Andrew Brunson, the newly released US Pastor has met with Donald Trump at the White House after two years’ detention in Turkey.
The evangelical pastor thanked Trump and his administration before praying with the president in the Oval Office.
Trump said Brunson’s release will be a “tremendous” step in US Turkish relations and re-thanked Turkey’s President Erdogan for releasing the Pastor.
However, the US president denied earlier reports by NBC News and the Washington Post that he had cut a deal with Ankara.
Trump wrote in a Tweet: “I don’t make deals with hostages”.
The Pastor had been under house arrest since July and had lived in Turkey for more than 20 years.
Brunson was accused of having links to Kurdish militants and supporters of Fethullah Gulen, the US-based cleric blamed by Erdogan’s government for a failed coup in 2016. The Pastor denied the charges brought against him and his detention.