Brittney Griner immediately shook hands with members of the crew returning her to the US, hostage affairs official says - CNN

CNN  — 

The apical US hostage affairs authoritative connected Sunday reflected connected conducting the prisoner swap that led to Brittney Griner’s release, saying the WNBA prima instantly thanked the unit returning her to the United States.

“When she yet got connected to the US plane, I said, ‘Brittney, you indispensable person been done a batch implicit the past 10 months. Here’s your seat. Please consciousness escaped to decompress. We’ll springiness you your space,’” Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens told CNN’s Dana Bash connected “State of the Union.”

“And she said, ‘Oh no. I’ve been successful situation for 10 months present listening to Russian, I privation to talk. But archetypal of all, who are these guys?’ And she moved close past maine and went to each subordinate connected that crew, looked them successful the eyes, shook their hands and asked astir them and got their names, making a idiosyncratic transportation with them. It was truly amazing,” Carstens recalled. “And past aboriginal on, connected an 18 hr flight, she astir apt spent 12 hours conscionable talking and we talked astir everything nether the sun.”

Carstens, who led the ngo to the UAE, provided CNN with caller details astir Griner’s travel home. Griner, who helium described arsenic “an intelligent, passionate, compassionate, humble, absorbing person, a patriotic person, but supra all, authentic,” seemed steadfast and afloat of vigor during the trip.

She was fixed a sense, helium said, that she would beryllium going location that day, and it felt existent the infinitesimal helium was capable to committee the different level and archer her that “on behalf of the President of the United States, Joe Biden, and Secretary of State Tony Blinken, I’m present to instrumentality you home.”

“At that point, we person to spell done a small much of the choreography to get her connected the plane, it usually takes astir 3 minutes,” Carstens said.

While helium said Griner talked astir her ordeal during the trip, helium declined to elaborate connected the details.

“It is humbling. I’m precise grateful that President (Joe) Biden allows maine the accidental to bash this job. It’s besides a achy job. So erstwhile you get the accidental to shingle someone’s hand, it’s 1 of the uncommon moments that you get to observe a victory,” Carstens told Bash.

“But cognize this, adjacent arsenic we are welcoming idiosyncratic home, we inactive person enactment to do. So arsenic I americium shaking Brittney’s hands and we are going to the craft and having this large conversation, my encephalon is already reasoning astir Paul Whelan. What tin we bash to get him back? What’s the adjacent move? What is the strategy? How tin we adapt?”

The envoy said helium spoke with Whelan, an American who remains detained successful Russia, the time aft the swap, and reiterated the Biden administration’s committedness to bringing him home.

“I said, ‘Paul, you person the committedness of this President. The President’s focused, the caput of state’s focused. I’m surely focused, and we’re gonna bring you home. And I reminded him, I said, ‘Paul, erstwhile you were successful the Marines, and I was successful the Army, they ever reminded you to support the faith’ and I said, ‘Keep the faith. We’re coming to get you,’” Carstens recounted.

He said helium told Whelan that “this was a lawsuit wherever it was either 1 oregon none.”

“We weren’t capable to get you retired of this spell round. We could not get the woody with the Russians. But had we not made the deal, past Brittney would not person travel home. There was nary accidental to bring you location astatine this time,” helium told Whelan of the negotiations that led to Griner’s release.

The telephone betwixt Carstens and Whelan connected Friday lasted for 30 minutes, a US authoritative told CNN.

Carstens did not springiness further details astir the dialog efforts to bring Whelan home, but said that “the options are ever being evaluated.”

“We person to accommodate to the times,” helium said. “But here’s the happening I would similar to permission you with, you know, we person an ongoing, unfastened dialog with the Russians. And we person the committedness of this President and my office, certainly, to bring Paul Whelan home.”

CORRECTION: This communicative has been updated to close the spelling of Brittney Griner’s archetypal sanction successful 2 instances.