Though he recently stepped back from this year’s presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place, with the latter now the expected Democratic presidential nominee for the year, President Joe Biden is staying on as president through the end of his term. And on Thursday, a major accomplishment burst into public view: a prisoner exchange with Russia in which three American citizens and one American green card-holder — plus others — were freed.
Biden spoke about the developments Thursday at a press conference. One journalist brought up Trump.
“President Trump has said repeatedly that he could have gotten the hostages out without giving anything in exchange. What do you say to that? What do you say to President Trump — now former President Trump?” the journalist asked Biden.
“Why didn’t he do it when he was president?” replied the current commander-in-chief.
Separately, Biden also recommitted himself to continuing to work towards the freeing of Americans held abroad in his remaining time in office.
“And let me be clear: I will not stop working until every American wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world is reunited with their family,” President Biden said Thursday. “My Administration has now brought home over 70 such Americans, many of whom were in captivity since before I took office. Still, too many families are suffering and separated from their loved ones, and I have no higher priority as President than bringing those Americans home.”
Those freed in the latest deal include Evan Gershkovich, a journalist with The Wall Street Journal who was recently sentenced to 16 years in prison in Russia on allegations of espionage that were extensively denounced as contrived.
Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly claimed — sometimes with no precise explanation to back up his contentions — to be well-equipped to orchestrate foreign policy progress, saying, for instance, that the currently unfolding war between Russia and Ukraine would not have happened if he were still in office. It doesn’t appear that Trump has explained that supposed possibility.
