I publish what I get.
Detroit media will publish what they get.
Then, I sit back, with cocktails & popcorn, of course, and see who gets it right.
But hey, what do I know?
I know Haley Stevens, Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow are terrified right about now.
#FreeMariaButina
Novi man accused of 'spy mission' in Russia: What we know
Paul Nicholas Whelan, 48, of Novi was arrested Friday in Moscow, accused of espionage.
The Russian Federal Security Service said he was detained "while on a spy mission."
"I am alarmed by Russia's detainment of one of my constituents, Paul Whelan,” said U.S. Rep.-elect Haley Stevens, D-Rochester Hills, who is set to take office on Thursday and whose district includes Whelan’s home and his company’s headquarters. “I have been in touch with the Whelan family and I am committed to working with them to bring Mr. Whelan home.
“Paul served our country as a Marine and law enforcement officer and we must ensure that Russia continues to meet its obligations under the Vienna Convention to provide U.S. officials access to Mr. Whelan. I am working with the State Department and will remain vigilant until Paul returns safely to his family in Michigan,” she added.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday morning that "if the detention is not appropriate we will demand his immediate return."
U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman Jr. visited Whelan Wednesday in the Lefortovo Detention Facility, according to a State Department spokesperson. Huntsman expressed his support for Whelan and offered the Embassy’s assistance.
Huntsman also with Whelan’s family via telephone, the spokesperson said.
If Whelan is convicted, Russian authorities said he could serve up to 20 years in prison.
His twin brother, David Whelan, said Wednesday that the family has no new updates to share, but noted: "Secretary Pompeo's statement that they hope to gain consular access to Paul and will look forward to developments."
He said the family only learned of Paul Whelan's arrest Monday.
Here is what we know now about Paul Whelan, his life, his background and where things stand with his case.
Paul Whelan's early life
He is now a U.S. citizen but was born in 1971 to British parents, Edward and Rosemary Whelan, in Canada. He has a twin brother, David Whelan, who has been the family spokesperson since Paul's arrest.
The family moved to Michigan after the twins were born, settling in the Ann Arbor area. Paul and David Whelan also have a sister and another brother.
The twins attended Huron High School in Ann Arbor and graduated in the class of 1988.
Paul Whelan never married and never had children, his twin brother said. Before his arrest in Russia, he lived in an apartment in Novi.
Paul Whelan was court-martialed from Marines
The Marine Corps says Whelan was convicted in a 2008 court-martial on charges related to larceny.
His service record was released Wednesday by the Marine Corps at the Pentagon and shows he joined the Marine Reserves May 10, 1994 and rose to the rank of staff sergeant in December 2004. Whelan was an administrative clerk and administrative chief and deployed for the war against Iraq for several months in 2004 and 2006.
Whelan's last place of duty was Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California.
Other work history
He worked as a Chelsea police officer from 1988-2000, and also worked for the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department, Whelan testified in a 2013 court deposition.
In 2001, Whelan began work at Kelly Services, a Troy-based company that offers consulting, temporary workers and workforce solutions to businesses around the world. He took a military leave of absence from Kelly Services, he testified, from 2003-2008, to serve in Iraq.
At Kelly Services, his title was senior manager of global security and investigations. His job included campus security as well as electronic and IT-related security. He left the company in 2016 and started working for BorgWarner, an Auburn Hills-based auto supplier, in 2017, according to company spokeswoman Kathy Graham.
His job at BorgWarner involves overseeing security for "facilities, assets and people" in Auburn Hills and around the world, Graham said.
Paul Whelan owns an online firearms business
According to business licensing records, Whelan also runs an online firearms business known as Kingsmead Arsenal. The business was started in 2012, and its address is the same as Whelan's apartment on Wellington Drive in Novi.
He testified in the 2013 deposition that he has a federal firearms license.
Whelan's family says he was in Russia to help friend
According to his twin brother, David Whelan, Paul Whelan was a world traveler who'd been to Russia multiple times for work and as a tourist.
A friend from the Marines was getting married in Moscow, and had asked Paul Whelan to help his American family and friends get around.
"The friend asked if Paul could come and help because his family was going to Russia and hadn’t had a lot of experience there," David Whelan said. "Paul was there to help people tour the buildings and get around what can be a difficult country to navigate."
Paul Whelan arrived in Russia on Dec. 22, his brother said, and had planned to help the wedding party in Moscow through Tuesday. He was then scheduled to travel to St. Petersburg before returning home to Michigan on Jan. 6.
Is the case tied to Russian spy Maria Butina?
Paul Whelan's arrest comes just a few weeks after Russian national Maria Butina agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors; she pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an agent for the Kremlin after working for years to infiltrate American political groups, including the National Rifle Association.
Maria Butina is still behind bars.She is charged with acting as an unregistered agent from Russia, allegedly trying to advance her countries’ interests through conservative political groups here in the U.S. Buzz60
Although some have speculated his arrest this might be an attempt by the Russians to orchestrate a trade — Butina for Paul Whelan — his brother isn't willing to presume that's what is at play.
"People have looked for conspiracies and things or connections to Ms. Butina," he told the Free Press Tuesday. "But at the end of the day, it’s just hard to know.
"I think sometimes the geopolitical spectrum is a lot more complicated than that sort of trade-off. That could be what it was, but we’re trying not to focus on what the explanation might be, and are just trying to get him home."
The Russian announcement of Paul Whelan's arrest came one day after President Vladimir Putin released a holiday greeting to President Donald Trump that stressed the importance of Russia-U.S. relations in "ensuring strategic stability and international security." The one-sentence message also "reaffirmed that Russia is open to dialogue with the United States on the most extensive agenda."
U.S.-Russian relations have been battered by controversy despite Trump's frequent praise of Putin. Scores of Russian diplomats were expelled this year in response to the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain that was linked to the Kremlin.
And special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election has brought scrutiny on communications between Trump's inner circle and Russian operatives.
Congressional intervention?
U.S. Rep.-elect Haley Stevens, a Democrat from Rochester Hills, has talked to Whelan family.
“We are doing everything we can to be a liaison between the family and the federal government,” said Justin German, Stevens’ incoming chief of staff.
Stevens is to be sworn in Thursday. Her district includes BorgWarner’s headquarters in Auburn Hills and Paul Whelan's city of residence, Novi.
The offices of U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and U.S. Sen. Gary Peters had no comment on Whelan's arrest or his possible release.
Contact Kristen Jordan Shamus: 313-222-5997 or kshamus@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kristenshamus. Free Press staff writers Todd Spangler, JC Reindl, the Associated Press, and USA Today's Deirdre Shesgreen, Tom Vanden Brook and John Bacon contributed to this report.
This story was updated to correct the headquarters of BorgWarner, which is based in Auburn Hills.
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