Brittney Griner is happy to be back on U.S. soil following her Russian prison release and now she wants to let her fans and President Biden know just how thankful she truly is.
As we previously reported, after a 10-month detainment in Russia and getting sentenced to nine years in prison on drug charges, the eight-time WNBA All-Star was set free last week. In a lengthy post dedicated to her family, followers, and the President, Griner said this Friday, “It feels so good to be home!” She continued, “The last 10 months have been a battle at every turn. I dug deep to keep my faith and it was the love from so many of you that helped keep me going. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone for your help.”
Griner went on to say, “I am grateful to each person who advocated for me, especially my wife, Cherelle Griner, my family, Lindsay Kagawa Colas and Casey Wasserman and my whole team at Wasserman, Vince Kozar and the Phoenix Mercury, the players of the WNBA, and my entire WNBA family, Terri Jackson, and the WNBPA staff, my Russian legal team Maria Blagovolina and Alex Boykov, the leaders, activists, and grassroots organizations, Gov. Richardson and Mickey Bergman of the Richardson Center, the Bring Our Families Home Campaign, Roger Carstens and the SPEHA team, and of course, a special thank you to President Biden, Vice President Harris, Secretary Blinken and the entire Biden-Harris Administration.”
Further, into her post, Griner went on to say, “President Biden, you brought me home and I know you are committed to bringing Paul Whelan and all Americans home too. I will use my platform to do whatever I can to help you. I also encourage everyone that played a part in bringing me home to continue their efforts to bring all Americans home. Every family deserves to be whole.”
The United States recovered Brittney Griner from the Russia following a prison swap. In exchange for the athlete, the U.S. handed over convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Unfortunately, former marine Paul Whelan was not included in the exchange. He’s been in Russian custody for four years.
Despite that, the Whelan family expressed their support and understanding for the deal:
“There is no greater success than for a wrongful detainee to be freed & for them to go home. The Biden Admin made the right decision to bring Ms. Griner home, & to make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn’t going to..”
Biden celebrated the big move in a recent tweet. He said:
“I had some MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS the last couple of weeks, too…
✔️ Inflation’s easing
✔️ I just signed the Respect for Marriage Act
✔️ We brought Brittney Griner home
✔️ Gas prices are lower than a year ago
✔️ 10,000 new high-paying jobs in Arizona”