Donald Trump Jr. Slams Biden for Securing ‘America Hating’ Griner Release

Donald Trump Jr. on Thursday criticized President Joe Biden for helping secure the release of WNBA player Brittney Griner from a Russian prison.

“No one does better business than Biden. We have an awful WNBA player who hates America, while Russia gets AN INTERNATIONAL ARMS DEALER!!! The adults are back!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, the social media platform founded by his father, former President Donald Trump.

Biden posted a photo Thursday morning of himself with Cherelle Griner, the WNBA star’s wife. He wrote, “A few moments ago I spoke to Brittney Griner. She’s safe. She’s on a plane. She’s on her way home.”

Griner has been detained in Russia for 10 months after she was arrested for possessing vaping cartridges containing cannabis oil at a Moscow airport in February. In August, a Russian court found her guilty of drug trafficking with criminal intent by a Russian court on Thursday. She was sentenced to nine years in prison and fined 1 million rubles.

Griner’s release is the result of a prisoner swap for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death”, who was imprisoned in the United States. Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine detained in Russia, was not part of the deal that resulted in Griner’s release despite efforts by the Biden administration to get him on the swap.

Trump Jr. denounced the trade involving Bout in another Truth Social article.

“You know how to make sure [Russian President Vladimir] Putin continues to arrest Americans and punish them harshly?” Trump wrote. “Trade him an arms dealer aka ‘death dealer’, someone guilty of conspiring to kill Americans and of helping a terrorist organization for a WNBA activist who hates America.”

He continued, “Excellent trade! The weakness and stupidity of our government will only encourage the abuse of American citizens abroad.”

This is a breaking story and will be updated as more information becomes available.