WATCH: Whelan Brother Tells MSNBC Trump Was ‘Not Interested’ In Detainee Cases — Biden ‘Much More Engaged’ In Bringing Them Home

David Whelan, brother of detained American Paul Whelan, told MSNBC’s Zinhle Essamuah that President Joe Biden’s administration is “much more engaged” than former President Donald Trump’s was in seeking the release of wrongfully imprisoned Americans like his brother.

Mr. Wheman was a guest on Saturday morning’s edition of MSNBC Reports to discuss the news of Brittney Griner’s release in a prisoner exchange for convicted international arms dealer Viktor Bout, also known as the “merchant of death.”

Essamuah asked Whelan to explain the process, and Whelan described an “evolution” from a disinterested and unprepared Trump administration to a Biden administration that is “100% engaged on bringing Paul home”:

ZINHLE ESSAMUAH: At the White House. When they informed you Britney would be coming home, did they tell you why Paul was not?

DAVID WHELAN: I wasn’t part of the conversation, so I’m not sure if that came up. I think we understood that there was, there were really two options. It was one option for Brittney Griner to come home, and that was one option for nobody to come home. And I think President Biden made the right choice, which is that an American should come home if they can come home.

ZINHLE ESSAMUAH: And I know your brother Paul did an interview with CNN just yesterday. And in it he said he was greatly disappointed that more hasn’t been done to secure his release. And the Biden administration and at times even the Trump administration made overtures for his release. So talk about what this process has been like from your perspective, especially given some of the back and forth and the other Americans we’ve seen come home.

DAVID WHELAN: It’s really been an evolution. And I think the first two years, partly I think the Trump administration was not prepared to or not interested in working on wrongful detention cases. And partly the wars didn’t exist during those first two years of Paul’s detention. We’re starting to see that change. The Biden administration is much more engaged in wrongful detentions and the executive order that President Biden passed or signed last year, plus the Levinso Act, have given the government more tools to help wrongful detainee families, but also to try to start to punish the nations who are doing that. So we’re seeing improvement. But I think Paul had his hopes up. We all did. To the extent that Secretary Blinken had said a substantial proposal had been made to Russia. Paul had been thinking already about where he would live when he came back. And so when I heard that his voice, he was obviously tremendously disappointed. And it’s understandable.

ZINHLE ESSAMUAH: Completely understandable. And it is important to mention that while speaking publicly Friday, Putin did say that everything is possible when it comes to further prisoner exchanges and that we won’t say no to doing more of this work in the future. That’s from Putin. So do you think all this attention on Brittney Griner’s return will pressure the White House and the Kremlin to move more quickly on Paul’s case?

DAVID WHELAN: No, I don’t think the White House needs any pressure, and I don’t think the Kremlin will be susceptible to any pressure. As far as I can tell, the State Department, the National Security Council, the White House, they are all 100% engaged on bringing Paul home. I think what they have done is they’ve essentially run through the resources that they thought they might be able to get the Russians to accept as a concession. I mean, this is all about extortion. Paul was taken as a political prisoner and Russia is trying to extort something from US.

Watch above via MSNBC Reports.