LeBron James backs off apparent criticism of U.S. efforts to free Brittney Griner
CBSN
LeBron James is publicly criticizing the United States' handling of WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner's case in a trailer for an upcoming episode of his television show, "The Shop: Uninterrupted."
Griner is on trial in Russia for drug possession. She pleaded guilty last week and will appear again in court on Thursday.
"Now, how can she feel like America has her back?" James asks in the trailer. "I would be feeling like, 'Do I even wanna go back to America?'"
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.