President Donald Trump’s Wednesday, Oct. 21, ran from White House remarks on Russia to a cybercrime event and an evening rally at Clemson University’s arena in Pendleton, S.C. This entry in the series Every 24 Hours What the President Says covers 7:07 a.m. PT Wednesday to 7:07 a.m. PT Thursday, lists highlights first, ranks topics by likely policy impact and closes with a closer look at Russia and the Hubbard release.

Highlights. He defended his pause on new Russia sanctions and said “We have been pretty happy with Russia” for staying out of the Iran war (AP via WTOP). He renewed a pledge of $5,000 for every adult citizen if Republicans keep Congress (transcript). And at a roundtable on scams run from abroad he said his administration made a “very big dent” (Reuters).

1. Russia, Ukraine and Iran. Of freed American Stephen Hubbard he said: “I spoke to him this morning. He is the happiest man around,” per AP via WTOP. On sanctions critics, he said they count as “people who don’t know how life works,” and: “If you would have put those sanctions on or whatever you want to call them, you could forget about him,” and “You’d never see him again.” Asked whether envoy Steve Witkoff should have called Vladimir Putin a humanitarian, he said “I wouldn’t say anything one way or the other,” and added: “So the last thing I want to do is upset an apple cart,” … “where we’re getting close to settling a war.” At the rally he described his request: “You got to do me a favor. You got to get me back Stephen Hubbard” (transcript).

2. The $5,000 pledge. He tied the payment to tariffs: “Oh, and only Republicans can do it, because Democrats can’t, because we’re taking in massive amounts of money through tariffs,” and later: “The only caveat to the $5,000”… “is that you have to spend the money in the United States of America” (transcript). The SC Daily Gazette reports the plan stands “expected to cost more than $1 trillion.” When he first floated it in September, the BBC reported that “no federal dividend programme currently exists”; Democrats called it an “empty promise,” and Vice President JD Vance called it “fundamentally a dividend for American workers.”

3. Overseas scams. At the roundtable, per Reuters, Trump said: “Federal law enforcement has been able to warn over 10,000 Americans targeted for victimization.” Deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Trump “effectively declared cyber warfare against the cyber criminals.” Reuters adds that its own reporting found Trump and his sons added at least $2.3 billion to the family fortune from crypto ventures while their investors took a $2.3 billion hit; White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly answered that “All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people.”

4. The midterms. In Pendleton he campaigned for Sen. Darline Graham, who holds the seat her late brother held. On polls showing a closer race he asked, “Are you sure this is South Carolina?” and said, “I’m not a believer in the pollsters. I really am not,” the SC Daily Gazette reports. He called Democrat Annie Andrews a “radical left lunatic”; the Gazette reports he “falsely accused her” of supporting “mutilation” of children. Andrews’ campaign said before the rally: “I hope he hears directly from the families, farmers, and workers who are paying more every month for groceries, gas, diesel, and health care, with the war in Iran driving prices even higher.” From his own party, Rep. Ralph Norman, Graham’s runoff opponent, skipped the rally and said he will still vote for her as the nominee, but: “My family is not going to vote for Darline Graham” (Gazette).

Online, he posted four early-voting alerts on X between 9:08 and 9:10 a.m. PT, for , , and . On Alaska’s Senate race he wrote: “It’s ridiculous that the Court didn’t stop this SCAM” and that “We are looking at powerful legal options to remove the fraudulent Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. from the Ballot” (). Newsweek reports that Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher, only registered as a Republican when he filed and that “The president did not clarify what the legal options would be”; in June the Alaska Supreme Court affirmed a lower-court order to put Sullivan Jr. on the primary ballot.

5. Ohio. Asked about Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s ad featuring the estranged mother of Democrat Amy Acton, he said: “The fact is I know nothing about it,” and “I don’t think that has anything to do with Vivek,” per AP via WTOP; AP reports Vance said he felt “disgusted” by Republican pushback against the ad.

6. Manufacturing. He wrote: “Now Apple is committing to purchasing 100 MILLION DOLLARS of PENNSYLVANIA Titanium for its NEW iPhone” (). The Reuters story he linked says “up to” $100 million; Apple’s announcement names Pennsylvania-based Perryman Company as a titanium supplier.

Deep dive: Russia, sanctions and Hubbard. Across the day his message held steady: he asked Putin for Hubbard on a call, got him back with no swap, and holding off on sanctions made that possible. AP, via WDIV, reports Hubbard, 74, a retired teacher from Michigan and Air Force veteran, got a sentence of nearly seven years on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine, which his legal team denied, and frames the release as coming “at a time when President Donald Trump has taken a series of actions meant to benefit Moscow.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cited “humanitarian considerations.” Hubbard’s sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, told AP: “He was just for bait. It was all about bait.” Asked Wednesday night whether more Americans will come home, Trump said: “Yeah, I think so. That’ll come.”