Hostages of Russia: The Stories of Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, and Brittany Griner | Episode 71

This episode of the "Straight Talk" podcast, featuring key insight from former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, investigates the stories of three Americans—Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, and Brittany Griner—who were detained by the Russian government on false criminal charges. Sheriff Clarke investigates the circumstances surrounding their detentions, the political ramifications, and what these cases reveal about international relations and justice. Join us as we explore the wider implications for American citizens abroad and unearth the truth surrounding these well-publicized detentions.

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Websites: https://americassheriff.com | https://badgeofhonorcruise.com

Host: Sheriff David Clarke, America's Sheriff

Executive Producer: Judy L. Wilkinson, JL Wilkinson Consulting, LLC 

Producer: Josh Wentz | josh@wentzcreative.com

Copyright 2024  Straight Talk Podcast With America's Sheriff David Clarke     

All Rights Reserved

Chapters

• 1:23 Introduction: Who Are They?
• 1:45 The Russian Detentions: A Closer Look
• 3:25 Identity Politics and Media Bias
• 5:14 The Prisoner Swap Controversy
• 12:11 Trump's Call for Retribution
• 19:20 The Israeli-Hamas Conflict
• 24:17 NBA's Woke Politics
• 28:46 Conclusion: Reflecting on Current Events

Transcript

1:22

Who is Evan Gershkovich? Who is Paul Whelan? Maybe this will help you. Who's Brittany Greiner? Welcome to the Straight Talk podcast with your host, former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. Those three people, Gershkovich, Whelan, and Greiner have one thing in common. At one point, all three were held by the Russian government on made up criminal charges. Both Waylon and Gershkovich are, are, well, they're both charged with espionage. Brittany Griner was charged with possession of drugs as she entered the country. She went to trial quickly. She was convicted and sentenced to, I don't, I can't remember what the sentence was. She was sentenced to prison. Now the difference between those three It's that the United States government, the State Department, worked feverishly, feverishly, to free Brittany Griner. They seem to be dragging their feet on the other two Americans being held by the Russian government. Now we all know the Russians engage in this game, they take American citizens into custody and hold them hostage, detain them, claim they're, they're, they're spies when they're not. Well these are high, three high profile cases. Why is Brittany Griner, free, and back in the United States, and the other two, not. The other two were held longer than she was. I'll give you the answer. Brittany Griner was a black, female, lesbian. So she, she checked three boxes. The other two, Griskovich and Whelan, are white males. That's the difference. And the State Department is running around with the usual nonsense where we're doing everything we can to work with the Russian government. They have claimed, the State Department claims these two are being detained unlawfully. The one guy, Waylon's already been sentenced. He's sitting in a prison. Gershkovich, Evan, he was a journalist for the Wall Street Journal for heaven's sake. He still hasn't been charged with anything. after a year. But Brittany Griner, her detention, received all kinds of notoriety, mainly from left leaning media sites, right? CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, New York Times. And the reason is because she was a black female lesbian. She checked three important boxes in the left's game their insidious game of identity politics. The other two didn't. So, let me read from this article here, uh, the latest on, uh, these, these, this unlawful detention of American citizens. And by the way, in order to get Britney Griner back, the U. S. gave up a Russian's arms dealer, a notorious, his name was Dr. Death. He was funneling weapons to terror groups in the Middle East. Weapons used to kill American servicemen. They gave him up for Brittany Griner. There is no way that that's an even trade. The Russian arms dealer, and I don't remember his name, sitting in a U. S. prison, he received, you know, his, uh, trial, and he was indicted, tried, and sentenced. A high value target that was not a political, he was not a political prisoner. The other three were, well, I should say two because Brittany Griner was charged with bringing drugs into the country. She didn't deny it. She said it was a mistake. Well, when you go to somebody else's country, you better be careful. I don't know about you, but under this Biden regime right now, I wouldn't go too far outside the United States because if you get caught up in something like this. There's a story of, uh, an American citizen who had a bullet in his suitcase in some, uh, island nation, being held for having a bullet, bringing a bullet into the country. That's why I said I, I would, I'd be very careful going too far outside the United States right now because the Biden administration, the State Department, under Blinken, they're not going to work hard to get you back unless they can help themselves politically. And obviously, with Brittany Griner. They help themselves politically, you know, with the L B G T alphabet, Mafia, while the other two white males sit. So anyway, from this article here, the Wall Street Journal, it says, Russia accused the U. S. of ignoring its proposal for a prisoner swap, and the latest public disagreement between Moscow and Washington over the direction of negotiations. That could include the release of Jail Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. The U. S., this is a quote, the U. S. side is continuing to disregard our proposal, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the state news agency TASS on Friday. It's a highly delicate topic. The high profile case that the Russian diplomat referred to included that of Gershkovich, 32 year old U. S. citizen, who's been awaiting trial for over a year on an allegation of espionage, That the journal and the U. S. government vehemently deny. The State Department declared him wrongfully detained. A designation, a designation that commits the government to work for his release. Paul Whalen, another U. S. citizen who's also been designated as wrongfully detained, is a former corporate security executive who earlier served in the Marines. He's now serving a 16 year sentence in Russia for an espionage conviction that he and his family say was based on false allegations. For So, you know, you're gonna get the the usual crap from the, uh, the State Department. Here's a quote. There's an intensive effort underway to secure the release of both Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, spokesperson for the US State Department, said. This work is sensitive and we're not going to discuss it in public. But they had, they were discussing in public the release of Brittany Griner. My gosh, not a day went by that you didn't hear from the WNBA professional basketball player, Griner. The NBA The big mouths like, um, LeBron James, The Washington Post, The New York Times, writing continually about her detention. But you don't hear those same entities, CNN, MSNBC, talking about Weyland Gershkovich. So of course President Biden has said that he's working around the clock to secure the release of Gershkovich and other U. S. citizens wrongfully detained overseas. Now let me say this again. The Russian arms dealer. High value target. Straight up for Britney Griner? Are you kidding me? The only way that a Russian arms dealer should have been released back to the Russians is if all three Americans being held were released at the same time. That's the only way I would have given up a high value target, a Russian arms dealer who was smuggling arms and munitions to terror groups that were used to kill U. S. service members in war. who was That would seem like a more fair trade to me than straight up Britney Griner for this Russian's arms dealer. So anyway, last December, according to this Wall Street Journal article, U. S. negotiators said they had made a fresh offer to Russia to secure the release of Gershkovich and Whelan, but Moscow rejected the American proposal. But first of all, like I said, they should have included that with Griner. Because she used to be sitting too if Russia turned that offer down. Of all three for the Russians armed dealers, she said no dice. But anyway, the Russians say they have never received that offer. And I would tend to believe the Russians in this instance over the U. S. State Department under Blinken and Biden. So it just shows you, it goes to show you, you know, you better check certain boxes on the identity politics chart if you're going to get any attention. As far as I'm concerned, Brittany Griner should still be sitting in prison, in a Russian prison, for being convicted of smuggling drugs into the country, and the other two should have been released for the Russian, Irish dealer. Moving along, Donald Trump, President Donald Trump, has vowed retribution for all the things that have happened to him and to the MAGA movement. If he wins re election and he's got the left all in a tizzy, not only does he have the left in a tizzy, but he has members of his own party in the U. S. Senate going bonkers over his, his call for retribution. And ladies and gentlemen, this all goes back to 2016 when Donald Trump won that election at Farron Square, and the Democrats went on this crusade of saying he collaborated. and colluded with the Russians and Putin to steal the 2016 election when there was no evidence of it. And then they held that two year sham of an investigation of the member of the Mueller Commission and the Democrats knew there was no basis for any Russia collusion. Remember the Steele dossier? Remember all this stuff? The impeachment of Donald Trump with no basis, all made up. And yeah, he, he's vowing retribution and he better come through with it because I want revenge for the MAGA movement and for everything that we've gone through. The smears, the lies, the prosecution, Peter Navarro's in prison right now. The Trump aide, Steve Bannon's on his way in. A former Trump aide. The July 6th people, political prisoners, denied due process. It was an insurrection. It was trespassing, maybe some criminal damage to property, and that's all that should have been charged, and none of them, because there was no violence. The only violence was what a, uh, uh, a DC cop killed, uh, that Air Force veteran, a female. Remember that? So yeah, I want retribution. Yeah, I want revenge. The State Department, remember those 30 former intel agencies that signed that op ed letter to the New York Times saying that the Hunter Biden computer was Russian disinformation. Remember that? I could bring up so many examples of what we've been through, the hell that we've been through. At the hands of Democrats, forging the U. S. Department of Justice into a weapon, and then going after American citizens who were just involved in First Amendment protected Politics, demonize the, the MAGA name, the label. Yeah, I want revenge. And here's why. Because those people who were engaged in this, this war on the Constitution, this war on cops, war on free speech, war on due process, remember Brett Kavanaugh? Yeah. Those people have to be punished for what they did. And this crap about moving on and taking the high road and turning the other cheek. I'm tired, ladies and gentlemen, of engaging in this political environment with one hand tied behind my back. The left gets to operate by special rules that they turn around and punish us for? No, no, no. The only way this is going to stop is not winning the next election coming up in November. It's to punish those people involved so that they learn a lesson that yes, we will punish you. If you ever try this again to just move on, the left is expecting that. They're not going to do anything to us if we lose this election. We don't have to worry about that. How do we put all this toothpaste back in the tube for heaven's sakes? All the damage they've done to this great republic by just moving on? No, you got the wrong guy. Not this guy. Uh uh. And then you sit up here and you listen to some of these, these, um, Republicans, Republican establishment people, you know, here's a story from the Hill. It says here, Trump's call for political vengeance worries Senate GOP. Some Senate Republicans are expressing concern over former President Trump's call for political vengeance after the 2024 election, warning that retaliatory prosecutions, listen to this, warning that retaliatory prosecutions will lead the country down a bad road. Ladies and gentlemen, we're already down that road. We've been dragged down that road by the Democrats and by the leftist media. What do you mean lead us down the wrong road? The story says the Senate G p's Top leaders Mitch McConnell and whipped John Thune, South Dakota have shown no desire to embrace Trump's call to prosecute, prosecute Senior Biden administration officials, or his longtime nemesis, Hillary Clinton. Why not? I'm tired of these established Republican. These weak need no fight surrender monkeys. They kicked us in our teeth, they kicked us in our rear end, they destroyed our lives, they've gone after corporations so that they won't do business with conservative groups, and we're just supposed to, like, move on? It says here, and some GOP senators are pushing back against conservative colleagues who want to freeze Justice defund special counsel Jack Smith's criminal prosecution of Trump. Why is it that these rhino establishment Republicans Refused to throw a punch, refused to fight. They just want to forget all this and just kind of move on. I'm not moving on from this, ladies and gentlemen. I'm not moving on from this. So yeah, I'm looking for retribution after November. Trump wins. As a matter of fact, I want something strong. I want revenge. Like I said, they have to be punished. Severely. So they learn their lesson. Next up, let's talk about the going on in The ongoing Israeli and Hamas war. This Hamas leader, this is a bad guy. I don't understand why, and I'm not trying to tell Edsmond Netanyahu or the idea of how to prosecute this war, but I don't know why they don't take out this Hamas leader, it would be very easy to do with a drone strike. He's the devil, ladies and gentlemen. Here's a story here. Hamas leader says Palestinian deaths are necessary sacrifices and leaked messages obtained by the Wall Street Journal. He's willing to sacrifice women and children, Palestinians, so he can use it as propaganda against Israel. He hides military equipment, military operations among the civilian population intentionally so that If Israel tries to take out that site, it's going to kill, obviously it's going to kill Palestinian civilians. But they're not, Israel, the IDF doesn't target the civilians. That's where the war equipment is. That's where the soldiers are. They don't have a choice. I don't hear the UN. I don't hear the World Court. I don't hear any of these. Anti Semite organizations criticizing Hamas for putting Palestinian women and children in harm's way. So it says here, according to this report, according to the Wall Street Journal report citing stolen messages, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, who assisted in planning the terror attack on October 7th, acknowledged that he personally saw all Palestinian civilian deaths As necessary sacrifices in order to continue the group's war effort against Israel. This is sick. And that's why I would suggest that the IDF, that they do a drill strike and take this guy out. You cannot allow this guy to survive. So it says here, Message, messages from Sinwar, that's the Hamas leader, obtained by the Wall Street Journal expressed that Yehia Sinwar praised His own accomplishments in delaying ceasefire talks, while the Jewish state faces growing international criticism over the Palestinian death toll. You see, these goofs, Blinken, Biden, these students on college campuses, the left leaning media, who all support Hamas, they're playing right into, Hamas' Hands. I says, throughout the dozens of communications at the Wall Street Journal, examined Swar, who already comes off as a cold-blooded psychopath who has no care or empathy whatsoever for his fellow, fellow Palestinian Palestinians is only focused on Israel's suffering as much as possible from the ongoing conflict. This, you know, you read this stuff, you know this will be covered by the leftist media corporate. You won't hear about this on CNN, MSNBC, you won't read about it in the Washington Post and the New York Times. You just won't. And, you know, the thing is, they just, I don't know, I, I don't know. Israel's gotta win this war. The sooner the better, but no ceasefire. Not till all of these rat bastard Hamas leaders are dead. Because that's the only way this this thing can end and the only thing it will end and I don't feel sorry for the Palestinian people either because Remember, I've talked about on this podcast in a poll taken of Palestinian people 70 percent approved of what Hamas did on October 7th in Israel slaughtering 1, 200 people beheading babies Raping women they supported it So they're their own worst enemy. And finally, the NBA, the National Basketball Association, you know, they're into all this woke crap, Black Lives Matter. And it's interesting because they had a chance here to promote a woman in the ownership position, one of the teams, and they blocked her. Cause see, she only checks one box and they're a game of identity politics. She only checks one box. And that one box is, she's a female. But guess what? She's Jewish. And she's a Trump supporter. She doesn't check the right boxes. So they're, they're, you know, insidious game of identity politics doesn't help her. So here's what the story says. Again, you you will not hear this on any leftist media site. The NBA, the woke NBA blocking a woman from a position of leadership and ownership. So it says here, NBA allegedly refused to let new Mavericks owner Miriam Adelson be team governor due to her political history. The NBA. The Dallas Mavericks underwent a midseason ownership change as Mark Cuban sold a majority stake in the NBA. and the team for a valuation of 3. 5 billion dollars to Miriam Adelson. Adelson was not named the team's governor as the role went to her son in law Patrick Dumont. Reputed analyst Pablo Torre revealed on his show that the NBA allegedly blocked Adelson from taking the role due to her political history. Torre alleges that the NBA's left leaning ideology Yeah, they were among the biggest of the Black Lives Matter crap. Tory alleges that the NBA's left leaning ideology led them to blocking the leading contributor to former President Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign from becoming a team governor. Quote, the reason why the ostensibly left leaning NBA insisted on this is obvious once you set your foot outside of sports because nobody donated more money to Donald Trump in 2020 than Miriam Adelson. And few people in right wing politics, period, are as powerful as she is. If the NBA trying to block Adelson from becoming governor is true, this is performative activism on the NBA's part. Restricting Adelson from being a governor, but not intervening in the sale of the team is weird. That's because of the money involved here, 3. 5 billion dollars. And what difference does it make? Is Patrick Dumas, who is her son in law, somehow on the opposite end of the political Spectrum and here's another thing the NBA and Adam Silbert and all those owners those phony owners They kicked Kyrie Irving Who's the star guard in the Dallas Mavericks at the time? He was with uh, Brooklyn though the Brooklyn Knights. They kicked him out of the League for his anti semitism. Remember that you may not but I do he went on some Anti semitic rants on on his social media Kyrie Irving They kicked him out of the league suspended him and made him go to re education camp. So they're flouting their, their, uh, pro Israel support and support for Jews there, but now you get a Jewish owner that comes in here and they're like, oh, no, no, no, that's a bridge too far because you supported Donald Trump for president. And she's also active, obviously, in, in the support for Israel in the Israeli Gaza war. I mean, she's Jewish for heaven's sake. Ladies and gentlemen, we are living in some weird times. Thanks for joining me.