Ari Fleischer Slams U.S. President Over Brittney Griner Sentencing: ‘Biden Doesn’t Have Leverage Around the World Anymore’

Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer pivoted a conversation about Brittney Griner’s conviction in order to trash President Joe Biden as a weak and ineffective world leader.

Fleischer joined Harris Faulkner on Thursday to talk about Griner being sentenced to 9 years in prison for the drug smuggling and possession charges she faced in Russia. The former White House press secretary began by urging Americans not to travel to Russia, and while he added that “my heart goes out to her….She did it to herself, in some ways, by going there and by doing what she did.”

“Just don’t go,” Fleischer said. “Part of the way you punish Russia is to dry up every available dollar they can get. So I hope there is no reason for any Americans to go there at all and put yourself at the mercy of Russia.”

Fleischer was referring to how Griner was convicted after cannabis vape cartridges — illegal in Russia — were found in her suitcase, though she has repeatedly insisted she did not intend to break the law. Midway through the conversation, Faulkner asked Fleischer for his immediate reaction to Biden’s new statement demanding Griner’s release.

“He’s doing that for domestic reasons, as he should. It’s the appropriate call to action but Russia will ignore Joe Biden,” Fleischer said while smirking. “It’s all caught up in bigger issues. It’s caught up in the U.S.-Russian relationship. And when Joe Biden says that, he has no leverage. Why will Russia agree?”

After Fleischer determined that the statement “won’t change anything” for Griner, Faulkner gave a full reading of Biden’s call for Griner’s freedom, plus the freedom of her fellow detained American, Paul Whelan. Fleischer chalked it up as a “moral statement,” saying again that it won’t change anything “because Joe Biden doesn’t have leverage around the world anymore.”

“This is part of the problem when you have a president who is just not held in high regard and lacks leverage,” he said. “It’s also a reflection of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine where they thumb their nose at everyone and do whatever they want to do. So why would we expect them to behave appropriately involving one prisoner when they’re behaving entirely inappropriately involving another country? It’s a reflection of the modern Russia we’re up against and why we need to be tough.”

Watch above, via Fox News.