Boomer Esiason blasted the U.S. government for trading a Russian arms dealer for WNBA superstar Brittney Griner for release from a Russian prison. Griner was arrested in February on drug smuggling charges after she brought CBD oil into Russia.
Just weeks before Christmas, the White House announced a 1-for-1 prisoner swap Thursday morning that released Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout from U.S. custody. Bout is known as the “merchant of death.”
While Esiason liked that Griner got her chance to come home, he didn’t like how dangerous the prisoner they gave up in the process was.
Esiason felt the same way Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons felt when he lashed out on Twitter over the news of the country leaving a marine in Russia.
“I’m telling you, more people feel that way than don’t,” Esiason said. “I can tell you that right now. I know that we’re all happy that Brittney’s home like we said earlier on. But when you think about the magnitude of what we traded to get back a WNBA professional athlete, and left a Marine sitting there, whose family has been trying for years to get him out of there with nothing, nothing from the U.S. government.”
The former NFL MVP felt the Russian government used Griner as a trade piece to get Bout out of prison.
“I kinda feel like the Russians basically were using her to get this guy out,” Esiason added. “It’s not an even swap; it’s not. We all know what happened to Brittney should have never happened.”
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Esiason called the trade unfair due to how dangerous the Merchant of Death was, so he believes the Russian government fooled Biden.
“We look so pathetic,” Esiason continued. “And listening to our President talk about this is such a pathetic feeling. I want to be happy, but I can’t be.”
“You got a guy who had a 25-year sentence, accused by the UN of getting involved in civil wars in Africa and killing millions of people, and you traded him for a WNBA superstar? Okay,” Esiason said.
“It does not feel right at all,” he added.
It should be noted that Marine veteran Paul Whelan, who is also in Russian custody, was left behind by President Biden in this swap largely because the Russian government has been unwilling to free him for reasons they have not given as of yet.
The swap for Bout was floated earlier this year, but things really got serious in the past few weeks which led to the trade on Thursday. For Griner, she now gets to return to her family weeks before Christmas. For Whelan, he has now been in Russia going on four years and there does not seem to be an end in sight for him.
