Joe Biden hopeful Vladimir Putin more willing to negotiate on Brittney Griner

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Now that the U.S. midterm elections are over, President Joe Biden hopes that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be more willing to negotiate the release of a basketball player jailed in Russia.

The comment was made by Biden during a news conference.

He said that he is determined to get her home.

"My hope is that now that the election is over, Mr. Putin will be willing to talk more seriously about a prisoner exchange,'' Biden said.

According to her Russian legal team, she is in the process of being transferred to a Russian Penal Colony, but they don't know where she is or where she is going.

The transfer began Friday, her lawyers said, a day after U.S. embassy officials visited her. Her attorneys had said that a transfer can take weeks or months. Attorneys and U.S. officials didn't know she had been moved until Tuesday.

According to her lawyers, "Notification is given via official mail and usually takes up to two weeks to be received."

The Moscow jail where she has been held has harsher conditions than the Russian colonies.

Lindsay Kagawa Colas released a statement Tuesday night saying that their main concern was the health and well-being of the player. We need the public's support in continuing to write letters and express their love and care for her as we work through this very difficult phase of not knowing where she is or how she is doing.

Colas' team is in close contact with the U.S. government and the Richardson Center. The State Department and Richardson are working together to find her and bring her home.

We are thankful for everyone's support, and hope that as we near nine months of imprisonment, that we will be shown mercy and returned to our families for the holiday season.

The last time anyone from outside the jail spoke to her was on Thursday. She didn't see her lawyers the day before.

Her family didn't make a statement late Tuesday in the US.

The drug smuggler pleaded guilty. The US declared in May that she was being wrongly held and called her trial. Two weeks ago, an appeals court upheld her conviction, compounding the injustice of her imprisonment.

The White House said in a statement Wednesday morning that they have not received a legitimate counteroffer to the one they made in June.

"Despite a lack of good faith negotiation by the Russians, the U.S. Government has continued to follow up on that offer and propose alternatives to the Russians through all available channels," it said. The U.S. Government is steadfast in its commitment to its work on behalf of Americans who have been wrongly imprisoned.

She was arrested at a Moscow airport while trying to get into Russia to play for her club team.

T.J.Quinn was a contributor.