Trump administration officials this week celebrated the return of dozens of U.S. citizens detained abroad who have been released in the first 100 days of the president's second term.
“Thanks to @POTUS's leadership, Belarus has released another wrongfully detained U.S. citizen,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday in reference to the release of Youras Ziankovich.
Youras Ziankovich was arrested in Moscow in 2021 and then was brought to Belarus’s capital Minsk, where he was accused of being part of a US-backed coup plot against Belarus’ strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko. The US State Department denied any such involvement.
Ziankovich had been declared wrongfully detained in February 2025. There was not a prisoner swap that led to his release, Boehler and the unnamed official said.
“No exchange,” Boehler told CNN Wednesday. “It really was an open mindedness to have a discussion, but I think it’s real hard for us to have discussions when people are holding Americans.”
Belarus – which has been isolated from the West – is interested in “trying to warm relations with the United States,” and “they know that President Trump is not going to do anything if they’re holding Americans.”
“We’ve made that clear” across the interagency, Boehler said. (CNN)
"No president has done so much, so quickly, to keep Americans safe abroad,” Rubio added. "In just 100 days, we've also secured the release of 47 unjustly detained Americans around the world – including in Afghanistan, Russia, and Venezuela – through high-level diplomatic efforts."
Kuwait has also released nearly two dozen detained Americans in the past two months.
The prisoners, both men and women, include military contractors and veterans held for years on drug charges and other offenses by the small, oil-rich nation. One of them was said by supporters to have been coerced into signing a false confession and endured physical violence and threats against his wife and daughter. [...]
“We flew out, we sat down with the Kuwaitis, and they said, ‘Listen, no one’s ever asked before at this level” for the release of the Americans, Boehler told the AP.
The releases were not done as part of a swap and the U.S. was not asked to give up anything in return.
“They’ve been extremely responsive, and their view is the United States is a huge ally. They know it’s a priority for (President Donald Trump) to bring Americans home,” Boehler said. “I credit it to the Kuwaiti understanding that we’ve stood up for them historically and they know that these things are important for the president.” [...]
Among those freed Wednesday was Tony Holden, an HVAC technician and career defense contractor. He was working in support of Camp Arifjan at the time of his November 2022 arrest, when his family and supporters allege he was “set up by corrupt Kuwaiti police looking to earn bonuses.”
His supporters say his wife and daughter were physically threatened, that he was coerced into signing a written confession in Arabic and that his drug possession charge and sentence came in spite of him testing negative in a drug test and abstaining for religious reasons from drug and alcohol use.
“We are grateful to see Tony Holden released today,” said Stacia George, chief engagement officer of Global Reach, a nonprofit organization that has advocated for Holden’s release. “Tony is an innocent man who was held unjustly for 902 days and this gives him the ability to come home to his family and restart his life.”
Added U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “We celebrate his release and return to the United States.”(AP)
Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council, also celebrated the developments.
47 hostages in 100 days thanks to the President.
— Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) May 1, 2025
This is today, Dulles Airport.
Tony Holden is a contractor from Memphis that was imprisoned for four years and hasn’t seen his youngest daughter since she was a baby.
He’s home. Because of President @realDonaldTrump.
47 for 47. pic.twitter.com/5TzUq1DtGm
President Trump shared a touching message from Holden on Truth Social: