Former President Trump said he doesn’t know whether Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will be released from a Russian prison ahead of the November election.
President Trump was asked this in an interview. in time magazine Gershkovic has been detained in the country for more than a year on charges of spying, which journalists and the United States deny. The former president said he did not know whether the Wall Street Journal reporter would be released while President Biden is in the White House.
“I think Mr. Biden handled Mr. Putin very poorly. Putin should never have gone to Ukraine. And he didn’t go with me for four years. I had a very bad relationship with Mr. Putin. They’re good friends, but the reporter should be released, and he will be released.According to Time, Trump told reporter Eric Cortelesa in an interview that he doesn’t know if he will be released under the Biden administration. , he said. transcript.
President Trump also said he would seek Gershkovic’s release if elected to the White House and said he was “surprised” he had not been released yet.
“I’m surprised by Mr. Biden. Well, I’m not surprised by anything about Biden. But I think this is a terrible precedent. I’m very surprised he hasn’t been released yet, but if we If he’s not released by the time I get to the office, I’m going to get him released.”
The former president was also asked at the beginning of the interview why he had not yet called for Gershković’s release. He said he told Cortelesa he would request his release, although he said he was busy with other commitments.
“I think it’s because there’s a lot of things that we’re working on. We’ve got hundreds of things. And I probably said very nice things about him. Maybe it just wasn’t being reported. But “I think he’s a very brave young man,” he replied.
Trump went on to say that the “difference” between him and Biden is whether to get Gershkovych released, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is going to release him.”
Trump has long faced criticism for comments about Putin, including praising the Russian leader as a “genius” for recognizing two breakaway territories in eastern Ukraine before the 2022 invasion.
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