Updated
Elizabeth Whelan was walking in Manhattan Friday to meet a friend for lunch. The artist was in New York City to deliver a piece she created for the U.S. Coast Guard. Her cell phone rang. She thought it was her friend saying she’d be late.
Instead, it was President Joe Biden, to talk to her about her brother, Paul Whelan, who has been held captive in Russia for more than three years on what the family says are trumped-up espionage charges.
“As I’m walking down this street, it was really loud compared to Chappaquiddick,” she said. “My phone rings, and he introduces himself. I didn’t really comprehend.”
Wait? I asked her. This was President Biden calling her directly — not a secretary or a White House staffer?
“Right, exactly. Often when you talk to the White House, it’s an operator patching you through. That was not the case,” Whelan said. “That really takes one by surprise … I had to get off the noisy road. I just waltzed into a restaurant that was opening up for lunch, sat at a table, and was able to have the rest of the conversation.”
Whelan declined to provide the details of the conversation. She did say she was comforted by the president’s words. “I was struck by his understanding of the situation,” she said. “He knows what’s going on, was compassionate about my family’s concerns, and reassured me that things were ongoing with Paul’s case.”
The call lasted six to seven minutes. “It really did help me,” Whelan said.
So how did this development take place? Well, it was likely prompted by a Twitter dustup that Whelan said she created last week after President Biden shared a well-publicized call with Cherelle Griner, the spouse of WNBA star Brittney Griner, who is being held in a Russian prison after pleading guilty to drug possession. In his conversation with Cherelle Griner, President Biden mentioned Paul Whelan, though to that point he had never spoken to the family about him or that his administration was working to secure his release.
That prompted this Tweet from Elizabeth Whelan: “Still looking for that press release saying @POTUS has spoken to anyone in OUR family about #PaulWhelan, wrongfully detained in #Russia for 3.5 years,” she wrote. “I am crushed. If he wants to talk about securing Paul’s release, he needs to be talking to the Whelans! What are we to think?!”
Later, Whelan tweeted that she has nothing against the Griner family, and hopes that Brittney Griner will be released. She was criticizing the process and the lack of information from the government to families involved, she told The Times.
The tweets got the attention of the press, and Elizabeth Whelan and her brother, David, did some interviews that likely got the White House’s attention.
“Because there’s this narrative that’s spun up that you have to get in front of the president and he waves his magic wand and he suddenly comes home. We know that isn’t how it works,” Elizabeth Whelan said. “Families often get pushed to do that.”
Still, she and the family are appreciative of the president’s attention, but she reiterated that she thinks more needs to be done to keep families informed. There are currently more than 50 Americans being held in 18 countries. “It’s not tenable for us to all line up outside the president’s door,” she said.
The focus should be on those governments, and coming up with a way to prevent U.S. citizens from being wrongly incarcerated. And if they are, there should be a punishment for those governments, she said. She also understands the double-edged sword of negotiating for the release of prisoners, because the government doesn’t want to incentivize hostage-taking.
“I’ve never had any problem with the Griner family. We don’t begrudge their access at all. The fact that Brittney is a celebrity has helped families of detainees overall,” Whelan said. “I wasn’t upset with her specifically … We needed more information provided to families and a quicker way to get Americans home.”
On Tuesday, David Whelan reported that Bill Richardson, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and governor of Arizona, has told the family he is traveling to Moscow to attempt to secure Paul and Griner’s release.
“We agreed to work with Gov. Richardson and the Richardson Center staff back in February 2019, when we were at sea about what resources were available to a wrongful detainee’s family,” David Whelan wrote in an email to supporters of his brother. “Gov. Richardson has repeatedly returned to Paul’s case during the past 3 years, including prior to Trevor Reed’s release. We hope this visit will lead to results that have not been possible following his previous interactions with Russian intermediaries.”
David Whelan added that the family is in a tricky position. “The ability to have a third party assist the family can mean forward progress before the U.S. government assigns resources to the detainee’s case,” he wrote. “The work the Richardson Center does is important to families of wrongful detainees.” However, he noted that Richardson has no government mandate. “They are not able to offer or agree to the concessions that are at the heart of the ongoing detention,” he wrote. “Since they operate outside of any government, they may not be aware of discussions that are already underway between the U.S. government and the hostage-taking nation. This means they can both help and hinder a possible resolution of a detainee’s case.”
David Whelan added that he hopes Richardson is able to have conversations with U.S. government officials. “Hopefully, these conversations can create additional shared understandings on which both the U.S. government and Russian government can move closer to resolving Paul’s case,” he wrote. “We wish for his success and a speedy return of Paul to our family.”
Back on Chappy, Elizabeth Whelan appreciates the support she has received from Vineyarders about her family’s plight. “We’re hopeful, very hopeful it won’t be much longer,” she said. “It’s up to the Russians, unfortunately.”
As for her few minutes on the phone with the president, “It was stunning, and I still don’t think I’ve processed the fact that I’ve spoken to the president.”
Updated with Tuesday’s update from David Whelan. –Ed.
The new narrative is that people who are detained in foreign countries are always innocent and are subject to the coercive laws of despotic leaders. Easy for Sleepy Joe to make a comforting phone call but much harder for him to get these people out even if they do deserve to be freed. Prisoner exchange is the only way this can be done.
Does Russia have coercive law, a despotic leader?
A leader who endorsed Trump for President, twice.
You escaped the warm embrace of Mother Russia.
Do you hope the same for native born Americans?
Barbarians incarcerate people for simple cannabis possession, but not vodka.
On a positive note if she is raped in the Gulag she can choose to have an abortion up twelve weeks, or anytime if it will negatively affect her health.
In some ways the land of the origin of Communism is so Progressive.
Putin is a Communist.
Putin and Trump respect each other.
Biden does not.
Hess.
Yes Putin is a thug and despotic but whelan and griner are no innocents. Sovereign country laws should be understood.
Hess. One can still go to Jail for cannabis possession in many states in the USA. Are they all barbarians? Your rape comment is a non sequitur. Trump has nothing to do with this. Soviet Union had no ”warm embrace”. What are you talking about?
andy. When was the last time someone was incarcerated in the US for the possession of personal use amount of cannabis?
Even Trump States are having their come to cannibus moment.
They are seeing more money in cannibus than in vodka, or even Budweiser.
Russians are backward and ignorant.
Look at how they invade.
Look at the bombed out apartments.
Are you proud of your origins?
I am proud of mine.
andy– Whelan was arrested and convicted during the regime of you know who.
What did that former one term president do to convince his good buddy dicktater to have anything that even resembled a fair trial ?
So now you are unhappy that “sleepy Joe” has some compassion for the family of Mr. Whelan.
Yeah, we know you are a soviet born citizen, so I, for one understand why you defend Putin.
But I don’t understand why you decry an act of kindness and support to a family in crisis.
Griner should’ve known better going to Russia with hashish.
Carl– You are correct on that one–
There are consequences for illegal actions.
By the way, going off topic, I watched the videos of the incident in Akron , in which Jayland Walker was shot by police after shooting at them, running and turning to confront them.
I’m sorry he died, but really– the police had no choice– he set the scene.
I understand that unarmed black men are murdered by police at unacceptable levels, but not every case is a violation of their civil rights.
The effort to reduce such atrocities would be better served if the protestors focused on cases of police brutality that are unjustified. Every black person that gets shot by police seems to be met with outrage from the black community. Sometimes, as in the case of Mr walker, it was a no brainer for the police to shoot him. They really had no choice,
I cannot imagine the worry and fear over a loved one in this wrenching situation. My heart goes out to Elizabeth and her family and the sincere wish that Paul Whelan comes safely home very soon.
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