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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Trump for the first time calls for release of WSJ reporter Evan | |
Gershkovich, who has been detained for over a year | |
By Kate Sullivan and Michelle Shen, CNN | |
Updated: | |
4:09 PM EDT, Tue April 30, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
Former President Donald Trump, , called for the first time for Russia | |
to release Wall Street Journal reporter , who has been detained for | |
more than a year. | |
“The reporter should be released and he will be released,” Trump | |
told Time magazine when asked about Gershkovich. “I don’t know if | |
he’s going to be released under (President Joe) Biden. I would get | |
him released.” | |
Gershkovich has been detained in Russia since March 2023 on an | |
espionage charge that the Journal and US authorities have said is | |
baseless. Trump, who has to criticize the regime of Russian President | |
Vladimir Putin, said his previous public silence on Gershkovich was | |
“because I have so many other things I’m working on.” | |
The Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested in the Russian city of | |
Yekaterinburg on March 29, 2023. Gershkovich is the first journalist to | |
be arrested on such charges since the Cold War, and the Russian | |
government has yet to provide any evidence to support its claim. In the | |
year since, the 32-year-old journalist has been imprisoned in | |
Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo Prison. | |
In contrast with Trump, the Biden administration’s condemnation over | |
Gershkovich’s detainment has been swift. Biden for Russia to “let | |
him go” almost immediately after he was arrested and him over the | |
weekend during remarks at the White House Correspondents’ Association | |
dinner, saying, “we are doing everything we can.” Last year, the US | |
State Department Gershkovich wrongfully detained by Russia. | |
“Journalism is not a crime. We condemn the Kremlin’s continued | |
repression of independent voices in Russia, and its ongoing war against | |
the truth,” the department said at the time. | |
In marking a year since Gershkovich’s detention, the Journal’s | |
editorial board last month, “Members of both political parties have | |
condemned his imprisonment, often in bipartisan statements like those | |
by Sens. Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer. A notable exception, | |
unless we missed it, is Donald Trump. Why the silence, sir?” | |
The Biden administration’s efforts to secure Gershkovich’s release | |
have not yet yielded results. Last year, the White House a large | |
number of Russian nationals detained on espionage charges abroad in | |
exchange for the release of Gershkovich and fellow American , two | |
people familiar with the matter previously told CNN, but the offer was | |
not accepted. | |
In response to Trump’s comments on Tuesday, the White House | |
reiterated its call for Gershkovich to be released immediately. | |
“President Biden has brought over 60 Americans home, many of whom | |
were wrongfully detained or taken hostage before he was sworn in. | |
President Biden has worked ceaselessly for Evan’s freedom since he | |
was unjustifiably imprisoned by Putin, as well as for the freedom of | |
fellow American Paul Whelan, who has now spent five years in a Russia | |
prison,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a | |
statement to CNN. “Like the president said on Saturday when he | |
repeated his call for Evan’s immediate release, ‘journalism is not | |
a crime’ and reporters are not ‘enemies of the people’ but, | |
instead, critical to democracy. President Biden welcomes this new | |
support for bringing Evan back from Russia, and he will continue to | |
demand both Evan and Paul’s release.” | |
This story has been updated with additional reaction. | |
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