Joe Biden and his party’s political honchos have a nightmare on their hands.
Members of their own party are rebelling.
And Democrat Party Bosses are melting down after a key ally flipped on Joe Biden.
President Joe Biden just got blasted for trading the “Merchant of Death,” arms dealer Viktor Bout, to Russia in exchange for imprisoned WNBA player Brittany Griner.
The outrage comes from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ).
“This should be a moment of deep reflection for the United States government to recognize we have a serious problem with hostage-taking of Americans,” Menendez pointed out. “The Russians and other regimes that take American citizens hostage cannot pretend that there is equivalence between the Brittney Griners of the world and people like Viktor Bout, the so-called ‘Merchant of Death.’”
Prisoner swaps are always controversial and dangerous propositions.
Handing over a high value warlord encourages rogue regimes, like Russia, to kidnap more American citizens in order to get what they want from the U.S. government.
Senator Menendez then added that it was insane to swap the most notorious arms dealer in the world for a basketball player.
“Nothing could be further from the truth, and we cannot ignore that releasing Bout back into the world is a deeply disturbing decision,” Menendez continued. “We must stop inviting dictatorial and rogue regimes to use Americans overseas as bargaining chips, and we must try to do better at encouraging American citizens against traveling to places like Russia where they are primary targets for this type of unlawful detention.”
Mendez also criticized President Biden for abandoning U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in a Russian prison after he was convicted by a rubber stamp jury on espionage charges.
The prominent Democrat says he will be pushing Biden to free Whelan.
“My heart also goes out to the families of other American citizens in Russian prisons and labor camps, including Paul Whelan,” Menendez added. “They have my renewed commitment and determination to use the power of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to secure Mr. Whelan’s safe return and to continue fighting for the release of all Russian political prisoners, like Vladimir Kara Murza, and all other unjustly detained Americans.”
Its abundantly obvious Joe Biden was trying to please the woke left-wing outrage mob when he traded Russia’s most dangerous arms dealer for a basketball player.
But it looks like a decision he’ll end up paying for as even members of his own Party are outraged by the awful deal he struck with Putin.
Political Animal News will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
