Michmutters

Jon Stewart has called on the US Senate to remain in session for as long as it takes to pass burn pits legislation in an impassioned speech on the steps of the US Capitol this week.

The comedian and activist turned up the heat on Republicans ahead of a second vote on The PACT Act, which provides healthcare for veterans exposed to burn pits, on Monday night.

Speaking to a group of veterans who have been camped out for days in Washington DC, Stewart said the Senators shouldn’t be allowed to leave the building until the bill had passed.

“My suggestion to this Senate would be when you come back, if all the members aren’t here, keep the lights on, keep the doors open, and don’t leave here tonight until you do the right thing by these folks.”

The host of The Problem with Jon Stewart has been on a media blitz in recent days, appearing on all of the cable news channels and filming viral social media videos attacking the Republican senators who blocked passage of the bill last week by name.

Stewart has himself become a target. Senator Pat Toomey recently called him a “pseudo celebrity” on CNN’s State of the Nation and Fox News host Jesse Watters suggested he should stick to farming.

In his speech on Monday, Stewart joked that the right was trying to smear him as “Hunter Biden’s cocaine dealer” and “more gay pride flag than man”.

“You can attack me all you want. And you can troll me online…. but here’s the beautiful thing, I don’t give as**t. I’m not scared of you. And I don’t care,” he said, before gesturing to the veterans standing behind him. “Because these are the people that I owe a debt of gratitude to, and we all owe a debt of gratitude to. And it’s about time we start paying it off.”

The PACT Act easily passed the Senate by 84 votes to 14 in June, but was voted down last week after some changes were made to the legislation in the House.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz accused Mr Stewart of misrepresenting the bill, saying that Democrats were attempting a “budgetary trick” of including $400bn in spending unrelated to veterans.

“What Ted Cruz is describing is inaccurate, not true, bulls***t”, Stewart said in a video posted on Twitter, mocking Mr Cruz for saying that the Democrats put “discretionary” funds in the legislation that they made “mandatory” .

Footage of Mr Cruz fist-bumping Montana Senator Steve Daines on the Senate floor after the bill was blocked provoked outrage, and was seized on as proof the Republicans were playing politics with veterans’ lives.

Despite reporting of a potential prisoner exchange to bring home Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, a deal between the United States and Russia to free the detained Americans still appears to be a ways away.

A top White House official slammed Russia in a CNN interview Saturday for attempting to tack on an additional convict — a murderer who was tried, sentenced, and imprisoned in Germany — to the United States’ proposed prisoner exchange of Griner and Whelan for notorious arms dealer Victor Bout.

Charlie Neibergall/AP

John Kirby, the Biden administration’s National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, called the Kremlin’s counteroffer “a bad faith attempt to avoid a very serious offer and proposal that the United States has put forward.”

“Holding two American citizens hostage in exchange for an assassin in a third-party country is not a serious counteroffer,” Kirby said, adding: “We urge Russia to take [our] offer seriously.”

Even despite his criticism of Moscow’s counter, Kirby was hesitant to agree that discussions between the two superpowers had “stalled.” He also denied that the Russians “hold the cards,” as CNN’s Jim Sciutto phrased his question about him, at the negotiating table.

REUTERS/Leah Millis

Instead, Kirby underscored the Biden administration’s stance since early May, when they designated Griner as “wrongfully detained.” A source previously told Insider that the classification change sends a “strong signal that the US government does not believe that there is a legitimate case against her.”

“We very much want to see Brittney and Paul come home to their families, where they belong,” Kirby said. “They’re wrongfully detained there, and we’re just gonna keep at that work.”

Griner, an eight-time WNBA All-Star, has been in Russian custody since February 17. The 6-foot-9 Phoenix Mercury center was charged with the large-scale transportation of drugs and moved to a Russian jail shortly after customs agents at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport claimed to have found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage.

KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images

Whelan, meanwhile, has been wrongfully detained in Russia since December 2018. The former Marine-turned-security executive was arrested at a Moscow hotel over suspicions that he was an American spy. He was subsequently convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in Russian prison, with the possibility of serving time at a labor camp.

Though Griner’s trial — which legal experts characterize as a “show trial” with a “predetermined” outcome — is still underway, sources have repeatedly told Insider that a prisoner exchange is Griner’s most likely path home. The same goes for Whelan.

The US government’s offer to release Bout is a serious one. Known to many as the “Merchant of Death,” the 55-year-old is infamous for supplying rebel groups and terrorist organizations with weapons that fueled bloody wars across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

However, Bout’s 2008 arrest in Thailand was not actually based on charges for the high-stakes trafficking operations that have since served as inspiration for several movies, documentaries, and books. Instead, he has been in foreign custody for over a decade after he was caught in a US Drug Enforcement Agency sting operation.

American officials lured the elusive arms distributor to engage with purported representatives of a Colombian guerilla group. He offered to sell weapons to the rebels, even with the understanding that the materials could have been used to kill Americans.

Soon after, Bout was arrested in Bangkok and, following an extended legal battle and protests from the Russian government, extradited to the US. Nearly four years after his initial capture of him, Bout was convicted of a trio of crimes and handed his minimum 25-year sentence.

PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL/AFP via Getty Images

Expert opinions vary on whether the weapons dealer would still pose a national security threat to the United States if he were set free. And even though Bout has already served 11 years of his sentence, many see his release of him as a major concession from the US government.

Adding another dangerous criminal — Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted late last year of killing a man in broad daylight — would make the deal even less palatable to those concerned about the initial trade proposed by the Biden administration.

Griner’s Russian legal representation previously estimated that she’d be sentenced sometime in August. The 31-year-old is expected to appear in court again this week.