Stay updated with breaking news from Arms trafficker. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
Some weeks ago after i interviewed dmitry peskov, the kremlin spokesperson and in that interview, i put to him that brittney griner was a hostage. he denied that she was a hostage and quickly segued to say, awe, but our viktor bout, who s in prison in america, this arms trafficker, he is a hostage. and the way that dmitry peskov put those two cases together left me in no doubt, if there was any doubt, that russia would be prepared to do some kind of prisoner swap, possibly with paul whelan, as well. but i think that you ll see them play hardball. and i think this sentence is part of that. i don t think that you can necessarily say that the judge here is kind of doing president putin s bidding, if you like. there is still a legal system in russia, despite the fact that the judge has clearly taken a very tough line. ten years was the maximum sentence, nine years is not very far short of that. ....
Whelan and brittney griner. president biden preparing to speak to chinese leader xi jinping today amid rising tension was taiwan. how will the surprising deal involving moderate democrat joe manchin impact the economy and the biden presidency? and live during this show, what will the gdp report tell us about a potential recession? former white house aide cassidy hutchinson now cooperating with the justice department s january 6 investigation. who else is talking? and is mike pompeo the next to sit before the january 6th committee? we have new reporting this morning. let s go first, though, to the state department for new developments on the proposed prisoner swap of a convicted russian arms dealer for brittney griner and paul whelan. cnn s kylie atwood broke this story and is at the state department this morning. what movement have you seen? reporter: the biden administration has put this offer on the table for viktor bout, a convicted arms trafficker as part of a proposal ....
This morning, an offer is on the table and the white house is waiting on the kremlin. i m john berman with brianna keilar. vladimir putin has not yet responded to a proposed prisoner swap. the biden administration offered to send convicted russian arms dealer viktor bout, a man dubbed the merchant of death, in exchange for two detained americans, wnba star brittney griner and paul whelan. cnn was the first to report on this proposed prisoner exchange that president biden, we re told, personally signed off on. the justice department opposed offering the convicted arms trafficker as part of the potential deal. he is currently serving a 25 year prison sentence in the united states. secretary of state tony blinken expecting to speak with russia s foreign minister on the phone, here in the coming days. this is going to be the first time that the top u.s. diplomat has spoken to his russian counterpart since the war in ukraine began. and joining us now is trevor reed, former u.s. marine ....
Free russian arms trafficker viktor bout in exchange for russia s release of brittney griner and paul whelan. bout s nick name is the merchant of death. jonathan franks is a crisis management consultant who worked for the april release of trevor reed. good to see you. so, russia had detained the u.s. marine veteran for almost three years. i m talking about trevor reed. and you were instrumental in helping to secure his release. so, now that the russians have been interested in getting bout fair very long time but then earlier today said there is no agreement for now, how do you read into that? what s going on? thanks for having me, fred. i just don t know. it s hard to make. it could just be posturing on the russians part. they had made getting viktor bout back, as you mentioned, a national priority since 2016. so, ultimately, i think they ll ....
thank you for that. stand by, i want to go back now to coach dawn staley, brittney griner s former olympic coach. the offer, which has been on the table for weeks now i understand from the secretary of state, to exchange viktor bout convicted russian arms trafficker serving 25 years in a u.s. prison as a deal to secure brittney griner and paul whelan, your reaction? that s the first i ve heard of that. here s what we need to do. we got we got two americans that are over there wrongfully detained. we need to do everything in our power to get them home, and if that s the case, that s the case. i think we as our american country, we can handle whatever whatever is the aftermath of getting them home, but the most important thing is to get them home with their families. you and so many others have ....