Brittney Griner

 The top US hostage affairs official on Sunday reflected on conducting the prisoner swap that led to brittney griner's release, saying the WNBA star e=immediately thanked the crew returning her to the United States.

"When she finally got on the US plane, carstens said, 'Brittany,you must have been through a lot over the last 10 months. Hears your seat. Please feel free to decompress. We'll give you your space.' " She said, 'oh no. I've been in prision for 10 months now listenig to russian, I want to talk, But first of all, who are these guys?' And she moved right past me and went to every menber on that crew,looked them in the eyes, shook their hands and asked about them adn go their names, making a personal connection with them. it wa sreally amazing," Carsten recalled

she was given a sense , he said, that she would be going home that day, and it felt real the moment he wa able to board the other plane adn tell her that, "on behalf of the President of the United States, "I'm  her to take you home.

"At that point, we have to go through a little more of the choreography to get her on the plane, it usually takes about three minutes," Carstens said.

While he said Griner talked about her ordeal during the trip, he declined to elaborate on the details."But know this, even as we are welcoming someone home, we still have work to do. So as I am shaking Brittneys hands and we are going to the aircraft and having this great conversation, my brain is already thinking about Paul Whelan.

 

What do you think happend to Paul Whelan?

How are Griner and her wife doing right now?

You need to be a member of History 360 to add comments!

Join History 360

Replies are closed for this discussion.

Replies

  • So glad you got this done Peyton! It is late and youd didn't reply to any student comments but you got it done!

  • I think that they are still trying to find a way to get paul back to the US. I am also sure that before they were trying to get Brittany back they were trying to also get Paul back. As they said on the news it was difficult, and still is. This is probably the best they could do for the time being. I understand paul is a war veteran and it would’ve been better if he was home first, but the reason he was put in jail down there was a lot more “serious” than Brittany’s case. This is the best that they could do and I respect that.

  • I think that there probably could've been another way to solve the issue. Trading a war veteran for a WNBA player. The two countries probably could've come to some sort of agreement about the whole issue. But trading for a dangerous man isn't really the answer. 

  • I do not think the US should have traded Brittany Griner for a Russian arms dealer. The arms dealer's nickname is the "merchant of death". When there is an American marine still in a Russian prison, then I think they should have traded the arms dealer for the marine.

  • I think that paul is still in the russian prison we traded a russian arms dealer for a WNBA player. I don't think it was a very smart idea who knows what Russia might do now that they a their arms dealer. We should have traded the arms dealer for paul not for a WNBA player.

  • I do not think that this was a good idea.  I don't think we should've given a veteran who is a very dangerous man just for a basketball player. I think that Russia got a better deal out of this trade because we got basically nothing.

  • I think it is incredibly sad we left Paul Whelan over there and brought Brittany home. Honestly, I think it is quite stupid. I can't even imagine how the Whelan family feels right now. I think we traded a WNBA player for an arms dealer. This arms dealer could very likely rebel against the states and harm many people. Brittany got put in jail for a reason. Play stupid games, and win stupid prizes. Russia 100% got the better deal of this trade. 

  • I think it was a very dumb Idea to make this trade and taking a basketball player over a great verteran and shouldve traded for him.  She is probably living her life and still doing bad things. we should never get rid of such a bad person that we caught and just got rid of him.

  • I think that the trade was not very fair, we got a basketball player, and they got someone really dangerous. Although, I think it would take more than one person for russia to let go of Paul Whelan, because Russia thinks of him to be a "spy" so they don't want him let go. 

  • I think that Griner should of never got released cause she was just a basketball star and the other guy was a vetrain and has supported this country for awhile. Griner is probably happy because she got released. I also think that releasing a terriorist is not good for our country.

This reply was deleted.
eXTReMe Tracker