Cardin: Russia Wants to Take More American Hostages for More Trades, Biden Did ‘Outstanding Job’ with Swap

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Katy Tur Reports,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) stated that “We know Russia wouldn’t hesitate to take more Americans as hostages in an effort to make additional trades.” But “President Biden did an outstanding job in these negotiations” for the prisoner swap that the U.S. agreed to with Russia this week.

Host Ana Cabrera asked, “Given your experience on the Foreign Relations Committee, I wonder, how do you respond to those criticizing the deal, noting that the U.S. and allies had to give up two convicted international hackers, an alleged spy, a convicted killer in this exchange? Former President Trump saying this is a win for Putin. Could Putin be further emboldened or other countries to take more American prisoners?”

Cardin responded, “Make no mistake about it, this is a victory for America. It’s a victory for our values. We brought Americans home. We got them out of harm’s way. We got them out of being held in an oppressive way. So, this is a victory for our policy, wrapped in our values. We are dealing with authoritarian regimes. We recognize that they’re going to be transactional. They don’t care about values. But we have to stick to our values. And a warning to Americans, don’t travel to Russia. We know Russia wouldn’t hesitate to take more Americans as hostages in an effort to make additional trades. But this was absolutely the right thing to do, and quite frankly, when I look at the tradeoffs here, I think President Biden did an outstanding job in these negotiations.”

Later, Cardin argued that sanctions “work” in deterring hostage-taking.

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett