Essamuah asked Whelan to explain the process, and Whelan described an “evolution” from a disinterested and unprepared Trump administration to a Biden administration that is “100% engaged on bringing Paul home”:
ZINHLE ESSAMUAH: At the White House. When they informed you Britney would be coming home, did they tell you why Paul was not?
DAVID WHELAN: I wasn’t part of the conversation, so I’m not sure if that came up. I think we understood that there was, there were really two options. It was one option for Brittney Griner to come home, and that was one option for nobody to come home. And I think President Biden made the right choice, which is that an American should come home if they can come home.
ZINHLE ESSAMUAH: And I know your brother Paul did an interview with CNN just yesterday. And in it he said he was greatly disappointed that more hasn’t been done to secure his release. And the Biden administration and at times even the Trump administration made overtures for his release. So talk about what this process has been like from your perspective, especially given some of the back and forth and the other Americans we’ve seen come home.
DAVID WHELAN: It’s really been an evolution. And I think the first two years, partly I think the Trump administration was not prepared to or not interested in working on wrongful detention cases. And partly the wars didn’t exist during those first two years of Paul’s detention. We’re starting to see that change. The Biden administration is much more engaged in wrongful detentions and the executive order that President Biden passed or signed last year, plus the Levinso Act, have given the government more tools to help wrongful detainee families, but also to try to start to punish the nations who are doing that. So we’re seeing improvement. But I think Paul had his hopes up. We all did. To the extent that Secretary Blinken had said a substantial proposal had been made to Russia. Paul had been thinking already about where he would live when he came back. And so when I heard that his voice, he was obviously tremendously disappointed. And it’s understandable.