[20] Sandra Jolley, vice chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom attended the case, and released the following statement: "We leave the courthouse with serious concerns.

Today's eleven hours of proceedings were dominated by wild conspiracies, tortured logic, and secret witnesses, but no real evidence to speak of.

Upon these rests a man's life"[25] She described the judge's decision not to allow any of the witnesses called by Brunson's defense to testify on his behalf as "simply unconscionable".

[31] The New York Times reported that two secret witnesses accused Brunson of "hosting Kurdish refugees in a guesthouse and holding services and gatherings sympathetic to the PKK".

[33] The Asheville Citizen-Times says that it mentions that Brunson's daughter, who was raised in Turkey, had sent the offending video of the maqluba to his iPhone, which was found by the Turkish government.

"[35] Brunson was charged with "membership in an armed terrorist organization", "gathering state secrets for espionage, attempting to overthrow the Turkish parliament and government, and to change the constitutional order".

[36][37] Brunson contacted the chair of Amnesty International in Turkey, Taner Kilic, to ask about his residency permit nine times.

[34] It was claimed that Brunson possessed a list containing information for "'gas station workers in Turkey's southeast,' 'railway employees,' or 'soldiers to get in contact with'" in relation to this supposed planning.

[40][41] Brunson claimed that he evangelized Syrian refugees without regard to their ethnic identity, and strongly denied the idea that he had any connection with PKK members.

According to a July 2018 article in World by Aykan Erdemir and Merve Tahiroglu, there was a photograph that features both Brunson and a man wearing a yellow, red, and green scarf, which is presented as proof of his involvement with Kurdish nationalist terrorism.

[34] It is also claimed that he was part of an operation to help Kurdish families write asylum letters to Canada that strongly criticized the AKP and MHP.

[34] The indictment also made many other broad claims about Christianity and the United States government that the Asheville Citizen-Times described as conspiracy theories.

[34] According to the Asheville Citizen-Times, it also contained an accusation that every church in the United States is connected to some organization with the acronym "CAMA", that "holds sway over" [32] every one of them.

[32] It was also alleged by the prosecution that there are websites on the internet that describe Turkish president Erdogan as the Antichrist, and the indictment almost suggests it as a motive for Brunson, a Christian, to help the coup plotters.

[32] A December 14, 2016, a Sabah daily news story, said to be based on an informant, claimed that Brunson, while dispensing aid among Syrian refugees, tried to divide Turkey with sermons praising Gülenism and by speaking in support of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

[43][better source needed] The pro-Erdogan administration newspaper Takvim alleges that Brunson was a "high-level member of the Gülen movement" and an American spy, positioned to become CIA chief in Turkey had the 2016 coup attempt succeeded.

Diler speculated that the CIA would assassinate Brunson in prison if it thought he would not be deported back to the U.S.[45] In April 2018, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators led by North Carolina senator Thom Tillis sent a letter to Erdoğan stating they were "deeply disturbed that the Turkish government has gone beyond legitimate action against the coup plotters to undermine Turkey's own rule of law and democratic traditions.

"[44] In a March 2017 letter to U.S. President Donald Trump through an attorney with the American Center for Law and Justice, Brunson said, "Let the Turkish government know that you will not cooperate with them in any way until they release me.

"[47] According to a February 2017 letter to the president of Turkey signed by 78 members of the U.S. Congress, "There appears to be no evidence to substantiate the charges against him for membership in an armed terrorist organization.

[50] In October 2017, Ihsan Ozbek, chairman of the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey, told The New York Times, "Andrew was a normal American Christian; he is not a spy.

"[53][9][54][55] The federal judiciary alone determines extradition cases in the U.S. An August 2017 decree gave Erdogan authority to approve the exchange of detained or convicted foreigners with people held in other countries.

Asked about the suggested swap on September 28, 2017, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said: "I can't imagine that we would go down that road. ...

[57] In June 2018, a bipartisan bill changing the NDAA to block the transfer of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey was authored by senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and was passed through Congress.

[59][60] On July 5, 2018, in anticipation of Pastor Brunson's third day of trial, 98 Members of the European Parliament, from all political groups and 21 countries, sent an open letter[61] to remind President Erdoğan of "the European and International commitments of the Republic of Turkey in regard to freedom of religion, to the prohibition of arbitrary detention, and to the right to a fair trial."

[69] On Friday, October 12, 2018 Brunson was released and flown to the United States, where he met in the Oval Office with President Trump the next day.