Former President Donald Trump congratulated Vladimir Putin on a historic prisoner swap between the United States and Russia that saw more than two dozen people freed, including the wall street journal journalist Evan Gershkovich.
Trump said in May that he was the only person who could secure Gershkovich’s release and return to the United States.
But he changed tactics at a presidential campaign rally in Georgia on Saturday and instead attacked President Joe Biden for delivering “some of the world’s greatest killers” – an apparent reference to Russian state assassin Vadim Krasikov.
“I want to congratulate Vladimir Putin on making another great deal. Have you seen the deal we made?” supporters of the Republican presidential candidate said.
“We got our people back, but we made horrible, horrible deals,” Trump said. “It’s nice to say we got them back, but doesn’t that set a bad precedent?”
Her niece, Mary Trump, posted the message on X, with the legend “Fucking traitor.”
Russia on Thursday freed 16 prisoners, including Westerners and Russian dissidents, in exchange for eight Russians, in the largest prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War. Krasikov, a colonel in the Russian secret service, was serving a life sentence in Germany for the murder of a Chechen dissident in Berlin.
“Agreements like this involve tough decisions,” Biden said after greeting the newly released detainees on the tarmac. “Nothing matters more to me than protecting Americans at home and abroad.”
The former president also claimed that the prisoner swap included payments to Russia. However, Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said that no money was exchanged or sanctions relief was provided as part of the deal.
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