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Former White House national security official Fiona Hill has dismissed suggestions that Donald Trump had any desire during his time in the White House to free the former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan from Russian custody.
In the wake of the prisoner swap between Team USA basketball star Brittney Griner and arms dealer Viktor Bout, a number of Republican figures, including Trump himself, have asked why the Biden administration did not also seek to free Whelan from Russian jail.
Trump had asked why Whelan was not included in the "totally one-sided transaction" and called the Griner-Bout swap a "stupid and unpatriotic embarrassment for the USA!"
Whelan is serving a 16-year jail sentence after being arrested in Moscow on suspicion of spying in 2018. Joe Biden has said the U.S. is still negotiating for his release after Whelan was detained on what the president called a "sham espionage charge."
Hill served as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council. Speaking to CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, she said: "At the particular time, I also have to say here that President Trump wasn't especially interested in engaging in that swap for Paul Whelan. He was not particularly interested in Paul's case in the way that one would have thought he would be," Hill said.
Her remarks came after Whelan's brother, David, also criticized Trump for only now discussing the case of the man held in Russia for years in the wake of Griner's release.
Griner had been held in Russian custody since February after she was arrested after being found in possession of a vape containing cannabis-oil cartridges at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport.
"Former President Trump appears to have mentioned my brother Paul Whelan's wrongful detention more in the last 24 hours than he did in the 2 years of his presidency in which Paul was held hostage by Russia (zero)," David Whelan tweeted on December 9.
"I don't suggest he cares now any more than he did then (zero)."
On Sunday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he "turned down" a prisoner-swap deal between Bout and Whelan during his presidency.
Bout, also known as the "merchant of death," was serving 25 years in U.S. custody after being convicted in 2011 of numerous charges, including conspiring to kill American citizens and trafficking weapons.
Trump wrote on Truth Social: "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. I would have gotten Paul out, however, just as I did with a record number of other hostages.
"The deal for Griner is crazy and bad. The taking wouldn't have even happened during my Administration, but if it did, I would have gotten her out, fast!"
Elsewhere during her appearance on Face the Nation, Hill said that political arguing about the release of U.S. prisoners benefits Russia and could put other American citizens at risk.
"We have to be mindful of the fact that, when governments do this, they're doing it for trading purposes, but they're also doing it to mess about in our politics," Hill said.
"And we're falling every single time for this—the more that we fight with each other, the more that we play into their hands. And we also risk other Americans being taken, because it's a way of influencing our domestic politics."
Newsweek has contacted Trump for comment.
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About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more