in exchange for basketball star Brittney Griner. Trump called that deal “crazy and bad.”

In a statement, Whelan’s family criticized the Trump administration’s early response to Paul Whelan’s imprisonment.

“Early on, we were discouraged from speaking out about Paul’s case,” they wrote. “… Those first years were hard when the Trump Administration ignored Paul’s wrongful detention, and it was media attention that helped to finally create critical mass and awareness within the U.S. government.”

The family also praised Trump’s ambassador to Russia, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, for advocating on Whelan’s behalf in 2019.

Harris plans to join Biden to welcome Whelan and the other released Americans at Joint Base Andrews on Thursday night.

Harris was in Houston to attend the funeral of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) when the deal was announced but celebrated it on social media, writing on X that she would continue working “until every American who is wrongfully detained or held hostage is brought home.” She echoed those comments in brief remarks to reporters before returning to Washington.

Biden administration officials touted Harris’s role in the negotiations as pivotal. She helped advance the talks during a high-level meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Munich Security Conference in February, Sullivan said.

“She was a participant in, very much a core member of, the team that helped make this happen,” he said.

Harris used the opportunity at the security conference to discuss the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian citizen serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 killing of a former Chechen rebel commander in Berlin, a senior administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the leaders’ private conversation.

“It became clear to us early on that to secure the release of the Americans, a critical part would be the release of Krasikov, so the vice president spoke directly to Scholz about the need to get this done,” the official said.

Harris on Thursday spoke with Yulia Navalnaya, who welcomed the release of three allies of her late husband Alexei Navalny, the political opposition leader who died suddenly in a remote Arctic prison in February.

Biden and Harris have used high-profile appearances to champion the cause of unjustly detained Americans in the past. Biden mentioned Gershkovich and Whalen during his State of the Union address in March and his speech at the White House correspondents’ dinner in April. Speaking to reporters last week, Harris mentioned the names of several Americans who were taken captive to Gaza by Hamas terrorists in October.

John Hudson contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on washingtonpost.com

previous post
Zodiac Gold: Advancing a District-scale West African Gold Discovery
next post
Democrats begin process of officially making Harris their nominee

You may also like

No, Zelensky never said Trump ‘did absolutely nothing...

September 28, 2024

Blinken heads to Middle East in long-shot bid...

October 22, 2024

North Carolina court ruling on RFK Jr. threatens...

September 7, 2024

Jack Smith appeals Judge Cannon decision to throw...

August 27, 2024

In red district Walz once held, a stark...

September 1, 2024

5 takeaways from the Democratic convention, Biden’s speech...

August 20, 2024

Trump seeks delay in New York hush money...

August 16, 2024

Missouri abortion rights measure is invalid, judge says...

September 8, 2024

The story behind Kamala Harris’s ‘When we fight,...

August 23, 2024

U.S. officials say Hezbollah degraded, preparing for Iranian...

September 29, 2024

    Fill Out & Get More Relevant News


    Stay ahead of the market and unlock exclusive trading insights & timely news. We value your privacy - your information is secure, and you can unsubscribe anytime. Gain an edge with hand-picked trading opportunities, stay informed with market-moving updates, and learn from expert tips & strategies.

    Recent Posts

    • CoTec Holdings Corp. Announces Second Closing of Life Offering and Concurrent Private Placement

      July 5, 2025
    • Hempalta Secures 90-Day FCC Forbearance Extension as Company Completes Certification of 2024 Carbon Credits

      July 5, 2025
    • BTV Highlights: North American Iron, West Red Lake Gold Mines, Northisle Copper and Gold, Westport Fuels, US Gold, Orvana Minerals, Avino Silver & Gold, Pasofino Gold, & Mayfair Gold

      July 5, 2025
    • Crypto Market Recap: Crypto Rallies As “Big, Beautiful Bill” Passes Congress

      July 5, 2025
    • Quimbaya Gold Closes $4 Million Financing and Expands Executive Team

      July 5, 2025
    Promotion Image

    banner ads

    Categories

    • Business (756)
    • Economy (829)
    • Investing (2,347)
    • Politics (737)
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer: smarttradeinsights.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.


    Copyright © 2025 smarttradeinsights.com | All Rights Reserved