White House Official Details Brittney Griner's First Moments of Freedom

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White House Official Details Brittney Griner’s First Moments of Freedom
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Roger Carstens, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, described what it was like taking the WNBA star home.
Corbin Bolies
Media Reporter
Published Dec. 11, 2022 11:27AM ET 
CNN


She waited 10 months to see a friendly face. When she finally did, she wanted to talk.

It was the first thing Roger Carstens, the Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, noticed when he arrived in Russia to meet WNBA star Brittney Griner and take her home. “When she finally got onto the U.S. plane, I said: ‘Brittney, you must have been through a lot over the last 10 months. Here’s your seat. Please feel free to decompress. We will give you your space,’” he told CNN’s Dana Bash on State of the Union. “She said, ‘Oh, no, I have been in prison for 10 months now listening to Russian. I want to talk. But, first of all, who are these guys?”

He described how Griner went to talk to everyone aboard the plane, inquiring about their lives and getting to know them. They then chatted for the entirety of the 10-hour flight, an experience that encapsulated her humanity and was a striking phenomenon to see for someone in captivity for nearly a year, Carstens said.

“I was left with the impression that this is an intelligent, passionate, compassionate, humble, interesting person,” he said. “A patriotic person, but, above all, authentic. I hate the fact that I had to meet her in this manner, but I actually felt blessed having had a chance to get to know her.”

It was the first detailed account of Griner’s release since the historic prisoner swap on Thursday, in which U.S. officials traded Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for the athlete, who was convicted on drug charges for transporting a marijuana vape. The move came after an intense pressure campaign on the White House from activists, politicians, and Griner’s wife to secure her release.

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