It is not that people did not want Brittney Griner back home.
The problem is the price that was paid to get her back.
Now even liberals are starting to come around to the idea Biden gave up way too much to get her back.
Big Price
The real reason that Briner was brought back was because she checked all the right boxes.
Minority female member of the LGBTQ+ community… in other words, it was great press.
The problem… we gave up a notorious arms dealer.
WaPo columnist Max Boot slammed Biden for the exchange, writing, “I am very glad that basketball star Brittney Griner is back in the United States after having been imprisoned in Russia on trumped-up charges. But I am also very uneasy about the method of her release.”
He continued, “In return for her freedom, President Biden agreed to set free Viktor Bout, a notorious Russian arms dealer who was serving a 25-year prison sentence on charges of conspiring to sell weapons to kill Americans.”
Then he started going after the exchange, stating, “We need a serious discussion about whether this is the right policy for Washington to follow. Should we be winning the release of those currently detained at the risk of creating more hostage crises in the future?”
“There is legitimate cause for concern that such deals make us more vulnerable, as Republican critics now charge, but they didn’t start with Biden. President Ronald Reagan traded arms for hostages with Iran.
“President Barack Obama set free five senior Taliban leaders from Guantánamo Bay to return U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from Afghanistan.”
Boot then really went after Biden, stating, “Now, Biden has chosen to pay a disturbingly high price for Griner’s freedom. It’s not entirely clear why Russian dictator Vladimir Putin wanted Bout back so badly, but he is closely linked to Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU.”
He warned, “Although it’s been 12 years since Bout was arrested in Thailand and extradited to the United States, he might still have smuggling networks that could be of use to Putin in waging the war in Ukraine.”
Source: Fox News
