(Headline USA) Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., this week called for President Joe Biden to be impeached over his deal with Russia to trade WNBA player Brittney Griner for Russian terrorist arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Biden revealed on Thursday that he had struck a deal with Russia to free Griner from a Russian penal colony, where she was serving a sentence after being convicted for illegally bringing marijuana into the country. In return, the U.S. gave back Bout, an international criminal who supplied illegal weapons to terrorist organizations like al Qaeda.
“Another reason to impeach Biden,” Greene wrote on Twitter. “How many people will Viktor Bout now kill [because] Biden set him free?”
Another reason to impeach Biden.
The President of the United States traded Russian terrorist arms dealer, Viktor Bout, left a U.S. Marine in Russian jail, and brought home a professional basketball player.
How many people will Viktor Bout now kill bc Biden set him free?
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) December 8, 2022
Greene also pointed out that Biden’s trade came at the expense of U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who has been in Russian prison since 2018 for alleged espionage.
Several other Republican leaders, including former President Donald Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., slammed the trade as foolish and short-sighted.
“What kind of a deal is it to swap Brittney Griner, a basketball player who openly hates our Country, for the man known as ‘The Merchant of Death,’ who is one of the biggest arms dealers anywhere in the World, and responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and horrific injuries,” Trump said in a statement.
“Why wasn’t former Marine Paul Whelan included in this totally one-sided transaction?” Trump added. “He would have been let out for the asking. What a ‘stupid’ and unpatriotic embarrassment for the USA!!!”
McCarthy agreed, calling the trade “a gift to Vladimir Putin.”
“‘Merchant of Death’—That’s the nickname of the prisoner Biden returned to Putin. He was convicted of conspiring to kill American law enforcement,” McCarthy said. “Leaving Paul Whelan behind for this is unconscionable.”
"Merchant of Death"—That's the nickname of the prisoner Biden returned to Putin. He was convicted of conspiring to kill American law enforcement.
This is a gift to Vladimir Putin, and it endangers American lives.
Leaving Paul Whelan behind for this is unconscionable.
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) December 8, 2022
Greene has introduced multiple impeachment resolutions against Biden already—the first for his botched military withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the latest for “endangering, compromising, and undermining the energy security of the United States by selling oil from the United States’ Strategic Petroleum Reserve to foreign nations.”
