President Joe Biden will meet with Brittney Griner’s wife on Friday as the WNBA player marks her seventh month detained in Russia. Reportedly, the White House said Thursday, with the president set to demonstrate his “continuing commitment” to secure Griner’s release after weeks with few public updates on the progress.
The planned meeting will be Biden’s first in-person visit with the athlete’s wife, Cherelle Griner since Brittney Griner was arrested in February. It was when officials alleged they discovered vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage at the Moscow airport.
Griner pleaded guilty to drug smuggling charges
Griner, in July, pleaded guilty to drug smuggling charges. Thereafter, she was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison in early August. Legal experts told Insider at the time that Griner’s guilty plea was a strategic move in order to try and speed up the process of her return.
The State Department moved her case to the Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs in May, reclassifying her detention as “wrongful.” The basketball player’s wife, friends, and teammates have been increasingly vocal in trying to secure Griner’s release, calling upon the White House to do more in their efforts to bring her home.
About the Proposal to swap the player with Whelan
The administration in July said it made a proposal to swap Griner and Paul Whelan. He is a former Marine who has also been wrongfully detained in Russia for nearly four years, in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year sentence in the US.
“We have followed up on that offer repeatedly and will continue to pursue every avenue to bring them home safely,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday. But whether or not the White House has privately made any headway in securing Griner’s release, public perception of the situation doesn’t look particularly good for the US.