The Republican nominee painted the Russian leader as the clear winner of a historic prisoner swap that led to the release of several Americans.
U.S. Republican nominee Donald Trump commended Russian President Vladimir Putin over a historic prisoner swap deal struck last week, suggesting the Russian leader got the better end of the agreement.
“I’d like to congratulate Vladimir Putin for having made yet another great deal. Did you see the deal we made?” Trump told a crowd of supporters at a campaign rally in Atlanta on Saturday as he criticized the Biden administration for its handling of the swap.
The former U.S. president, who is bidding for a second term in the White House amid a string of court cases against him, said the prisoner exchange led to the release of “some of the greatest killers” in the world.
“We got our people back, but boy we make some horrible, horrible deals,” Trump said. “It’s nice to say we got ’em back, but does that set a bad precedent?” he added.
In the largest prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War, Russia on Thursday released 16 prisoners — including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, German nationals and Russian dissidents. U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris greeted the released Americans on their return late Thursday, with Biden trumpeting the swap as a diplomatic feat.
In exchange, eight Russians who had been jailed in five countries were freed. These included Vadim Krasikov, a colonel from Russia’s secret service who was imprisoned for life in Germany for killing a Chechen dissident in Berlin in 2019.
The deal prompted some blowback in Germany, with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock acknowledging the exchange represented a “highly sensitive dilemma” that “rightly leads to much, much need for conversation.”
In his campaign rally remarks Saturday, Trump also implied that the prisoner deal included payments to Russia, saying that he had secured the release of “59 hostages” during his tenure and “never paid anything.”
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, has confirmed no money was exchanged and no sanctions against Russia were loosened as part of last week’s swap.
