Trump claims to be the "biggest hostage negotiator", but little evidence supports him

For decades, President Trump has introduced himself as a master negotiator, someone who knows the art behind every transaction. Since taking office, his administration has conducted a number of negotiations to free Americans imprisoned around the world.

This is a record that the President wishes to emphasize. "We have published 17 and we are very proud of it," Trump said in May after the release of Josh Holt, a US citizen held in Venezuela for two years.

Last month, while greeting Danny Burch, an engineer from an oil company held captive in Yemen for 18 months, Trump proposed an updated scorecard for the results of his administration. "Well, I'll say, Danny, we're 20 and 0," the president beamed. "We've released a lot."

Free American citizens, along with their friends and family, have often welcomed Trump's pro-advertising approach. But some experts worry that by putting his personal mark on the issue, Trump could potentially put Americans abroad at greater risk.

"The risk is that you increase the value of the hostages," said Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee for the Protection of Journalists and author of a book on hostage negotiations. "You know it will attract the attention of the president."

Even though the president likes to keep the words when he speaks of Americans released abroad under his watch, evidence showing that Trump releases more hostages than his predecessors are rare. James O'Brien, a special presidential envoy charged with hostages between 2015 and 2016, said that the Obama administration had released a hundred Americans abroad during this period.

"I find the bragging boastful," O'Brien said of Trump's comments about the hostages. "Every day an American is held abroad is a loss."

People crisscross the street while Otto Warmbier's body hearse heads for the Wyoming, Ohio, cemetery in June 2017. Warmbier, jailed in North Korea, died soon after his return to the United States. (Bill Pugliano / Getty Images)

Warmbier died shortly after his return to the United States in June 2017. There is no evidence that the North Korean bill has ever been paid, but the revelation of its existence has provoked a critical reaction. Otto's father Fred Warmbier told the Post that it was like a "ransom" for his son.

Trump, who made the link with North Korea one of his most prominent foreign policies, tweeted on Friday that he had not been paid money for the release of Warmbier. In a second tweet, the president suggested that he was the "biggest hostage negotiator" of "the history of the United States."

The United States has long had a policy of not paying ransom for the release of hostages taken by terrorist organizations. The problem is not the cost – the US government financed bailouts that were probably more expensive than ransom – but the fear that the money could be used to harm Americans.

The Obama administration formalized this policy in 2015 as a result of a government review following the abduction of US citizens by the Islamic State and other non-governmental extremist groups . It is not clear if this would apply directly to a case involving a foreign government like North Korea.

In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Joseph Yun, the head of the State Department on North Korea during the release of Warmbier, did not confirm that he had signed the North American document. Korean, but said that the release of the hostages was still a "difficult issue" for the US government. .

"There have been cases where money has been paid to a national government that held US citizens," Yun said without giving further details. In 2011, the Oman government reportedly paid $ 1 million bail to release two US hikers imprisoned in Iran.

O'Brien stated that he was not aware of any comparable circumstance in which the United States would have signed a document promising to pay money in the same way as in the Warmbier case. "I have never asked a government to ask for money and I would not have agreed to pay it," he said.

By signing the document, the United States looks "anxious and weak," O'Brien said; on the other hand, refusing to pay later gave the United States an unreliable appearance.

President Trump meets Danny Burch, an American hostage released in Yemen, at the Oval Office on March 6 in Washington. (Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post)

Trump's focus on hostage negotiations initially relieved some families who felt that the Obama era's stance was too procedural and reckless. When Warmbier was arrested for the first time, his family had asked for a more badertive response from the US government, but had been repelled by officials.

Nothing clearly indicates that North Korea has deliberately jailed Warmbier for the purpose of extorting money or forcing diplomatic talks with the United States. But many accusing countries that jail US citizens seem to have found that the new US president was more open to markets than his predecessor.

The detention of US citizen Paul Whelan in Russia on espionage charges has also been widely interpreted through the lens of unconditional political measures, negotiating experts such as the former US ambbadador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, hinting that Moscow pro quo "in the US file against Maria Butina, a Russian gun rights activist.

Tactics may not be necessarily imprudent. Sent to the national newspaper about US journalist Austin Tice, who has been missing in Syria since 2012, Trump's special envoy for the hostages suggested that the release of the hostages was a way to improve relations with the United States.

"The President has made it clear that if you want to have better relations with the United States, if you want an atmosphere conducive to better relations," said Robert O. Brien, with no connection to James O's. Brien, our hostages or help us find our hostages if they have disappeared in your country. "

For now, Trump wants to continue to negotiate. "I like to do it because I like the end result," he said while greeting Burch in March.