Much of the free world, in the mainstream news at least, turned giddy today with the announced release of WNBA star Brittney Griner. And for what its worth, we echo that sentiment as well. We champion a president bringing back any American citizen held dubiously on foreign soil. Though Griner allegedly did the crime in this scenario, the punishment clearly didn’t fit. So good on getting her home. But that doesn’t erase the hypocrisy at play. Joe Biden, the Gun Control President, swapped a gun runner for a guilty weed smoker. That’s the opposite lens in which others view today’s political theater.
Biden Swaps Gun Runner for Brittney Griner
Meanwhile, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan remains locked away inside a Russian prison. That math doesn’t appear to add up for some. So who is Paul Whelan?
Russia convicted the 52-year-old Whelan, giving him 16 years for espionage, reported The Washington Post. Reportedly released from the Marine Corps on a Bad Conduct Discharge, Whelan carries citizenship in four different counties (U.S., Britain, Canada and Ireland). Questions surround Whelan’s conviction, a trial allegedly politically motivated and colored by tense U.S.-Russia relations, reported The Washington Post.
The smoking gun allegedly centers on a flash drive Whelan unknowingly received. His lawyer claims ignorance, reported The Washington Post. The Kremlin claims they caught the dirty spy red-handed. Either way, today Griner gets her plane home, while Whelan still looks at years of hard labor.
“We’ll keep negotiating in good faith for Paul’s release,” Biden said, according to The Washington Post. “I guarantee that. I say that to the family.”
“This is not a situation where we had a choice of which American to bring home,” said an unnamed national security official, according to The Washington Post. “It was a choice of bringing home one American, Brittney Griner, or brining home none.”
The Merchant of Death
But here’s one thing we know for sure. Biden swapped Griner for Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms dealer. This coming from the most anti-gun, gun control pushing president in the history of the Republic. And that, my friends, makes this deal a little hard to swallow.
Former attorney general Eric Holder once called Bout “one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers,” reported The New York Times. Others called him the “Merchant of Death.” He famously inspired Nicolas Cage’s character in the 2005 movie, “Lord of War.”
Biden traded Griner for the “Lord of War,” the “Merchant of Death.” Meanwhile, he simultaneously called for more gun control here at home. You simply can’t make this stuff up.
