“I am optimistic. I think she’s going to be free,” Richardson said of WNBA star Griner on ABC’s “This Week.” “There will be a prisoner exchange, though, and I think it will be two for two, involving Paul Whelan. We cannot forget him.” Griner was sentenced last week to nine years in a penitentiary for drug possession and trafficking after pleading guilty to drug possession. Whelan, a former US Marine, is serving a 16-year, three-year sentence on espionage charges, which he and the US deny. Richardson dodged questions about whether educator Mark Fogel, who faces 14 years in prison for drug possession and trafficking, would also be included in the exchange talks. “All those wrongfully detained must go home,” Richardson said. He added that his foundation, The Richardson Center, was involved in talks to free three other Americans held by Russia, but that he was a “catalyst” for what would eventually be a government-to-government deal. The Biden administration reportedly floated a potential prisoner swap last month in which Griner and Whelan would be released from prison in exchange for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Officials publicly confirmed that they had offered a trade, but did not specifically say whether it involved Bout. More than 1,500 flights canceled in another tough weekend for US travel Watchdog sounds alarm over Ukrainian nuclear plant bombing President Biden said Friday that he is “optimistic” about Griner’s condition, although White House officials declined to say whether there were specific developments that led him to feel that way. Richardson on Sunday praised Biden for considering a trade with Booth, though he said “I would do it quietly.” “Our goal should be, despite unpopular prisoner exchanges, to bring American hostages home. Some of these prisoner exchanges are not good. The visuals are not good. But we have to do it sometimes,” he said.
