Liberal party Vice President Teena McQueen says the deal struck by the Biden administration to release basketballer Brittney Griner from a Russian prison is “the worst deal ever”.

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US President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that his administration had negotiated for Griner to be released in a prisoner swap which saw the US release arms dealer Viktor Bout.

The US had also been hoping to secure the release of Paul Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive jailed in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges, but was unable to make a deal in his case.

McQueen said it was not surprising that White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was enthused about the release, because like Griner, Jean-Pierre is a gay woman.

“Of course the White House person Jean-Pierre, Karin Jean-Pierre, is all for it, herself being a gay black feminist woman. I mean you’ve left a military man over there who served his country to bring back a basketballer whose wife was missing her terribly. This is just horrible.

“Surely that’s a very bad deal. Surely they could have got two for the price of the guns dealer.” McQueen said during her regular appearance on the Sky News program Bernardi. 

McQueen also questioned Griner’s decision to sign up to play basketball in Russia given the country’s attitudes towards homosexuality.

“Why would she go, I mean she’s gay.” McQueen said. “She was game to go out there as a gay person.”

Homosexuality is not illegal in Russia, but a 2013 law saw promotion of “non-traditional” relationships to minors become an offence. Recently the law has been extended to make promotion of any positive images of “non-traditional” relationships to people of any age against the law. Those changes however were brought in after Griner’s arrest and conviction.

OIP Staff

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