House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Sunday suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin’s agreement to free WNBA star Brittney Griner was “calculated” to stir division within the U.S.
During an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Schiff noted that former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and others remain in Russian custody while Putin agreed to release only Griner in exchange for infamous Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
“In terms of Putin, he gets an arms dealer back,” Schiff told moderator Margaret Brennan.
“He also knows that he can just roil the American body politic by picking one to send back to United States and leaving others in custody in Russia,” Schiff continued. “He knows just what that will stir in the United States of America. So this is calculated on his part.”
Russian authorities detained Griner in February at a Moscow-area airport for carrying vape cartridges containing marijuana oil. Griner was later moved to a penal colony with a grim reputation to serve a nine-year sentence, and the U.S. considered her wrongfully detained in part because her arrest came days before Russia invaded Ukraine.
The prisoner swap has given new ammunition to the culture wars, with many in the GOP criticizing the Biden administration for freeing Griner — a Black, lesbian athlete whose detention gained particular attention in liberal circles — while Whelan — a white, former Marine whose case has seen less attention — remains imprisoned.
The Biden administration has contended Moscow refused to release Whelan, who has been held since 2018 on espionage charges he vehemently denies, suggesting they could either free Griner or neither of them.
Democrats have largely hailed Griner’s release, but Republicans like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) have called the deal a “gift to Vladimir Putin.”
McCarthy and other Republicans have condemned the release of Bout, who was convicted of conspiring to kill Americans and was set to remain in U.S. custody until 2029.
“I think for some of my colleagues in Congress, it’s easy for us in the cheap seats to say, ‘I would have gotten a better deal, I would have gotten them all out,’” Schiff said on CBS.
“But unless you’re sitting where President Biden is, and you know exactly what the state of the negotiations are, you really can’t. You can’t claim that this wasn’t appropriate,” he added.
