(Photo by Gage Skidmore, from Flickr)
Former President Donald Trump, now under scrutiny for his actions inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, made clear over the weekend he’s unhappy with the deal the Biden administration has proposed to secure the release of Brittney Griner, saying the basketball player is “potentially spoiled” and was “loaded up on drugs” when she went to Russia.
Trump — widely considered to be making the initial moves for another run at the presidency in 2024 — made the comments July 29 during an interview on “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show,” a podcast for conservatives, when asked by the hosts whether he would have made that deal.
“She went in there loaded up with drugs into a hostile territory, where they’re very vigilant about drugs — they don’t like drugs — and she got caught and now we’re supposed to get her, and she makes a, you know, a lot of money, I guess,” Trump said.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced last week he has proposed a deal with Russia to exchange Russian national Viktor Bout — who’s serving 25 years in prison for selling weapons to terrorists and conspiring to kill Americans — for Griner, a lesbian player for the WBNA who was detained at a Moscow airport in February for entering Russia with vape cartridges of hashish oil, as well as former Marine Paul Whelan.
“We’re supposed to get her out for an absolute killer and one of the biggest arms dealers in the world,” Trump said. “Killed many Americans, killed many people, and he’s going to get a free card and we’re going to get her. She knew you don’t go in there loaded up with drugs, and she admitted it.”
Griner’s detention in Russia has been widely condemned as the U.S. government has said she has been “wrongfully detained.” Griner has pleaded guilty to drug charges in Russia, which could lead to 10 years in prison.
“I assume she admitted it without too much force because it is what it is and it certainly doesn’t seem like a very good trade, does it?” Trump said. “He’s an absolute one of the worst in the world, and he’s going to be given his freedom because a potentially spoiled person goes into Russia loaded up with drugs.”
Trump has a history of criticizing prisoner swaps made by other administrations. During the Obama administration, he criticized the deal to exchange Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S. Army soldier detained in Afghanistan and Pakistan after he deserted, in exchange for five high-ranking Taliban members, calling him a “traitor.”
