At long last, WNBA player Brittney Griner is being released from a Russian prison and is on her way back home to the United States.
BREAKING: Brittney Griner released by Russia in 1-for-1 prisoner swap for arms dealer Viktor Bout, U.S. official says https://t.co/oa6fEPHtM9
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 8, 2022
“Today is just a happy day for me and my family.”
Watch Cherelle Griner's full remarks on the release of her wife Brittney Griner from Russia in a high-level prisoner exchange. https://t.co/H0w8BNpEvR pic.twitter.com/CSW2oIRUoz
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 8, 2022
Look, we get it: your wife is coming back home, and that’s awesome. But we can’t help but feel, um, uneasy about this.
Moments ago I spoke to Brittney Griner.
She is safe.
She is on a plane.
She is on her way home. pic.twitter.com/FmHgfzrcDT— President Biden (@POTUS) December 8, 2022
Slow your roll, Mr. President.
About the only way you'll get national attention for WNBA news https://t.co/7lp6CZ0pOP
— FilmLadd (@FilmLadd) December 8, 2022
Heh.
In all seriousness, though, this
https://twitter.com/DanIsett/status/1600859863554617345
To be perfectly clear, being detained in a Russian prison is no joke, and in many cases, as was the case with Griner, the punishment was infinitely worse than the crime. But, like, the guy we traded her for is bad news. Horrible news, in fact:
MORE: To secure Griner’s return, Biden has freed arms dealer Viktor Bout. Bout gained infamy as the “Merchant of Death” & was found guilty for conspiring to sell AK-47’s that would’ve been used to kill DEA agents.
— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) December 8, 2022
DOJ press release on 2011 conviction of Viktor Bout: “Bout was convicted of conspiring to kill U.S. nationals; conspiring to kill U.S. officers & employees; conspiring to acquire & use anti-aircraft missiles; + conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist org…” pic.twitter.com/uFK3aJEpge
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) December 8, 2022
This is what John Brennan, Obama’s deputy national security advisor for homeland security and counterterrorism, said about “Merchant of Death” arms dealer Viktor Bout in 2010. pic.twitter.com/dBnVGjuYh0
— Cameron Cawthorne (@Cam_Cawthorne) December 8, 2022
The U.S. got Brittney Griner … and Vladimir Putin just got the Merchant of Death.
You can't say she was "unjustly detained" because she actually did break the law. You can say her sentence was insane, because it was, but she did bring THC vape cartridges with her illegally and stupidly. She confessed to it. https://t.co/oInPCeO2eH
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) December 8, 2022
The law was definitely insane, and the sentence was definitely insane, but she still broke the law. And the Biden administration decided that she was worth handing over a terrorist to Russia.
So we gave up the “merchant of death” who has been involved in plots to kill Americans
And we got the famous basketball player that a lot of celebrities lobbied for but not the marine who has been captive for 4 years.
And they’re going to treat this like a major win. https://t.co/LH8FouylDB
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) December 8, 2022
The WH will be taking a victory lap over this all day but Putin undoubtedly knows he got the better of the deal by getting back an arms dealer in return for a basketball player who got caught with a cannabis vape pen. https://t.co/0mt3u9XWTP
— Doug Powers (@ThePowersThatBe) December 8, 2022
This is ultimately not a win. Not for the Biden administration, not for the U.S., and not for the world.
This is great news till you Google who Victor Bout is and realize Biden just got taken to the woodshed on this deal. This has to go down as the most lopsided trade in the history of trades. What happened to Griner was beyond fucked but this feels like a short sighted PR stunt https://t.co/gS3wn5Me7O
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) December 8, 2022
“Lopsided” is putting it mildly. Because in choosing to exchange Viktor Bout for Brittney Griner, the Biden administration effectively gave the finger to Paul Whelan and his family, who have been wondering when and if they’d ever see him again for the past four years.
MORE: The swap to see Griner home for Christmas is 1-for-1 & does not involve Ret. Marine Paul Whelan, who is about to mark his 4th year in Russian custody. https://t.co/xS89z9WU3c
— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) December 8, 2022
Notably, the Griner-for-Bout exchange leaves retired U.S. Marine Paul Whelan imprisoned in Russia. Whelan has been in Russian custody for nearly four years. He was convicted on espionage charges that the U.S. has called false.
“We’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan,” Mr. Biden said Thursday, adding “we will never give up” on securing his release.
Except Biden effectively has forgotten about Paul Whelan. He’s evidently been forgetting about — if not outright ignoring — Whelan for a long time now.
Now it’s the Biden administration sending “thoughts and prayers” pic.twitter.com/AqXrnc4aCV
— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) December 8, 2022
Ugh.
We can't even negotiate properly! Griner is not a big fish. Our proposal should've never been 2-for-2 it should've at worst been 2-for-1 and we didn't even get that! How embarrassing. I feel bad for Paul Whelan who deserves to be home more than Brittney Griner. https://t.co/NQPMErJCxM
— Phil (@RealPhillyP) December 8, 2022
It may sound harsh, but Whelan is more valuable than Griner. There should not have been a trade if Whelan wasn’t involved.
Don't forget: Griner was only arrested earlier this year, while Whelan was taken in 2018.
There have been rumors that Putin was willing to exchange Bout for Whelan for YEARS and we refused, because Bout was a terrorist.
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) December 8, 2022
There was outrage earlier when this was considered for BOTH GRINER AND WHELAN.https://t.co/8JuoaysEIN
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) December 8, 2022
Bout's attorney himself was public about this. In short, Biden could have dealt Bout for Whelan A YEAR AGO…and chose not to. https://t.co/DRBdoYchqN
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) December 8, 2022
In fact, Biden is such an awful negotiator, he could've probably gotten them both out last summer…but failed to make the deal then.
So now he only got 1 out. https://t.co/56ylL95OYM
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) December 8, 2022
He only got one out. He left Whelan behind, and it can’t be much comfort to know that Biden “will never give up” on securing Whelan’s freedom when he’s just handed Putin the biggest fish we’d caught.
Challenge for the media: ask them what their plan is to rescue Paul Whelan now that they’ve traded away our biggest bargaining chip https://t.co/3QWu0uZDWK
— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) December 8, 2022
There is literally nothing the Biden admin has left to trade for Paul Whelan.
Except something like stopping arms shipments to Ukraine.
Basically, the only way Whelan gets out now is out the goodness of Putin's heart.
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) December 8, 2022
And, given what we know about Putin’s heart, that basically means that Paul Whelan is never coming back.
There's a nonzero chance people die directly as a result of letting Viktor Bout out of prison.
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) December 8, 2022
Will it have been worth it, Mr. President?
We gave Russia “The Merchant of Death,” we got back a WNBA player who hates America. This is the worst trade in history. https://t.co/oMW8lMAfRw
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) December 8, 2022
Joe Biden made a deal to release a horrific terrorist in exchange for one (1) American while leaving behind another American who had been held there far longer.
Because one American got good PR for him and the other the media doesn’t care about.
— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) December 8, 2022
It's looking more and more like this trade was made for optics and not actually getting Americans back home.
Of course, we shouldn't expect that much from an administration who stranded thousands of Americans in Afghanistan. https://t.co/lzEHZLInAU
— Anthony Abides (@AnthonyAbides) December 8, 2022
True story.
The Biden administration is going to treat this as a huge diplomatic win, but if it’s a win for anyone, it’s Putin. Because the Biden administration has effectively just encouraged him to detain more Americans.
If the U.S. government is willing to release Viktor Bout –at one point, the second-most wanted man after Osama bin Laden! — under enough pressure, then the U.S. government will release anyone under enough pressure.https://t.co/jUWY4rgnC3
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) December 8, 2022
It is likely that one of the reasons the Biden administration went ahead with this deal was their confidence that enough allies would choose to characterize it as a major diplomatic victory, not the epic concession that it is.https://t.co/jUWY4rgnC3
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) December 8, 2022
The longer you think about this trade, the worse it gets.
Well at least Griner for the Merchant of Death is still a better deal than Bowe Bergdahl for the Taliban Five.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) December 8, 2022
That’s small comfort.
In any event, hopefully Brittney Griner will make the most out of the opportunity that has just been afforded to her.
Dear Brittney Griner,
I hope you now appreciate the country that traded you for a terrorist and chose you over a marine.
— Jake Crain (@JakeCrain_) December 8, 2022
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