Paul Whelan's brother nails the Trump administration as being 'not interested' in negotiating for detainees
During an appearance on MSNBC on Saturday morning, the brother of Paul Whelan, who is still sitting in a Russian prison after WNBA star Brittney Griner was repatriated back to the U.S., claimed there was "no interest" within Donald Trump's administration in engaging in negotiations for the return of detainees.
Speaking with host Zinhle Essamuah, David Whelan said he is making much more headway with President Joe Biden when it comes to getting his brother freed after being convicted and imprisoned in Russia 2018.
Asked by the host if he was aware about the Griner negotiations and that his brother was not included, he replied, "I wasn’t part of the conversation, so I’m not sure if that came up. I think we understood that there was, there were really two options. It was one option for Brittney Griner to come home, and that was one option for nobody to come home. And I think President Biden made the right choice, which is that an American should come home if they can come home."
"I know your brother Paul did an interview with CNN yesterday. And in it he said he was greatly disappointed that more hasn’t been done to secure his release. The Biden administration and at times even the Trump administration made overtures for his release," the host prompted him. "Talk about what this process has been like from your perspective given some of the back and forth and the other Americans we’ve seen come home."
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"It’s really been an evolution," he explained. "I think the first two years, partly I think the Trump administration was not prepared to or not interested in working on wrongful detention cases. And partly the wars didn’t exist during those first two years of Paul’s detention."
He then added, "We’re starting to see that change. The Biden administration is much more engaged in wrongful detentions and the executive order that President Biden passed or signed last year, plus the Levinson Act has given the government more tools to help wrongful detainee families, but also to try to start to punish the nations who are doing that."
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