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“This is a huge victory for Moscow over Washington,” former national security director John Bolton declared this morning on CBS. “It endangers other Americans in the future, who can be grabbed and used by bargaining chips,” he said of the swap of Brittney Griner for Viktor Bout, one of the world’s most dangerous men before his arrest and conviction.Bolton also revealed in this clip that the Trump administration had an offer to trade Paul Whelan for Bout two years ago. They passed, and as Bolton says, “for very good reasons” (via Caleb Howe at Mediaite):The 1-for-1 prisoner swap of Brittney...

(The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.)The lopsided trade that sprung basketball player Brittney Griner didn’t include U.S. Marine Paul Whelan—because the Kremlin demanded convicted assassin Vadim Krasikov be freed from a German prison in exchange, according to the New York Times and multiple other outlets. The murderous Krasikov was once a colonel in the notorious Federal Security Service (FSB), the main successor to the KGB.After Germany refused to take part in a three-way deal to free Krasikov, the United States instead settled on swapping Griner for “Merchant of Death”...

At yesterday’s White House press briefing, Fox News’ Peter Doocy tried to get some answers from Karine Jean-Pierre about why the Biden administration was willing to turn over Viktor Bout, a terrorist arms dealer colloquially known as “The Merchant of Death,” over to Russia in exchange for WNBA player Brittney Griner. Jean-Pierre didn’t provide any satisfactory answers (and ultimately grabbed her binder and fled from the podium). Well, on day 2 of questions about the problematic prisoner swap, Jean-Pierre’s still giving terrible answers to valid and important questions: Jean-Pierre: "We knew about a week or two ago that there was...

It appears @NBCNews made a MAJOR change to their Griner story WITHOUT an editorial note. It changes the context of the prisoner trade story and takes heat off of White House. Why the cover-up?

Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 @JackPosobiec BREAKING: Saudi Arabia and UAE announce they brokered Griner release in joint statement thepostmillennial.com 12:40 PM · Dec 8, 2022

The U.S. has offered a deal to Russia aimed at bringing home WNBA star Brittney Griner and another jailed American, Paul Whelan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday. In a sharp reversal of previous policy, Blinken also said he expects to speak with his Kremlin counterpart for the first time since before Russia invaded Ukraine to discuss the deal and other matters. Blinken's comments marked the first time the U.S. government has publicly revealed any concrete action it has taken to secure the release of Griner, who was arrested on drug-related charges at a Moscow airport in February and...

Full Title: Former New Mexico Democratic Governor Bill Richardson is accused of raking in hundreds of thousands in bribes and kickbacks to fund debauched lifestyle including 'sexual services and favors'. ........................................ The scandal plagued former governor of New Mexico - who Virginia Roberts claimed she had underage sex with on Jeffrey Epstein's orders - has been dragged into the mud once again. Career politician Bill Richardson has been accused of raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks while in office - money which allegedly funded a luxury and debauched lifestyle including 'sexual services and favors', according...

One hundred forty-three days.That is how long Brittney Griner has been behind bars in Russia. That is how long she has been stuck in the middle of a high-stakes staredown between the United States and Russia at exactly the wrong time, ......The seven-time All-Star center for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury pleaded guilty Thursday, admitting wrongdoing. In so many words, Griner and her lawyer said her troubles began with a mistake: She was readying quickly for her flight to Russia in February and inadvertently packed the smoking cartridges with the small amounts of hashish oil — less than a single gram,...

Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is planning to travel to Russia in the near future for talks aimed at finding a deal to free the detained WNBA star Brittney Griner, a source with knowledge of the proposed trip told ABC News.Richardson, who also served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and energy secretary in the Clinton administration, played a role in achieving a prisoner exchange in April that saw Russia release former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed after nearly two and a half years in captivity.He is expected to go to Moscow in the next couple of weeks,...

SNIP Officials did not disclose the informant’s identity or new location, both closely held secrets. The person’s life remains in danger, current and former officials said, pointing to Moscow’s attempts last year to assassinate Sergei V. Skripal, a former Russian intelligence official who moved to Britain as part of a high-profile spy exchange in 2010. The Moscow informant was instrumental to the C.I.A.’s most explosive conclusion about Russia’s interference campaign: that President Vladimir V. Putin ordered and orchestrated it himself. As the American government’s best insight into the thinking of and orders from Mr. Putin, the source was also key...

A restaruant where customers can sit down has been open for business in Kendrick, Idaho since May 1st in violation of the coronavirus martial law house arrest order of Republican Governor Brad Little. Now the Hardware Brewing Company being threatened with an alcohol license suspension by the Idaho State Police..... Anti-house arrest lockdown protests in several German cities today Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne..... An incident being called "fatal" involving an Iranian logistics ship near the port of Jask with unofficial reports calling it a "friendly fire" incident..... Al Qaeda affiliated jihadists in northwestern Syria launched a surprise attack on government...

One of the “Women’s March on Washington” and “Day Without a Woman” organizers, is being kicked out of the United States. Rasmea Yousef Odeh failed to disclose on her U.S. visa form 20 years ago that she was convicted of murdering two Israeli students in a supermarket bomb attack and for an attempted bombing of the British Consulate in 1969. After a 10-year prison term, Odeh was freed in a prison swap with Palestinians.

While many questions remain unanswered surrounding the reported kidnapping of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, one crucial fact overlooked by the establishment media is not debatable: The Taliban-aligned Haqqani network that held him is closely linked with the Pakistani government’s intelligence agency, which in turn has been a close ally of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Indeed, the Islamist terror group has at various points been openly supported by the CIA and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) since it was founded with U.S. government backing in the mid-1970s — and top American officials know it. Based on news reports, it appears...

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — An American soldier is released in a prisoner exchange with the Taliban. The U.S. government is under fire for how they got his freedom.

Quotes: “There is a HJC oversight hearing today where the head of our Civil Division will testify. Likely to get questions on State Department emails,” - Email from Assistant Attorney General Peter J. Kadzik with a warning to Podesta on Hillary’s emails on May 19, 2015, with the subject line, “Heads up. (from Wikileaks) "We found no evidence that any IRS official acted based on political, discriminatory, corrupt, or other inappropriate motives that would support a criminal prosecution - Assistant Attorney General Peter J. Kadzik concluding the IRS did nothing wrong in targeting Tea Party groups. FBI Director James Comey...

"These five guys are not a threat to the United States," says Clinton. "They are a threat to the safety and security of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It's up to those two countries to make the decision once and for all that these are threats to them. So I think we may be kind of missing the bigger picture here. We want to get an American home, whether they fell off the ship because they were drunk or they were pushed or they jumped, we try to rescue everybody." Last week President Obama traded the Taliban 5, who were being...

WASHINGTON -- The White House began deliberating a spy swap with Moscow nearly a month ago, well ahead of the arrests of 10 Russians in the United States less than two weeks ago, a White House official said Friday.

WASHINGTON — When Aleksandr Zaporozhsky, one of four Russians delivered to the West in this week’s spy swap, joins his family in the United States, it will be only the latest unexpected twist in a classic story of espionage and deception. For several years in the 1990s, Mr. Zaporozhsky, a colonel in Russian intelligence who became deputy chief of the American Department, was secretly working for the C.I.A., one of the highest-ranking American moles in history, Russian prosecutors say. After surprising his colleagues by retiring suddenly in 1997, he moved with his wife and three children to the United States...

Funding Iran directly funds terrorism because the Iranian regime is effectively a terror state. Back in the Senate, Obama fought against the classification of the Revolutionary Guard, a key Iranian political-military institution, as terrorists. He's remained consistent since then. 3. This is simply treason. Obama is aiding and abetting the murder of Americans. He's funding terrorism. He's funding Iran's wars in the region, which aside from Israel, include campaigns in Iraq and Syria that have dragged the United States in. The Obama administration secretly organized an airlift of $400 million worth of cash to Iran that coincided with the January...

>The conclusion of an agreement to normalize diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba has the White House treading cautiously, especially after bipartisan condemnation from Cuban-American Senators Marco Rubio and Bob Menendez. The latter, who chaired the Foreign Relations Committee until yesterday, accused Barack Obama of “vindicat[ing] the brutal behavior of the Cuban government” and of “set[ting] an extremely dangerous precedent.” Menendez is of course a Democrat and ostensibly an ally of the White House on foreign policy.In anticipation, at least one official in the Obama administration has decided it’s better to share the credit, and preferably with someone whose...