Former President Donald Trump congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin over a prisoner swap that took place this week, saying the Russian strongman had outsmarted US officials as part of the largest such deal since the end of the Cold War.

At a rally here Saturday, Trump did not mention any of the American prisoners who were released in the deal – including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was imprisoned for more than a year on charges the US government has denounced as fabricated. In his previous comments on the deal, he did not mention any of the prisoners by name either, only criticising the US government.

“I’d like to congratulate Vladimir Putin for having made yet another great deal … We have 59 hostages, I never paid anything … Boy, we make some horrible, horrible deals. It’s nice to say we got ‘em back, but does that set a bad precedent,” Trump said.

He did not mention any of the US officials who worked on the deal for months.

In fact, Trump authorised an agreement to pay US$2 million to North Korea for medical bills in the release of Otto Warmbier, the comatose University of Virginia student sent home from Pyongyang in 2017, The Washington Post reported. Trump claimed the bill was never paid. Warmbier died soon after his return.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said this week that no money changed hands in the latest prisoner swap.

Trump had been reluctant to speak about Gershkovich for about the first year of the reporter’s detention but finally called for his release in May. The former president has repeatedly bragged about his close relationship with Putin but also says that Putin respects him and would have never invaded Ukraine if Trump was president.

On several public occasions in recent months, Trump has said he would get Gershkovich released as soon as he was elected in November, and Putin would do it “for me, but not anyone else”.

Trump seemed to lash out at the deal after it was trumpeted by President Biden and Vice President Harris, who met the prisoners at Joint Base Andrews in an emotional ceremony.

“Just curious because we never make good deals, at anything, but especially hostage swaps. Our ‘negotiators’ are always an embarrassment to us!” he said in a Truth Social post.

Gershkovich was among 24 people freed in an exchange of prisoners held in seven countries – Russia and Belarus on one side, and the United States, Germany, Slovenia, Poland and Norway on the other. On the Russian side, 16 prisoners were released, including one who had been imprisoned in Belarus. German and American citizens and Russian dissidents were among the group, the majority of whom were flown to Germany. Russia received eight people in return, including assassin Vadim Krasikov, who had been imprisoned by Germany, and two hackers and an alleged smuggler with intelligence links.