After WNBA star Brittney Griner was freed from Russian detention after being held for months in the country on drug charges, The View weighed in on the prisoner swap that made her release possible. During today’s show, the co-hosts — who were all thrilled by the news, especially after hosting Griner’s wife as a guest earlier this season — debated the ethics of the swap, and emphasized that another American prisoner, Paul Whelan, still remains in Russian captivity.
Joy Behar kicked off the conversation by talking about Viktor Bout, the arms dealer who was released in a one-for-one prisoner swap that freed Griner. Bout, whose life inspired 2005’s The Lord of War, was serving 25 years in prison for conspiring to kill Americans, per CNN.
“I think they traded her for a really bad guy,” Behar said, referring to Bout, before adding, “He’s very much in cahoots with Putin. … Putin is doing such a disastrous thing in Ukraine, that even the Russians were turning on him. So this is making him look like a tough guy, and he did something for the country. I think there’s something like that going on.”
Alyssa Farah Griffin, who said the news of Griner’s release is “incredible,” emphasized that “it’s good news any time an American comes home from being wrongly detained abroad,” but questioned the ethics of using Bout in the swap.
“The one thing I want to highlight here: I think this is a good thing and we should celebrate it. But, it’s not an equal swap,” Griffin said. “This is a man who was plotting and conspiring against Americans to kill them. He’s called the Merchant of Death because he’s basically been somebody who goes around the world and collects weaponry and then brings it back to Russia. He will be a boon in the effort against Ukraine. And it’s a big domestic win for Putin right now when he’s at the weakest place he’s been in decades.
“So that’s the thing that gives me pause here,” she said, before explaining her stance on prisoner swaps in general after Sunny Hostin asked how she feels about the practice.
“I’m always conflicted. I’m not quite in the George Bush, ‘never negotiate with terrorists,’ because sometimes you have to. But you have to make sure it doesn’t pose too much of a risk to the homeland, and I fear that this is somebody who is going to someday have the blood of Ukrainians or Americans on his hands.”
Whelan, the American prisoner who remains in Russian detention, has been held captive in the country for four years on espionage charges, which he claims are false. Whelan told CNN he was “happy” for Griner’s release, but “disappointed” by the Biden administration’s efforts in his own case.
During a press conference at the White House today, President Joe Biden said in a clip shared on The View, “We’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan, who’s been unjustly detained in Russia for years. This was not a choice of which American to bring home.”
The View airs weekdays at 11/10c on ABC. Watch the full Griner segment in the video above.
