Online influencer Logan Paul shared his interview with Donald Trump this week, with the Prime founder speaking to the former president for more than an hour on topics ranging from boxing to immigration.
Trump received little to no scrutiny from Paul during their conversation, repeating familiar mistruths without challenge, such as saying that immigrants entering the U.S. had been let out of "insane asylums."
The Biden-Harris 2024 campaign also suggested that Trump had said, by one means or another, that WNBA player Brittney Griner, who was held in a Russian prison two years ago on smuggling charges, later released in a prisoner swap with a convicted Russian arms dealer, should still be in that jail.
The Claim
A post on X, formerly Twitter, on June 14, 2024, posted by Biden-Harris HQ, viewed 824,000 times, included a clip from Donald Trump's interview with Logan Paul in which he said "...who knows what that means but he was a great arms dealer [exchanged] for the basketball player that wouldn't stand up during the national anthem, she thought that was a good time to tie her sneakers and that was not exactly the greatest trade..."
The accompanying post read "Trump says Brittney Griner should have been kept in Russian prison."
The Facts
The post, without further context, might suggest that Trump explicitly said that Brittney Griner, who was freed in December 2022, should still be in Russian prison.
Griner was arrested in Russia for having less than a gram of medically prescribed THC in February 2022. She was sentenced to nine years in prison in August 2022. But U.S. officials arranged a trade for her release in December 2022.
The prisoner swap exchanged Griner for Viktor Bout, a former Soviet military officer who was serving a 25-year sentence in the United States. Nicknamed the "Merchant of Death," he was convicted of conspiring to kill U.S. citizens and officials, of selling millions of dollars of weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and aiding a terrorist organization.
At no point during the conversation with Paul did Trump say this outright. Arguably, as the Biden-Harris HQ seems to believe, Trump's belief that the prisoner swap that led to her release was "not exactly the greatest trade" means he thinks she should still have been kept in Russian prison.
By implication, Trump's belief that it was a poor trade may imply she should have not been released, although his complaint, despite his misgivings about Griner, also hinges on the swap with Bout.
The former president has previously claimed that he turned down a deal with Russia to swap Bout with U.S. Marine Paul Whelan. Whelan was arrested in December 2018 and has been jailed in Russia since. He was convicted of espionage and, in June 2020, was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Whelan and the Biden administration have denied that he was involved in espionage, and the State Department claims that he is being wrongfully detained.
"I turned down a deal with Russia for a one-on-one swap of the so-called Merchant of Death for Paul Whelan," Trump said. "I wouldn't have made the deal for a hundred people in exchange for someone that has killed untold numbers of people with his arms deals. I would have gotten Paul out, however, just as I did with a record number of other hostages."
Trump said the Griner one-for-one deal was "crazy and bad" and that, if the scenario had happened during his administration, it would have happened "fast."
"The deal for Griner is crazy and bad," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "The taking wouldn't have even happened during my Administration, but if it did, I would have gotten her out, fast!"
In July 2022, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he'd had conversations with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov about a prisoner swap of Bout for Griner and Whelan.
"I pressed the Kremlin to accept the substantial proposal that we put forth on the release of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner," Blinken said. "I'm not going to characterize his responses and I can't give you an assessment of whether I think things are more or less likely, but it was important that [he] hear directly from me on that."
Crucially though, Trump's interview with Logan Paul does not include comments saying Griner should still be in a Russian prison, only suggesting that the deal to exchange her was, in his view, poor.
Newsweek has contacted Biden-Harris HQ for comment.
The Ruling
Needs Context.
Trump did not say explicitly that Brittney Griner should still be in a Russian prison. His contention that it was "not exactly the greatest trade" to exchange her for convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout also hinges on his thoughts about Bout.
While Biden-Harris HQ appears to argue that the release of Griner was nonetheless worthwhile, and Trump's thoughts on the deal could suggest he thinks Griner should have remained in prison if it meant exchanging her for Bout, Trump did not state this outright during his interview with Logan Paul.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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