This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Joe Biden had to get a word in slamming President Donald Trump when it was announced that a multination prisoner swap had been engineered and that several Americans long held in Russia would be returning home.

It is Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Radio Free Europe journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr. who were released by Russia.

Gershkovich and Whelan were the highest profile individuals involved, and Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in maximum security on claims of espionage, and Whelan had been detained since visiting Russia for a friend's wedding in 2018. He then was convicted of espionage, too.

Published reports noted it was one of the largest prison swaps involving the U.S. or Russia in years.

Altogether, 16 political prisoners and others were released from Russia, while eight Russians held in the U.S., Norway, Germany and other nations were returned.

Trump had commented after announcement that he would have been able to get the Americans freed without giving up anything, and a reporter asked Biden about that.

Biden, who recently was shoved under the bus by the Democrat party whose elites have selected Kamala Harris as his replacement on the 2024 ballot, responded to the question, "Why didn't he do it when he was president?"

But the answer took an awkward turn with a routine fact check.

It seems three of the four being returned to the United States were taken into custody after Trump left his first term as president.

A White House spokeswoman explained that Harris played "a critical role in this diplomacy at a number of key moments."