Cowboys star slams Griner/Bout trade for excluding former Marine Paul Whelan

The White House just announced the completion of the prisoner exchange of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in exchange for WNBA player Brittany Griner. (If your’e unfamiliar with the situation click here for the whole rundown) However, Dallas Cowboys standout, Micah Parsons, believes the swap should have included Paul Whelan.

Parsons tweeted several reactions to the news, one of which was, “Wait nah!! We left a marine?!! Hell nah”

In a now deleted tweet, Parsons responded to a post from President Biden by saying “We still not voting for you !” He later posted this followup:

My last tweet was no shot at Brittney Griner. I’m super happy she’s back home as she should be. I just have family who have served and it’s crazy to me the President wouldn’t bring him home too. I’m the furthest thing from a trump supporter but I’m not a fan of Biden either.

— Micah Parsons (@MicahhParsons11) December 8, 2022

Paul Whelan: Master spy or Political prisoner?

Paul Whelan, a US, Irish, British and Canadian citizen, enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1998. He participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom, but ran into some legal trouble. Court Martial records show he was convicted of multiple counts of larceny, and given a bad conduct discharge.

Afterwards, Whelan began working as the director of global security and investigations for a Michigan based automotive part company. He also frequently began traveling to Russia. In 2018, Whelan was arrested on suspicion of espionage, and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

But Whelan claims he was “set up,” and his lawyer has told reporters that Whelan received a thumb drive that was supposed to filled with photos of Russian churches, but it allegedly contained “state secrets.” However, Whelan claims he never opened the thumb drive because he was arrested shortly after.

Russian claims the caught Whelan “red-handed” with the classified information. Whelan still protests that he was only in Moscow to attend a friend’s wedding, and they charges against him “don’t make sense.”