Former top State official: Biden fights for Brittney Griner because of skin color, sexual preference

Earlier this year, WNBA basketball player Brittney Griner was arrested for smuggling drugs into Moscow and was later convicted and sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison. As a result, there have been a lot of calls to free Brittney and have the U.S. government try to bring her back home to the states. 

A former spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State under Donald Trump believes that the Biden administration is giving Griner special treatment with its single-minded focus on gaining her release and return.

"I firmly believe that the Biden administration is fighting hard for her because of who she is, because of the color of her skin, and because her sexual preferences," Heather Nauert said Thursday on the "Just the News, Not Noise" TV show.

Nauert drew a distinctinction between those Americans wrongfully detained in foreign prisons and those held for breaking host country laws.

"Those who have been wrongfully detained, we will work to bring home," Nauert said. "However, Americans always have to know that we have to adhere to laws in another country. We have to adhere to those. Otherwise, we could be arrested, detained, and the U.S. government can't do a whole lot about it. We may not like those laws in other countries, but we have to adhere to them.

"Brittney Griner fell afoul of those laws in Russia and has been detained. Now, do we want to bring all Americans home? Certainly. But there's a difference between those who have been wrongfully detained and those who have been detained for a reason — because they broke the law. Now, is Russia an honest broker? No, Russia is not. Are the prisons terrible in Russia? Yes, they certainly are. I hope that we get our folks home."