?The Americans Are Kidding Themselves?: Amid Brittney Griner Rescue Efforts, Influential Lawyer Highlights Glaring Loophole

After Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison by a Russian Court, it looked like that was the end of her WNBA career. But the US government came out with a possible prisoner swap to bring back Brittney Griner and another American citizen back home. Despite rescue efforts on the way, a prominent lawyer who is involved in the case pointed out one glaring loophole in the case.

The US government reported that they have been in talks with Russia for a prisoner swap program. They are reportedly asking for Griner and Paul Whelan, who is also serving a prison sentence in Russia. And in exchange, they are looking to send Viktor Bout, who is in American custody.

But Bout’s lawyer says there is one thing that the US government is missing.

Lawyer says the US government needs to offer more for getting Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan back

Bout was arrested back in 2008 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Bout is nicknamed the Merchant of Death and he was arrested on charges related to arms trafficking. In 2010, he hired a lawyer from Queens called Steve Zissou.

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Zissou had been working very hard to find a way to get Bout released. He believed that his client was unfairly treated, but the only way he could have been released was through a prisoner exchange program. He had been trying very hard on that for a very long time, but he had achieved little progress.

Then the entire sage with Griner happened. He finally got a chance to send his client back home. After the government had come out and said that they had made a substantial proposal to get Griner back, he believes that a deal may happen soon.

But he opens up on one major flaw that the US government may be overlooking. He said, “The Americans are kidding themselves if they think they?ll get both Griner and Whelan back for Bout”. Zissou said this is the game of numbers now and he even offered up another possible candidate to help smoothen the deal.

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He still believes the deal will take some time to go through. But he was confident with the talks, with the apparent radio silence between both camps. Despite pointing out a glaring flaw from the US government.