Ex-Trump Admin Officials Blast Biden Over Griner Swap: 'American Surrender'

Multiple former Trump administration officials blasted President Joe Biden on Thursday for making a prisoner swap to bring WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner back to the United States.

Griner was arrested in February in Russia when customs officials found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage. Biden, who said Thursday morning that he spoke with Griner and that she was safely on her way home, referred to "painstaking intense negotiations."

Her prison sentence was vacated in exchange for the release of Russian arms dealer and "merchant of death" Viktor Bout. His 25-year federal prison sentence, of which he served 12 years, was cut short by Biden.

"The Bout-for-Griner prisoner swap is not a trade, it's an American surrender," tweeted John Bolton, a former national security adviser in the Trump administration. "This is not what American strength looks like. Terrorists and rogue states are smiling."

Richard Grenell, a former U.S. ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence in 2020, called the prisoner swap a "fail" and directed his comments toward current White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

"Putin dictated the entire deal," Grenell tweeted. "The US was forced to comply with Putin's demands. Biden's weakness is making us less safe."

Former White House physician and current Texas Representative Ronny Jackson compared Biden's role in the swap to the hypothetical reaction if the same result occurred under former President Trump.

"Could you imagine if President Trump caved to Putin like this? It would be NONSTOP coverage from the liberal media," Jackson tweeted. "But since it's Biden, they're SILENT! President Trump would NEVER make a deal like this!!"

Sebastian Gorka, a former deputy assistant to Trump in 2017, called Griner an "American-hating pothead" traded for the "most dangerous man in the world."

"Why would Biden do this now?" Gorka tweeted. "Exactly when Putin would profit most from having the biggest arms dealer home?"

A resurfaced video of Donald Trump on The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show during the summer included the former president calling Griner "potentially spoiled" and rightfully imprisoned.

"She went in there loaded up with drugs into a hostile territory where they're very vigilant about drugs," Trump said. "They don't like drugs. And she got caught. And now we're supposed to get her. She makes a lot of money, I guess. But we're supposed to get her out for an absolute killer, and one of the biggest arms dealers in the world."

Donald Trump, Jr. also criticized Biden on the social network Truth Social.

"No one cuts better deals than Biden. We get an awful America Hating WNBA player, while Russia gets AN INTERNATIONAL ARMS DEALER!!! The adults are back!" Trump wrote.

The family of imprisoned American and former Marine Paul Whelan expressed joy for Griner's release but added they were "still devastated."

"How do you continue to survive, day after day, when you know that your government has failed twice to free you from a foreign prison?" a statement said in part. "I can't imagine he retains any hope that a government will negotiate his freedom at this point."

Newsweek reached out to Whelan's brother, David, for comment.