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JD Vance is desperately trying to give his new running mate credit for the high-profile prison swap carried out by the Biden administration – wildly claiming the historic moment is a “testament to [Donald] Trump’s strength”.
On Thursday, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Whelan and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva were among 16 prisoners released from Russian prisons in the largest prisoner swap with the West since the end of the Cold War.
The three Americans were greeted by President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their families as the aircraft touched down on US soil at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Thursday evening.
Biden claimed that “all three were falsely accused of being spies” who had been subjected to a “show trial” by the Kremlin.
The historic deal was led by the Biden administration and involved multiple nations and two years of negotiations.
It has been hailed by the White House as an act of “vintage Joe Biden” diplomacy, something that looks set to seal his legacy after deciding not to seek reelection this November.
But Vance, who became Trump’s running mate just days following the assassination attempt last month, appears to be doing all he can to hand the credit to the former president instead.
The Ohio senator wildly claimed that the hostages were released because the Kremlin is fearful of a second Trump administration.
“We certainly want these Americans to come back home. It was ridiculous that they were in prison to begin with,” he told CNN.
“But we have to ask ourselves: Why are they coming home? And I think it’s because bad guys all over the world recognize Donald Trump’s about to be back in office, so they’re cleaning house.”
He concluded: “That’s a good thing, and I think it’s a testament to Donald Trump’s strength.”
Trump has also tried to criticize Biden over the deal, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of “extorting” the US and falsely claiming that he gave countries “nothing” in return when securing the release of Americans during his time in office.
“I got back many hostages, and gave the opposing Country NOTHING,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday evening. “To do so is bad precedent for the future.”
In reality, Trump was complicit in the return of an Iranian scientist in 2019, three Taliban prisoners from Afghanistan, an Iranian-American doctor, and almost 300 Houthi rebels from Oman all in 2020 in exchange for the release of Americans, according to an analysis by Factcheck.org.
Vance’s bizarre claims about Trump’s involvement in the high-profile prisoner swap comes as he leaped to defend the Republican presidential nominee earlier this week following backlash over his disastrous appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention.
In his appearance at the conference, Trump made scathing remarks about Harris, the first Black and Asian-American vice president, claiming to a room filled with Black journalists that she only recently “happened to turn Black”.
“I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black,” he said, before asking: “So I don’t know – is she Indian? Or is she Black?”
Once again, Vance – who has three biracial children with Indian wife Usha – sprung into action and called out the furore the former president faced as “hysterical”.
“How nice it is to have an American leader who’s not afraid to go into hostile places and actually answer some tough questions,” Vance said while en route to an Arizona rally.
“I think he pointed out the fundamental chameleon-like nature of Kamala Harris.”
