President Trump offered praise for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a segment of the Republican National Convention with hostages freed during his tenure.
One of those former prisoners, pastor Andrew Brunson, was arrested by Turkish authorities in 2016 following an attempted 2016 coup against Erdogan and was released in 2018 after the administration helped secure his freedom.
“We have six incredible people who were held hostage by various countries. And I’m very pleased to let everybody know that we brought back over 50 hostages from 22 different countries. We worked very hard on it,” Trump said during the prerecorded segment with six former hostages that his administration helped free from captivity abroad.
That was right before introducing Brunson, who worked as the pastor of the Izmir Resurrection Church in Turkey for nearly two decades.
“I was held in Turkey for two years, and you took unprecedented steps actually to secure my release, and your administration really fought for me. And I think if you hadn’t done that, I may still be in Turkey,” Brunson said.
“I have to say that, to me, President Erdogan was very good,” Trump responded. “And I know they had you scheduled for a long time, and you were a very innocent person, and he, ultimately, after we had a few conversations, he agreed. So we appreciate that, and we appreciate the people of Turkey.”
Night one of the Republican National Convention on Monday took place roughly 70 days until Election Day.
