On Sunday, Good Morning America on ABC fumed about how President Donald Trump was getting positive coverage for freeing hostages from North Korea.
Joshua Holt, 26, was released from Venezuela on Saturday after being imprisoned on phony charges of espionage in the socialist dictatorship for nearly two years.
“This is the second time in a few weeks we’ve seen Donald Trump next to Americans who have just been released from captivity overseas. Before this, it was the Americans who were freed from North Korea. How much of a boost do these stories give to the president?” asked co-anchor Dan Harris to the other co-anchor, Martha Raddatz.
“Donald Trump, trumpets all of these releases. It’s very unusual, of course, for someone to be released and go straight to the White House for a photo opportunity,” complained Raddatz, without mentioning that Barack Obama had in fact done the same thing.
“So I would say it is pretty obvious it does give him a boost,” she continued. “I’m not sure many Americans knew about Joshua Holt and he was held in Venezuela but we’re all always happy when American prisoners are released, all of us are.”
Another co-host, Tara Palmieri, didn’t discuss Holt, but blamed the U.S. for worsening the situation in Venezuela, which has fallen from the richest country in Latin America to one of the most destitute in less than 20 years.
“The U.S. relationship with Venezuela has been poor, the White House referred to Maduro’s last re-election as a sham,” Palmieri said. “The people of Venezuela are living without food and medicine. But the U.S. just imposed more sanctions this past week and the White House says they will stay in place.”
