WASHINGTON--The deal to bring WNBA player Brittney Griner home was good for her, but not for the country said Indiana Congressman Jim Banks. He told WIBC’s Tony Katz Thursday afternoon that it makes America look weak.
“The world will judge this was a weak moment for American leadership and a weak deal,” sdaid Banks, a Republican who represents northeast Indiana in DC.
Griner was traded in a prisoner exchange for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer, known as the “Merchant of Death”.
Banks criticized not only the move, but the president himself.
“They (the world) will expect weak deals in the future from this president. That’s what they’ve come to expect from Joe Biden. He’s the weakest commander-in-chief in my opinion, that we’ve ever had,” said Banks.
Griner gained notoriety as a player, but even more when she was caught with a THC vape pen in Russia, was tried and sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony. Now she is expected to be home in the United States in less than a day, said the president.
“Brittney will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones, and she should have been there all along,” said Biden Thursday, along side Griner’s wife. Some people were critical of Biden’s deal because other American prisoners, like teacher Marc Fogel, who was also arrested on drug charges and sentenced by the same court as Griner.
Griner has been fighting for freedom in Russia for ten months.
