When the Biden administration announced a prisoner exchange to bring home WNBA star Brittney Griner, advocates said the next hope was a deal for the other Americans the United States considers wrongfully detained.
Griner was swapped for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer long sought by Moscow who was serving the end of a 25-year sentence, in a deal the White House said was a unique opportunity, even as others were left behind.
President Joe Biden has vowed his commitment to bringing other prisoners home. But for Paul Whelan, detained since 2018 in Russia, the path has grown narrower.
“What really hurts Whelan now is the election calendar,” said Steve Zissou, Bout’s attorney. “As we get closer to 2024, it becomes harder to get these things done because it becomes more of a political issue.” Zissou said the timing of the Griner swap, soon after the midterm elections, followed the same logic.
A prisoner swap in April that freed Trevor Reed, a former Marine from Texas, also left Whelan in Russia.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION SAYS WHELAN’S ESPIONAGE CHARGE COMPLICATES HIS RELEASE
Advocates said it takes a swell of public interest to move the dial and that without this, detained Americans lack a crucial point of leverage.
In March, Biden drew sharp pushback after turning down a meeting with Reed’s family in Fort Worth, where the president was set to highlight his veterans agenda. Griner’s arrest in Russia two days earlier added more fuel.
Reed’s father, Joey, said the family planned to demonstrate outside the site of Biden’s visit in what he called “an act of desperation.”
It was the start of a swell of “bad press” that a source credited with Reed’s return.
“If you look at the Trevor Reed deal, it came together entirely because we threw so much bad press on them,” this person said.
Hours into the Reeds’ demonstration, past which Biden’s motorcade sped by, the president relented, calling the detained Marine’s family. A White House official later said the president vowed to do everything possible to bring Reed home.
But even as the president promised to stay in touch with the Reed family and find a time to meet in person, some were skeptical.
“He got killed,” a source familiar with the dynamic said of Biden, charging that “as soon as the motorcade left, it became clear that their intention to schedule a meeting with the Reeds in D.C. went from short-term to when mutually convenient.”
Three and a half weeks later, standing before the White House, Reed’s family prepared to meet with Biden. Their son was freed weeks later in exchange for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for conspiracy to smuggle drugs into the U.S.
Like Reed, Whelan is a former Marine considered by the U.S. to be unjustly detained. But the circumstances of Whelan’s case have complicated his potential release, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday.
“What they’ve made clear to us is they hold Paul in a different category,” Kirby said. “They treat him as something separate and distinct from what they consider criminals. And it’s based on the sham espionage charges … they levied against him and used to convict him falsely.”
Kirby, unprompted, praised “the grace and the dignity and poise with which the entire Whelan family has handled this.”
“The fact that they haven’t given up hope on us — and they certainly haven’t given up hope on Paul — Paul hasn’t given up hope on himself, and this with poise and grace with which they are continuing to face the situation they’re in, it truly is something apart,” Kirby said. “I think every American, regardless of who you vote for, can look at the Whelan family and be justifiably proud that they are, in fact, Americans. And that’s the approach that we’re — that’s what’s been inspiring with the approach we’re taking to try to get Paul.”
Kirby said the administration has “just not been able to find — we haven’t been able to click in that right deal.”
Asked last week about Emad Sharghi, an American Iranian hostage detained four years ago in Iran, Biden’s press secretary appeared unfamiliar.
“I don’t know the specific case so can’t speak to it, can’t speak to where we are internally or any — any outreach that has occurred,” Karine Jean-Pierre said at the White House.
Sharghi’s family had sought a White House meeting for months to no avail. In June, Jean-Pierre said she did not have an update after CBS News said repeated requests had gone unanswered.
A top State Department spokesman said the administration was working “tirelessly” to free Sharghi and other American Iranian hostages. “Those individuals continue to be in our thoughts,” Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said.
By Monday, the ground had shifted. Appearing before reporters in the White House briefing room, Biden’s national security adviser said he would meet with Sharghi’s family imminently.
“I have had a chance to meet with the Namazi family. I have had a chance to meet with Morad Tahbaz’s family. And in just the next few days, I will also have a chance to meet with Emad Shargi’s family,” Jake Sullivan said, explaining that “through Zoom, in person, on the phone,” he had already “engaged deeply” with people whose family members are unjustly detained in Iran.
“I make it a policy that any family that seeks a meeting at the White House with me will get one. Sometimes there are scheduling issues,” Sullivan added.
One advocate who asked to remain unnamed called Sullivan’s announcement after days of public pressure “emblematic of our experience with this administration.”
In an interview last week with CNN, Whelan said he was “greatly disappointed” by the administration’s failure to bring him home.
Detained in Russia since 2018, at least two prisoner swaps have left the former Marine behind. His family has cheered each release, urging their son’s swift return.
One source suggested that the family’s “polite” approach slowed progress in Whelan’s case.
“Part of the problem with Paul is that his family has been super dignified and polite,” this person said. “It’s a horrible thing to say that they’re too nice. But unfortunately, it’s been my experience that nice doesn’t bring clients home.”
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Bout’s attorney said there are other ways to move the needle.
Speaking about the Griner trade, Zissou said public figures validating an exchange that might seem controversial could help lay the groundwork.
“One of the breaks that allowed the president to make this deal,” he said, “was when the former American Ambassador to Russia, Mike McFaul, came out publicly and said, ‘Yeah, we have to make this deal.’ That opened up a lot of other folks’ minds.”
