CNN’s Dana Bash could not conceal her excitement on Thursday’s installment of Inside Politics as she hailed President Joe Biden’s anti-Trump “mic drop moment” at the end of his press conference announcing the prisoner swap involving former Marine Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. Meanwhile, chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto would claim that the deal is a victory for Biden’s worldview and a defeat for Trump’s.
It was all set up as Biden was ending his presser when Reuters White House correspondent Andrea Shalal lobbed a softball Biden’s way, “President Trump has said repeatedly that he could’ve gotten the hostages out without giving anything in exchange, what do you say to that? What do you say to President Trump? Former president.”
Biden replied, “Why didn’t he do it when he was president?”
With the press conference over, Bash appeared with a giant grin to recap, “I think that was what they call a mic drop moment at the end there. ‘Why didn’t he do it when he was president?’”
Turning to Sciutto, she also observed “one of the things that struck me before they got to the Q&A, which we can talk about in a second. Allies matter.”
Sciutto agreed, “No question. I mean, this was, this was half a dozen countries involved and he—the U.S. president was asking for difficult things for them to give. He was asking for Germany to give up an FSB assassin who had attempted to kill on German soil in exchange, something they resisted understandably, it's about rule of law in their country. They had to give that. Norway had to give someone up, a prisoner, without getting someone in return, right? So, this and this fits in with Biden's theory of the U.S. role in the world and the importance of alliances.”
Trying to contrast Biden and Trump, Sciutto continued, “That alliances are not purely transactional, as someone else currently running for president has often treated them and described them, as in Donald Trump, that they involve long-term relationships over time where you give, they give, sometimes not at the same time, and that by relying on each other together, you're stronger. It's a demonstration and you see it in this is a real tangible result of those alliances in the freedom of these Americans.”
Bash agreed, “As you were saying, with Norway, it said, there's a moral alliance, not just a strategic alliance.”
The mediator in this deal was Turkey and calling that a moral alliance in 2024 is hilarious. Still, Trump does view his record in hostage releases as one of his strongest, so trying to turn this deal into a referendum on how Trump and Biden view U.S.-Norway or U.S.-Germany relations is, to use the left’s new favorite word, weird. One also has to wonder if Sciutto would've had a different reaction if Trump demanded the release of an FSB assassin given his past commentary on him.
Here is a transcript for the August 1 show:
CNN Inside Politics with Dana Bash
8/1/2024
12:29 PM ET
ANDREA SHALAL: President Trump has said repeatedly that he could’ve gotten the hostages out without giving anything in exchange, what do you say to that? What do you say to President Trump? Former president.
JOE BIDEN: Why didn’t he do it when he was president?
DANA BASH: I think that was what they call a mic drop moment at the end there. “Why didn’t he do it when he was president?”
What a historic moment. Watching and listening, President Biden, now trying to finish out his one and only term and doing so with a tremendous, tremendous victory for these families of these people who were held, he said innocently, they are innocent people. They were held without reason and most importantly, the people who are coming home, he said, when he spoke to them, “welcome almost home.”
And Jim Sciutto, one of the things that struck me before they got to the Q&A, which we can talk about in a second. Allies matter.
JIM SCIUTTO: No question. I mean, this was, this was half a dozen countries involved and he —the U.S. president was asking for difficult things for them to give. He was asking for Germany to give up an FSB assassin who had attempted to kill on German soil in exchange, something they resisted understandably, it's about rule of law in their country. They had to give that. Norway had to give someone up, a prisoner, without getting someone in return, right? So, this and this fits in with Biden's theory of the U.S. role in the world and the importance of alliances.
That alliances are not purely transactional, as someone else currently running for president has often treated them and described them, as in Donald Trump, that they involve long-term relationships over time where you give, they give, sometimes not at the same time, and that by relying on each other together, you're stronger. It's a demonstration and you see it in this is a real tangible result of those alliances in the freedom of these Americans.
BASH: As you were saying, with Norway, it said, there's a moral alliance, not just a strategic alliance.
