Bill Richardson: Prisoner Swap Is the Only Way to Free Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan

EXCERPT:

RICHARDSON: “Now the real negotiating through the government channels starts. I mean, I’m helping but I’m not the official government channel, I’m not trying to replace anybody, but I do talk to both sides. I know a lot of the Russians. I -- I do talk to the administration, to the White House. I try to push the process along. But my foundation work is for the families. In other words, the families ask us to get involved, Brittney Griner’s family, Paul Whelan’s family. And we were involved in Trevor Reed, the American Marine who two mounts ago got out for a Russian named Yaroshenko. The president had to approve that and I'm giving him the credit for that, but we did help with a trip to Russia right before it happened. So we are involved in this. But I think that the prospects are reasonably good, not instantaneous, that swap will happen. But, yes, I don’t see how else anything else will than other than a prisoner swap. They are unseemly. They don’t look good. But we have to do them to bring our American hostages back. And it's not just Griner and Whelan that are in Russia, there is a POW in -- in Ukraine, there's three other detainees, the families have contacted us. So this is not over, but, yes, it is going to be a prisoner swap. I think it will be two for two, that's my prediction.”