The government is under pressure to speak up for it's citizen, but since it's a guy from the middle east who went back to his home country and intentionally broke the law, this prayer breakfast is the only appropriate venue to discharge his pressure to do something, to appease the Christians. It wont get the man freed, the sole purpose is to make us say "awwww look how nice our president is, he really cares, look awww isn't that nice" but I'm like, "aww he's blowing smoke at me, isn't that intentionally deceitful...what a good liar our president is."
There are people in that prison that may never have heard the Gospel, he has a tremendous opportunity to witness to the inmates, the guards, and he's a figure for our generation of the persecuted church. That is the reason he abandoned his wife and children to go back, to show the love of Christ to his people, and that's what he's doing.