WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump welcomed American pastor Andrew Brunson to the Oval Office on Saturday, celebrating Brunson's release after nearly two years of confinement in Turkey, a case that had sparked a diplomatic row with a key ally and outcry from U.S. evangelical groups.
Brunson, who returned to the United States aboard a military jet shortly before their meeting, appeared to be in good health and high spirits. He thanked Trump for working to secure his freedom and then led his family in prayer for the president. "You really fought for us," he told Trump.
"From a Turkish prison to the White House in 24 hours, that's not bad," Trump said.
Administration officials cast Brunson's release as vindication of Trump's hard-nosed negotiating stance, saying Turkey tried to set terms for Brunson's release, but Trump was insistent on his release without conditions.
Trump maintained that no deal was made, but he did dangle the prospect of better relations between the U.S. and Turkey, a NATO ally.
"We do not pay ransom in this country," Trump said.
Trump thanked Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had resisted the demands of Trump and other high-level U.S. officials for Brunson's release. Erdogan had insisted that his country's courts are independent, though he previously had suggested a possible swap for Brunson.
The U.S. this year sanctioned two Turkish officials, and doubled tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, citing in part Brunson's plight.
Trump said Brunson's release "will lead to good, perhaps great, relations" between the U.S. and Turkey, adding that the White House would "take a look" at the sanctions.
Brunson's homecoming amounts to a diplomatic high note for Trump, who is counting on the support of evangelical Christians to bolster Republican candidates in the Nov. 6 election. Thousands of Trump's supporters cheered Friday night at a rally in Ohio when Trump informed them that Brunson was once again a free man.
Trump asked Brunson and his family Saturday who they had voted for in the 2016 presidential election, saying he was confident they had gone for him. "I would like to say I sent in an absentee ballot from prison," Brunson quipped. He then prayed that God would grant Trump "supernatural wisdom."
Evangelical voters overwhelmingly voted for the president, in large part because he pledged to champion their causes, from defending persecuted Christians overseas to appointing conservative justices to the Supreme Court. In the space of seven days, less than a month from the midterm elections, Trump delivered on both fronts.
Brunson's case has been championed by prominent evangelical leaders such as Tony Perkins, as well as Vice President Mike Pence.
The first word of Brunson's arrival back on American soil Saturday came from Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. Perkins tweeted just after noon that he had landed at a military base outside Washington with Brunson and his wife, Norine.
TURKISH HOPES
Erdogan said Saturday that he hoped the United States and Turkey will continue to cooperate "as it befits two allies." Erdogan also called for joint efforts against terrorism, specifying the Islamic State group, Kurdish militants and the network of the U.S.-based Muslim cleric whom Turkey blames for a failed coup in 2016.
Relations between the countries have become strained over Brunson's detention and a host of other issues.
With Brunson's release, the Turkish government can now focus on an escalating diplomatic crisis over Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi contributor to The Washington Post who has been missing for more than a week and is feared dead after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
Turkish officials suspect Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi government, was killed in the consulate. Saudi officials deny it.
Trump maintained that the two cases are not linked, saying Brunson's release amid the Khashoggi investigation was "strict coincidence."
Also, Turkey may now hope that the U.S. will lift the tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum imports, a move that would inject confidence into an economy rattled by high inflation and foreign currency debt.
But Brunson's release doesn't resolve disagreements over U.S. support for Kurdish fighters in Syria, as well as a plan by Turkey to buy Russian surface-to-air missiles. Turkey is also frustrated by the refusal of the U.S. to extradite Fethullah Gulen, a Pennsylvania-based Muslim cleric accused by Turkey of engineering the failed coup.
Erdogan's coalition partner, Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party, accused the United States of using blackmail to win Brunson's release and said the decision had "disturbed the national conscience."
"Pastor Brunson has been released after a dark, unacceptable process to which everyone with a conscience objects," he said in a statement to the Turkish news media. He called on the United States to hand over Gulen or to extradite Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a Turkish banker imprisoned in May for conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran.
"The moment Pastor Brunson departs for USA, those whose extradition is morally and legally obligatory must be sent to our country," Bahceli said.
PRISON FEARS
The Oval Office visit punctuated a tumultuous two days for Brunson, who on Friday didn't know what his fate would be and feared that he'd be sentenced to as many as 35 years in prison.
The pastor, a longtime resident of Turkey, had been arrested along with thousands of other people after the unsuccessful 2016 coup attempt. Turkish authorities accused Brunson of aiding the movement led by Gulen.
Brunson was also indicted on charges of having contact with Kurdish separatists who have been designated as terrorists by Turkey and the United States. Brunson and the Trump administration have said the charges were bogus.
The pastor had been out of prison but under house arrest in Turkey since July. On Friday, a prosecutor asked that he be convicted of the charges and be sent back to prison. The judges found him guilty but then sentenced him to time served and removed a travel ban on him.
The pastor then acted quickly. Under Turkish law, the prosecutor could appeal the verdict, said Perkins, who had witnessed the trial proceedings Friday in Turkey.
"There was a window there, and we needed to get him out of the country before Erdogan or somebody there changed their mind," said Perkins, who had observed the trial in his capacity as a commissioner of the U.S. International Commission on Religious Freedom.
Within hours, Brunson was flown out of Turkey, his home for more than two decades. When Brunson landed overnight in Germany, Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, presented him with an American flag. The pastor held it up to his face and kissed it.
Brunson was taken Friday night to a U.S. military hospital in Germany where he was examined by medics. After a few hours of rest the Brunsons and Perkins flew back to the States.
Information for this article was contributed by Darlene Superville, Zeke Miller and Zeynep Bilginsoy of The Associated Press; by Philip Rucker and Joel Achenbach of The Washington Post; and by Peter Baker and Carlotta Gall of The New York Times.
A Section on 10/14/2018