"An American journalist living in Ukraine has been imprisoned for
defending Russia’s invasion of the nation, and the Biden administration
is refusing to say whether it is working to secure his release.
On Monday, State Department spokesman Mathew Miller said during a
press briefing that the administration is aware of the arrest of Gonzalo
Lira, a writer and YouTube personality who is originally from
California, but declined to say anything more.
At the briefing, a reporter described Lira’s arrest from several
weeks ago and asked Miller, “Are you guys aware of this? How do we feel
about our allies detaining US citizens for free speech abroad?”
“I will say in general that we’re aware of the report. We obviously
support the exercise of freedom of speech anywhere in the world and I’ll
leave it at that,” said Miller.
“So you guys aren’t working to get him released?” asked the reporter.
“I’m gonna leave my comments where I where I just left them,” Miller responded." TP