The Republican candidate in the forthcoming elections accused President Joe Biden of using cash to secure the release of American journalist Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan from Russian custody.
Donald Trump believes that Biden has not been successful in handling the high-stakes negotiation.
However, this was the biggest multi-country exchange between the historical rivals since the Cold War.
Additionally, White House officials revealed that the deal did not involve any cash exchange.
Meanwhile, the GOP nominee was dissatisfied with this statement, and as a result, Trump posted on Truth Social to challenge the denial of White House officials with baseless claims.
“Are we also paying them cash? Are they giving us cash Please withdraw that question, because I’m sure the answer is NO)?” Trump wrote. Slamming the ‘negotiators’ as an embarrassment he continued, “Just curious because we never make good deals, at anything, but especially hostage swaps.” “So, when are they going to release the details of the prisoner swap with Russia?”
Earlier in a negotiation, the 78-year-old accused Biden of giving Iran billions of dollars in cash.
Gershkovich and Whelan are among 24 prisoners from the US, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Russia, and Belarus who will be released as part of a prisoner exchange managed by Turkish intelligence.
Speaking to ABC News, a former Democratic candidate said, why didn’t the former president do negotiations without cash exchange when he was president?
Earlier, Whelan’s brother David criticised Trump for addressing Paul’s case after it gained media attention.
“Those first years were hard when the Trump Administration ignored Paul’s wrongful detention, and it was media attention that helped to finally create critical mass and awareness within the U.S. government,” he said in a statement to the news outlet.
