Trump uses detention of journalists in Russia as election leverage

Former President Donald Trump appears to have tried to use the detention of a journalist in Russia as a pawn in his 2024 presidential campaign.

In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said so Ivan Gershkovicha 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter who has been detained since March 2023, “will be released immediately after the election, but certainly before I take office.”

“He will be home and safe and with his family,” continued the Republican presidential candidate, who has attacked journalists and the media on countless occasions. Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, will do it for me, but not for anyone else, and we won’t pay anything!

Gershkovich He was accused of espionage while on a press trip and was imprisoned For more than a year In a Moscow prison while awaiting trial. Gershkovitch, the Wall Street Journal, and Gershkovitch’s family deny the espionage accusations.

Furthermore it, President Joe Biden has called for Gershkovich’s arrest “Wrong” He said he was working to get it released.

Trump’s post sparked a response from TJ Ducklo, a senior adviser to Biden’s re-election campaign, according to NBC News.

“Trump has called journalists ‘enemies of the people’ and vowed to jail journalists whose coverage he doesn’t like — not all that different from what’s happening now to Ivan Gershkovich in Russia,” Ducklo said.

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

Trump and Biden Presumptive presidential candidates for their respective sides, making way for a 2020 rematch this year.