Biden Makes No Apologies for ‘Getting Americans Home’: Finer on Republicans Criticizing the Russian Prisoner Swap

STEPHANOPOULOS: “But several Republicans on Capitol Hill have criticized the swap, saying that trading innocent Americans for Russian criminals sets a bad precedent. What’s your response?”
FINER: “Well, we’ve heard those criticisms. The president himself has said that these are extremely difficult decisions for a head of state to make. And by the way, President Biden wasn’t the only head of state that made this difficult decision. He singled out the chancellor of Germany, who made a very difficult decision on behalf of the German people as well. And there were four other countries that were involved in making what happened last week possible, and we expressed an enormous degree of gratitude. The president called them all, actually, in the aftermath of this exchange. Our view is, there are countries around the world that wish to do us harm. And some of the ways in which they try to do us harm is by catching American citizens up in what can be a geopolitical or other disputes. We do not think that it is responsible or the right thing to do for American interests to leave those people in harm’s way. And so the president, from the moment he took office, has prioritized getting Americans who were in captivity when we came here out, and those who have been taken since, trying to free them as well. He makes no apologies for doing that. He understands the trade-offs involved. And if you saw the scenes, I think, that we saw last week, when these families were reunited, you would see on a personal level how important this and how much responsibility the president feels to all Americans, but particularly those who are in such difficult situations.”