After 294 days in Russian custody, including the past several weeks in a dreaded and dangerous penal colony, WNBA star Brittney Griner is free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with Griner\u2019s wife at the White House, where they spoke with the basketball player on the telephone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe\u2019s safe. She\u2019s on a plane. She is on her way home,\u201d Biden declared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Biden administration secured Griner\u2019s release after agreeing to a one-for-one prisoner swap that saw the president commute the 25-year sentence of notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The White House said it would continue efforts to bring home retired U.S. military officer Paul Whelan, who remains in Russian custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whelan has been imprisoned in Russia for nearly four years, and, recently, his family said they hadn\u2019t heard from him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They were told he was transferred to a hospital, but the family doubted that explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deal to release Griner was consummated a week ago in the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden said Griner\u2019s expected home within 24 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good morning,\u201d the president exclaimed at a news conference where Vice President Kamala Harris and Griner\u2019s wife, Cherelle, stood close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter months of being unjustly detained and held under intolerable circumstances, she\u2019s coming home,\u201d Biden asserted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president said his administration \u201cnever stopped pushing for her release.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt took painstaking and intense negotiations for her release,\u201d Biden stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He thanked the UAE for helping to facilitate Griner\u2019s release and noted that\u2019s where her plane landed after finally leaving Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden noted that the past few months had been \u201chell\u201d for Griner and her family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said she\u2019s in good spirits and relieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe lost months of her life,\u201d Biden stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said she deserves space, privacy, and time to heal in a not-so-subtle appeal to media members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden added that Griner wrote him in July, not asking for special treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe said, please don\u2019t forget about me and the other American detainees,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have not forgotten about Brittney and Paul Whelan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden emphasized that the one-for-one swap wasn\u2019t America\u2019s choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said he wished to bring Whelan and any other wrongly detained American home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have not yet secured Paul\u2019s release. But we have not given up, and we will never give up,\u201d Biden insisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll keep negotiating for Paul\u2019s release in good faith. I urge Russia to do the same. My administration has brought home dozens of wrongly detained Americans and many who were detained before I took office,\u201d Biden continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cReunited Americans with their loved ones remain a priority. We will continue to work to bring home every American who endures such injustice,\u201d said Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cherelle Griner called Brittney\u2019s plight one of the darkest moments of her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOver the last nine months, you all have been privy to one of the darkest moments of my life. I\u2019m overwhelmed with emotion but sincere gratitude to President Biden and his administration,\u201d Cherelle Griner stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday, my family is whole,\u201d said Cherelle Griner. \u201cAs you are aware, there are so many families who are not whole. BG and I will remain committed to the work of getting every American home, including Paul, who remains in our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As expected, civil rights activists, many in the sports world, and politicians applauded Griner\u2019s release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is long overdue,\u201d the Rev. Jesse Jackson declared. \u201cThis is a cause for global celebration and could be a step toward peace. Releasing prisoners and prisoner swaps as opposed to more bombing and killing is good news,\u201d Jackson stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Texas Democratic Congressman Al Green said he was delighted at the timing of Griner\u2019s release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no place like home for the holidays,\u201d Green tweeted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tennis legend Billie Jean King tweeted, \u201cThank you to President Biden and all those who worked so hard to secure her freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And fellow Democratic Texas Rep. Colin Allred called Griner\u2019s release a relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBrittney Griner is coming home. This is a huge relief for Brittney and her family after months of uncertainty,\u201d Allred said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI commend President Biden, Secretary [Antony] Blinken, the State Department, and all those who made this happen. We remain committed to getting every American detained abroad back home,\u201d added Allred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Black Press of America also saluted the Biden administration\u2019s efforts in bringing Griner home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) profoundly welcomes the release of Brittney Griner from a Russian prison,\u201d NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NNPA is the trade association of more than 230 African-American-owned newspapers and media companies in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBrittney Griner was a political prisoner,\u201d continued Chavis, the leader of the famed Wilmington 10, also political prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThanks to the effective leadership of President Joe Biden, our beloved sister is now free,\u201d Chavis declared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After 294 days in Russian custody, including the past several weeks in a dreaded and dangerous penal colony, WNBA star Brittney Griner is free. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with Griner\u2019s wife at the White House, where they spoke with the basketball player on the telephone. \u201cShe\u2019s safe. She\u2019s on a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1622,472,27,55],"class_list":["post-2580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-brittney-griner","tag-joe-biden","tag-kamala-harris","tag-wnba","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2580"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2581,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2580\/revisions\/2581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}