Elon Musk Reacts To Brittney Griner Prisoner Swap And Exclusion Of US Marine Paul Whelan

Elon Musk took to Twitter on Friday morning to opine about the Brittney Griner prisoner swap that brought the WNBA star home from a Russian prison in exchange for the convicted arms dealer, Viktor Bout. 

It seems Musk, owner and CEO of Twitter and Tesla TSLA, takes exception to the fact that former US Marine Paul Whelan was not included in the exchange.

And Musk is not alone. Whelan's brother David was also surprised he'd been left behind. “I was led to believe that things were moving in the right direction, and that the governments were negotiating and that something would happen fairly soon,” he said.

Musk agreed.

Never leave a marine behind. Never.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2022

Griner, the two-time Olympic Gold Medalist who had been playing for the last seven years on a Russian basketball team, was arrested one week before Russia invaded Ukraine. She was later charged and sentenced to nine years in prison for possessing less than a gram of cannabis oil. 

Also see: Trump Fuming Over Brittney Griner's Release From Russian Prison, Obama Is Celebrating

Why Is Anyone In Prison For Weed?

Musk has expressed similar thoughts in the past about Brittney Griner and generally about people being incarcerated for cannabis-related crimes in the United States. 

“Maybe free some people in jail for weed here too?” Musk tweeted in late July.