US WNBA basketball superstar Brittney Griner arrives to a hearing at the Khimki Court, outside Moscow on July 27, 2022. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 11:51 AM PT – Tuesday, October 25, 2022

A Russian court has rejected Brittney Griner’s appeal of her prison sentence.     

Three Russian judges handed down the ruling Tuesday, upholding the WNBA star’s nine-year sentence for drug charges.    

Griner was convicted in August, after Russian police said they found vape cartridges with cannabis in her luggage at a Moscow airport. The 32-year-old has been in jail since February. She appeared for Tuesday’s hearing through a video link.    

During the hearing, the basketball star admitted to having the cartridges in her luggage. However, she maintained no criminal intent. 

“I’ve been here almost eight months, and people with more severe crimes have gotten less than what I was given,” Griner said. “I wanna also apologize for this mistake, I’ve said in my first court that, yes, I plead guilty. I did not intend to do this, but I understand the charges brought against me. I just hope that that is also taken into account as well that I did plead guilty.” 

Griner’s lawyers argued that the punishment was excessive and was not in line with Russian law.  

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan released a statement expressing that the Biden administration is continuing to engage with Russia through every channel to bring Griner home.    

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is investing a million dollars in an effort to boost New Hampshire Republican Don Bolduc.

The Republican Party’s Senate campaign arm committed the new round of ad spending to help Bolduc in the final days before the 2022 midterms, Axios reported Tuesday. The party announced the ad buy following new polling showing Bolduc within the margin of error against Democratic incumbent Maggie Hassan. The investment also comes after the Senate Leadership Fund pulled nearly $6 million out of the race last week.

“Our polling, along with recent public polling, shows that this race is in the margin of error and winnable,” NRSC Chairman, Florida Senator Rick Scott (R) said in a statement to Axios. “The NRSC is proud to stand with General Bolduc. We’re going to win this race so Don Bolduc can bring real leadership back to this Senate seat.”

The new funding comes after two recent polls showed Bolduc, a retired Army brigadier general, is well within the margin of error against Hassan. A poll conducted by Emerson College and local TV station WHDH 7 News showed Bolduc trailing Hassan by just three points, 48%-45%, within the poll’s margin of error; 4% of voters were undecided. Another poll from InsiderAdvantage and American Greatness showed that Hassan’s lead had shrunk down to just half a point, 47.6%-47.1%; 2.9% were undecided.

The NRSC appears to be stepping in to fill the gap left by the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Last week, SLF announced that it was pulling $5.6 million in ad spending it had reserved for the state. “As the cycle comes to a close, we are shifting resources to where they can be most effective to achieve our ultimate goal: winning the majority,” SLF president Steven Law said in a statement, via The New York Times.

The NRSC previously pulled out of New Hampshire earlier this month, but the committee noted that it was because of outside spending. “We’re glad to see Republican outside forces showing up in a big way in New Hampshire, with millions in spending pledged to take down Maggie Hassan in the final stretch.” NRSC spokesman Chris Hartline told the NYT in a statement. NYT reporter Shane Goldmacher wrote on Twitter that the committee was moving its money toward other states where the GOP was being outspent.

At a campaign event for North Carolina Senate candidate Ted Budd last week, Scott expressed optimism that Bolduc could pull off the upset. Speaking to reporters after the event, Scott said “there’s a poll out showing Bolduc down two,” though he did not name a specific poll. “Hassan’s numbers have been horrible as far as her approval,” Scott added. Behind candidates like Bolduc, Budd, and other underdogs like Blake Masters in Arizona, Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania, Tiffany Smiley in Washington state, and Joe O’Dea in Colorado, Scott said that Republicans could hold as many as 55 Senate seats after the midterms.

Earlier this month, Bolduc announced he would be campaigning with former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, just days after Gabbard announced she was leaving the Democratic Party.

“Tulsi is a fellow change agent and independent-minded outsider willing to speak truth to power,” Bolduc said. “I am going to spend every day between now and Election Day building a wide coalition of supporters that includes Republicans, independents and even disaffected Democrats who know that Senator Hassan is a career politician and must be retired.”