In a press briefing with ABC News, Ned Price, a State Department representative told the outlet that if Rodman decided to travel to Russia, he would not be traveling as a representative U.S. government.

“We believe that anything other than negotiating further through the established channel is likely to complicate and hinder those release efforts,” said Price.

Although Rodman seems to have been interested in foreign policy and diplomacy, we may never know whether he truly would have been able to release Griner. In what seems like a detraction from his initial statement, Rodman told ABC News that he did not currently have any plans to go to Russia. Amid the high tensions in Russia, it is difficult to say when Griner will be home, or what time frame it will take the U.S government to wrap up negotiations with Russia for the release to happen, but in the meantime, the world is anxiously waiting.

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