White House: Griner release was ‘difficult decision’ for Biden

President Biden made a difficult and painful decision to accept Russian terms for a one-for-one exchange to release American basketball star Brittney Griner, a senior administration official said Thursday, saying the Russians rejected U.S. efforts to also release imprisoned American Paul Whelan. “This was not a situation where we had a choice of which American to bring home. It was a choice between bringing home one particular American, Brittney Griner, or bringing home none,” t