Trump claims, if elected, Putin will release jailed reporter Evan Gershkovich 'for me'

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday claimed he could get Russian President Vladimir Putin to free imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich if elected, drawing a rebuke from President Joe Biden's campaign.

Gershkovich "will be released almost immediately after the Election, but definitely before I assume Office," Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, wrote in a post to his Truth Social platform. "He will be HOME, SAFE, AND WITH HIS FAMILY. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, will do that for me, but not for anyone else, and WE WILL BE PAYING NOTHING!"

T.J. Ducklo, a senior adviser to the Biden campaign, said that the former president "doesn’t give a damn about the innocent Americans unjustly imprisoned" by Putin, citing Trump's repeated attacks on members of the press.

"Trump has called journalists 'enemies of the people' and pledged to imprison reporters whose coverage he doesn’t like — not all that dissimilar to what’s happening right now to Evan Gershkovich in Russia," Ducklo said in a statement. He noted that Trump has said he turned down a deal to release former Marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018 on alleged suspicion of spying and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

The U.S. government has said that Gershkovich and Whelan have been wrongly detained.

"For Donald Trump, these wrongfully imprisoned Americans are political weapons and props to use for his own gain — for Joe Biden, they are human beings whose loved ones and family members he has spent time with," Ducklo added. "Their release remains an urgent priority, just like it was for the 60 Americans who were wrongfully detained or taken hostage that President Biden has already brought home since taking office.”

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