WNBA star Brittney Griner, an American currently on trial in Russia, wrote a handwritten letter to President Joe Biden pleading for his help earlier this week.
Griner was arrested in February after allegedly being in possession of cannabis oil. She’s been held in a Russian jail for months since being detained, according to The New York Times, and her trial began Friday. (RELATED: WNBA Star Brittney Griner’s Pre-Trial Detention Extended A Month In Russia)
“Please do all you can to bring us home. I voted for the first time in 2020 and I voted for you. I believe in you,” Griner wrote to Biden, referring to herself and other Americans detained in Russia. “I still have so much good to do with my freedom that you can help restore.”
“I miss my wife! I miss my family! I miss my teammates! It kills me to know they are suffering so much right now. I am grateful for whatever you can do at this moment to get me home,” Griner added, according to Fox News.
Griner told Biden that she’s “terrified” she “might be here forever” and also brought up the July 4 holiday, noting that her father is “a Vietnam War Veteran.” She went on to explain how “freedom means something completely different to me this year,” because of her situation.
Cherelle Griner, her wife, told CBS News on Tuesday that Biden has not yet responded to their pleas for help.
“It kills me every time … when I have to write her [Brittney Griner], and she’s asking, ‘Have you met with him [Biden] yet?’ And I have to say, ‘No.’ … I’m sure she’s like, ‘I’m gonna write him and ask now, because my family has tried and to no avail, so I’m going to do it myself,'” Cherelle said in the interview.
WATCH:
Brittney Griner’s wife Cherelle says it is “very disheartening” that she still has not heard back from the White House — after Brittney penned a handwritten letter to Pres. Biden from a Russian prison pleading for help. pic.twitter.com/MTyQqCJIBj
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) July 5, 2022
“She knows that we are doing everything that we can in our own strength to ask to meet with the president and to request that they do everything that they can to get her home,” Cherelle added.
Cherelle pushed back on Griner’s charges – defined as “large-scale transportation of drugs,” according to CBS News – calling them “not true” in Tuesday’s interview. Griner faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted, CBS News reported.
“Initially, I was told – ‘we’re gonna try to handle this behind the scenes’ … I did that, and respectfully, we’re over 140 days at this point. That does not work, and so I will not be quiet anymore … Being quiet, they [the U.S. government] are not moving, they are not doing anything,” Cherelle continued. “I still have not heard from him [Biden], and honestly, it’s very disheartening.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller regarding Cherelle’s remarks. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson previously issued a statement promising that the Biden administration is working “aggressively … to bring [Griner] home,” Politico reported.