Brittney Griner steps off a plane after her return from Russia following a prisoner exchange. Brittney Griner steps off a plane after her return from Russia following a prisoner exchange. (Brittney Griner on Instagram.)
FeaturedPoliticsBy Stacey Mickles on

Since her release from a Russian prison camp, many people have wondered why Brittney Griner was allowed to come home and fellow American prisoner Paul Whelan wasn’t.

The Biden administration and Griner were heavily criticized for not doing more to help get Whelan out as well. He has been held in a Russian prison longer, well now we may know.

Russian President Vladimir Putin reneged on a deal that would have sent both prisoners home according to the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul.

“The deal was originally when the arms dealer from Russia was released that it was supposed to be Griner, the athlete, and Paul Whelan,” Rep. McCaul told CNN this week.

McCaul continued explaining what happened.

“When they got to the point of the handoff, they call it, the Russians only showed up with one of the hostages, and that was Griner. And unfortunately, the Marine, Paul Whelan, was left behind.”McCaul says he believes that Putin played the Biden administration.”Very tricky on Putin’s part, and in my view, the Biden administration got played by releasing a very dangerous arms dealer for just one hostage, and not both.”Whelan, who has been in Russia since 2018, was charged with espionage and was sentenced to 16 years in prison. After her release, Griner promised to fight for those Americans still locked up in Russia.

{TMZ Sports}

About Stacey Mickles

Stacey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Alabama who has previously worked for other publications such as Sportskeeda and Saturday Down South.

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