Dennis Rodman is Going to Russia to Free Brittney Griner
From Jonathan Allen at NBC News (not the Washington Commanders’ Jonathan Allen) –
WASHINGTON — Former NBA player Dennis Rodman said Saturday that he plans to visit Russia to seek the release of Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who was sentenced to nine years in prison on drug charges earlier this month.
“I got permission to go to Russia to help that girl,” Rodman told NBC News at a restaurant in D.C. “I’m trying to go this week.”
He is more likely to hurt than help, said a senior Biden administration official.
“It’s public information that the administration has made a significant offer to the Russians and anything other than negotiating further through the established channel is likely to complicate and hinder release efforts,” said the official.
Right, so the offer is that the United States is willing to send Russia some arms dealer named Viktor Bout in exchange for Griner and a guy named Paul Whelan, who is an ex-Marine detained over there on espionage charges. That trade proposal is almost a month old at this point, so either Russia is taking forever to mull it over or they aren’t going to accept it.
(at this point, I’m trying to decide if a NBA joke would be appropriate or not, I was gonna make a quip about throwing in a couple of draft picks, too)
But the Rodman thing is so crazy that it just might work. The Worm went to North Korea back in the day and takes partial credit for bringing Kenneth Bae home. He developed a relationship with Kim Jong Un and sometimes you have to consider alternate methods of getting stuff done. These dictators are weird cats. They won’t communicate with government officials via proper channels but if you send the 2x NBA Defensive Player of the Year over there, maybe something clicks. They connect via basketball or sport. Bottom line, anything you can do to bring Griner and Whelan home feels like a good move to me, so let’s get this thing arranged. #DoTheDeal.