“The President appreciated the opportunity to learn more about Brittney and Paul from those who love them most and recognized that every minute they are held is a minute too long,” Jean-Pierre said in the statement. Griner was arrested in February for carrying vapor cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. The two-time USA basketball gold medalist pleaded guilty to drug charges and said she accidentally packaged the drugs while in a rush. He has been sentenced to nine years, along with a fine of about $16,400. Her legal team in Russia appealed the sentence. Whelan has been imprisoned in Russia for more than three years after being convicted of espionage charges he vehemently denies. He was sentenced in June 2020 to 16 years in prison in a trial that US officials denounced as unfair. The Biden administration has repeatedly said that working to secure the release of Griner and Whelan, as well as that of Americans held illegally abroad, is a top priority. In late July, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the US had made a “substantial proposal” to try to secure the release of Griner and Whelan. Sources told CNN the offer included a swap for convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, told CNN that Friday’s meeting served as a crucial assurance that the administration was committed to bringing her wife home from Russia. “It wasn’t a meeting where the President told me the news I want to hear,” Cherelle Griner said. “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.” Cherelle Griner had pushed for months for this meeting, which happened about seven months after Brittney Griner was detained in Russia. Cheryl Griner said Biden addressed the media about the administration’s prisoner swap proposal. “I’ll give credit where it’s due, and I feel like this government has a lot of manpower in ways to get BG back home through negotiations,” he said. “Because it’s not as simple as one might think — to look at the list of people we have and ask Russia to choose. It’s more complicated than that, and it takes a lot of effort.” “I don’t think they have understood exactly what Russia wants in return for BG,” he added. Paul Whelan’s brother, David, said Friday that it “means a lot” to his family that Biden has shown “this continued commitment to securing the freedom of Brittney Griner and Paul.” Writing on Twitter after his sister Elizabeth’s meeting with Biden, David Whelan said it was “hard for a family to have the courage without @WhiteHouse @StateDept leadership to release their loved one.” Elizabeth Whelan said in a statement on Saturday that she had “absolute faith” that the White House “is fully committed and using the tools at its disposal” and called on the Russian government to “also commit with full faith and release Paul Whelan’. Cherelle Griner said she communicated with her wife through letters. “It’s not good,” he said. “We had some very disturbing communications about how he is at the time, to the point where I was very concerned.” “He’s losing it. We’ve gotten to these days where even a strong man says, ‘baby I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to take this,’” he added. John Kirby, coordinator of strategic communications at the National Security Council, told CNN’s MJ Lee on Friday afternoon that the President is “not going to back down” on the ongoing detentions. “He’s confident that this will remain at the forefront of his and his team’s mind and that he will continue to work as hard as he can,” Kirby said. Asked why Russia had not already accepted a US offer to return Griner and Whelan, Kirby replied: “If we had the answer to that question, we might already have a deal. I think that’s a better question to the Russian colleagues. us.” “We made a serious offer, we want them to accept it,” Kirby said. “Frankly, those two people should be in the house anyway, period, but we understand that that probably should be the outcome of the negotiation process, which we’re willing to engage in honestly and fully and we do. We are waiting for them to take the offer that is on the table.” A senior administration official told CNN on Thursday that there had been “movement, but no breakthrough” in efforts to secure the release of Griner and Whelan. The official said the US had urged Russia to submit “a serious counter-proposal” to the proposal on the table to secure the release of the two, but “we have not received a serious response”. The White House meetings come after CNN first reported earlier this week that former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and his team were in Moscow meeting with Russian leadership. Details surrounding those meetings were not immediately clear. Richardson and his eponymous center work privately on behalf of families of hostages and detainees. This story has been updated with additional developments. CNN’s Nikki Carvajal contributed to this report.
