Former president Donald Trump used the wrongful detention of Americans Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan in Russia to criticize the president Joe Biden for failing to bring them home, especially during his re-election campaign.
And after Thursday’s historic prisoner exchange that freed those men and two other American prisoners, the Republican presidential candidate continued to criticize the administration with baseless speculation.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed Thursday that there was no exchange of money or sanctions relief, but in a post Thursday on Truth Social, Trump questioned that denial without providing details.
“Do we pay them in cash too? Do they give us cash (please remove this question, because I am sure the answer is NO)?” he asked.
MORE: How the Russian prisoner swap that freed Gershkovich and Whelan went, authorities say
Trump has repeatedly falsely claimed that the United States gave Iran billions of dollars in cash.
“I’m just curious because we never do good deals, under any circumstances, and especially when it comes to hostage exchanges. Our “negotiators” are always a disgrace to us!” he added in his social media post.
The former president repeated false allegations that money was involved in the deal during an interview on the “Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show.”
Asked by a reporter about Trump’s repeated claims that he could have gotten the hostages out of Russia without concessions, Biden took direct aim at his former political opponent.
“Why didn’t he do it when he was president?” Biden asked.
Trump’s rhetoric about the detained Americans is part of a continuing back-and-forth that stretches back to his time in office and has at times angered family members of hostages.
Although members of the Trump administration, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, criticized the espionage allegations against Whelan after his 2018 arrest, Trump did not publicly mention Whelan’s name while in office.
David Whelan, Paul Whelan’s brother, said in a statement Thursday that his family was “disheartened to speak about Paul’s case.”
“Those early years were difficult, as the Trump administration ignored Paul’s wrongful detention, and it was the media attention that helped finally create critical mass and awareness within the U.S. government,” he said.
During his trial, Paul Whelan, who had met with US officials during his case, appealed directly to Trump for help.
MORE: Paul Whelan, former Marine held as a spy in Moscow, asks Trump for help
“Mr. President, we cannot keep America great unless we aggressively protect and defend Americans everywhere in the world,” he said in prepared remarks in June 2019.
Trump mentioned Whelan only by name in a post on Truth Social condemning Biden for organizing a prisoner transfer that freed an American basketball player Brittney Griner Russian detention in December 2022.
“Why was former Marine Paul Whelan not included in this completely one-sided deal? He would have been released upon request,” Trump said in his message.
The United States traded Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for Griner as part of that exchange. After the exchange, Trump claimed he had worked on a deal for Whelan involving Bout.
“I refused a deal with Russia for a one-on-one exchange of the so-called Merchant of Death for Paul Whelan. I would not have agreed to a deal for a hundred people in exchange for someone who has killed countless people with his arms sales,” he said.
David Whelan has attacked the former president for his social media comments in a message posted on X.
“Former President Trump appears to have mentioned the wrongful detention of my brother #PaulWhelan more times in the last 24 hours than he did in the entire 2 years of his presidency that Paul was held hostage by #Russia (zero). I don’t think he cares any more now than he did then (zero),” David Whelan said in the December 2022 post.
Trump did not comment on Gershkovich’s situation until an April 12, 2024 interview with Time magazine, more than a year after his March 29, 2023, arrest.
MORE: Russia frees Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan in historic multi-country prisoner swap
“The journalist should be released and he will be,” Mr. Trump said without mentioning Gershkovich by name. “I don’t know if he will be released under Biden.”
In a May post on Truth Social, Trump claimed that Gershkovich “will be released almost immediately after the election, but certainly before I take office.”
“Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, will do it for me, but for no one else,” he said in his message.
Trump’s attacks on Biden over the hostages were brought up again during the June presidential debate. He again said he would remove Gershkovich if elected, claiming that “Putin is laughing at him.” [Biden]probably asking billions of dollars for the journalist.
“He should have gotten him out a long time ago. But Putin is probably asking for billions and billions of dollars because this guy pays them every time,” Trump said of Biden.
Trump did not directly name Gershkovich during the debate.
Trump slams Biden over historic prisoner swap that freed Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich
