{"id":1771694,"date":"2022-12-11T16:18:09","date_gmt":"2022-12-11T21:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1771694"},"modified":"2022-12-11T16:18:15","modified_gmt":"2022-12-11T21:18:15","slug":"pompeo-blasts-griner-prisoner-swap-bad-guys-for-celebrities-sends-wrong-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pompeo-blasts-griner-prisoner-swap-bad-guys-for-celebrities-sends-wrong-message\/","title":{"rendered":"Pompeo Blasts Griner Prisoner Swap: \u2018Bad Guys For Celebrities\u2019 Sends Wrong Message"},"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\">24<\/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%2Fpompeo-blasts-griner-prisoner-swap-bad-guys-for-celebrities-sends-wrong-message%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=1771694&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--><p>Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasted the Biden administration over its recent prisoner swap of Russian \u201cMerchant of Death\u201d arms dealer Viktor Bout for American WNBA player Brittney Griner.<\/p>\n<p>Pompeo shared his criticisms during an interview on \u201cFox News Sunday\u201d with Shannon Bream.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe weren\u2019t going to trade bad guys for celebrities because it creates the wrong incentives for the bad guys. As we go forward, it\u2019s not good for American national security. It\u2019s not good for people who are traveling across the world,\u201d Pompeo said.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">WATCH: Former Secretary of State <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mikepompeo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@mikepompeo<\/a> joined <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShannonBream?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ShannonBream<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FoxNewsSunday?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FoxNewsSunday<\/a> to react to Brittney Griner&#8217;s release and China&#8217;s developing relationship with Saudi Arabia. Plus, he shares his thoughts on the future of the Republican Party as well as his 2024 plans. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gGjEzcy54n\">pic.twitter.com\/gGjEzcy54n<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Fox News Sunday (@FoxNewsSunday) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FoxNewsSunday\/status\/1601983971520569345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 11, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Griner was released after being detained in Russia for ten months for bringing cannabis oil cartridges into the country just ahead of the Kremlin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>The Phoenix Mercury star was later sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony. The Biden administration held months of talks with Russian leaders to negotiate Griner\u2019s release.<\/p>\n<p>Griner\u2019s prison swap was announced on Thursday. Some Americans celebrated her freedom, but many were critical of the trade.<\/p>\n<p>Bout was serving a 25-year prison sentence in the U.S. on charges of conspiring to kill Americans, delivery of anti-aircraft missiles, and aiding a terrorist organization. Some worries remain that the Merchant of Death could soon return to his former ways.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[W]e cannot ignore that releasing Bout back into the world is a deeply disturbing decision,\u201d Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.menendez.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press\/chairman-menendez-statement-on-the-release-of-brittney-griner\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">statement<\/a>. \u201cWe must stop inviting dictatorial and rogue regimes to use Americans overseas as bargaining chips, and we must try do (sic) better at encouraging American citizens against traveling to places like Russia where they are primary targets for this type of unlawful detention.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Former DEA agent Robert Zachariasiewicz told the Washington Post that he opposed the prisoner swap over the message it could send to Russian leaders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just showed that it is really useful to have an American in your back pocket because you never know when you need them to trade,\u201d Zachariasiewicz <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2022\/12\/09\/brittney-griner-viktor-bout-paul-whelan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Former National Security Advisor John Bolton also criticized the agreement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is not a deal. This is not a swap. This is a surrender. And terrorists and rogue states all around the world will take note of this, and it endangers other Americans in the future who can be grabbed and used as bargaining chips by people who don\u2019t have the same morals and scruples that we do,\u201d Bolton <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/12\/08\/trump-turned-down-viktor-bout-for-paul-whelan-prisoner-swap-john-bolton\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> during a CBS interview.<\/p>\n<p>Others have expressed frustration that former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan remains imprisoned in Russia and was not part of the deal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI 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,\u201d Whelan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/12\/08\/politics\/paul-whelan-cnn-interview-brittney-griner\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t understand why I\u2019m still sitting here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasted the Biden administration over its recent prisoner swap of Russian \u201cMerchant of Death\u201d arms dealer Viktor Bout for American WNBA player Brittney Griner. Pompeo shared his criticisms during an interview on \u201cFox News Sunday\u201d with Shannon Bream. \u201cWe weren\u2019t going to trade bad guys for celebrities because it &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":325,"featured_media":1771697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[7086,3675,5344,6202,6849,4535,5776,7882,4375,5774,7359,6195,7058],"class_list":["post-1771694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire","tag-bad","tag-blasts","tag-celebrities","tag-daily","tag-griner","tag-guys","tag-message","tag-pompeo","tag-prisoner","tag-sends","tag-swap","tag-wire","tag-wrong"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771694","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\/325"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1771694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1771697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1771694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1771694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1771694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}