Michigan Man Jailed In Russia On Spying Charges
COOPER: Tonight, an American is being held by Russia in an arrest surrounded by mystery. 48-year-old Paul Whelan of Michigan faces espionage charges, but Russia isn't explaining why. He's a corporate security executive for an auto parts supplier and a former marine reservist. His family says he was there for a wedding when he was detained five days ago. U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman went to see Whelan today at a Moscow jail, something that one U.S. official described to CNN as an unusual move so soon. The arrest happens to come about two weeks after the guilty plea in this country of Maria Butina, the alleged Russian spy. Former national security officials wonder if it's Kremlin retaliation. I spoke earlier with Paul Whelan's twin brother, David.</s>COOPER: David, what did Ambassador Huntsman tell your family today?</s>DAVID WHELAN, BROTHER OF DETAINED AMERICAN PAUL WHELAN: He spoke with my brother, Paul's second brother, and explained that the embassy staff had an opportunity to see Paul, and that Paul seemed to be healthy under the circumstances, healthy and good condition. And the embassy staffs were able to take some requests from Paul, some list of things that he needed, and just to do a general checkup and share with us information about now how we could proceed to the next steps of helping him.</s>COOPER: Are you clear right now as to what exactly the U.S. government State Department is doing or can do to try to free your brother?</s>WHELAN: I think we have a general sense of what they're able to do. Certainly we realize that they're not there to provide him with legal representation, so that's a step that we're going to be getting started for him to help to identify lawyers and so that he can select one and start to deal with the legal issues that he faces in Moscow. But it also allows us to do things like provide him with money or other things so that he can have resources in the jail.</s>COOPER: To the notion that is being put forward by Russia that Paul was on a "spy mission" when he was arrested, I'm wondering what your response to that is. I mean, to your knowledge, is your brother -- has he ever been a spy?</s>WHELAN: No, I don't believe Paul is a spy. I don't believe that there are charges that would support him being a spy.</s>COOPER: He spent a lot of time in Russia, I understand, over the years, vacations. Do you know what it was about Russia that he liked, that he enjoyed?</s>WHELAN: Well, I don't think it was solely Russia. Paul has traveled a lot for personal reasons and for business. And I think Russia was one of the many locations that he went to. He has friends that he's gathered over the years on social media, some of them are Russian and so he's visited them while he's been in Russia.</s>COOPER: When was the last time you spoke to Paul and how did you actually find out he'd been detained?</s>WHELAN: It's probably been a month or so. I think it was before American Thanksgiving. And I've heard from my family that they were concerned that he was missing because he hadn't checked in from a wedding that he was attending in Moscow. They were expecting that they might see pictures or that he might text them to find out about some activities that the family was experiencing in Michigan. There was a vet appointment for his favorite dog, and so that was really the first time we had a sense he was missing. That was confirmed on the Sunday that he had a missing person report filed by his friend in Moscow, an American who is also a former marine. And then it was Monday morning when I did some internet sleuthing to find out more that we actually learned that he'd been detained.</s>COOPER: And that's how you found out, you found out on the -- about it through the internet?</s>WHELAN: Right, yes. We didn't have any idea and so as anybody would, you would be concerned that something had happened to your family member who had disappeared and was out of contact. So, I got up and started to do searches to see if there was news about an American who had been killed or been in a car accident or something else had happened, been mugged in Moscow, and those searches led me to news wires that were reporting that the Russian ministry's press release that Paul Whelan had been detained as an alleged spy.</s>COOPER: I mean I can't imagine how frightening this is and, you know, distressing this is obviously for you, for your family. You know, we are seeing in overseas in Russia. If you could speak to your brother, is there anything you would want to say to him?</s>WHELAN: I would just tell him to be patient, to be strong, as I know he can be in these sorts of situations, and to know that we are doing everything we can, both to help him in Russia with the situation that he has right there, and also to look to the U.S. government's resources to see if we can get him to come back home.</s>COOPER: David, we wish you the best and we'll continue to follow this. Thank you.</s>WHELAN: Thank you very much.</s>COOPER: Well, ahead tonight, more on the breaking news and the President saying he'd look "foolish" if he signed onto the Democrats' plan to end the shutdown. There are all kinds of consequences on the lingering government shutdown on top of federal workers without pay conditions are deteriorating, some in the national parks. These are so bad that Joshua Tree campgrounds can't stay open. We'll have the latest from there next.