WATCH: Biden Wanders Off, Boards An Empty Plane After Bizarre Photo-Op With Freed Americans

A clueless President Joe Biden made a gaffe for the ages on Thursday night as he and Vice President Kamala Harris arrived on the tarmac to greet Americans recently freed from their years-long imprisonment overseas.

The arrival of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan was greeted with ecstasy by senior administration officials who coordinated the largest prison swap with Russia and Germany since the end of the Soviet regime. Whelan had been imprisoned since 2018 after Russian authorities convicted him of espionage-related charges, and Gershkovich had been serving a 16-year sentence since being convicted 17 months ago for similar false crimes. Both men were supposed to be welcomed with open arms by the president and vice president, a feel-good photo op that quickly went from bad to worse.

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A clip of the men’s arrival showed President Biden standing at the base of the plane shortly before the two men put their feet on American soil for the first time in years. Shortly before they disembarked from the aircraft, Biden wandered away to speak with a man and woman who appeared to be family members of one of the men. He kept his back turned to Gershkovich and Whelan as the rest of the crowd applauded their appearance, and even Vice President Harris managed to stay in character long enough to briefly hug the journalist.

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A senile Biden wanders away from the plane and Kamala turns her back, oblivious, as Evan Gershkovich steps on American soil for the first time in a year and a half

This is a pathetic clown show. Total embarrassment to our country pic.twitter.com/TRNTD8NvtC

— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) August 2, 2024

What happened next defies explanation. Biden, seemingly curious to see something in the empty plane, left the ceremony to climb its stairs and go inside. Harris and the two Secret Service agents come together and watch the president disappear as if he were taking the private jet to the next leg of its nonexistent journey.

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Despite the president’s bizarre behavior, administration officials had the opportunity to tout a long-sought foreign policy win that was kept in the limelight by the Journal’s continued coverage of its own reporter long after he faded from public consciousness. Two years earlier, President Biden celebrated the return of WNBA star Brittney Griner after she spent more than two years in a Russian detention center on a marijuana-related conviction. At least five Russian nationals were released as part of the deal which included some imprisoned in Germany. Among them were a millionaire implicated in a hacking scandal, a convicted murderer, and several men with ties to Russian intelligence services.

Former President Donald Trump ripped the White House’s deal on Thursday in an angry Truth Social post, claiming he would have accomplished the exchange without giving anything in return to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Are we releasing murderers, killers, or thugs? Just curious because we never make good deals, at anything, but especially hostage swaps. Our ‘negotiators’ are always an embarrassment to us! I got back many hostages, and gave the opposing Country NOTHING – and never any cash. To do so is bad precedent for the future. That’s the way it should be, or this situation will get worse and worse.”

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby disputed Trump’s characterization on CNN. “The previous administration also conducted prisoner exchanges. The previous administration also had to make tough decisions to get Americans home. … That’s what you have to do when you have people in harm’s way over there. You’ve got to make these tough decisions. It’s not easy.”

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