@william This is misleading.
View attachment 9335
Here, Trump makes the assertion that the US "was not required to give anything in return".
His own next post contradicts this:
View attachment 9336
So, given that:
a) Sanctioned signed into law by both POTUS & both chambers of the House were to go into effect, and
b) The decision to not impose these sanctions lead to this swap
We can directly conclude that Russia traded this person in exchange for sanctions relief. Which contradicts the assertion that "the United States was not required to give anything in return".
The lesson to be learned from this is that if the US imposes sanctions on you, you should
detain as many US nationals as possible on bogus charges, then gradually release them in exchange for sanctions relief or other concessions. Rinse and repeat.
