Hostage deal

Biden administration "fully" expects hostage deal to be implemented Sunday despite delay

From CNN's Nikki Carvajal

The Biden administration “fully” expects the ceasefire-hostage deal in the Middle East to be implemented Sunday – despite a delay in approval of the agreement by Israel’s cabinet.

Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer told CNN Thursday that complications were expected “in deals that are complicated… and when there is literally zero trust between the two parties to the agreement.”

“We fully expect the deal to be implemented as described by the president and by the mediators, Egypt and Qatar yesterday, and on the timeline that was described” Finer told CNN’s Kate Bolduan. “What we’re doing now is working through details of implementation.”

Finer said the United States was in “very close touch with the mediators” and with the Israeli government.

President-elect Donald Trump took full credit for the deal Wednesday, and when asked about it, Finer said he was “certainly not going to respond directly to the president-elect.”

“What I would say is the contours of this deal, the details of this deal, all of the elements, were laid out by President Biden back in May,” he said. “The reality is, to be honest, we’ve not been focused on the political outcomes here and on who gets the credit. What we’ve been focused on is the outcome in the region trying to get this deal done and achieved.”