The brother of Paul Whelan, the former Marine wrongfully detained in Russia on espionage charges since 2018, said the Trump administration was not “prepared” or “interested” in wrongful detention cases and that the Biden administration is more “engaged.”
“I think the first two years, partly I think the Trump administration was not prepared to or not interested in working on wrongful detention cases,” David Whelan told “MSNBC Reports” on Saturday.
“The Biden administration is much more engaged in wrongful detentions,” Whelan said, adding that Biden’s actions “have given the government more tools to help wrongful detainee families, but also to try to start to punish the nations who are doing that.”
David Whelan’s comments come as several Republicans are criticizing the Biden administration following the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner in a prisoner swap for notorious Russian arms dealer Victor Bout. The exchange did not include Whelan who was arrested in 2018 on espionage charges. Both Whelan and the US have denied that he was a spy.
Russia reportedly will not release Whelan without getting a Russian spy in return.
In a post on his Truth Social app, Trump criticized Biden for exchanging Griner, who he calls “a basketball player who openly hates our country,” for Bout and questioned why Whelan was not included in the deal.
David Whelan slammed Trump in a tweet on Friday saying he “mentioned my brother #PaulWhelan’s wrongful detention more in the last 24 hours than he did in the 2 years of his presidency in which Paul was held hostage by #Russia (zero).”
