Former United States Marine Paul Whelan has moved onto the “next stage of what will be a long recovery,” his attorney said Tuesday.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, lawyer Ryan Fayhee gave an update on Whelan after he returned to the United States earlier this month.
“He's doing as well as can be expected,” Fayhee said. “He can stay up to 19 days down at the Brooke’s Army Medical Center, BAMC, in San Antonio, Texas, which focuses on his physical and mental health.”
Whelan was one of four Americans who was freed from Russia in a seven-nation prisoner swap. Twenty-six people were released as part of the swap — the biggest East-West prisoner swap in the post-Cold War era — that involved the United States, Russia, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Belarus. Journalists Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza were also freed in the deal.
Fayhee also gave an update on where is the pin that Whelan received from President Joe Biden:
“He's very proud of that presidential pin,” Fayhee said. “I've talked to him every day since, and he's still wearing that pin.”
