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via Getty

via Getty

Brittney Griner was released last Thursday after continuous negotiations for over nine months between the U.S. and Russia. While Russia released Griner, the U.S. released convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, notorious for his crimes against humanity. While many fans and celebrities are happy about the return of Griner, some are worried about the release of Bout. Also, many Americans are not pleased about leaving behind former marine Paul Whelan in his Mordovian penal colony. Recently, comedian Andrew Schulz called out the prisoner swap deal that left behind Paul Whelan in Russia.

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Schulz and comedian Aakash Singh are the co-hosts of the ‘FLAGRANT’ podcast. During the latest episode of the podcast, Schulz and Aakash talked about the release of Griner among other things.

Andrew Schulz’s take on the release of Brittney Griner

In the podcast, Andrew Schulz explained that people are raising questions about Whelan being left behind while Brittney Griner was released. Schulz stated that he believes that there are political reasons for bringing back Griner first.

He said, “But I think the issue with me as it seems like they made the trade for only Brittney for political points. It seems like it’s a little bit of like a virtue signal, if you will.” Meanwhile, Aakash Singh chimed in, “Trying to get favor with voters.”

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Schulz admitted that it looks like what Aakash suggested. He then talked about releasing Bout for Griner. Schulz stated, “I don’t like the idea that we are gonna trade this ‘Merchant of death’, a guy who is responsible for probably tens and thousands of deaths and like destabilization around the world which we are also responsible for. I’m not saying we are innocent. But it doesn’t exactly feel like a fair trade. And if you are doing it just to get a PC pat on the back. It feels a little gross, right?”

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Bout was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison on charges of providing weapons to terrorists and conspiring to kill Americans. Schulz also indicated that the Biden administration didn’t care that much about Whelan because he’s a straight white man, who probably doesn’t vote Democrat.

DEA agent on Viktor Bout

Andrew Schulz is not the only one questioning the release of Viktor Bout and not bringing back Paul Whelan. Recently, the DEA official, Tom Pasquarello, who helped lock up Bout gave his opinion about the prisoner swap deal.

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He stated that releasing Bout for a Griner feels like a “free deal.” He added that Bout can be a huge threat to Americans around the world. Interestingly, after his release, Bout has now reportedly joined the pro-Kremlin ultranationalist LDPR party.