Cherelle Griner, spouse of WNBA star Brittney Griner, speaks after President Joe Biden introduced Brittney Griner's launch in a prisoner swap with Russia on Dec. 8, 2022, within the Roosevelt Room of the White Home in Washington.
AP
Brittney Griner’s spouse known as for the discharge of former US Marine Paul Whelan from Russian captivity, in a heartfelt social media submit thanking individuals for help whereas her spouse was detained.
“I respect each considered one of you! Let’s proceed to make use of our palms, voices, platforms, and assets to carry Paul and all People residence,” Cherelle Griner wrote on Instagram. “All households need to be complete!”
Cherelle additionally thanked dozens of individuals and teams within the submit, together with the Biden administration, the WNBA and Rev. Al Sharpton.
The submit additionally thanked Congressmembers Greg Stanton, Colin Allred and Sheila Jackson Lee.
“Yesterday my coronary heart was made complete because of the collective efforts of MANY! I’m humbled by their hearts. To care for one more, a stranger to some, a good friend to some— is humanity in its purest type!” Cherelle wrote. “As BG and I begin our journey to heal our minds, physique, and spirits— I needed to personally say thanks to a few of the palms; seen and unseen, that helped make it doable for me to see my spouse once more!
Brittney Griner, a WNBA and Olympic basketball star, returned to the US on Friday after being imprisoned in Russia for almost 10 months following her February arrest for bringing hashish oil into the nation.
She was initially sentenced to 9 years in jail, however was launched as a part of a prisoner change for infamous arms seller Viktor Bout, had been in US custody.
The change reportedly took months to barter, however finally drew the ire of some who've expressed disappointment that the swap didn't embody Whelan, who was arrested in December 2018 on espionage and is imprisoned in a Russian penal colony.
Whelan has denied the costs and was sentenced to 16 years in jail.
“People need to know why Biden traded one of the harmful Russian arms sellers for Brittney Griner, whereas abandoning army veteran Paul Whelan,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw tweeted on Friday. “America ought to be negotiating from a spot of power, not weak spot.”
Critics of the prisoner swap embody Donald Trump, who mentioned on Fact Social that Griner “overtly hates our nation.”
“What a silly and unpatriotic embarrassment for the USA!” the previous president wrote.
Whelan’s brother, David Whelan, instantly shot again at Trump on Twitter.
“Former President Trump seems to have talked about my brother [Paul Whelan’s] wrongful detention extra within the final 24 hours than he did within the 2 years of his presidency during which Paul was held hostage by [Russia] (zero),” David Whelan wrote. “I don’t recommend he cares now any greater than he did then (zero).”
“#PaulWhelan begged then-President Trump to ‘tweet your intentions’ however the Administration was silent,” Whelan tweeted Saturday. You choose an individual by their actions or, on this case, inaction.”
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