On Wednesday, Fox News posted an article about the release of Stephen Hubbard, a retired teacher, from Russia.
The article reports:
President Donald Trump secured the release from Russia of a retired U.S. teacher who was locked up on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.
“Stephen Hubbard, taken four years ago by Russia during the Biden Administration, was just released from prison, at the request of President Donald J. Trump, made directly to President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation last week,” according to a Wednesday morning Truth Social post issued by Trump.
“Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family. The United States, out of respect for President Trump, was not required to give anything in return — an unprecedented situation for Russia. There was no ‘swap’ necessary for this release. This major return should have taken place long ago through the Biden Administration, which got nowhere in its negotiations with the Kremlin. Stephen is on his way back home.
The article notes:
Another Truth Social post issued by Trump added, “Numerous people, who requested that sanctions be immediately imposed on Russia, have called to apologize to President Trump in that they didn’t know that he was negotiating the release of Stephen Hubbard, a truly big and important deal for the U.S. If sanctions would have been placed, certainly those negotiations would have come to a complete and total halt.”
The president added in another post, “Biden should have done the Hubbard release long ago! What a difference a President makes!”
Hubbard, a Michigan man, was sentenced in 2024 to almost seven years imprisonment. Prosecutors said he had signed a contract with the Ukrainian military after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, and that he fought alongside them until being captured two months later.
This is an example of having a leader who can ignore the slings and arrows of the media. If President Trump had caved and put sanctions in place, Mr. Hubbard would still be sitting in jail in Russia. The media was unaware of what was going on behind the scenes (as usual) and pushed for something that would have been unhelpful in the long run.