Biden Takes a Shot at Trump While Talking About Prisoner Exchange With Russia

President Joe Biden took a swipe at former President Donald Trump while celebrating the return of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan from Russia.

I want to thank everyone in my administration who helped make this happen.  Our work did not start just on day one.  It started before day one,” Biden said during remarks at the White House. “During the transition, I instructed our national security team to dig into all the cases of hostages being wrongfully detained, which were inherently — well, we inherited them from the pri- — the prior administration.”

He added, “I wanted to make sure we’d hit the ground running, and we did. As of today, my administration has brought home over 70 Americans who were wrongfully detained and held hostage abroad, many since before I took office. Additionally, I issued an executive order in 2022 authorizing penalties like sanctions and travel bans on those who hold Americans against their will.  And my State Department has introduced new warnings for Americans about the risk of being wrongfully detained by a foreign government.”

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One reporter asked about Trump’s assertion he could have brought the Americans back without any concession, Biden asked, “Why didn’t he do it when he was president?”

The Associated Press notes the deal set nearly two dozen people free including Whelan and Gershkovich, and for the U.S. and Russia, it is the “biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history.”

Whelan was arrested in 2018 and charged with spying — which he denied.