Former President Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that he might release Russian President Vladimir Putin jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich if elected, he draws a rebuke from the campaign of President Joe Biden.
Gershkovic “will be released almost immediately after the election, but before I take office,” Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, wrote on his social media platform Truth. “He will be HOME, SAFE and WITH HIS FAMILY. Russian President Vladimir Putin will do this for me, no one else, and WE WILL NOT PAY ANYTHING!”
TJ Ducklo, a senior adviser to the Biden campaign, cited Trump’s repeated attacks on members of the press, saying the former president “doesn’t care about the innocent Americans who were unjustly imprisoned” by Putin.
“Trump called journalists “enemies of the people” and vowed to arrest journalists whose reporting he didn’t like — not all of what’s happening in Russia right now is Evan Gershkovich,” Duclos said in a statement. Trump said he refused the deal to be released a former Marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018 on charges of espionage and He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in prison.
The US government said Gershkovich and Whelan were wrongfully imprisoned.
“For Donald Trump, these wrongly imprisoned Americans are political weapons and props to use for his own gain – for Joe Biden, they are people he spends time with loved ones and family members,” Duclos added. “Their release remains an urgent priority, as it does for the 60 Americans wrongfully held or held hostage that President Biden has already brought home since taking office.”
The Trump campaign and the offices of key GOP lawmakers in Congress, including Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Tom Tillis of North Carolina, Todd Young of Indiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who have taken a hard line against Russia and Putin. , did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to information obtained by NBC News, Rep. Michael McCaul, who sits with Young on the Foreign Relations Committee, Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. and Mitt Romney, R-Utah, declined to comment.
It is unclear why Trump made the case for Gershkovich’s release. In response to a question about Trump’s comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin “of course has nothing to do with Donald Trump.” This was reported by Reuters.
Gershkovich, a 32-year-old US citizen, was arrested on charges of espionage since the end of 2023 while preparing a report for The Wall Street Journal. Russia many times He extended Gershkovich’s term imprisonment. There are Russian authorities did not provide evidence to support espionage charges.
A few weeks after his arrest, Attorney General Merrick Garland said at the press conference that management would do “everything in their power” to bring him home.
President Joe Biden said the United States continues to press for Gershkovich’s release and “condemns and imposes costs on Russia’s egregious attempts to use Americans as bargaining chips.”
“And we will continue to stand strong against anyone who seeks to attack or target journalists, the pillars of a free society,” Biden said. statement in March.
Addressing Gershkovich and Whelan directly in his statement, Biden said, “We are with you. We will never stop working to bring you home.”