White House: ‘Some Autocrats’ Might Take Griner Swap as Incentive to Kidnap More Americans

On Monday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports,” White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby stated that while it’s hard to show “some sort of mathematical case to prove” the prisoner swap to free Brittney Griner from Russia in exchange for releasing arms dealer Viktor Bout is encouraging further kidnapping of U.S. citizens, “there are some autocrats around the world that might be thinking that way.”

Host Elizabeth Vargas asked, “There were some people who were worried after we swapped Brittney Griner — the WNBA star — for the Russian arms dealer, that we were setting a precedent of swapping, that this would actually encourage other autocrats, other dictators around the world to kidnap American citizens. Do you think those concerns were valid?”

Kirby responded, “It’s difficult to point to some sort of mathematical case to prove that that happens. I’ve heard that argument before. Certainly, we’re mindful that there are some autocrats around the world that might be thinking that way. This is not a new tactic for Mr. Putin to detain Americans and wrongfully so and under ridiculous charges. But we don’t know exactly what’s behind this particular one and — or whether it was motivated by the fact that we were able to negotiate for Brittney’s release.”

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