President Donald Trump says he’ll meet with Andrew Brunson, the American pastor just released from Turkey, in the Oval Office on Saturday afternoon.
President Trump says on Twitter that it’ll be “wonderful to see and meet” Brunson. Trump says Brunson is a “great Christian who has been through such a tough experience.”
A Turkish court on Friday convicted Brunson on terrorism charges but sentenced him to time served and freed him from house arrest to return to the U.S.
The North Carolina native left Turkey on Friday for a stop at a U.S. military hospital in Germany before Saturday’s meeting with President Trump at the White House.
President Trump also is thanking Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan (REH’-jehp TY’-ihp UR’-doh-wahn). He had resisted earlier U.S. demands that Brunson be released.
Pastor Andrew Brunson, released by Turkey, will be with me in the Oval Office at 2:30 P.M. (this afternoon). It will be wonderful to see and meet him. He is a great Christian who has been through such a tough experience. I would like to thank President @RT_Erdogan for his help!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2018
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