WSJ editors blast Trump after he caves in hostage deal: ‘No cause to be grateful’

A conservative editorial board threw cold water on one of President Donald Trump's latest diplomatic wins, warning his team was getting played.The Wall Street Journal's editorial board wrote Wednesday that there is "no cause to be grateful" to Russian President Vladimir Putin for freeing Stephen Hubbard, a retired American teacher jailed in Russia since 2022. Trump said Wednesday that Putin let Hubbard go after a personal plea from the president and asked for nothing in return.The board welcomed Hubbard home but argued the Russian leader "takes Western hostages as part of his statecraft." The editorial laid out a pattern. Putin seizes someone, slaps them with bogus charges, secures a conviction in a rigged court and then frees or swaps them whenever it suits him.The board pointed to The Journal's own reporter, Evan Gershkovich, whom Putin used as a bargaining chip to win back an assassin held in Germany. It also...