Ten months ago, Brittney Griner was stopped at a Moscow checkpoint and arrested for possessing vape cartridges, which the basketball star claimed she had carried mistakenly.
Trump Fires Back at Biden
During the WNBA offseason, Griner, a player for the Phoenix Mercury, flew to Russia to compete in a pro league.
In August, a Russian court convicted her of being guilty of drug trafficking with intent to commit a crime and condemned her to nine years behind bars.
She was liberated in exchange for the infamous Russian arms trader, Viktor Bout, who’d been incarcerated in the United States.
Despite alleged efforts by the Biden administration to include former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in the arrangement, unfortunately, their attempts to include him in the trade were not successful. Whelan was left behind.
Whelan, 52, was incarcerated in 2020 having already spent two years in custody in a Russian prison on espionage accusations. He claims the charges against him are untrue and ridiculous. Whelan was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
On Thursday, former President Trump expressed his outrage over the decision to prioritize Griner over Whelan, claiming that Whelan was more deserving of release as Griner openly hates America.
He described the events as stupid, unpatriotic, and an embarrassment for the nation. His son, Donald Trump Jr., echoed his father’s sentiments.
Meet Brittney Griner & Marine Paul Whelan.
Both Americans.
Both were convicted in Russian courts on dubious charges.
Both serving multi-year sentences in Russian prison.
Brittney hates America
Paul served AmericaGuess which one Biden traded a terrorist to free?
Semper fi Paul pic.twitter.com/tuP1R6AZpf
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 8, 2022
Trump’s posts received backlash from Whelan’s twin brother. He took to Twitter to say Trump seems to only care about his brother’s unfair conviction now that Griner has been freed.
Whelan’s brother also said Trump mentioned Whelan more times in one day than he did on social media during his presidency when Whelan was detained. He pointed out that Trump never referred to Whelan at all on social media during that time.
He expressed happiness at the news of Griner’s release and said he hopes, one day, his family will be reunited with their loved one too.
Opinions Divided
Opinions on who should have been given preference are divided, with the majority citing that Whelan served his country and should be served by his country, while Griner openly spoke out against her country.
Another angle is the Biden administration has chosen to give preference to the black, gay, woman over the white, straight, man in order to avoid being turned on by the extreme far-left.
Interestingly enough, a top U.S. official reported that Russia offered the White House a choice between Griner and Whelan. This was later edited and made to mirror Biden’s statement saying no choice was given.
NBC had a bombshell report that Russia offered America Brittney Griner OR Paul Whelan, citing a senior government official. It would be Biden's choice which one to save.
The report was later edited without explanation to mirror Biden's explanation that only Griner was offered. pic.twitter.com/5BvGeyP0RU
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) December 9, 2022
What is sad to see is this raging debate has seen the characters of both of these individuals being picked apart. One starts to wonder how truthful accusations made against them are.
It would also seem that Marc Fogel is being forgotten in all of this. He is a teacher serving 14 years in a Russian prison for prescribed medical marijuana.
This article appeared in Conservative Cardinal and has been published here with permission.
