Russia and Putin · 2024 campaign · № 82
Congratulated Putin on 'yet another great deal' after the swap that freed Evan Gershkovich
“I'd like to congratulate Vladimir Putin for having made yet another great deal.”
- Said
- , Campaign rally with J.D. Vance, Atlanta, Georgia
- Subject
- Prisoner swap
- Type
- Praise and deference
- Topic
- Foreign policy
- Era
- 2024 campaign
What happened
On August 1, 2024, a 26-person exchange negotiated by the Biden administration with Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey freed 16 people held in Russia, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Vladimir Kara-Murza. Two days later Trump told an Atlanta rally he would 'like to congratulate Vladimir Putin for having made yet another great deal,' said Russia had 'released some of the greatest killers anywhere in the world' and asked whether the swap 'set a bad precedent.' On May 23, 2024, he had posted that Putin 'will do that for me, but not for anyone else' regarding Gershkovich's release and that the United States 'WILL BE PAYING NOTHING'; Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said then that 'there aren't any contacts with Donald Trump' on the matter.