Trump Admits He Made Huge Concession to Free American in Russia

Moments after declaring that the U.S. “gave nothing” to Russia in exchange for the release of imprisoned American Stephen Hubbard, Donald Trump revealed that we did, in fact, give something.

“So we appreciate the fact that we were able to get him. We gave nothing in exchange, which is very rare. We never give anything in exchange,” said Trump during a roundtable at the White House Wednesday.

But just moments later, Trump seemed to refer to bipartisan blowback he had faced earlier this month for striking a diesel deal with Russia and dropping America’s economic sanctions against the global superpower.

“I was in the midst of getting Stephen out of Russia and, if we did what these foolish people wanted me to do, he wouldn’t be coming out right now. He’d be in there for another 20 years,” Trump said. “So the last thing I was going to do was break up that.”

Hubbard, a retired American teacher, had lived in Ukraine for years before he was captured by Russia in the early weeks of the war. Two years later in 2024, he was convicted by a Russian court of serving as a mercenary. Hubbard was released early Wednesday after nearly five cumulative years in detention.

The 74-year-old Michigander’s release was followed by a jarringly obsequious meeting between U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which Witkoff referred to the notoriously tyrannical Russian leader as a “humanitarian.”

“You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian,” Witkoff told Putin Wednesday, responding to Hubbard’s release. “You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that, I commend you, and I thank you again.”

Even Republicans had a hard time standing by the Trump envoy’s messaging. Reacting to a video of the exchange on X, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis slammed Witkoff’s descriptor as an “embarrassing and outrageous thing to say.”

“You should go back to Ukraine and ask the families of the children Putin has kidnapped and murdered whether they agree your friend Putin is a ‘humanitarian,’” Tillis wrote.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas commented that Putin is a “stone cold killer.”

But Trump wasn’t willing to join the choir. When asked to respond to Witkoff’s exchange, Trump told reporters that he didn’t want to “upset an apple cart where we’re getting close to settling a war.”

Our 80-year-old president is once again struggling to stay awake on camera.

President Trump’s eyes grew heavy during his cybercrime prevention roundtable on Thursday with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, White House adviser Stephen Miller, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Attorney General Todd Blanche, and FBI Director Kash Patel.

The president’s eyes were closed while Hegseth spoke about cyberattacks, and again while Mullin spoke about child abuse videos.

This is the second time this week that Trump has used a meeting to get some shut-eye. On Tuesday, Trump slumped forward in his chair, eyes fluttering while Vice President JD Vance went on about the administration’s new “Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program.”

These on-camera naps continue as Trump claims to be in peak physical condition while traveling the country ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Just two days after calling a protester demanding the release of the Epstein files an “illegal immigrant,” Vice President JD Vance claimed that the man who interrupted his rally for Ohio House candidate Eric Conroy on Wednesday hadn’t “showered in three months.”

“If Greg Landsman had his way, he would take our country right back to where we were four years ago,” Vance said of Conroy’s Democratic opponent. “He would raise your taxes, he would bring us back to the highest inflation in 40 years. He would invite—”

“You protected pedophiles!” a young man in a suit and a MAGA hat right behind Vance shouted. He threw the hat to the ground as the crowd began to drown him out with boos and that classic “USA” chant. He was quickly removed from the rally.

“Now that guy, he was trying to pretend to be MAGA. Do you notice how he took off his ‘Make America Great Again’ hat and threw it down? Here’s the problem, ladies and gentlemen—he told on himself. Because when he took that hat off it was very obvious that he has not washed his hair in about three months,” Vance joked, to mild applause. “And we all know that the people who haven’t washed their hair in three months, they vote for Democrats, not Republicans.”

What an odd response to someone for bringing up perhaps one of the biggest failures of Donald Trump’s second term: the botched, obscured, and incomplete rollout of the Epstein files. And does Vance really want to argue that MAGA supporters are across the board more hygienic than Democrats?

This interaction was similar to Vance’s weak North Carolina clapback on Monday, when another protester shouted, “God bless our children!” and “Release the Epstein files!”

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m gonna have to amend something I said earlier. I said that we have had zero illegal border crossings in the United States of America,” Vance said with a smile, implying that the protester was not a U.S. citizen. “But one isn’t bad, right?”

Attorney General Todd Blanche’s understanding of the Justice Department is a stark departure from the law enforcement agency’s historic position within the federal government.

Speaking with the New York Post podcast Wednesday, Blanche boldly declared that he works “for President Trump.”

“There was this misperception that there’s this separation and independence between the Department of Justice and the White House, and everybody likes to champion that, and they accused me of not suffering from independence,” Blanche said. “I don’t.”

Contrary to Blanche’s opinion, the Justice Department is supposed to be independent and free from presidential interference. That’s been true since at least Watergate, after which the agency established interdepartmental policies and new political norms to distance its operations from the White House.

But that started to shift in 2024, when the Supreme Court sided with Donald Trump to expand his presidential immunity. At the time, Chief Justice John Roberts penned a majority decision that effectively transformed the Justice Department into an arm to be leveraged by the Oval Office, opening communication channels between the federal law enforcement agency and the presidency for all future investigations.

“The president may discuss potential investigations and prosecutions with his Attorney General and other Justice Department officials to carry out his constitutional duty to ‘take care that the laws be faithfully executed,’” Roberts wrote in his majority opinion.

Since then, Trump has repeatedly used the Justice Department for his own personal gain, directing prosecutors to lead his retribution campaign, to investigate election records, and to strong-arm other federal institutions.

Under Blanche’s supervision, the agency has also brushed off potential investigations into dubious activity by Trump and his family members. Last month, Blanche said he had no interest in examining the Russian ties to Donald Trump Jr., even after a Putin-connected Russian oligarch spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Trump Jr.’s wedding.

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is openly attacking media outlets for what he describes as “entirely Fake Polls and Suppression Polls.”

“During this election season, there has been a significant surge in entirely Fake Polls and Suppression Polls designed to do nothing more than interfere with the regular functioning of the electoral process and alter the normal patterns of voter turnout and enthusiasm,” Brendan Carr posted on X Wednesday morning. “Many journalists and broadcasters have been amplifying or airing these Polls without regard to basic journalistic ethics and without informing the public that those Polls lack a scientific, accurate, or even real basis.”

Carr didn’t mention any polls or coverage in particular, but multiple broadcast outlets have reported and continue to report on President Trump’s historically low poll numbers, including conservative outlet Fox News. Carr went on to give an ominous warning to broadcasters who run afoul of his and Trump’s opinions. 

“The FCC takes these issues seriously. Broadcasters are prohibited by the terms of their federal licenses from engaging in News Distortion or promoting Broadcast Hoaxes.  It is important that broadcasters comply with their public interest obligations,” the post continued. “Broadcasters are advised to avoid engaging in News Distortions or running Broadcast Hoaxes by airing Polls that would violate their regulatory obligations.” 

It’s an alarming, but not altogether surprising attack on the free press from Carr, who co-authored the archconservative Project 2025 manifesto and has waged unprecedented attacks on broadcast outlets on Trump’s behalf since his return to office. Carr has ordered the review of the broadcast licenses for eight ABC TV stations, which the network claimed in a regulatory lawsuit was because of “the content and viewpoints expressed on ABC network programs.” The threat to ABC’s licenses came days after Jimmy Kimmel made a joke about Trump and Melania.

Carr’s new warning, less than two weeks before November’s midterm elections, is intended to send a chilling message to broadcast outlets about their coverage. It also hints that Trump and his henchman might blame a poor showing by Republicans on the media—and then attempt unconstitutional actions.