Biden administration reportedly offered convicted arms trafficker in exchange for the release of Brittney Griner and another American detained in Russia

• The White House has reportedly made an offer to bring Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan back to the US.
• The Biden administration would release arms dealer Viktor Bout in exchange for the Americans.

The Biden administration has proposed a prisoner exchange with Russia in an attempt to secure the freedom of wrongfully detained Americans Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, CNN reported on Wednesday.

The White House has offered to release notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout to bring the basketball superstar and ex-Marine back to the States. Bout has served more than 10 years of his minimum 25-year sentence for conspiring to provide "material support" to a terrorist organization, promising to supply them with anti-aircraft missiles, and engaging in a plot to kill Americans and US officials.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged on Wednesday that the US made a "substantial proposal" to get the pair of Americans released a few weeks ago, but didn't confirm Bout was offered in a prisoner swap.

"In the coming days, I expect to speak with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov for the first time since the war began," Blinken said. "I plan to raise an issue that's a top priority for us — the release of Americans Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner, who have been wrongfully detained and must be allowed to come home."

"Our governments have communicated repeatedly and directly on that proposal," he continued, adding that he hopes to see a "resolution."

Griner, an eight-time WNBA All-Star, has been in Russian custody since February 17. The 6-foot-9 Phoenix Mercury center was charged with the large-scale transportation of drugs and moved to a Russian jail shortly after customs agents at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport claimed to have found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage.

Whelan, meanwhile, has been wrongfully detained in Russia since December 2018. The former Marine-turned-security executive was arrested at a Moscow hotel over suspicions that he was an American spy. He was subsequently convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in Russian prison, with the possibility of serving time at a labor camp.

Though Griner's trial — which legal experts characterize as a "show trial" with a "predetermined" outcome — is still underway, sources have repeatedly told Insider that a prisoner exchange is Griner's most likely path home. Such is also the case for Whelan.

Prisoner swaps are nothing new for the Americans and the Russians. As recently as April of this year, the Biden administration negotiated the release of former marine Trevor Reed — who was arrested on baseless accusations that he attacked a Russian police officer in 2018 — in exchange for a convicted Russian drug smuggler.

But Bout has a far more sinister reputation than most of the individuals the US has released in past trades. Known as the "Merchant of Death," he is infamous for supplying rebel groups and terrorist organizations with weapons that fueled bloody wars across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

However, Bout's 2008 arrest in Thailand was not actually based on charges for the high-stakes trafficking operations that have since served as inspiration for several movies, documentaries, and books. Instead, he has been in foreign custody for over a decade after he was caught in a US Drug Enforcement Agency sting operation.

American officials lured the elusive arms distributor to engage with purported representatives of a Colombian guerilla group. He offered to sell weapons to the rebels, even with the understanding that the materials could have been used to kill Americans.

Soon after, Bout was arrested in Bangkok and, following an extended legal battle and protests from the Russian government, extradited to the United States. Nearly four years after his initial capture, Bout was convicted of a trio of crimes and handed his minimum 25-year sentence.

But the Hon. Shira A. Scheindlin, a then-federal judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York who ruled on the case, has since said that "the sentence was too high in the first place."

"It was mandatory. I had no discretion," she told Insider in early July. "I had to give the sentence I gave."

The Russian government has since lobbied hard for Bout's return, and Russian media have repeatedly linked him to potential prisoner swaps with jailed Americans — including Reed. As recently as May, Russian state media outlet Tass wrote that American and Russian officials had engaged in talks about a potential Bout-Griner prisoner exchange.

Linkage of Bout and Griner has prompted Scheindlin to speak out about mischaracterizations surrounding Bout's arrest and conviction. Chief among her concerns: The "Merchant of Death" was never convicted of actually supplying anyone with weapons.

"No arms were sold," Scheindlin said. "Nobody was hurt, and he was kind of placed in that position because of his past and because of the way the agents handled it.

"I'm not saying he's an innocent guy, don't get me wrong, but I do think having served 11 years or so ... that's a pretty hefty amount of time in a person's life," she added. "I don't think it would be wrong to trade him. The US interest in punishing him has been satisfied, in my opinion."

Duncan Levin, a criminal law expert who served as a federal prosecutor with the US Department of Justice before assuming the role of managing partner at Levin & Associates, previously told Insider that Scheindlin's stance on the matter "should be taken very seriously" given her proximity to and familiarity with Bout's case.

"When the sentencing judge is saying that he's served enough time, that's something that should to carry a lot of weight," Levin said.

Scheindlin was unwavering in her belief that Bout — whom she characterized as "a cold, cold businessman" but far from a terrorist — no longer poses a threat to the US or its allies. She added that "he'd be deranged the risk going back to prison."

Jonathan Franks, who worked to free Reed earlier in the year and serves as the spokesman for the Bring Our Families Home Campaign, told Insider: "I don't think it's a national security issue" to release Bout, in part because "he's not the same man" he was when he was first taken into custody some 15 years ago.

But other sources, like Dr. Dani Gilbert, insist that "there's a real American national security interest in keeping Viktor Bout locked up." An expert on hostage taking and recovery who is currently a Rosenwald Fellow in US Foreign Policy and International Security at Dartmouth College's John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, Gilbert told Insider that "the costs of letting him go are very real."

"He's a real bad guy," she said. "He's a violent criminal, who was responsible for aiding and abetting violence all over the world."

Gilbert also warned of concerns beyond Bout's notoriety and capacity for future harm; releasing such a high-profile criminal could incentivize Russia and other American adversaries to wrongfully detain more civilians in the future.

"The White House has to be cautious of advertising to the rest of the world that the minute you unjustly arrest an American citizen abroad that you will get the full attention of the Oval Office," Gilbert explained, adding: "This narrative of 'you arrest Americans and the government will make concessions to bring them home' does set a really dangerous precedent."

Blinken offered similar analysis during a press briefing Wednesday, telling media members that the US has "two imperatives when it comes to arbitrarily wrongfully detained Americans anywhere in the world, including Russia, including in the cases of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan."

"We, of course, want to see those who are wrongfully detained be released and be able to return home," the Secretary of State said. "At the same time, it's important that we work to reinforce the global norm against these arbitrary detentions, against what is truly a horrific practice."

"So we're working concertedly on both," he added.

With up to a decade in Russian prison awaiting Griner and 14 years remaining in Whelan's sentence, supporters have been unrelenting in calls for the Americans' expeditious return home. Griner's agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, told Insider earlier in July that she and those closest to the superstar "ask President Biden to do what is necessary to get a deal done to bring Brittney home as quickly as possible."

It appears her message that "getting BG home will be seen and celebrated as a win for America" resonated with White House decision-makers.

Franks agrees with the sentiment.

"The country needs something to feel good about right now," he said. "And bringing Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan home would be that."