I was going to try to get through this story without crying but then I came across the photo of President Biden removing his American flag pin and attaching it to the lapel of newly-released Paul Whelan. Sob. Yesterday, the Biden administration announced that they had spent months working out a comprehensive “prisoner swap” with Russia. President Biden was personally overseeing details of the involved, multinational negotiation at the same time the American national media was convincing the public that he was senile and unable to function.
President Joe Biden’s mind was elsewhere as he watched the fireworks explode in the sky above the White House on July 4. Two epic sagas were unfolding behind the scenes. Both would come to help define his presidency. A U.S.-brokered international prisoner exchange was coming together, and his campaign was falling apart. Biden, his aides said, appeared that day to be focused on only one of those issues — bringing home three Americans detained in Russia: Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva.
Privately, Biden and his inner circle were on edge, uncertain exactly where the next few weeks would lead. They calculated that how they handled the month of July was crucial for him politically and personally. And the one thing that might have shown the American public the president was very much engaged in governing was something they couldn’t talk about.
“What people didn’t know was how much was going on behind the scenes on the foreign policy front,” a U.S. official said. “And it required the president’s attention at every turn. He was involved in every discussion.”
The deal to free Americans from Russian custody was underway well before Biden’s disastrous debate performance on June 27, and U.S. officials stressed that the president’s calculations on the swap were not affected by his considerations of whether to step down. But the two are connected. The timing of the two precarious negotiations means they are paired together in the memories of many on Biden’s team, perhaps with at least some sense of “we told you so.”
On July 21, one of the lowest days of Biden’s presidency, the knowledge he might finally fulfill a foreign policy promise that had long eluded him offered a lone — if oddly timed — bright spot.
“On that day, on the Sunday that he announced that he wasn’t going to run — in those same hours, he was dealing with this issue and making calls,” said U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Jeff Flake. “I thought that was quite extraordinary, something he’d been working on, obviously for a long time, having to close it out and get it done at the same time he was announcing — that had to be bittersweet for him.”
My opinion: this is absolutely a massive victory lap for President Biden and he earned it, 100%. Give him the credit, he deserves it. The fact that he ensured that Kamala Harris would get credit for it too is also a brilliant strategic move – VP Harris was on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base last night as well. Harris and Biden greeted the newly-released Americans on the tarmac, with the families of Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva. This was apparently two years of continuous negotiations, wheeling and dealing behind the scenes, with help from other governments. Biden not only got these Americans freed, he ensured the freedom of several Putin-critics and the return of other foreign nationals. Originally, the White House planned to negotiate Alexei Navalny’s freedom too. Navalny died in prison in Russia in February.
President Biden removed his American flag lapel pin and personally placed it on former Marine Paul Whelan during their meeting on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews. pic.twitter.com/z7M2528Iek
— Chris D. Jackson (@ChrisDJackson) August 2, 2024
Q: Trump has repeatedly said he could have gotten the hostages out without giving anything in exchange. What do you say to that?
President Biden: Why didn’t he do it when he was president? pic.twitter.com/FSJjnxMwc4
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 1, 2024
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.