Former President Donald Trump claimed Thursday that he would leverage his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin after the U.S. presidential election to secure the release of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter detained by Russia.

Gershkovich, a graduate of Bowdoin College, has been held for more than a year without formal charges or a trial. The American citizen was arrested in March 2023 while on a reporting trip and faces allegations of espionage that he, the Wall Street Journal and the U.S. government all vehemently deny.

“Evan Gershkovich, the Reporter from The Wall Street Journal, who is being held by Russia, will be released almost immediately after the Election, but definitely before I assume Office,” Trump said in an early morning post on his Truth Social platform. “He will be HOME, SAFE, AND WITH HIS FAMILY. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, will do that for me, but not for anyone else, and WE WILL BE PAYING NOTHING!”

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment but told the Wall Street Journal that “there is no contact between Putin and Trump on this matter.”

Trump has long sidestepped criticism of Putin – including over the February death of imprisoned Russian dissident Alexei Navalny – and remained silent on Gershkovich’s detention until recently. In a Time magazine interview last month, Trump was asked why he has not pushed for Gershkovich’s release. He replied that he had been busy with other matters but that he would “certainly call” for the reporter’s release.

“I do have many, many things,” Trump said. “And here’s a difference between me and Biden: I’ll get him released. He’ll be released. Putin is going to release him.”

Trump added that he gets “along very well” with Putin.

President Biden has spoken out repeatedly about Gershkovich. In a statement on the first anniversary of Gershkovich’s detention – March 29 – Biden said his administration will “never give up hope” and “continue working every day to secure his release.”

Biden’s reelection campaign slammed Trump over his latest comments on Gershkovich.

“Donald Trump doesn’t give a damn about the innocent Americans unjustly imprisoned by Vladimir Putin,” Biden campaign spokesperson TJ Ducklo said in a statement. “Trump has called journalists ‘enemies of the people’ and pledged to imprison reporters whose coverage he doesn’t like – not all that dissimilar to what’s happening right now to Evan Gershkovich in Russia.”

Biden’s campaign also criticized Trump’s record on Americans detained in Russia, including Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who was arrested in 2018 while Trump was in office.

Trump said in 2022 that as president, he “turned down a deal with Russia” where the country would release Whelan if the United States freed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. At the time, Trump was criticizing Biden’s decision to release Bout in exchange for U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner.

Whelan’s brother, David Whelan, has suggested Trump did not show as much interest in Paul Whelan when he was president.

“For Donald Trump, these wrongfully imprisoned Americans are political weapons and props to use for his own gain – for Joe Biden, they are human beings whose loved ones and family members he has spent time with,” Ducklo said.

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