Transcript (en)

We had a wonderful man who, during the Biden administration, was taken hostage in Russia. They claimed things. We won't get into that. But we thought he was a very high-quality, innocent man. And Stephen Hubbard, his name is. And he was, for the last number of years, I would hear the name, mostly when it happened. And when it happened, I would watch his son on television. I'd watch his family on television, begging virtually for him to come back, please. And the other day I was talking with, I set the stage earlier, but the other day I was talking to Vladimir Putin about settling his war with Ukraine, which I think we're getting closer to, by the way. Maybe now the closest we've been. But I mentioned, could you let Stephen Hubbard out, please? And he agreed to do it. So he was met today in Russia And he on his way back He on a flight Steve Whitcoff is with him His family is with him His family went over to meet him and so we thank everybody involved This was an amazing thing. They didn't think he'd come out for 20, 25 years, 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. we have. We've taken, we've gotten out hundreds of hostages. We don't give, once you give, you'll end up quadrupling the problem. The past administration gave massive amounts of money and other things. You can't do that. And when you do that, the problem is greatly exacerbated. So he'll be landing soon, relatively soon. And I hear he's in pretty good shape. He went through a lot. I spoke to him this morning. He is the happiest man around. He didn't think this was going to be. This was very surprising to him, but I did it. It really took place on a phone call at the end of last week with President Putin, so we appreciate it very much. And his family is extremely happy. They can't believe it because it happened so quickly.