Former Secretary of State in the Trump administration (never forget) Mike Pompeo refused to respond to John Bolton's claim that Trump nixed a prisoner swap with Russia for Paul Whelan.
Republicans and right-wing media outlets have attacked the Biden administration for the swap for Brittany Griner, and suddenly the name Paul Whelan was repeatedly on their lips.
Then John Bolton reminded everyone that Trump was "president" when Whelan was arrested in Russia.
John Bolton told CBS that Donald Trump turned down a deal that would have released Paul Whelan.
Fox News Sunday host Shannon Bream asked Mike Pompeo about these claims.
"I don't want to talk about the private conversations we had. Ambassador Bolton’s free to say whatever he might like, but we were very focused on getting Paul Whelan out, every American back home," Pompeo said. "There was nothing in my time in service that was as joyous as returning Americans home to their family.”
After Pompeo rambled for a short time, Bream came back at him.
"Is John Bolton telling the truth?" Bream asked.
"I don't want to comment on our internal discussions. We were working hard on each case, including Paul Whelan’s case, during my time in service," Pompeo replied.
Piling on the Biden administration by suddenly saying they'd never swap a prisoner for a celebrity. As Bolton tells it, a celebrity wasn't on the table unless you consider Whelan a celebrity.
The former guy already had admitted he denied making the trade for Whelan.
