Officials at the Department of Justice (DOJ) think it was a mistake for President Joe Biden to swap WNBA star Brittney Griner for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, dubbed the “Merchant of Death.”

Griner was arrested in February at a Moscow airport after being caught with marijuana vaping materials and sentenced to nine years in prison in August. Bout, one of the world’s most notorious arms dealers, was convicted in 2011 of conspiring to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to a designated foreign terrorist group to be used to kill Americans.

David Whelan, brother of detained American Paul Whelan, said in an MSNBC interview Saturday that President Biden "made the right choice" in choosing to bring WNBA star Brittney Griner home from Russia.

The big picture: Earlier this week, the United States exchanged infamous Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for Griner, determining it was the only deal on the table, Axios' Dave Lawler writes.

Driving the news: David Whelan told MSNBC’s Zinhle Essamuah that Biden is “100% engaged on bringing Paul home” and that the president made the right choice with the options on the table.

President Joe Biden is set to play host to dozens of African leaders in Washington this week as the White House looks to narrow a gaping trust gap with Africa — one that has grown wider over years of frustration about America’s commitment to the continent.

The United States government completed a prisoner exchange with Russia on Thursday after months of negotiations that resulted in the release of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for American women's basketball athlete Brittney Griner but left behind former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.

Detained American Paul Whelan expressed his frustration that more has not been done to secure his release in an exclusive CNN interview hours after another detained American, Brittney Griner, was freed.

Whelan said he was happy that Griner was released, but told CNN, “I am greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release, especially as the four year anniversary of my arrest is coming up.”

Following the release of basketball star Brittney Griner from Russian captivity, US President Joe Biden faces fresh questions about another imprisoned American: former US marine Paul Whelan.

Mr Whelan, 52, was given a 16-year jail sentence in 2020 after being arrested in Moscow on suspicion of spying in 2018.

The Michigan native was not part of the prisoner swap which saw Ms Griner exchanged for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout - an omission that his brother has called a "catastrophe for Paul".

In the West, he is known as a convicted illicit arms trafficker, “the merchant of death” who helped fuel wars around the world. But in Russia, Viktor Bout was welcomed home this week as something of a hero, or at least an innocent victim of American politics.

The Russian government, its allies and the relentlessly pro-Kremlin media hailed the release of Mr. Bout, 55, by the United States, in exchange for the American basketball star Brittney Griner, and claimed that it meant that President Vladimir V. Putin had bested President Biden.

Basketball star Brittney Griner landed in the United States on Friday after 10 months in Russian detention following a prisoner swap with arms dealer Viktor Bout who flew home hours earlier to embrace his family on the airport tarmac in Moscow.

"They say she's in very good spirits, appears to be in good health," White House spokesman John Kirby told MSNBC in an interview citing U.S. officials on the ground in San Antonio, Texas, where she arrived just before dawn.

WNBA basketball player Brittney Griner broke a minor law in Russia. She did not deserve to rot in a penal colony for such a trivial offense.

Dallas Cowboy Micah Parsons quickly reversed course, apologizing after slamming President Joe Biden in the wake of the prisoner swap that secured WNBA star Brittney Griner’s release.

Parsons, upon learning that Russia was trading Griner for international arms dealer Viktor “Merchant of Death” Bout — and that Marine veteran Paul Whelan was being left behind in a Russian prison — lashed out at the Biden administration for failing to secure Whelan’s release as well.