‘You Were Vice President – You Knew’: John Roberts Presses Mike Pence Over Claim Trump Turned Down Prisoner Swap Offer

Fox News anchor John Roberts questioned former Vice President Mike Pence over a claim that Donald Trump turned down a prisoner exchange offer from Russia when he was president.

On Thursday, the Biden administration secured the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was detained in Russia in February for possessing less than a half gram of hash oil. In exchange, the United States released arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was convicted in 2011 of conspiring to kill Americans.

Republicans including Trump have criticized the deal as lopsided in Russia’s favor. They said any swap should have also included Paul Whelan, a former Marine who is currently serving a 16-year sentence in Russia for allegedly spying. Whelan was arrested in 2018 and was in custody for most of Trump’s presidency.

On Friday’s edition of America Reports, Roberts asked Pence about a claim by former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton, who said Trump turned down an offer from Russia to exchange Bout for Whelan.

“John Bolton said that President Trump turned down a swap of Paul Whelan for Viktor Bout two years ago,” he said. “He told CBS, ‘The possibility of a Bout-for-Whelan trade existed back then, and it wasn’t made, for very good reasons having to deal with Viktor Bout.’”

Roberts asked Pence point blank, “Is that true?”

“Well, I would defer to John and his role as national security adviser,” Pence said. “It just–”

“You were vice president,” Roberts interrupted. “You knew.”

“We weren’t in the business of prisoner swaps,” Pence stated. “We weren’t in the business of this kind of an uneven trade, John. So, I wouldn’t question that at all as having been the case.”

Pence went on to say he’s glad Griner is home but that he’s “deeply troubled at the imbalanced nature of this trade.”

“Is it safe to say this is not a trade your administration would have made?” Roberts asked.

“I think it’s highly unlikely that we would’ve even considered that trade given the approach that we took,” Pence answered.

Watch above via Fox News.

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