Officials: US 'Working Hard’ to Free Whelan

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Facts

  • In television interviews on Sunday, Roger Carstens, the US hostage affairs envoy, said Biden’s admin. is “working hard” to free former Marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested in Russia in 2018 on spying charges.
  • More attention has been directed toward Whelan after the admin. swapped Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for WNBA player Brittney Griner in a deal with the Kremlin last week. Griner had been detained for 10 months on drug charges.
  • Carstens said US officials were scheduled to meet Monday to discuss next steps to free Whelan. He added that they could use new tools from an executive order signed by Biden over the summer, which allows for sanctions and visa bans for people involved in wrongfully detaining Americans.
  • In a different interview, John Kirby, the US National Security Council spokesperson, said the US is still “negotiating” for Whelan’s release since they were unable to include him in the Griner swap. Kirby said Russia has been treating Whelan differently, “very distinctly because of these sham espionage charges they levied against him.”
  • David Whelan, Paul’s brother, expressed gratitude, saying, “It’s great that the White House is not letting any grass grow under their feet.” But he added, “it would seem unfair to set any expectations or pressure on first steps” toward his brother’s return so soon after the Griner swap.

Sources: MSNBC, Washington Examiner, Reuters, and Axios.

Narratives

  • Republican narrative, as provided by Townhall. In making the Griner swap the Biden admin. left behind an ex-Marine who has dedicated his life to his country and has been unjustly imprisoned on trumped-up charges. This was an amateurish move that stinks of wokeism and continues the president’s strategy of pandering to those he wants votes from. The US has now given up their one bargaining chip.
  • Democratic narrative, as provided by CNN. This wasn't a case of either-or — the Biden admin. made the difficult decision to secure the release of Griner rather than no American at all. There’s still work to be done, but Whelan will eventually be freed because Russia still wants plenty of other things that could be traded. No price will be too great to pay to bring Whelan home, and the admin. won’t stop trying until he has returned.