Yeah the media, Griner's wife, Lebron forced their hand. You had people on this forum saying that the administration wasn't doing shyt because they weren't updating everyone on what's going on behind the scenes. The US has had many prisoner swaps over it's history and it's never been broadcasted like this in the media. It's always been behind the scenes until it happened.
The constant need for validation that something is happening doomed any potential early deal but in all honesty Russia was likely never going to respond favorably. They fukking hate the US right now as we're the main military supplier of the nation they're currently warring with. People need to understand the geopolitics going on right now is the biggest impediment to any type of deal being made.