Trump swears 'I would have gotten Paul Whelan out' — except he never did

Donald Trump revealed Sunday that he could have rescued American Paul Whelan from Russia after he was arrested in 2018, but he refused.

Whelan has been stuck in Russia serving a 16-year sentence on espionage charges he denies. Trump said that he was asked if he'd release Viktor Bout, but he wouldn't do it.

"I turned down a deal with Russia for a one on one swap of the so-called Merchant of Death for Paul Whelan," Trump posted on his social media site. "I wouldn’t have made the deal for a hundred people in exchange for someone that has killed untold numbers of people with his arms deals. I would have gotten Paul out, however, just as I did with a record number of other hostages. The deal for Griner is crazy and bad. The taking wouldn’t have even happened during my Administration, but if it did, I would have gotten her out, fast!"

Trump claimed he "would have gotten Paul out," but he never did. So, it's unclear if his claim "I would have gotten her out fast" is accurate since he couldn't accomplish the latter claim.

A report earlier Sunday revealed that Russia asked for an assassin that was in Germany as the prisoner swap for Whelan.

Trump has made similar claims in the past, such as the time he said he could have passed the infrastructure package he failed to pass. President Joe Biden sealed the deal instead.

During the 2020 election, Raw Story documented a number of promises Trump made but was never able to keep during his four years in office. One that persists today is Trump swore he'd fix the border and sometimes even brags that he did it while president.

"We proudly handed the Biden administration the most secure border in history. All they had to do was keep this smooth-running system on autopilot," said Trump.

Yet, Republicans continue to claim that it's broken, despite Trump's claim he "fixed it."