The network evening newscasts were unsure whether to hail, cover neutrally, or condemn the latest U.S. prisoner swap with an authoritarian regime. In this case, the exchange with Venezuela’s Maduro dictatorial regime, which returned his notorious bagman, Alex Saab, in exchange for fugitive “Fat Leonard” and 10 additional hostages.
NBC’s report, part of which you can see here, was probably the cleanest:
LESTER HOLT: Also breaking tonight, the release of ten Americans detained in Venezuela in a prisoner exchange announced by the Biden administration late today, but it is not without controversy. Gabe Gutierrez reports now from the White House.
GABE GUTIERREZ: Tonight, ten Americans are on their way home. Some expected to land soon in San Antonio, among them six people the State Department says were wrongfully detained in Venezuela. The Biden…
