A majority of participants in a Daily Caller Twitter poll conducted on Thursday and Friday said President Joe Biden should have traded the co-hosts of “The View” for WNBA player Brittney Griner, who was released from Russian custody Thursday.
The poll asked participants to choose between rapper Kanye West, American Federation of Teachers leader Randi Weingarten and the co-hosts of “The View” — Whoopi Goldberg, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Ana Navarro and Alyssa Farah Griffin
Out of the 2,152 people who voted, 66.7% voted for “The View” co-hosts, giving Russia a five-for-one bargain. A fourth option, which read, “Who is Brittney Griner?” came in second place with 15% of the vote.
POLL: Who should Biden have traded for Brittney Griner instead of the Merchant of Death?
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) December 8, 2022
President Joe Biden’s administration released notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, also known as the “Merchant of Death,” in exchange for Griner. The Phoenix Suns player began serving a 9-year sentence at a Russian penal colony in August after allegedly attempting to leave the country with cannabis oil in February. (RELATED: NBC News Quietly Scrubs Initial Detail On Brittney Griner To Back
White House’s Version Of Events)
Bout has served 11 years of his 25-year sentence in the U.S. and will return to Russia as part of the deal.
Russia has also detained former U.S. marine Paul Whelan since 2018 on espionage charges. The White House has claimed that, although administration officials attempted to negotiate for his release along with Griner’s, the Russians were unwilling to negotiate “in good faith” about Whelan.
“Our choices [were] Brittney or no one at all. Bringing home one American or no American at all,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at Thursday’s briefing. She also assured reporters that Biden will do everything he can to bring Whelan home.