Transcript for Ex-Marine appears in court in Moscow

Now to breakg new developmentsnvolving the form mine arresten rsia spy charges in Dember. Paullan appearing I court this morning. Our chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz has the latest on all that. Good morning. Reporter: Good morning. This is the first time Paul Whelan has been seen publicly since his arrest. He did appear in good health but what was said in that Moscow courtroom is not encouraging. His appeal was rejected. The espionage charges against him will stand with Whelan's lawyers saying that the American was arrested with a device containing state secrets. A Russian news site reported that the device was a memory card with a list of Russian operatives. Whelan's Russian lawyer says that Whelan thought he was receiving personal or cultural information to aid him as a tourist. There has been speculation that Whelan was set up in retaliation for the arrest of Russian MARIA butina in the U.S. She pleaded guilty to acting as a foreign agent and is now in U.S. Detention. Whelan could face 20 years in prison. Michael. All right, thank you so much, Martha.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.