Former President Donald Trump congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin over a prisoner swap that took place this week, saying the Russian strongman had outsmarted US officials as part of the largest such deal since the end of the Cold War.
At a rally here Saturday, Trump did not mention any of the American prisoners who were released in the deal – including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was imprisoned for more than a year on charges the US government has denounced as fabricated. In his previous comments on the deal, he did not mention any of the prisoners by name either, only criticising the US government.
“I’d like to congratulate Vladimir Putin for having made yet another great deal … We have 59 hostages, I never paid anything … Boy, we make some horrible, horrible deals. It’s nice to say we got ‘em back, but does that set a bad precedent,” Trump said.
He did not mention any of the US officials who worked on the deal for months.
In fact, Trump authorised an agreement to pay US$2 million to North Korea for medical bills in the release of Otto Warmbier, the comatose University of Virginia student sent home from Pyongyang in 2017, The Washington Post reported. Trump claimed the bill was never paid. Warmbier died soon after his return.