Kremlin Pushes Back on Trump’s Wild Hostage Negotiation Claim

Former President Donald Trump made the stunning claim Thursday that, if elected, he would be able to quickly free Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who has been detained in Russia for more than a year. He even added that the U.S. “WILL BE PAYING NOTHING” in the exchange.“He will be HOME, SAFE, AND WITH HIS FAMILY,” Trump added. “Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, will do that for me, but not for anyone else.” Russia, however, disagreed strongly with Trump’s statement—saying definitively that there had been no contact between the former president and Russian authorities on the matter. “There aren’t any contacts with Donald Trump,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to The Guardian. “Regarding [US-Russian] contacts on the matter of incarcerated and convicted individuals, we can say that these contacts must be carried out in total secrecy. This is the only way they can be effective,” he added.