| | | | |  | | By Brakkton Booker | With help from Ella Creamer, Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz
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Politico illustration/Laurence Kesterson | What up, Recast family! President Joe Biden signs an executive order aimed at protecting abortion access, a federal judge sentences Derek Chauvin to 21 years in prison for violating George Floyd's civil rights and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is assassinated. But today, we're focusing on the ongoing international crisis surrounding WNBA star Brittney Griner. Brittney Griner, the two-time Olympic gold medalist who also has a pair of WNBA Defensive Player of the Year honors in her illustrious career, pleaded guilty to drug charges in a Russian court Thursday. "I'd like to plead guilty, your honor. But there was no intent. I didn't want to break the law," Griner said, according to Reuters. She faces up to 10 years in prison. Her charges stem from having vape cartridges containing hashish oil, which is banned in Russia. They were discovered in her luggage by customs agents at Sheremetyevo International Airport in February.
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Griner is escorted to a courtroom for a hearing, in Khimki just outside Moscow, Russia, July 7. | Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo | Griner's guilty plea is thought to be a strategic bid for a lenient sentence, according to many leading Russia experts, including Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pennsylvania who researches Black experiences in the Soviet Union, Russia and Ukraine. St. Julian-Varnon, who advised the WNBA players union on Griner's detainment, says she understands the frustration from friends and supporters of the hoops star who complain the Biden administration is not doing enough to secure Griner's release. But, she says, the White House is navigating tricky international land mines. Shortly after Griner's guilty plea, Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted the U.S. "will not relent until" Griner as well as former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and "other wrongfully detained Americans" are reunited with their families. Whelan has been imprisoned in Russia for more than three years on espionage charges, which he denies. Meanwhile, earlier this week, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with Cherelle Griner, the WNBA star's wife. But that call took place only after a sustained pressure campaign — including a handwritten letter from the Phoenix Mercury center urging the president to take action. "I'm terrified I might be here forever," she wrote. The next day a collective of prominent Black women entertainers, business leaders and athletes penned a letter, arguing the Biden administration's assertions that Griner's safe return was a top priority did not "appear to align with the actions taken to date." We chop it up with St. Julian-Varnon about Griner's situation: her assessment of the White House's strategy, the role that race and sexuality play in this particularly precarious geopolitical moment — and how this will affect the midterms. ◆◆◆ This interview has been edited for length and clarity. THE RECAST: Did it come as a surprise that Brittney Griner pleaded guilty to drug charges in a Russian court? ST. JULIAN-VARNON: I think from an American perspective, it is surprising. But in the context of the Russian system, it makes total sense as a strategy. In the Russian legal system, the conviction rate is well over 97 percent and when you're facing those odds, I think her legal team's strategy is: Plead guilty early so as to not drag out the proceedings. You don't have to have the state show all the evidence, and the hope is that you will get some leniency in the sentencing part of the trial. And that may happen on the next court date on July 14. So from the Russian legal system, it makes total sense to do that.
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| Every week, we sit down with diverse and influential characters who are shaking up politics. Who should we profile next? Let us know. Email us at therecast@politico.com.
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THE RECAST: So, her being an American, being a public figure both here and in Russia, playing for UMMC Ekaterinburg, none of that changes the calculation in the Russian courtroom on how officials prosecute her?
ST. JULIAN-VARNON: I think that's the issue. It matters a lot that Brittney got a letter from Biden, that he called her wife, Cherelle — all that matters for America. But it doesn't necessarily matter in Russia, because it doesn't influence Russia. Her stature in America is important, because of the weight that that's going to carry in any prisoner exchange or any kind of concessions that Russia will ask from the United States. Her celebrity means the pressure is on a Biden administration to get her home. We didn't see a similar reaction when Trevor Reed or Paul Whelan were arrested and detained in Russia.
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Twitter | THE RECAST: There was the letter from Greiner to the White House. Her wife, Cherelle, criticized U.S. officials' efforts, saying in an interview this week they "are not doing anything." Then there was the letter from hundreds of prominent Black women saying they were concerned the administration's "rhetoric does not appear to align with the actions." Do you see these pressure tactics from Griner's supporters and family as helpful? ST. JULIAN-VARNON: Initially, [with] taking a back seat and letting the case kind of work through quietly, I was a supporter of that.
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| We have to remember that Brittney is being detained by a country that is actively hostile towards the U.S., but has also invaded Ukraine. And we're one of Ukraine's biggest military and financial supporters. You cannot take it out of that context. So claiming that the Biden administration hasn't been doing anything is really premature when nothing's been made public about what has or has not been done. And to have this expectation from the public or even her family and friends would know what the State Department is doing behind the scenes, I just don't think that is a useful tactic. But while we're talking about Brittney Griner, we must also talk about Paul Whelan. If you're the Biden administration, you have to get them both out.
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Paul Whelan attends a hearing in a court in Moscow, Russia, March 14, 2019. | Dmitry Serebryakov/AP Photo | If you just get Brittney out, you're gonna have millions of people asking why Whelan, who has served years in a maximum security prison in Russia, why he is not out. The criticism is going to be: because he's not famous. So you have some problems in the ways in which this could be interpreted politically, if you're the Biden administration. THE RECAST: You mentioned American Trevor Reed, who was released from Russian custody in April in what was a controversial prisoner swap. Do you feel something similar could potentially be on the table for Griner? Or do you think because she is a celebrity athlete she may be worth even more than a former U.S. Marine? ST. JULIAN-VARNON: Oh, absolutely. I mean, this is evidenced by who the Russians exchanged Trevor Reed for. He was exchanged for Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was convicted in the U.S. for drug smuggling. So, compared to Viktor Bout, who is known as the "Merchant of Death" and is serving a 25-year federal sentence for selling arms in anticipation of his arms being used to kill American servicemen — that's a whole different level. And Russian state coverage has been telegraphing wanting Viktor Bout back months before Brittney was arrested. This is Russia's last and really only chance in terms of having a high profile American that would give them a chance to get Viktor Bout out before his sentence is up. That's the way I'm looking at this.
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Viktor Bout arrives in Westchester County Airport, November 16, 2010, in White Plains, New York. | U.S. Department of Justice via Getty Images | THE RECAST: You've advised the WNBPA — the players association for the WNBA — on how to approach the Griner situation. This week, Vanessa Nygaard , the head coach of the Phoenix Mercury, essentially said if Griner were a straight male superstar athlete the administration's efforts to get her release would be much different. Adding that because Griner is a Black, gay, female athlete there's not as forceful an effort. What do you make of those comments? ST. JULIAN-VARNON: I think the issue is it presumes that nothing is being done. And we don't know that. And saying if it's LeBron James or Tom Brady, isn't helpful. I think this is a grievance that goes beyond the Russia situation. It's a grievance about how long the WNBA and its players have been underappreciated. It's why they go abroad to play basketball because they're underpaid compared to their NBA counterparts. But I think the issue was the Phoenix Mercury coach's line of thinking — and I totally understand her frustration — is so often we take a very vocal approach to understanding Brittney's case, when this is a case that has international implications. THE RECAST: Do you think her Blackness or her celebrity or her sexuality plays any factor? ST. JULIAN-VARNON: Brittney's race isn't necessarily being used by the Russian state media, but her race is definitely being used in the United States. Her race and sexuality are being magnified in these discourses about her guilt or her innocence in the United States. There's no reason to think that Russia isn't also watching that, just as they … use the Black Lives Matter protests in the United States to kind of hit at how racist the United States is, but also talk about how lawless the United States is. I can't think that they're not also doing the same thing. They're watching. Here's the thing: Her value is high because the Black community has mobilized in support of Brittney and they're holding Biden to account. Putin knows that. And the longer he holds her, the worse Biden is going to look, which benefits Putin.
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Cherelle Griner, the wife of Brittney Griner, speaks during a rally to support the release of Brittney at Footprint Center on July 6 in Phoenix, Arizona. | Christian Petersen/Getty Images | THE RECAST: So you think this could factor into the midterms later this year. In midterms that already weren't looking favorable for Biden or his Democratic Party? ST. JULIAN-VARNON: It's about race, it's about foreign policy, it's about the fact that America has never really dealt with racism. And what have the Democrats said for the last four years: Listen to Black women. Black women are the ones who saved this country. Now Black women are the ones who are holding Biden's feet to the fire about getting her out. And midterms are in just a few months. ◆◆◆ OK, Recasters, the end of the week is finally here. I'm still perplexed how even short weeks feel just as long as normal ones. I'll take the weekend to ponder that more. Now on to some quick pop news items and the fun stuff you've been waiting for. Shocked and saddened at the news of former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe's assassination. He was that nation's longest-serving prime minister until his resignation in 2020. POLITICO Europe's Zoya Sheftalovich has more. WATCH: Simone Biles Honored with Presidential Medal of Freedom
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| POLITICO's Natalie Allison reports Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), who is in the midst of a hotly contested race to keep his seat against Republican Herschel Walker, may have run afoul of federal rules about using campaign funds for personal use. Giffords PAC, the gun safety group's campaign arm, announced it will spend $10 million on state and federal races in key battleground states. POLITICO's Marianne LeVine reports the funds will go to Colorado, Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin to help Democrats keep their majority in Congress. Film historian Jacqueline Stewart was named director and president of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. She helped modernize the institution to be in line with social movements like #OscarsSoWhite.
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Jacqueline Stewart speaks at the screening of "Drunken Master II" during the 2022 TCM Classic Film Festival, April 23, in Los Angeles, California. | Jerod Harris/Getty Images for TCM | Look out for Ingrid Rojas Contreras' enchanting new memoir "The Man Who Could Move Clouds," released July 12, in which the writer explores her family's magic-infused history in Colombia. Abdiel Jacobson , a former principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company, is giving partnered dance a non-gendered whirl. Do the hustle, everybody! Thor is back. Check out this iconic new collab between Burna Boy and Ed Sheeran.
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| We'll let TINI, Anitta and Becky G send you off to the weekend with their new single, "La Lota."
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| TikTok of the day: Changing it up
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