Over the weekend retired NBA player Dennis Rodman announced he had "gotten permission" to travel to Russia to secure the release of WNBA player Brittney Griner, who was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony after pleading guilty to drug smuggling [click here if you missed that].
Now there's been a change in plans...
From ABC News
A State Department spokesperson, Ned Price, told ABC News during a press briefing on Monday that if Rodman did travel to Russia, "He would not be traveling on behalf of the U.S. government."
"We believe that anything other than negotiating further through the established channel is likely to complicate and hinder those release efforts," Price added.
Amid the scrutiny over his comments, Rodman told ABC News on Monday that he doesn’t currently have plans to travel to Russia.
