World

‘Very Pissed’: Brittney Griner’s Wife Goes Off On US Government

Shutterstock/Keeton Gale

Kay Smythe News and Commentary Writer
Font Size:

The wife of basketball player Brittney Griner said the imprisoned star tried calling her via the U.S. Embassy in Russia nearly a dozen times Saturday, but the U.S. government never connected the call.

Saturday marked the fourth anniversary of Cherelle Griner and Brittney Griner, a basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury. The couple has not spoken since Griner was arrested in Russia on cannabis charges roughly four months prior, according to The Associated Press. The couple were scheduled to speak over the weekend, but the U.S. Embassy in Russia was not staffed, so the call was not answered, according to Griner, who spoke to the AP.

Cherelle suspected that Russian authorities had ensured the call never went through despite them having previously approved the call. Cherelle said Monday she learned that Brittney had tried calling her 11 times over the course of several hours, AP continued. The call was supposed to be wired from Brittney to Cherelle via the embassy, but the desk where the phone rang was unstaffed Saturday, according to Cherelle.

“I was distraught. I was hurt. I was done, fed up,” Cherelle told the AP. “I’m pretty sure I texted BG’s agent and was like: ‘I don’t want to talk to anybody. It’s going to take me a minute to get my emotions together, and just tell everybody I’m unavailable right now.’ Because it just knocked me out. I wasn’t well, I’m still not well.”

The call was scheduled two weeks prior, but no one told her that the call might not be possible due to the weekend staffing logistics, Cherelle told the outlet. The State Department said Monday that “we deeply regret that Brittney Griner was unable to speak with her wife because of a logistical error,” according to the AP.

Cherelle said she was “very pissed” and that she found it “unacceptable.”

“I have zero trust in our government right now. If I can’t trust you to catch a Saturday call outside of business hours, how can I trust you to actually be negotiating on my wife’s behalf to come home? Because that’s a much bigger ask than to catch a Saturday call.”

Brittney was reportedly given a phone number frequently used by prisoners to call the U.S., but that number is only available Monday through Friday, the outlet noted. A contact at the U.S. government reached out to Cherelle and apologized for the error, she told the AP. (RELATED: Putin Might Threaten Nukes, Chemical Attacks And More, US Says)

The WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist was arrested in Moscow, Russia, in February and is being investigated on drug trafficking charges after airport officials discovered cannabis oil in her possession. Brittney has pleaded “not guilty” to the charges and will reportedly remain in Russia until at least July 2, according to another AP report.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel