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   From: governor.swill@gmail.con   
      
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   Cherelle Griner, the wife of WNBA star Brittney Griner, told CNN   
   on Thursday she wants U.S. officials to do whatever they have to   
   do to bring the basketball legend home — and she needs to see   
   them do more.   
      
   During an interview on the eve of her wife's trial in Russia,   
   Cherelle Griner sat in the Phoenix Mercury locker room and   
   called for more action.   
      
   "It's really, really difficult. This is not a situation where   
   the rhetoric is matching the action," she said. "I do have to   
   unfortunately push people to make sure that the things they're   
   telling me is also matching their actions and so it's been the   
   hardest thing to balance because I can't let up. It's over 130   
   days and BG's still not back."   
      
   Brittney Griner, 31, who has played in Russia during the WNBA's   
   offseason, was arrested Feb. 17 at a Moscow airport. Russian   
   authorities claimed she had cannabis oil in her luggage and   
   accused her of smuggling significant amounts of a narcotic   
   substance, an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison.   
      
   Earlier this week, a Russian court scheduled her trial to start   
   Friday, according to her lawyer, and ruled her detention be   
   extended six months pending its outcome. The U.S. Embassy in   
   Moscow will send a diplomat to Friday's hearing, a U.S. official   
   has told CNN.   
      
   Cherelle Griner told CNN she wants to see more from U.S.   
   officials and meet with them to be reassured that they are "at   
   that phase where you're actually doing everything in your power   
   to bring her home," she said.   
      
   Right now, Cherelle said that what the U.S. government is saying   
   isn't matching their actions. She referred to a day when she was   
   supposed to speak to her wife and Brittney called the embassy in   
   Moscow 11 times but wasn't connected with Cherelle. The State   
   Department blamed the mistake on staffing restrictions imposed   
   by Russian officials.   
      
   "You don't have my trust at that point until I see actions that   
   are in BG's best interest," Cherelle said.   
      
   She also said she would "absolutely" like to meet with President   
   Joe Biden and humanize Brittney to him so he can "see BG as we   
   see BG."   
      
   "While everyone wants to tell me they care, I'd love for him to   
   tell me he cares," she added.   
      
   State Department says it is 'actively engaged'   
   U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of   
   State Antony Blinken met with Cherelle this week, Sullivan told   
   reporters Tuesday aboard Air Force One.   
      
   "Brittney Griner is wrongfully detained, unjustly detained and   
   we have made that clear as an official determination of the U.S.   
   government. Second, the Russian government should release her   
   and allow her to be returned and reunited with her family and   
   come home safe and sound," Sullivan said.   
      
   Sullivan declined to detail U.S. efforts to resolve Griner's   
   case, citing the "sensitive matter," but maintained that the   
   Biden administration is "actively engaged."   
      
   'Don't be quiet,' families of other detained Americans told her   
   While Cherelle has not been able to speak to Brittney, the   
   couple writes each other letters. Cherelle said Brittney   
   recently reassured her that her time in detention hasn't driven   
   her crazy after photos from Brittney's court appearance left her   
   wife disheartened. Brittany wrote that she is exhausted and it   
   was disconcerting to emerge into a courtroom where there were   
   100 or so media members and cameras, Cherelle said.   
      
   A photo from Kirill Kudryavstev of Agence France-Presse shows   
   Brittney at her preliminary hearing Monday, arriving at court   
   handcuffed and flanked by guards in black vests.   
      
   Cherelle noted her wife, who is 6-foot-9, has a five-hour round-   
   trip drive on court days, and when she is moved, she is in a   
   "very, very, very tiny cage" with her long legs bent at the knee.   
      
   Cherelle said she's also met with families of people who have   
   been or remain detained in Russia and other countries. She   
   described the families are loving, genuine and broken people.   
   "And the first thing they said was, you know, 'Do not be quiet   
   about this. Do not let them forget about your loved one,'" she   
   said.   
      
   It blew her mind when she learned that for some of those   
      
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