Stephen Hubbard is coming home. Russia on Wednesday freed the 74-year-old retired Michigan teacher after more than four years behind bars, and it happened because President Trump asked for it. “Stephen Hubbard, taken four years ago by Russia during the Biden Administration, was just released from prison, at the request of President Donald J. Trump, made directly to President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation last week,” the President announced. “Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family.”
This time America paid nothing. “The United States, out of respect for President Trump, was not required to give anything in return — an unprecedented situation for Russia,” the President said. “There was no ‘swap’ necessary for this release.” He added that the return “should have taken place long ago through the Biden Administration, which got nowhere in its negotiations with the Kremlin.” Then he spoke to Hubbard directly: “Welcome home Stephen, it’s great to have you back.”
Hubbard was seized by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine in April 2022 and later sentenced on mercenary charges he denies. The State Department designated him wrongfully detained. Putin announced the release at the top of his meeting with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, telling Witkoff that Hubbard was already at Pulkovo Airport, ready to fly.
President Trump called his shot. In the Oval Office on Tuesday, asked whether a deal for Hubbard was close, he said, “Just stick with me. Nobody else was able to do it,” and told reporters to “remember that question for a couple of days from now.” Less than a day later, Hubbard was free.
The White House marked the moment with a simple message: “Thanks to President Trump, over 100 American hostages have returned home, and today, one more does the same. No Commander-in-Chief has rescued more Americans. That’s what America First means.” One more American family gets its loved one back, and no one had to cut a bad deal to make it happen.
