Posted on 12/12/2022 9:13:52 AM PST by SeekAndFind
As more information trickles out about how President Joe Biden agreed to swap Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for WNBA player Brittney Griner, former President Donald Trump revealed that Russia had tried to get him to release Bout in a proposed prisoner exchange that Trump rejected over his objections to freeing the "Merchant of Death."
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said "I turned down a deal with Russia for a one on one swap of the so-called Merchant of Death for Paul Whelan," the former U.S. Marine who was arrested by Russian authorities in 2018 and charged with espionage before being sentenced to 16 years in 2020.
"I wouldn’t have made the deal for a hundred people in exchange for someone that has killed untold numbers of people with his arms deals," Trump continued of Viktor Bout.
"I would have gotten Paul out, however, just as I did with a record number of other hostages," the 45th president noted of his other actions to bring Americans held unjustly overseas home.
"The deal for Griner is crazy and bad," Trump said. "The taking wouldn’t have even happened during my Administration, but if it did, I would have gotten her out, fast!"
Trump, however, did not explain what he meant by saying he "would have gotten Paul out," even though Trump did not secure his release during the years he was in office.
As Townhall reported last week, President Biden freed Viktor Bout — who was serving a 25-year sentence for conspiring to kill Americans, trafficking anti-aircraft missiles, and providing material support to terrorists — in exchange for Brittney Griner who was arrested in Russia after she was caught with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil and sentenced to a multi-year stint in a Russian penal colony.
Katie Pavlich reported on the White House's lackluster explanation for why the White House did not secure the release of Whelan along with Griner, and even those within President Biden's own party — including Pentagon officials and Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) who called Biden's prisoner swap deal a "deeply disturbing decision" — panned the trade.
Of course he did......only an idiot would do that........or a traitor to our country.
and Biden got him a drug smuggler
Funny, that what the Ukraine cheerleaders call me too.
With all the things Russia needs it would seem like a simple negotiation would have returned Griner, not giving up a super killer. Piece of cake for a good used car salesman.
FTA
“Trump, however, did not explain what he meant by saying he “would have gotten Paul out,” even though Trump did not secure his release during the years he was in office.”
Really? YEARS IN OFFICE? Whelan wasn’t sentenced until June 2020.
What utter bull$#•t!!!!!
Well, the one-for-one deal for Griner was worth it.
Now we can enjoy watching a ‘woman’ member of the LGTBQ+ community and a basketball player dunk a basketball. People were missing that, and the people can’t be deprived of such a goodie.
The merchant of death? Heck, he should be allowed to run his business of selling arms to terrorist groups and to drug cartels and to revolutionaries all over the world. Can’t have people killing each other if they don’t have the weapons to do it with. Biden was just helping out.
Really? YEARS IN OFFICE? Whelan wasn’t sentenced until June 2020. What utter bull$#•t!!!!!
Whelan was incarcerated on December 28, 2018. So REALLY, YEARS
Biden has been on the wrong side every time in his entire public tenure.
At the very least Biden could have gotten them both. They were already willing to trade Whelan. Grinder is useless as tits on a boar.
No, I’m convinced Biden intentionally left him behind.
Didn’t Whelan get kicked out of the USMC with a Bad Conduct Discharge?
FREE JULIAN ASSANGE.
These others are 1% as important.
Trump knew how to handle Putin.
I’ve read that in posts...but don’t know for sure.
Paul Nicholas Whelan is a Canadian-born former United States Marine with U.S., British, Irish, and Canadian citizenship.
According to a deposition Whelan gave in 2013, he was in law enforcement from 1988 to 2000 as a police officer in Chelsea, Michigan, and a sheriff’s deputy in Washtenaw County. The Chelsea Police, however, said he worked in lesser roles and as a part-time officer from 1990 to 1996, while the Washtenaw County sheriff reported no record of his employment.
He enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1994.
After a court-martial conviction in January 2008 on multiple counts “related to larceny”, he was sentenced to 60 days restriction, reduction to pay grade E-4, and a bad conduct discharge.
The specific charges against him included “attempted larceny, three specifications of dereliction of duty, making a false official statement, wrongfully using another’s social security number, and ten specifications of making and issuing checks without having sufficient funds in his account for payment.”
Great info. Thanks.
Just read his brother was critical of Trump’s statement.
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