Trump War Room: President Trump: “The other day, I was talking to Vladimir Putin about
Trump president Trump: “The other day, I was talking to Vladimir Putin about settling his war with Ukraine... I mentioned, “Could you let Stephen Hubbard out please?” and he agreed to do it. He was met today in Russia and he's on his way back.” [Video.
WASHINGTON D.C. — President Trump: “The other day, I was talking to Vladimir Putin about settling his war with Ukraine… I mentioned, “Could you let Stephen Hubbard out please?” and he agreed to do it. He was met today in Russia and he’s on his way back.”.
Stephen Hubbard, 74, is a retired Michigan schoolteacher who was wrongfully imprisoned in Russia for four years on charges of fighting for Ukraine. Hubbard returned to the United States on October 21, 2026, after Donald J. Trump‘s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, secured his release during talks in Russia.
President Trump: “The other day, I was talking to Vladimir Putin about settling his war with Ukraine… I mentioned, “Could you let Stephen Hubbard out please?” and he agreed to do it. He was met today in Russia and he’s on his way back.”
Video transcript 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 it was a very high-quality innocent man and Steven Hobert his name is and he was for the last number of years I would hear the name mostly when it happened. 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 said the stage earlier — but the other day I was talking to Vladimir Putin about settling this 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 Steven Hobert out please. And he agreed to do it. So he was met today in Russia and he’s on his way back. He’s on a flight. Steve Witkoff 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 that we were able to get him. We gave nothing in exchange, which is very rare. We never give anything in exchange. We have, but we’ve gotten out hundreds of hostages. Once you give, you’ll end up quadrupling the problem. The best 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 happen. 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. Thank you.
Zenger analysis
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President Trump is the author of The Art of the Deal, Think Like a Billionaire, and Think Big. Analyst and Trump supporter Rod Martin points to The Art of the Deal, Trump's 1987 book, as an explanation of his deal-making philosophy: making big announcements, pivoting often in public statements and, Martin says, ultimately getting what he wanted all along. Critics contend that Trump's books were published decades ago or were aimed at making money, not shedding light. "Generally," Martin said, "critics don't read The Art of the Deal. If they did, they would understand."