T.J.Quinn gave an update on what to expect from the trial of the woman. There is a time and a place for it.
The American basketball star appeared in a Moscow-area court for a trial about 412 months after she was arrested on cannabis possession charges at an airport.
The man was arrested at the airport. The police said she was carrying something. If convicted of large-scale transportation of drugs, the Mercury center could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
In Russian criminal cases, only a small percentage of defendants are acquitted.
In a closed-door preliminary hearing Monday in the Moscow suburb of Khimki, the detainer was extended for six months.
Photos obtained by The Associated Press show her in handcuffs and looking straight ahead, unlike a previous court appearance where she kept her head down.
According to video shown in Russian media, she refused to answer questions in English as she was taken through the courthouse. The Russian media reported that the lawyers wouldn't comment on how their client would plead.
At an extremely low point in Moscow-Washington relations, the athlete's trial is taking place. Tensions between the two countries were already high before Russia sent troops into Ukraine. The United States imposed sanctions on Russia after the invasion.
After the State Department reclassified her as wrongly held, her supporters kept a low profile, hoping for a quiet resolution.
Cherelle called her husband's wife a political pawn and urged the president to get her released.
The coach of the Phoenix Mercury said that it was good to see her in some of the pictures. It's a reminder that their teammate is in jail in another country.
The coach wanted Biden to make sure she came home.
The prisoner swap in April that brought home Marine veteran Trevor Reed in exchange for a Russian pilot convicted of drug-trafficking conspiracy has been encouraged by Griner's fans.
She could be swapped for Russian arms trader Viktor Bout, who is currently serving a 25-year sentence for conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and providing aid to a terrorist organization.
Russia has been trying to get Bout's release for a long time. The wide discrepancy between the two cases could make a swap unpalatable to the U.S.
She could be traded with Paul Whelan, a former Marine and security director serving a 16-year sentence on an espionage conviction that the US has described as a setup.
The Secretary of State dodged the question when he was asked on CNN if a swap of two men for one man was being considered.
It's a general proposition. I want to make sure that Americans who are being illegally held around the globe come home. He couldn't say anything about what we're doing except to say this is an absolute priority.
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