Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) faced backlash Friday after he insulted on live television the prisoners freed in President Joe Biden's historic deal with Russia.
Perry likened Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich to a piece of cutlery in his dismissive analysis on Fox News of Biden's swap with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Essentially we've traded journalists for murderers and thieves," Perry said. "It's like trading a rifle for a spoon."
Perry's criticism echoed those of former President Donald Trump, who responded to news that Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan had been freed with an angry Truth Social post that did not include either man's name.
"This just emboldens Vladimir Putin to continue to broker these kind of deals and to take our people prisoner to get these kind of deals," Perry said. "It's patently absurd, it's a terrible deal."
Biden has responded to criticism by asking why Trump did not secure a better deal when he was president.
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Perry's comment spurred much criticism of his own from people such as national security attorney and political commentator Bradley Moss.
"I say we drop Scott Perry into a foreign prison and tell him we will only get him back when we have a perfect deal," Moss wrote on X, "and not a moment sooner."
Democratic strategist Matt McDermott said he was infuriated that Perry had compared Gershkovich, who spent more than a year in a Russian prison accused of espionage charges condemned by the U.S. State Department, to a common table item.
"Is any journalist — anyone? — going to speak out against Republicans comparing the life of Evan Gershkovich to a spoon?" McDermott wrote. "It’s disgusting. There’s zero difference between this swap deal and others in recent history. They’re just mad because Biden succeeded where Trump failed."
British film director Duncan Jones chastised Perry for his broad-strokes rebuke of complex international operation.
"Does Perry really think Putin is so short on murderers & criminals that we tipped the balance for his regime by sending them back to him? Jones wrote. "Those punks will have been RUNG OUT of info by now. And in exchange we got back Americans. How much is an American life worth to Scott Perry?"
