Brittney Griner's Spouse Questions Administration, State Dept For Failed Phone Call With Detained WNBA Star

Cherelle Griner, four-year spouse to WNBA star Brittney Griner, spoke with the US government regarding a scheduled call with the basketball player, who is under wrongful detainment in Russia after getting caught with THC vape cartridges at an airport.

With the two celebrating their fourth anniversary on Saturday, the phone call was scheduled in coordination with the US Embassy in Moscow.

The call reportedly never came to be ... Griner desperately attempted to get ahold of the US State Department but was left on silent.

According to the Associated Press, the call never reached Cherelle despite Griner making 11 calls to the departments at the helm of the scheduled call.

Per the outlet, the US Embassy was unstaffed on the day of the planned call.

Cherelle said she was in deep despair after failing to hear from the US government in her talks with the AP. Cherelle said that she's "fed up" with the lack of updates on Griner's well-being. The call would have been the first contact between the two since Brittney was detained four months ago.

"I was distraught. I was hurt. I was done, fed up," Cherelle said. "I'm pretty sure I texted BG's agent and was like: 'I don't want to talk to anybody. It's going to take me a minute to get my emotions together and just tell everybody I'm unavailable right now.' Because it just knocked me out. I wasn't well; I'm still not well."

She added that despite hearing commitments to meet with President Joe Biden to aid the effort to bring Griner home, she's losing hope of ever reaching that point.

"At this point, it's starting to feel like a no," she said.

Griner is facing up to 10 years in prison.

"I find it unacceptable, and I have zero trust in our government right now. If I can't trust you to catch a Saturday call outside of business hours, how can I trust you to actually be negotiating on my wife's behalf to come home? Because that's a much bigger ask than to catch a Saturday call," Cherelle added.

"This was such a big moment because this would have been the first time where I truly could tell if she's OK," she said. "This would have been the first time for me to actually just hear her in real-time and to truly know if she's okay or to know if she's seconds away from not being in existence anymore."

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Alejandro Avila lives in Southern California and previously covered news for the LA Football Network. Jeopardy expert and grumpy sports fan. Known for having watched every movie and constant craving for dessert. @alejandroaveela (on X)