The brother of former Marine Paul Whelan slammed Donald Trump on Friday after he criticized the Biden administration for freeing WNBA star Brittney Griner instead of Whelan in a prisoner swap with Russian.
“Former President Trump appears to have 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). I don’t suggest he cares now any more than he did then (zero),” David Whelan wrote on Twitter.
Paul Whelan was arrested in 2018 on espionage charges. Both Whelan and the US have denied that he was a spy. Whelan was convicted in 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
The Biden administration was negotiating for the release of both Griner and Whelan in exchange for notorious Russian arms dealer Victor Bout. However, the Russians refused to release Whelan without getting a Russian spy in return. CNN reported that the Russians would only consider a deal that releases colonel Vadim Krasikov, a Russian spy who is serving a life sentence Germany, for Whelan. The German government was reportedly not willing to release Krasikov.
Biden eventually took the deal to bring Griner home even though it meant leaving Whelan behind.
After news of the deal broke several conservatives, including Donald Trump, criticized the Biden administration for Griner’s release because they deem her less deserving than Whelan, because she knelt during the national anthem.
“What kind of a deal is it to swap Brittney Griner, a basketball player who openly hates our country for the man known as ‘The Merchant of Death,’” Trump wrote in a post.
“Why wasn’t former Marine Paul Whelan included in this totally one sided transaction? He would have been let out for the asking. What a stupid and unpatriotic embarrassment for the USA!” Trump added.
A review of Trump’s tweets by the Independent found that the disgraced ex-president never mentioned Paul Whelan’s name once before this week even though Whelan was detained in Russia during his presidency.
