{"id":1594402,"date":"2022-08-08T12:08:50","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T16:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1594402"},"modified":"2022-08-08T12:09:10","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T16:09:10","slug":"former-n-m-gov-bill-richardson-optimistic-griner-will-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-n-m-gov-bill-richardson-optimistic-griner-will-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Former N.M. Gov. Bill Richardson optimistic Griner will return"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fformer-n-m-gov-bill-richardson-optimistic-griner-will-return%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1594402&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div id=\"attachment_2735462\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2735462\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2735462\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/I746HAYIGNESPFTYAMT7CCHMRY.jpg\" alt=\"In this Jan. 24, 2018, file photo, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson gives an interview in Yangon, Myanmar. (Thet Htoo\/AP)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/I746HAYIGNESPFTYAMT7CCHMRY.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/I746HAYIGNESPFTYAMT7CCHMRY-654x437-1.jpg 654w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/I746HAYIGNESPFTYAMT7CCHMRY-768x513-1.jpg 768w\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2735462\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">In this Jan. 24, 2018, file photo, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson gives an interview in Yangon, Myanmar. (Thet Htoo\/AP Photo)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h5>OAN Newsroom<br \/>UPDATED 8:33 AM PT \u2013 Monday, August 8, 2022<\/h5>\n<p>President Joe Biden\u2019s de-facto hostage rescue envoy, former New Mexico Governor and UN Ambassador Bill Richardson, has high hopes for diplomats to secure the return of WNBA star Brittney Griner. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=k3Jr0JIwIik\">While speaking with ABC News Sunda<\/a>y, Richardson maintained all sides are working diligently to secure a prisoner swap to get Griner back to America, along with US Marine Paul Whelan who\u2019s been imprisoned in Russia since 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Richardson also said he\u2019s been acting as mediator between the Biden administration, Russia and other countries that detained Americans while citing his experience and contacts as reason the ball is moving forward.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>\u201cThrough my experience, for instance, Foreign Minister Lavrov, he and I were ambassadors together at the same and I\u2019m pleased that he\u2019s pragmatic, that he\u2019s sort of in charge and sent a good signal,\u201d Richardson stated. \u201cI think the negotiations are going to be undertaken and my view is that I\u2019m optimistic. I think she\u2019s going to be freed.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The former Clinton-era diplomat went on to commend the Biden administration for actually \u201cdoing something\u201d to get Americans back after families of those detained abroad criticized Biden\u2019s response late last year. Richardson added, there should be only one mission Biden should be focused on: getting Americans back on American soil.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>\u201cWe have to bring American hostages home, especially those wrongfully detained, especially those who have served in our military,\u201d he stressed. \u201cSo look, they\u2019re not perfect, but I commend the President for considering it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Meanwhile, critics are speaking out against the Biden administration\u2019s efforts while pointing to officials\u2019 hypocrisy. Griner was arrested and later convicted for having hashish oil on her at a Russian airport. Top officials, including Biden, Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, rushed to decry Russia\u2019s actions as heinous.<\/p>\n<p>However, some critics, including former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, lamented there are people in the US who are facing imprisonment for similar crimes who are not receiving that much attention. Gabbard also reiterated, many officials put those Americans behind bars, namely her arch nemesis Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>\u201cAnd to me, the message to the American people through their actions is loud and clear: if you are rich and powerful or famous then you will get special treatment from this administration,\u201d she noted. \u201cIf you are not, we don\u2019t care about you. We\u2019re gonna sit and let you rot in jail.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who was publicly derided by federal regulators and the mainstream media for smoking weed on the Joe Rogan experience, echoed a similar sentiment.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>\u201cI was like, man if the President is working so hard to sort of free someone who\u2019s in jail in Russia for some weed then shouldn\u2019t we free people in America?\u201d he asked open-endedly.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In the meantime, Ambassador Richardson warned instances of Americans being detained overseas has gone up in recent years. This has prompted President Biden and his State Department to bolster protocols combating efforts to imprison Americans, including warning citizens of countries that are targeting Americans like Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela.<\/p>\n<h4>MORE NEWS:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/marine-combat-veteran-politicians-dont-treat-country-like-something-my-marines-died-for\/\">Marine Combat Veteran: \u2018Politicians Don\u2019t Treat Country Like Something My Marines Died For\u2019<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this Jan. 24, 2018, file photo, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson gives an interview in Yangon, Myanmar. (Thet Htoo\/AP Photo) OAN NewsroomUPDATED 8:33 AM PT \u2013 Monday, August 8, 2022 President Joe Biden\u2019s de-facto hostage rescue envoy, former New Mexico Governor and UN Ambassador Bill Richardson, has high hopes for diplomats to secure &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1594402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1594402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1594402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1594402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1594402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1594402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1594402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}