Sen. Ted Cruz: If Mark Swidan were WNBA player, he’d be home

(NewsNation) — Texas businessman Mark Swidan has remained in a locked, Chinese prison cell for more than a decade. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, thinks if Swidan was a WNBA player or a journalist, he would be home by now.

“It has been over ten years that Mark Swidan has been trapped in a hellhole, in a Chinese prison. They’ve sentenced him to death on bogus charges. This is a wrongful imprisonment, and it is long past time Mark Swidan needs to come home,” Cruz told “On Balance” host Leland Vittert.

Despite a lack of evidence, Swidan currently faces a death sentence in China linked to drug-related charges.

In 2012, Swidan traveled from Texas to China to buy materials to remodel his home. He was arrested on accusations of trafficking and manufacturing methamphetamine, but U.S. leaders have argued Swidan was not in China at the time of the alleged crime. The United Nations says Swidan was arbitrarily detained.

Swidan has been imprisoned in China through three presidencies — former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden.

Cruz criticized the Biden administration for not giving public attention to Swidan’s situation. In December, the White House arranged a high-level prisoner swap, where Russia freed WNBA star Brittney Griner in exchange for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. In recent weeks, President Joe Biden urged Russia to release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. The White House condemned Gershkovich’s detention “in the strongest terms.”

Cruz believes the Biden administration isn’t mentioning Swidan because he is imprisoned in China.

“Joe Biden won’t say his name. Kamala Harris won’t say his name. Tony Blinken. I mean, there are all sorts of administration officials who could stand up, who could call out the Chinese,” Cruz said, later adding: “This administration has been afraid to stand up to China and unfortunately Mark Swidan is paying the cost of that.”

Swidan’s mother, Katherine Swidan, shares the same feeling.

“I’ve contacted so many people and he’s never number one,” Katherine Swidan told NewsNation’s Markie Martin. “I think that the government is cherry-picking and I still think they are because I have never been contacted by Biden.”

Cruz acknowledged that his office has worked with the Biden administration and that they raised Swidan’s case with China. But, earlier this year, Secretary of State Antony Blinken abruptly scrapped a high-stakes trip to Beijing after a high-altitude Chinese balloon floated across the U.S.

According to Cruz, his team had been pressing the State Department to make Swidan’s case a major priority for Blinken on that trip, but the balloon sparked a change in plans and apparently efforts on Swidan’s behalf.

“Since then, we’ve seen no progress with Mark Swidan,” Cruz said.

The Texas senator believes the best hope in bringing Swidan home is placing diplomatic pressure on China.

“The Chinese Communist government is a tyrannical government, but they don’t like it when you turn up the heat. There is power to shining a light. There is power to calling them out. There is power to embarrassing them,” Cruz said.

He continued: “I’m hopeful the more pressure, the more heat, the more attention that’s on Mark Swidan, then ultimately the Chinese government will decide, you know what, it’s not worth the hassle, let’s send him home.”

The House unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday to urge China to release Swidan.

Swidan, who is now 48, appealed his sentence. Earlier this month, the People’s Republic of China Jiangmen Intermediate Court denied it. He now has a two-year suspended death sentence.

Cruz said: “It is time for China to send this American hostage home.”