Top Trump official Witkoff ‘not sure’ if Fogel exchanged for Russian prisoner 

The Trump official who helped negotiate the release of an American held in prison in Russia for more than three years said in an interview with NewsNation that he wouldn’t comment on whether the U.S. released any Russian prisoners in exchange. 

Steve Witkoff, appointed by President Trump as Middle East envoy, also in a separate interview with CNN did not say whether he had met or spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin while he was in Russia. 

Witkoff was asked by NewsNation’s Kellie Meyer to divulge details of Marc Fogel’s Tuesday release after Russia said there was an exchange of prisoners but Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the network there was no trade. 

“You know, I don’t want to comment on that,” Witkoff told Meyer on Wednesday. “I’m not sure what’s happening in the United States today. I think that getting Marc Fogel out was critical, and the Russians were very, very helpful in that effort and very accommodating.” 

NewsNation later confirmed with a Trump administration official who said the U.S. released Alexander Vinnik as part of the exchange.

Vinnik previously operated the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange organizations. He was detained in 2017 on suspicion of laundering $4 billion, pleaded guilty and faced 20 years in prison, Reuters reported.

Earlier Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that a Russian citizen held in a U.S. prison was released in exchange for Fogel. The Kremlin said it would not identify the citizen until the individual returned to Russia. 

The remarks from Russia contrast those from the Trump administration. During a Tuesday evening appearance on NewsNation, Rubio said there “wasn’t some deal” with Russia involving the release of “like 10 spies.” He highlighted Trump’s leadership as the reason for that.

Witkoff, who arrived in the U.S. on Tuesday evening with Fogel, said he wasn’t going to comment on the reported prisoner swap with Russia, but highlighted that Fogel’s release was a testament to Trump’s relationship with Putin. 

The Trump administration didn’t say if it gave anything or anyone to Russia in exchange for Fogel’s release. However, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said in a statement that Trump’s advisers “negotiated an exchange.”

The president also did not say if he spoke with Putin. Witkoff was asked how many times Trump has spoken with Putin, but the envoy said he couldn’t provide that information because he did not know.

“I think they had a great friendship, and I think now it’s going to continue, and it’s a really good thing for the world,” Witkoff said. 

Trump administration officials are touting that Fogel’s return is a step in the right direction toward ending Russia’s three-year war with Ukraine.

Fogel was arrested in 2021 and sentenced to 14 years in prison after working in Moscow as a teacher. He had been found carrying cannabis, which he said he was prescribed for back pain. The Russians charged him with “large-scale drug smuggling” in 2022. The Biden administration said he was wrongfully detained. 

Updated at 10:41 a.m. EST