Joe Biden met with the wife of WNBA’s star, Brittney Griner on Friday at the White House as well as Whelan’s sister,Elizabeth Whelan to have a face-to-face conversation with her family since she was detained in Russia on drug charges in February. Brittany was found guilty of smuggling illegal narcotics into Russia and the judge sentenced WNBA’s star to nine years in prison and a fined of 1 million rubles for bringing the vape cartridges with cannabis oil.
“One of the things that the President wanted to make clear is, and one of the reasons he’s meeting with the families, is that he wanted to let them know that they remain front of mind and that his team is working on this every day, on making sure that Brittney and Paul [Whelan, another American detained in Russia] return home safely,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday.
“It wasn’t a meeting where the President told me the news that I want to hear,” Cherelle Griner told CNN Friday after her talk with Biden. “It wasn’t that, but it was one of those still pivotal meetings where… it allowed me to have confidence in what he’s doing right now.”
