President Donald Trump on Thursday called on Turkey to release Pastor Andrew Brunson, who has been accused of espionage and assisting terrorist groups.
Formal proceedings recently began against Brunson, who faces a maximum sentence of 35 years if convicted. Turkey claims that the pastor worked with exiled Imam Fethullah Gulen, whom President Tayyip Erdogan accused of orchestrating an attempted coup in 2016 from his home in Pennsylvania.
"I am a Christian pastor," Brunson said in a court hearing on Monday, denying the charges against him, according to Fox News. "I did not join an Islamic movement. Their aims and mine are different."
Axios reports that senior members of the Trump administration think Turkey hopes to make a deal with the U.S. to swap Brunson for Gulen, but an unnamed official told the website that the U.S. won’t make a deal sending the Imam back to Turkey.
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