The White House took several pointed questions from reporters about its response to Brittney Griner’s detention during Tuesday’s press briefing.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA star has been stuck in Russia for more than four months, leading Griner to plead with President Joe Biden for help in a letter from a Russian jail. No less than three front-row reporters questioned the Biden administration‘s response to that letter.
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“Griner’s coach said, ‘If this was LeBron [James], she’d be home, right?'” said one reporter. “‘This is a statement about the value of women, it’s a statement about the value of a black person, it’s a statement about the value of a gay person — all of those things we know are true.’ Do you see this as a double standard?”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded that getting Griner home is a top priority for the president, adding that administration leaders, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, are directly involved.
“I can say the president did read the letter. I was there when he read the letter,” she said. “She’s being wrongfully detained in Moscow at this time. This is an issue that is a priority for this president, as you have heard us say before. He believes that any U.S. national that is held abroad or detained or held hostage abroad, we need to bring back safely, and we are going to use every tool that we possibly can to make that happen.”
Excerpts from the letter addressed to Biden released on Monday reveal that Griner is “terrified” she will never be freed from Russian custody. The letter was given to the White House through the Phoenix Mercury player’s representatives. Griner has been in Russian custody since Feb. 17 and is facing up to 10 years in prison on drug charges.
The letter was delivered to the White House on Monday, according to Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas. Most of what the WNBA player wrote in the note to the president remains private.
Griner, who was arrested at a Moscow airport after allegedly having cannabis oil vaping cartridges in her luggage, went on trial Friday. She had been traveling to Russia to play for a Russian women’s basketball league team.
Sullivan and Griner spoke on Saturday, Jean-Pierre added, which was their second conversation within a 10-day period. Blinken has also spoken directly with the basketball star.
Biden is doing everything he can, the press secretary said, though she stopped short of outlining future actions or saying when she expects Griner to return to the United States. She compared the situation to that of Trevor Reed, a former Marine who was wrongfully detained for nearly three years before returning home this spring.
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“I don’t have anything else to read out as far as potential calls or a meeting with her family, but clearly, we believe she is wrongfully detained,” Jean-Pierre said. “We believe she needs to come home. She should be home.”
