President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday that gives the United States more “tools” to free American hostages – while his administration has already recovered 72 captives in the first eight months of his term.
The signing of what was Trump’s 201st executive order was captured in an Oval Office video.
The order creates a new mechanism to declare a country that participates in hostage taking practices a “State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention” and provides for “legal tools” to address the practice, according to a White House fact sheet .
During the signing, Trump asked Adam Boehler, Special Envoy for Hostage Response, for an accounting of hostage retrievals so far.
Boehler held up a graphic and said, “Mr. President, you’ve brought back 72 hostages since your term. If we comp