Did the Trump Admin Agree to Free 5,000 Taliban Prisoners?

Claim:

Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration agreed to an exchange that freed 5,000 Taliban prisoners.

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In early December 2022, we received inquiries from readers who asked if it was true that former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration had previously agreed to an exchange that released 5,000 Taliban prisoners. They also wanted to know if Trump had at one time planned to invite Taliban leaders to Camp David.

We soon found that all of this was true.

Both of these old news items made a comeback on social media following the Dec. 8, 2022, release of WNBA star Brittney Griner. Griner was freed from a Russian prison in exchange for the U.S. releasing “notorious Russian arms dealer” Viktor Bout, The Associated Press reported.

Some social media users pointed to the previous Taliban prisoner exchange and Camp David plans that occurred under Trump, while at the same time critics of U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration decried the deal made that freed Bout.

In this story, we’re going to look at the facts behind the claim that 5,000 Taliban prisoners were exchanged. We’ll also examine the prior news of plans for a Camp David summit.

The Origins of the Rumors

According to the Austin American-Statesman and PolitiFact, both of these claims appeared to have first gained some prominence after U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, mentioned them.

On Aug. 29, 2021, during Biden’s first year in the White House, Romney appeared on CNN and blamed both Trump and Biden for the way the final years went down with the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan.

Just three days prior to when the interview aired, as the U.S. was completing its withdrawal from Afghanistan, a single suicide bomber killed at least 60 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.

Romney referenced the attack during the interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper:

If you focus on, gosh, what should we do right now, recognize that we’re in the position we’re in right now because of terrible decisions made by two administrations.

One, the Trump administration negotiating directly with the Taliban, getting ready to invite them to Camp David, opening up a prison of 5,000 Taliban and probably ISIS-K individuals, and letting them free. I mean, we don’t know whether some of them were involved in the attack that occurred.

These were the decisions that led to what you’re seeing and the danger that existed at the airport. This should not have happened. President Biden closing the Bagram air base. That’s what’s…