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u.s. would never give up on whelan. moscow is treating whelan different than griner, totally illegitimate reasons. whelan said he was surprised that he had been left behind. jim sciutto reports. >> reporter: paul whelan's odyssey in russia's criminal justice system began on december 28th, 2018. former marine, he was arrested in moscow during a trip for the wedding of a fellow marine to a russian woman. >> ended up taking a group of them as part of their tour through the kremlin. >> russia's federal security service accused him of being a spy. whelan had visited russia before, including as early as 2006 while on a two-week deployment from iraq. whelan moved to the u.s. as a child. he has u.s., canadian, british, irish citizenship. whelan joined the marine
detention. she's due to arrive in san antonio after a flight from moscow to abu dhabi to the u.s. cnn has a crew on the scene ready to bring any updates. from there griner will be taken to a nearby army medical center that specializes in the treenlt of torture and other issues. >> reporter: the dramatic moment of the high stakes prisoner swap. brittney griner in the red coat walking towards the american plane. coming towards them, state department official roger carstens viktor bout. griner is shown leaving russian detention and boarding the plane in the snow. her passport returned, griner smiles knowing she's heading home. >> are you ready for the flight? >> yes. >> congratulations again. >> back in the u.s. griner's
griner was exchanged for. on paper viktor bout has a very different track record. he is accused of being an arms dealer, whereas griner was accused of having about a gram of cannabis oil. bout accused of being an arms dealer, nick named the merchant of death for supplying weapons and fueling conflicts across africa and other conflict-ridden areas. so very serious concern about this exchange and bout already in russia giving an interview celebrating his release. take a listen. >> translator: in the middle of the night they simply woke me up and said, get your things together, and that was it. there was no preliminary information. >> reporter: now the other controversy is about who the united states has not been able to release, and that is paul whelan, an american citizen who was picked up by russian forces, by russian troops, rather, by
united states, canada and around the world. i'm kim brunhuber. ahead here on "cnn newsroom." new details about brittney gr griner's release as she gets ready to land in texas in the coming hours. and cnn is learning which trump associates could face criminal referrals from the january 6th committee. we'll look at who they are and when to expect a decision. plus -- we're hours away from the start of the world cup's quarterfinals where all eyes will be on argentina's lionel messi. we're live from doha with all the latest. >> announcer: live from cnn news center. this is "cnn newsroom" with kim brunhuber. american basketball star brittney griner is expected to land in texas in the coming hours bringing an end to her 10-month ordeal in russian
brittney's in good spirits. shea's relieved to finally be heading home. >> reporter: the u.s. wanted to trade bout for griner and american paul whelan but russian refused. in an exclusive interview whelan told cnn he's surprised he wasn't included. >> i am greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release. i'm happy that brittney is going home today and that trevor went home when he did, but i don't understand why i'm still sitting here. my bags are packed. i'm ready to go home. >> whelan told cnn that the russians see him at a higher level than griner. he's been charged with espionage and sentenced to 16 years. >> this was not a choice of which american to bring home. the choice was one or none. i wholeheartedly wish we could have brought paul home today on the same plane as brittney. >> reporter: the question is how
russian forces several years ago and is sentenced to several years as well in a penal colony. cnn was able to get an exclusive access and exclusive interview to whelan where he expressed his concern about president biden's ability to get him out. he expressed russia sees him as a more important, more valuable prisoner than griner was perhaps. the biden administration says for its part there was no option to get whelan out in this specific exchange but that they continue to do everything they can to secure his release. just another reminder of how complicated these negotiations are and yet again, it is a diplomatic victory for president biden, but he's still vowing to try to get whelan out as well. kim. >> we'll stay on this story throughout the morning. thank you so much, selma abdelaziz in london. we'll have much more on the prisoner swap including a look at the u.s. marine veteran left behind in russia.
to bring paul whelan home and is the u.s. willing to do it. russia got the better of thursday's deal. he said griner was traded for what he called a world class felon and that now russia is dangling imhad, paul whelan, over president biden's head and will ask for something big. cnn's selma abdelaziz is tracking the latest. a mix of elation and concern for the man exchanged in her freedom. >> reporter: that's right, paul. you would assume she'll be greeted by family and friends. you'll see a big celebration there. state department will help griner on arrival including support activities for those who have been in isolation experiences like the one she has been in, but there's a lot of controversy as well around this prisoner swap because of who
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