I wasn’t on the morning thread, however concur that Whelan is in no way some squeaky clear Marine. (I’m an Military vet and get actually bored with veterans doing shady, felony and/or reprehensible ish that may make us all look dangerous. We’re only one% of the inhabitants, so when vets do one thing silly, I really feel prefer it displays poorly on all of us.)
FWIW, this was within the Politico PM e-newsletter about an hour in the past:
FREEDOM — WNBA star BRITTNEY GRINER was launched from Russian detention as we speak and is returning house to the U.S. after the nations agreed to finish her nine-month saga with a prisoner swap for Russian arms supplier VIKTOR BOUT, as CBS’ Andres Triay, Pat Milton, Margaret Brennan, Christina Ruffini, Steven Portnoy and Arden Farhi scooped.
After prolonged negotiations, President JOE BIDEN signed off on the deal throughout the final week and commuted Bout’s sentence. CBS discovered concerning the settlement every week in the past however agreed to delay publication given the hazard that it may collapse.
“It is a day we’ve labored towards for a very long time,” Biden mentioned. “We by no means stopped pushing for her launch. It took painstaking and intense negotiations.”
CHERELLE GRINER, Brittney Griner’s spouse, thanked the administration and broke into an enormous grin on the finish of her feedback: “Immediately, it’s only a glad day for me and my household, so I’m going to smile proper now.”
Griner’s launch is a high-profile victory for the administration’s efforts to deliver detained Individuals house — and a uncommon instance of ongoing diplomacy between the U.S. and Russia regardless of the conflict in Ukraine. “However Moscow drove a tough discount,” notes WaPo’s Robyn Dixon: Regardless of American entreaties, Russia wouldn’t comply with a two-for-one swap to launch PAUL WHELAN alongside Griner.
Whelan’s four-year detention was the cloud that hung over the Griner announcement. Biden mentioned Russia is dealing with his case in another way “for completely illegitimate causes” however that the U.S. wouldn’t cease advocating for him. In an announcement, his brother DAVID WHELAN mentioned the information was “a disaster for Paul,” however he expressed appreciation for the federal government’s advance discover. “The Biden Administration made the appropriate determination to deliver Ms. Griner house, and to make the deal that was potential, quite than ready for one which wasn’t going to occur.”
Paul Whelan informed CNN’s Jennifer Hansler by cellphone that he was “vastly dissatisfied that extra has not been finished to safe my launch … I don’t perceive why I’m nonetheless sitting right here.”
There’s additionally concern concerning the determination to launch Bout, as Lara Seligman stories . Some Pentagon officers fear that the trafficker, often called the “Service provider of Dying,” will “return to illegally trafficking weapons, probably fueling conflicts the world over,” particularly in Africa. “We can not ignore that releasing Bout again into the world is a deeply disturbing determination,” Senate Overseas Relations Chair BOB MENENDEZ (D-N.J.) mentioned in an announcement.
Republicans are already spotlighting Bout’s launch. “It is a reward to VLADIMIR PUTIN, and it endangers American lives,” Home GOP Chief KEVIN McCARTHY tweeted . “Leaving Paul Whelan behind for that is unconscionable.”