Donald Trump said on Sunday that he turned down a deal to swap ex-Marine Paul Whelan with notorious Russian arms deal Victor Bout.
Whelan, 52, was arrested in Russia in 2018 on espionage charges, which he and the US have denied. He was sentenced to 16 years in Russian prison in June 2020.
On Sunday, Trump said he turned down the deal to free Whelan while criticizing the Biden administration for bringing WNBA star Brittney Griner home in a prisoner swap for Bout, even though it meant leaving Whelan behind.
The Russians would not release Whelan unless they get a Russian spy in return.
“I turned down a deal with Russia for a one on one swap of the so-called Merchant of Death for Paul Whelan. I wouldn’t have made the deal for a hundred people in exchange for someone that has killed untold numbers of people with his arms deals,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump claims he “would have gotten Paul out” eventually. He didn’t explain how or why he wasn’t able to do so during his time in office.
Paul Whelan’s brother, David Whelan, said over the weekend that the Trump administration was not “prepared” or “interested” in working on wrongful detention cases.
“I think the first two years, partly I think the Trump administration was not prepared to or not interested in working on wrongful detention cases,” David Whelan told “MSNBC Reports” on Saturday.
“The Biden administration is much more engaged in wrongful detentions,” Whelan said, adding that Biden’s actions “have given the government more tools to help wrongful detainee families, but also to try to start to punish the nations who are doing that.”
