Page 316 - Captivity News Today

Makes her way back to the u.s. after months in russian cap captivity. the breaking news yesterday was brittney griner was exchanged for reputed arms dealer viktor bout, the merchant of death, accused and convicted of plotting, conspiracy to conduct arms transactions that would lead to american deaths, a lot of controversy surrounding this exchange, we believe this is the plane carrying brittney griner, ap reporting she has landed in the u.s. >> carley: her 10-month nightmare is over, sentenced t...

Not have anything additional to provide. what we know is that brittney griner, from the time that she was on that tarmac there and the russia state media cameras showed pictures of that swap, the prisoner swap, that it took about 21 1/2 hours from the abu dhabi airport to finally make her way here to texas. the reason shes here is because they have experience working with people who have been held by foreign governments or held hostage and working with them not only through the physical response...

Stay safe. we start with the latest on brittney griners release from russian captivity and her return to the u.s. this morning. kerry sanders is in texas where griner is getting medical attention, monica alba is at the white house and with me former u.s. ambassador to russia michael mcfaul. kari, first to you, what are the next steps for griner now that shes back on u.s. soil and back with her wife. >> reporter: im in front of the brook army medical center which is where brittney griner was br...

Different charges. talk us through that, if you will. >> well, paul has been in captivity for five years now. they arrested him in central moscow just a stones throw from the kremlin back in december 2017 and hes been charged with espionage. one explanation for the difference in treatment for the change in the negotiations as far as we understand them is that russia is not backing off of those charges against whelan of espionage. so that is the story they stuck with back in 2017. they prosecuted...

Ago at brittney griner is on her way back home after ten months in russian captivity. good news this morning for her and her family. welcome to a new hour of "americas newsroom," im dana perino. >> bill: surprising news this morning. a couple more things coming out right now. paul whelan is an american businessman from the state of michigan still being held. there was a lot of talk whether or not they could bring them both home. that hasnt happened here now. but there are some alerts coming out ...

Griner crossed paths with the notorious arms dealer to which russia was vying for. matt, lets talk about paul whelan if we can for a moment. were hearing now from nbc news that his russian lawyer is telling the folks that his release could come in the next few months. lets take a little bit more of a listen to the president speaking on why paul whelan was not released. >> sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, russian is treating paul whelans case differently than brittney griner. were not giv...

Expecting the swap would happen, not clear when it was going to happen but of course with these things its all so delicate and so up in the air until the very last moment that it was impossible to tell when this would actually be successful. and certainly i can tell you from the early reactions that im getting this brittney griners legal team is definitely extremely happy she was finally able to get out. they put up a big legal defense for her. they knew the psych lodological trauma she was goin...

Quite high. in a brand-new cnn exclusive interview direct from russian captivity, paul whelan says the president needs to bring him home and soon. >> i have to say i am greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release. especially as the four-year anniversary of my arrest is coming up. i was arrested for a crime that never occurred. im happy that brittney is going home today and that trevor went home when he did, but i dont understand why im still sitting here. my bags were p...

They have no russian spies in captivity. and they have no one to trade. so the bottom line when the whole deal was almost blowing up, according to my sources, a u.s. official says they were told by the russians you get one or none. their unwillingness to release whelan, the decision was made by the president to have brittney griner come home. and paul whelan is saying that that was the right decision. to bring at least one person home. but now theres a different statement coming from paul whelan...

About the release of someone who the united states had captured and incarcerated. someone who is important to putin, someone who is important to his base. the lesson putin derives from this is leverage works. hes going to try to do the same thing with any other americans hes holding in captivity and hell use it to get people out or use it for other political purposes. hes got larger interests here. he doesnt care about individuals lives and all this takes place against the backdrop of american s...