Dark Brandon has struck again, this time with the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner, held in a Russian prison for months on drug charges. Griner was out and back on a plane Thursday morning after the White House successfully negotiated a one-for-one prisoner exchange for her release. Russia will be welcoming home international arms dealer Viktor Bout, CBS News reports.
According to CBS sources, Biden bargained for the deal in recent weeks, but kept it private for fear that Russia would renege.
The president spoke with Griner by phone Thursday morning with Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, and Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken by his side.
"She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home," Biden said in his remarks from the White House Thursday, shortly after Griner’s release.
In February, the two-time Olympian and WNBA player for the Phoenix Mercury team was arrested at a Moscow airport on allegations of having cannabis oil in her luggage. In August, Griner was found guilty of drug possession and drug smuggling charges and then sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison.
Thursday, Biden said, “After months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held on intolerable circumstances, Brittney will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones, and she should have been there all along.”
In order to secure Griner’s release, Biden ordered Bout to be freed and returned to Russia, cutting his 25-year federal prison sentence, per CBS News.
But Griner’s release was bittersweet today, as negotiations were unsuccessful in releasing U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who’s been in Russia for four years after being charged with espionage—a charge Whelan and the U.S. have fervently denied.
Whelan was detained in a hotel in Russia in 2018 and later sentenced to 16 years in prison.
“We never forget about Brittney,” Biden said Thursday, adding, “And we’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan, who’s been unjustly detained in Russia for years. This was not a choice of which American to bring home. We brought home Trevor Reed when we had a chance earlier this year. Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s. And while we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up,” he said.
Cherelle Griner spoke from the White House Thursday to thank the many supporters of her wife. “Today’s just a happy day for me and my family.”
Biden told reporters that Griner would be back in the U.S. within 24 hours.
