Mike Pompeo warns Brittney Griner trade offer 'sets a dangerous precedent' for US

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the Biden administration offering Russia a swap for two Americans.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that the Biden administration offering a malicious Russian prisoner in exchange for two American detainees is a dangerous path for U.S. foreign policy.

"He's a bad guy. He is a guy who wanted to kill Americans. It presents a real risk to the United States… There's a real reason the Russians want to get him home. To offer a trade like this is a dangerous precedent," Pompeo told "America's Newsroom."

"This is not a good trade, not the right path forward, and it'll likely lead to more."

Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer known as the "Merchant of Death" whose weapons sales fueled deadly conflicts around the world, could be sent back to his motherland in exchange for WNBA star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan. 

WHO IS VIKTOR BOUT, RUSSIA'S 'MERCHANT OF DEATH' WHO COULD BE FREED IN PRISONER SWAP FOR BRITTNEY GRINER?

American basketball star Brittney Griner returned Wednesday to a Russian courtroom for her drawn-out trial on drug charges that could bring her 10 years in prison of convicted. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)

Russian officials have long pushed for the release of Bout, who is currently serving a 25-year sentence in U.S. prison after being convicted in 2011 of conspiracy to kill Americans, conspiracy to deliver anti-aircraft missiles, and aiding a terrorist organization.

He was nabbed in 2008 in a sting operation at a luxury hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, where he met with Drug Enforcement Administration informants who were posing as officials with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which has been classified by US officials