Former President Donald Trump slammed Joe Biden for a poorly constructed prisoner swap deal, under which Russia released American basketball star Brittney Griner in exchange for mass murderer Viktor Bout.
Trump claimed he rejected the Russian offer to release Bout in exchange for American spy Paul Whelan, who is serving a 16-year jail term in Russia.
Trump Slammed Biden For Releasing Viktor Bout
As the news of Biden releasing Viktor Bout went viral, Trump claimed he would have never released a person like Bout, who killed an uncountable number of people.
Bout is an illegal arms dealer who supplied arms shipments to the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, as well as many other entities involved in human rights abuses worldwide.
In the Truth Social post, Trump further added even if he had a chance to get a hundred prisoners back in exchange for Bout, he was not going to sign such a deal.
Bout was convicted for killing multiple Americans in 2011 by supplying arms to Colombian terrorist groups. He was released last week when the Biden administration reached a prisoner swap deal with the Russian government.
In exchange for Bout, Russia released American basketball player Brittney Griner, who was arrested when Russian law enforcement authorities found vape canisters in her luggage in February.
While Trump claimed he refused to trade Bout with Whelan, the former president also stated he would have secured the release of Whelan, instead of Griner, had he been the president.
Trump also insisted that had Griner been arrested during his presidency, he would have arranged her release without freeing Bout.
There was a potential prisoner swap raised during the Trump administration of Marine veteran Paul Whelan for Viktor Bout, former National Security Council Russia specialist Fiona Hill says. But, Pres. Trump wasn't "particularly interested" in Whelan's case though, Hill adds. pic.twitter.com/n7gC6iHbuK
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) December 11, 2022
Once Griner reached Texas from Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated more prisoner swap deals could be a possibility between the USA and Russia.
Putin insisted both Russia and America made compromises in reaching the prisoner swap deal, adding such deals can be a possibility in the near future.
Trump slams trade with Russia, saying, "Why wasn’t former Marine Paul Whelan included in this totally one-sided transaction? He would have been let out for the asking." Begging the question then of why Trump didn't free Whelan, who was imprisoned in 2018 during Trump's presidency
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) December 8, 2022
John Bolton Labeled Bout’s Release as a “Surrender”
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton noted the Biden administration completely surrendered before Russia by reaching a highly compromised prisoner swap deal.
Bolton insisted different terrorist groups and rogue states are observing America is ready to compromise on the lives of its people.
In the future, Bolton continued, rogue states can take American citizens hostage to get their extremist individuals free from American custody in prisoner swap deals.
Trump’s former national security adviser, Fiona Hill, also insisted Trump was not interested too much in Whelan’s release.
Whelan’s brother, David Whelan, also accused the Trump administration of not showing any interest in the release of his brother.
Whelan was detained in Russia in 2018 when Russian authorities accused him of spying. He was later convicted and sentenced to 16 years in jail in 2020.
Although American authorities claimed they wanted to get both Whelan and Griner back in exchange for Bout, Russia rejected the American offer, which urged the Biden administration to compromise in the deal.
This article appeared in Right Wing Insider and has been published here with permission.
