U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday that creates a designation for state sponsors of wrongful detention of Americans.

A senior U.S. official told reporters that the public can appreciate the measure’s consequential nature by watching videos of Israeli-American Eden Alexander’s White House-brokered release from Hamas captivity earlier this year and Ksenia Karelina’s arrival on American soil after Washington intervened to secure her release from Russia.

“Listen to the voices of the American citizens, who were liberated as hostages and wrongfully detained, and that will give you the significance of the action the president is taking this afternoon,” the official said.

Senior Trump administration officials told reporters that designating states that support detai

See Full Page