All about the Russian ‘Merchant of Death’ traded for Brittney Griner

CNN’s Brian Todd details the background of Victor Bout, the convicted Russian arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death,” who was traded for WNBA player Brittney Griner in a prisoner exchange. Then, Bill Richardson, who helps negotiate Griner’s release, speaks with Wolf Blitzer about her release.

66 comments

  1. Thanks a lot Brittney, because you thought smuggling drugs through Russia was a good idea, now “The Merchant of Death” walks the streets again. Way to go genius 👏

    1. Military men & women are questioning everything they were taught now that traitor Biden left an American soldier behind as a POW for a criminal Biden has committed the worst case of treason ever by a president or government official FJB

    2. I bet most people take this whole situation face front instead of thinking outside the box. Ok yeh so the U.S trade an Arms dealer for a lesbian basket ball player? So I wander what intelligence the arms dealer has for the Russians? Or what information does Brittany has about the Russians to give to the U.S? This sh!t is weird. Whats really going on behind the scenes with Biden, Putin, and Griner in thie soon to come WW3? 🤔🤨🙏🧠 The US Govt is a joke.

    3. @Just Me Except I wouldn’t expect the US government to get me off and get me home well a marine stayed behind bars in exchange for a terroristic and help the Russian war against Ukraine there are many reasons here

    1. Storming the capital building behind the big lie and nobody received a pardon but Steve Bannon isn’t a fair deal either

  2. Wow, Griner gave Russia a bargaining chip and the US released an arms dealer. I highly doubt I would’ve made that trade.

    1. @Make Racists Afraid Again except for the other 2 us citizen thats still there and 14 us personnel left in afganistan

    2. The US just released a man dangerous to the whole world. In my opinion, this was not a good swap. And I have a hunch that this swap was mostly done by Biden as a PR campaign…. Maybe it’s easy for me to say, but if I were Grinder, I would’ve had a hard time swallowing the fact that I was being traded for an extremely dangerous man. I would’ve felt really bad about it and if I could refuse to let myself be swapped for him. But again, it’s easy for me to say that since I’m not the one in a Russian prison

    1. @Jon Meyer bout was only convicted for conspiracy to sell weapons his trial was a sham

    2. @Depressed Cheems and that’s awful I am not a fan of this arms dealer… but to be weirdly myopic about Griner’s sexuality and race isn’t gonna stop a war monger

    3. @Jon Meyer keep sticking your head in the sand. She was foolish enough to smuggle drugs into an airport, every average normie would be in jail for that. She previously stated her feelings towards America and they weren’t very positive. So yeah this unpatriotic criminal celebrity gets freed in exchange for a guy responsible for the death of millions of people. I hope she’s grateful but I doubt the word ever entered her lexicon

    4. @Jon MeyerTotally missed my point, it went right over your head. And, no, I’m not going to explain it.

    1. @Z Morris Hershel Walker son is gay and had 2 abortion’s that’s why the Democrat’s gave him back to Texas where they slaughter innocent children in Uvalde

    2. @Andrew D Why trump didn’t get him out 😂😂😂 oh yeah he hates veterans trump love’s Kodak black and Steve Bannon who stole the money for the fence u insurrectionis donated for the wall

    1. The US just helped Russia in the war against Ukraine, yet we gave Ukraine 80 billion of tax payer money🤔🤔… how can the left be too dense to see that🤦

    1. @Pipo Exactly. It has to do with her being black and gay. If she was white they wouldn’t have any issue with it.

    2. @James Peter if she was white no one would have heard about this whole story and she would be stuck in a horrendous Russian cell for 9 years , accept the truth for once.

    3. @James Peter A wise person once said ” Real fascists will call themselves anti fascists in the future ” the future is now.

    4. @James Peter yes there it is, y do u all youtube folks take things so round & round. Russia is very conscious when it comes to military protocols otherwise a soldier would’ve been first to not left behind by the us, rest all u said is very debatable.

    1. @Trump’s insurrection see you are delusional, he doesn’t get credit for fixing his own messes! And I knew you could not answer without bringing up trump! 🤣

    2. @Bob White and trump is responsible for all of this by downplaying the virus thousands died daily, government shutdown, California burning while trump folded his arms and said it would be cool soon,so stop watching Fox news and learn something stupid SOB

    3. @Trump’s insurrectionbrought up trump again 🤣🤣 do some research!!! It’s not your fault I know it’s the delusional Democrat way to blame everything on someone else especially TRUMP!!!!! Stop looking at tiktok, YouTube, Instagram for news it’s all garbage! People who get there news from Social media aren’t actually getting news….. please do some research this weekend off Social media educate yourself a little bit, please 🙏

  3. Putin just learned that it takes a low level celebrity to get a high profile ally out of American prisons🤦

    1. True .they dont care .so israel had no obligation to stop putin weapons trsnsfer from syria to ukraine

    2. @Stan H how bout the marine thats still there? A common citizen such as a straight white or black male would still be in that prison lol usa is a joke smh

    3. @Goin’totheDogsyes because she broke the law why is she above it? why does anyone who commits a crime out of country deserve to be saved and why a person who doesnt like the country saving her

    4. @nrco trump had people storming capital buildings, stolen classified documents, his insurrectionists administration are felonies now, they found more classified documents in his storage and he is still free your point 🖕

    1. @Simi no it’s not. Britany is no threat to Russia. She should have never brought that vape pen to Russia, how stupid can she be?

    2. Anyone see a policy of the DNC that doesn’t result in more dead Africans or African Americans?
      Serious question… I can’t find one.

      1) PROTECTING AMERICANS AND RECOVERING FROM THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
      Making people trust public health less will disproportionately hurt poorer Americans.

      2) BUILDING A STRONGER, FAIRER ECONOMY
      Lies… More debt. Fake infrastructure. All bringing more inflation which will disproportionately hurt poorer Americans.

      3) ACHIEVING UNIVERSAL, AFFORDABLE, QUALITY HEALTH CARE
      See Obamacare and how it enriched insurance companies and hurt the lower middle class. Still no preventative healthcare for all US citizens… Just illegal immigrants.

      4) PROTECTING COMMUNITIES AND BUILDING TRUST BY REFORMING OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
      Trump actually did that. The Dems have literally tried to defund the police which even their voters in poorer neighborhoods wisely rejected.

      5) HEALING THE SOUL OF AMERICA
      Race baiting and using hate to drive their voters is hardly “HEALING”

      6) COMBATING THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND PURSUING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
      We can see from the UN’s own numbers the Biden administration kills about 2 million, mostly African, poor people for every 10$ oil goes up per barrel.

      7) RESTORING AND STRENGTHENING OUR DEMOCRACY
      Florida counted 7 million votes a week after a disaster, well before morning… I think some DNC run counters are still counting LOL. Literally.

      8) CREATING A 21ST CENTURY IMMIGRATION SYSTEM
      900+ illegal flights of immigrants throughout the US before the Governor of Florida sent a single busload to Martha’s Vineyard… Where they were feed cereal on plates with no milk. And evacuated to a military base in less than 48 hours.

      9) PROVIDING A WORLD-CLASS EDUCATION IN EVERY ZIP CODE
      School choice still not allowed in places like Baltimore where the children there cost the taxpayers over 17K each per year and score among the worst in the US. The cycle of poverty remains in communities where young poor are more likely to die than US soldiers in war zones.

      Now Brittany is traded for a man pretty involved in genocide (in Africa)… And he will probably be again.

    3. @Simi bc he’s free to bring terror on the world again, idiot… You’d understand if he provided the weapons to gangsters that killed your family, friends and everyone you knew. Understand?

    1. I would rather her rot in prison than release this arms dealing maniacal lunatic back onto the streets. This is literally the price of her being released and now there is far less in this world to pray about.

    2. You mean all of the Americans serving ridiculously long sentences in American prisons for low-level drug offenses too, right?

  4. It was a bad deal and Whelan was left behind. Why wasn’t Griner left to serve the consequences of her choices – just because she’s an American isn’t good enough. How many people will Bout go on to play a major part in their deaths? Ashamed of Biden on this one.

    1. I’m sorry I need to say something. I want Whelan home too but come on you can’t be that naive. Paul Whelan is definitely a spy. I love it we should spy on Russia, but didn’t he kinda know the consequences of being a spy?
      Griner’s detention was unjust she did not receive an American lawyer and she the sentence was politically motivated.

  5. Let’s go Brandon!!! Excellent negotiation tactic getting a person who hates America and leaving the Marine and teacher there! Stunning and brave!

  6. The guys nickname is Merchant of Death. We traded a “precious” diamond for a dime bag all in the name of winning points with lgbtq voting segment

  7. Griner thought she was above the law, this was a horrible deal and will cost lives going forward by the arms trader griner should have been left in Russia the lost lives to come will be on her and she could care less

  8. As a result of strikes with high-precision weapons of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the areas of the settlements of Shevchenkovskoye and Grigorovskoye of the Zaporozhye region, five launchers of MLRS multiple launch rocket systems manufactured by the USA and MARS-II manufactured by Germany were destroyed.
    In the area of the settlement of Ilyichevka, Donetsk People’s Republic, two HIMARS launchers manufactured by the United States were destroyed.

  9. Am I the only one that noticed on the prisoner exchange video that after Bout shakes hands and hugs with his comrades Griner moves towards him to shake his hand and the video is immediately spliced to seconds later as she’s walking away? Two criminals shaking hands while being treated like heroes while Paul Whalen still sits in hell. I call BIGTIME BULLSHIT!!!!

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