White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed during a press conference on Friday that one of the biggest accomplishments of the new Trump administration, which is only a few months in, is that it has already secured the release of over 40 detained Americans abroad. That’s definitely a figure to be proud of.
What’s more, we didn’t have to trade a single terrorist for any of them, which isn’t something that former President Joe Biden can brag about. If you remember correctly, Biden traded a supremely dangerous Russian asset for WNBA player Brittney Griner.
Unsurprisingly, this asset is now back in the field and killing innocent people.
WH press sec: “Since Inauguration Day, President Trump and his team have secured the release of more than 40 detained Americans abroad.”
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) April 11, 2025
The latest of these 40 individuals is Russian-American ballerina Ksenia Karelina.
“Russian American ballerina Ksenia Karelina said in a video she was ‘so grateful’ to President Donald Trump after landing on American soil following a prisoner swap with Russia,” Fox News reported.
On Friday, the president posted the video of her message on his Truth Social account, going on to say, “Glad to have you back.”
“Mr. Trump, I’m so, so grateful for you to bring me home and for [the] American government. And I never felt more blessed to be American and I’m so, so happy to get home. Thank you,” Karelina said into a camera just after landing at Joint Base Andrews located in Maryland on Thursday night.
Karelina shared a long embrace with her fiancé, boxer Chris Van Deerden, after stepping off the plane. She has been offered Post Isolation Support Activities, which is a reacclimation program for wrongful detainees, a U.S. official said. Moscow released Karelina on Thursday in exchange for German Russian citizen Arthur Petrov, who was arrested in 2023 in Cyprus at the request of the U.S. on charges of exporting sensitive microelectronics, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States. She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release. POTUS will continue to work for the release of ALL Americans,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated in a post published on X.
Karelina was sentenced to 12 years in a Russian penal colony after pleading guilty to treason for donating $51.80 to a Ukrainian charity in early 2024. She was initially detained for “petty hooliganism” while visiting family in Russia that year. Russian authorities claimed that Karelina, who lived in Los Angeles, raised money for the Ukrainian army and took part in “public actions” that supported Ukraine while in the U.S.
Unfortunately, Karelina wasn’t included in a big prisoner swap from back in August 2024, which resulted in Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, and Alsu Kurmasheva from Russia.
Back in February, Trump succeeded in bring American history teacher Marc Fogel back home after being detained in Russia since 2021.
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