The White House had to have known the kind of response the Brittney Griner prisoner swap with Viktor Bout, a.k.a. the Merchant of Death would bring. That is likely why reports say that the decision was a difficult one for Joe Biden. I guarantee Biden knew the kind of criticism he was in for with this deal.

Above all else, we are happy that Brittney was released and will be home with her family and friends. Whether or not we agree with her political activism or personal behavior, as Americans we bring our people home from being detained overseas. Brittney violated Russian drug laws but who really thinks that a nine year prison sentence was appropriate? That was Mad Vlad Putin poking his finger in Joe Biden’s eye. She is a WNBA star and a black lesbian. My goodness, she checks off a lot of boxes in Democrat politics. She was a valuable asset for the Russians. So, they got a world famous arms dealer with American blood on his hands in exchange. Putin scored big.

It is possible to be happy for Brittney’s release as a fellow American and it is possible to question the competence of the Biden administration. Biden was happy to take the credit for Brittney’s release. He had still photos taken in the Oval Office of him talking on the phone with Brittney upon her release, surrounded by Secretary of State Blinken, Kamala, and Brittney’s wife, Cherelle. Biden held a press briefing and Cherelle spoke. Everyone voiced concern that fellow American detainee Paul Whelan was not also released in the deal. Biden and Cherelle vowed to continue fighting for his release.

Whelan doesn’t understand why he is still in prison. Frankly, we don’t understand that, either. Whelan is a former Marine, after all. Brittney is a star basketball player. Celebrity wins, is the message. That’s just wrong. Whelan has already been in prison for four years. It is reported he is being treated differently because he is serving time for espionage charges. At this point, we have to hope that a deal is being worked out for him, too.

As it turns out, both sides of the aisle are not happy about the release of Viktor Bout. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about it during Thursday’s press briefing.

“The question has been placed to us is … do we have security concerns, right?” she added. “And what we have said is that the president did not make this decision lightly — just want to make that very clear — but he believed it was the right thing to secure Brittney’s release. And we are going to stay vigilant.”

“Negotiations for release of wrongful detainees are often very difficult, that’s just a reality,” she said.

She also stressed that Biden is committed to bringing home Whelan. In remarks made just after Griner’s release were made public, Biden earlier on Thursday said that Russia is treating Whelan’s case differently than Griner’s “for totally illegitimate reasons.”

When asked if Russia got a better deal in the swap, Jean-Pierre said, “Our choice was Brittney or no one at all.”

When asked by FNC’s Peter Doocy about the uneven deal – a basketball player for an international arms dealer – KJP got a little testy.

“The professional athlete is also an American citizen, let’s not forget that,” Jean-Pierre pushed back. “The president felt that this was an opportunity to bring Brittney home.”

Former President Trump weighed in on the swap.

Former President Donald Trump labeled the deal “one-sided,” calling it a “stupid and unpatriotic embarrassment for the USA” since the Biden Administration wasn’t able to secure the release of Paul Whelan.

Not to nitpick but Trump didn’t get him released, either.

Kevin McCarthy and Adam Kinzinger spoke out. For the first time in a while, I agree with something Kinzinger said.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was the top GOP lawmaker to criticize the deal, calling it a “gift to Vladimir Putin” and saying it is “unconscionable” Whelan wasn’t involved.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.)—who frequently clashes with his GOP colleagues as one of two Republicans serving on the House January 6 committee—tweeted the Biden Administration showed “weakness” by failing to secure Whelan’s release.

Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a statement. In part, he says that this kind of deal encourages other Americans to be detained.

“To be clear, Ms. Griner should have been released immediately and unconditionally a long time ago. Putin has known that all along. 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. 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.’ Nothing could be further from the truth, and we cannot ignore that releasing Bout back into the world is a deeply disturbing decision. 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.

“My heart also goes out to the families of other American citizens in Russian prisons and labor camps, including Paul Whelan. 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.”

As I said, we can be happy as Americans for Brittney’s release. We can also question why deals are made for various Americans versus others. And those questions must be asked of any administration.