Texas Representative Dan Crenshaw defended WNBA star Britteny Griner’s past protests during the national anthem in an interview on Fox News Friday, taking a different stance than many of his fellow Republicans.
Fox Business Network host Stuart Varney spoke to Crenshaw during a segment on Griner’s return from Russian imprisonment one day prior.
The 32-year-old was released in a high-level prisoner exchange in which the U.S. agreed to release Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for Griner’s safe return.
Varney opened up his interview with Crenshaw by saying that he was “glad Brittney Griner was home and home safely.”
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“But she kneeled for the national anthem in the past,” he added in his question to Crenshaw. “What do you want to hear from her now that she’s returned?”
Crenshaw redirected the conversation in his answer, saying that Griner “doesn’t owe us an explanation necessarily.”
“The question we’re all asking from a policy and political level is, was this the proper trade?” the Texan said.
During her season in 2020, Griner joined several public figures, including her teammates on the Phoenix Mercury, in taking a stand against police brutality by protesting during the national anthem before games.
Griner also said during a press conference that she didn’t think the national anthem should play during the season at all, reported the Arizona Republic, but added that she didn’t “mean that in any disrespect to our country.”
“My dad was in Vietnam and a law officer for 30 years,” Griner said during a 2020 press conference. “I wanted to be a cop before basketball. I do have pride for my country.”
Griner’s past protests have been a talking point for several conservative figures following her release this week, including for Donald Trump Jr., who called Griner an “America Hating WNBA player” in a Truth Social post Thursday.
Conservative commentator Tomi Lahren also talked about Griner’s protests during her podcast Thursday, and tweeted, along with a clip of her show, that her “only hope” was for Griner to “return to the United States of America, the greatest country on the face of the earth, with a heart full of gratitude, legs ready to stand for the anthem and lungs ready to belt out that Star Spangled Banner.”
Kansas Representative Roger Marshall also told reporters that while he was “happy for Brittney and her family,” he “sure hope[s] she’ll stand for the national anthem,” reported NBC News correspondent Julie Tsirkin.
Crenshaw said that the main question conservatives have, however, is not how Griner may change her behavior, but on whether the trade by the Biden administration was an “equal kind of trade,” pointing out that the president had failed to free former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in exchange for Bout.
“What kind of thought went into this? Was it an either/or situation? Did you get to choose?” Crenshaw asked during Fox News’ segment. “Be open about this so that people aren’t so upset.”
The president has promised that his administration has “not given up” on the release of Whelan as well, who was arrested in 2018 and is currently serving 16 years in a Russian prison on what Biden insists are sham espionage charges. Biden said Thursday, however, that the Kremlin was treating Whelan’s case differently than Griner’s.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke about the White House’s commitment to bring Whelan home at a briefing Thursday, and told reporters that Griner’s exchange “was not a choice of which American to bring home.”
“The choice was one or none,” Blinken said.
Newsweek reached out to Crenshaw’s office for comment.
