thank you for coming in. >> omar. >> i look forward to that test meanwhile, tricking concert goers with bait and switch ticket prices and junk fees this morning, those are the accusations in a new lawsuit against stubhub filed by washington, d.c.'s attorney general, cnn's matt egan joins us now. all right. matt, what are we learning from this lawsuit? well, omar, i hate to break it to you, but you me and millions of other fans are allegedly being duped when we buy tickets to games and concerts on stubhub least that's the claim in this lawsuit. >> and if it's true as the new york jets fan, i'd be pretty offended bended because that enough to sit through the games. the last thing i want to hear is that ai overpaid for the tickets, but that's fans. the allegations in this lawsuit they're saying that stubhub uses pricing tactics that trick customers specifically, a classic bait and switch scheme. then there's a countdown clock. we're the lawsuit says creates this false sense of urgency as an example, they looked at a recent us sure concert, actually an upcoming one, where each tickets selling

for $178 as the advertised price. but after you click through, you realize the actual total width fees is on almost $250, nearly 40% increase. again, that's the allegations here. stubhub pushing back, they're alleging that they've been unfairly targeted for tactics that their competitors use, and that are consistent with a law more to come on this john, i hate when that happens advertised, you pay exactly. matt egan really appreciate it. we got a whole lot of news that we're following another hour of cnn news central starts right now. >> the so-called new dog well, trump after the attempted assassination looking a lot like the old, throwing out false claims about kamala harris is heritage during a combative interview in front of a room full of black journalists but impact could this have on the race for the white house today? and much more tomorrow, breaking overnight, israel confirming

the death of hamas's military carrie leader in an attack that happened last month, the idf releasing video now of the moment that they say right there that the alleged mastermind of the october seventh terrorist attack was killed and a warning for two generations, gen x and millennials have a higher risk of 17 types of cancer details from a new study that you'll want to hear. i'm kate bolduan with omar jimenez. sara is in chicago. john berman is out today. this is cnn news central donald trump taking us back to 2016 and 2020 for sure with his remarks about race and identity kamala harris calling it the same old show after tricky question, her racial identity during an interview with black journalists now that you are

asking black supporters to vote for you, why should black voters trust you after you have used language like that? well, first of all, i don't think i've ever been asked a question. so in such a horrible manner, first question, i think it's very nasty why did i have answered the questions, especially with another i have been the best president for the black population since abraham lincoln and things really old, really devolve further with his more remarks at the annual conference of the national association of black journalists. here is how two democrats considered a potential running mates of kamala harris responded says the reaction of a desperate, scared old man. of course, he's going to continue to do it. that's all he can do. this is all he has in his playbook and it's to be honest it's sad

and this guy is homophobe, a xenophobe he's a racist and masad genus. >> any shows it every day, but here was just a perfect example. i start to wonder whether he's got the stamina to actually get up on a debate stage with kamala harris for 90 minutes we are definitely in the thick and the heat of this presidential race. >> now sara is in chicago. you're at the conference who were in the room when this was happening, and you can hear the you could hear the other journalists and the audience reacting honestly, some gasping at what was being said. and what the president was saying to the journalists on stage yeah. >> i mean, if donald trump came here to try to attract more black voters, i'm not sure what that is. exactly what he did. he likely did the opposite and part of it is because of how he answered the question about kamala harris. he attacked to her racial identity in front of the crowd, trying to sort the divide people and make them think that she only

identifies as indian when indeed for much of her life, if she can identify for any which way she wants but she has it's identified as a black woman. let's listen to how he answered the question about whether or not he thinks she was only put in place as vice president by joe biden because she was black do you believe that vice president kamala harris is only on the ticket because she's a black woman. >> well, i can say no, i think it's maybe a little bit different, so i've known her a long time indirectly, not directly. very much. and she was always of indian heritage and she was only promoting indian the heritage. i didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black and now she wants to be known as black so i don't know. is she indian or is she black? he is always i know as a black eye recent college, i respect either one, but she obviously doesn't because she was indian all the way and then all of a sudden

she made a turn and she went when she became a black mississippi clear, sir, i think somebody should look into that too to be clear, you know, in any community, people can be both the kamala harris went to a historically black university she pledged the first black sorority. >> it is pretty clear who she thinks, how she thinks of herself and she thinks of herself as a black american she did respond to this, that she was in houston, texas at one of her rallies where she brought this up in the crowd, responded with almost the same sort of sigh that you heard inside of the nabj conference. and she said, look, it was the same old show from donald trump, the divisiveness and the disrespect. and she says, let me just say the american people deserve better. the american people deserve a leader who tells the truth, and a leader who doesn't respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts he's simply trying to divide us. so that's where she stands on this issue. she has been very

clearly identifying with her jamaican father, but her mother is indian and so she can identify with both and still consider herself a black american. it was perhaps the one answer that really riled up those who are we're in the room. and it speaks to a long history of people in this country who have dual backgrounds, who are mixed race. being able to say and be who they say they are not have someone question, especially not another white american this was a very, very divisive show, if you will, on donald trump's part. i'm not sure if he was able to do his homework as well. he was asked me a question about sonya massey, the illinois woman from from this state who was shot and killed by a police officer while she was in her kitchen she had called police for help. he didn't seem to know much about the case. he knew a little bit. it just did not go well by any stretch of the imagination. his question, his answers to the questions were often very very divisive, very

pointed, and also he didn't often answer the question. people left the room feeling pretty disturbed by what they heard from donald trump, hoping that he was going to be able to have a robust conversation about some of the issues that effect the black community yeah. sara. >> so lucky you're in the room to bring them perspective and we'll talk to a little bit later about at all, it's good to see you sure. omar. >> well, donald trump isn't backing off those false claims about kamala harris's heritage at all at a rally in pennsylvania, he lobbed a multitude of attacks at her, including claiming that democrats are trying to turn harris into a completely different person camila is now being given a personality make-over. don't forget. >> four weeks ago she was like considered the worst not smart terrible, the worst vice president in history. he's the worst president we've ever

had. >> but they were considered terrible. >> and all of a sudden she's the new margaret thatcher that happened, right the great margaret that shed, no, i don't think so cnn's. >> alayna treene is with me now. alayna, the attacks clearly kept coming over the course of that rally. what else did he say and do we have a sense that this is just going to continue? >> well, i think it's clear that donald trump is not running away from these remarks, as you noted, the attacks continued at that rally in harrisburg, but also specifically about the false claims over her heritage in the hours after that panel with the nabj, there was a jumbotron that was circulating headlines lines of when harris had become a senator, the headline had read, quote the quote, kamala harris elected first indian american senator later donald trump also posted on truth, social, again questioning her heritage, making false claims about it, and calling her a

phony. so donald trump is not running away from this. now i do. omar i want to address some of what sarah was saying and her great reporting there because you know, i've been talking to donald trump's advisers and really trying to question why did you have him go to this event? and there's a couple of reasons. one is that they saw an opportunity with this. one is that donald trump has not been the star of the show in recent days, protect peculiarly with the enthusiasm and media attention that kamala harris has been getting he wanted to reclaim some of that narrative and whether or not he did that. i mean, i think it's clear he reclaim the narrative, but the question is whether he did it in a way that his team had wanted him to. but the other part of this is that a huge goal of the trump campaign, this cycle husband to try and siphon then away key voters, particularly minority voters as they call them, with a specific focus on black and hispanic voters. and he had the opportunity to really address some hard and legitimate questions from those great journalists on stage, people like rachel scott, kadia goba

all of them questioning donald trump, asking him serious questions about why should black voters choose you? and instead of answering them in a serious way, he attacked the journalist and i think you're going to continue to hear a lot of controversy and the fallout of this, but also donald trump is sticking to these remarks and doubling down on them. so i don't think you will see him run away from them either. >> omar. >> and this comes as many republicans have urged others to stay away from these types of character attacks and focus more on the policy issues will see if this continues. alayna treene really appreciate it. >> kate, there are new details this morning on the idf strike that. killed a top hamas military leader in mid-july i and now with the assassination of hamas's top political leader, what this means for the region already teetering on the brink of all out war and a wildfire are growing so fast the state of colorado is now calling in the national guard for the first time in decades to help fight the flames plus a new move by the biden

administration that they say will save families hundreds of dollars when flying with young children who have those details that was i shall not seek and i will not accept the nomination. >> so my party for another term as your presence 1960 years, sunday at nine on cnn can to reverse support your brain health, know, janet, hey, eddy, know fraser, frank, frank bred. how are you? >> fred fuel up to seven brain health indicators, including your memory, joined the north fiba brain health challenge hey, you've seen this was the dish mean one, you're, telling me you can get direct directtv, got good stuff and you don't need a satellite dish oh, i used to love doing my business on those things. >> you're one sick pigeon, then dishes kept the rain off our beaks.

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a spotless house for $19 pre-side to you all so good to see me house of the dragon streaming exclusively on max breaking overnight. the israeli military confirms it killed hamas's military chief mohammed deif in a strike in gaza in mid-july. now the idf releasing this video of the moment they say the strike killed the alleged architect of the october 7 terror attack

that july 13 strike also killed at least 90 palestinians. now this is as iran is vowing to avenge the assassination of hamas political leader ismail haniyeh in iran. israel has not confirmed or denied involvement in his killing cnn jerusalem correspondent jeremy diamond is in haifa, israel with more jeremy. what are we learning well, omar, what we are witnessing today is really a split-screen moments that is showcasing what the israeli military and its intelligence services have accomplished over the course of just the last few weeks and the send to which it is putting this region increasingly on edge, increasingly on the brink of all out war. >> we are watching this morning as the israeli military has now confirmed that it has killed mohammed deif hamas is military commander in gaza. he is the senior most hamas official to be killed in gaza since the start of this war, hamas for its part, neither confirming nor denying the accuracy of that. but in addition to that, we're also watching today a

memorial service in the iranian capital for a smile. haniah hamas political leader, who iran and hamas say was assassinated by israel in a tehran as well as a funeral for hamas's senior most or excuse me, hezbollah's senior-most military commander in the lebanese capital of beirut. and if you put all three of those together, it just shows you in just the last three weeks, the blows that the israeli military and its intelligence services have delivered to their enemies in recent weeks. and that is exactly how the israeli prime minister sought to frame things last night, even as israel did not explicitly take responsibility for the assassination of ismail haniah, we heard the israeli prime minister talk about what he called crushing blows that have been delivered to israel's enemies. and with that also an acknowledgment that those with those blows also comes increasing tension and increasing risk for israel itself, as he said, these are challenging days, noting the fact that there are threats from beirut and from other places saying that israel and

its military are prepared for any scenario going forward. now, there have been no changes yet and israel to the home front command guidelines which are issued to civilians to tell them whether or not they need to be more alert, more prepared for the possibility of war, for the possibility of strikes on israeli territory, but make no mistake. the israeli military itself is certainly at a heightened state of alertness, right now. and there is, of course, a very real tension in the air, in particular, where we are in northern israel, which could potentially be the target for any retaliation either from hezbollah to the north of israel or from iran to the east. omar lot of factors to keep an eye on jeremy diamond really appreciate you putting in perspective for us we're also following lots of news, disturbing new research included that shows members of gen x or millennials are more at risk for several cancers were going to take a look at the lifestyle choice that may be to blame and new rules to help families fly together without penalties on your

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businesses the five things podcast from cnn the day's top five stories all in one podcast. >> the five things you need to hear in under five minutes prime members can listen to buy things ad-free on amazon music is cnn breaking news we have major breaking news that is just coming in to cnn, having to do with russia and a potential prisoner swap, want to get straight over to cnn's chief national security correspondent, alex marquardt, with much more, what are you learning? >> alex? >> well, kate, there's still a lot of details that remain unanswered, but what we are learning misses from a senior administration official just moments ago is that parties without specifying in whom have agreed to a prisoner transfer and they are now in a position where they are soon expected to be in us custody. so this

senior administration officials is saying that a prisoner transfer is underway and that these presumably american prisoners are expected to soon be in us custody. now, this senior administration official is not naming who they are. but of course we know that at the very top of the list after months and months, if not years of negotiations. in fact, the u.s. has been trying to get back former marine paul whelan and wall street journal reporter evan gershkovich, both of them had been convicted by russian courts for espionage. each had received 16 years sentences paul whelan has been serving that sentence it's 2020. he was arrested six years ago back in 2018 evan gershkovich was arrested in march of last year and was just convicted last month. there's also russian american journalist alsu kurmasheva, who the americans have been trying to get back. i would just want to emphasize again, we do not

have a list of names from the american side or from the russian side for that matter. but according to this senior administration official and exchange is underway and they believe that they are in a position where these prisoners could dune be in us custody. so certainly there is an expectation that those names that i just mentioned would be part of that exchange. this is something that we've been following and reporting on for years another big name that has been in the mix is volodymyr krasikov he is a russian fsb assassin. fsb was the successor to the kgb and he has been held by germany for several years after carrying out an assassination in the german capital, berlin and so the expectation for this trade, which now appears to be underway is that it is a multi-party trade that would involve at the very least, the

united states, russia, and germany. but it is expected that there would be other countries involved as well. kate, we are still waiting for the parameters of this exchange, which could include a large number of prisoners there's well more than the names that i just mentioned because you do have all of these countries involved, you remember that when brittney griner, the wnba star was exchanged for viktor boot, the russian arms dealer boot was essentially the biggest name that the u.s. has had in captivity and so there are no more boldface names in the u.s. prison system. and so in order to get these americans out, the u.s. has had to go out to partners and allies to try to find valuable russians that those countries would be willing to change. so what we believe we are seeing is the beginning of what could potentially be a historic day of a massive prisoner exchange between at the very least, germany, russia, and the united

states. but likely involving other countries he's as well, and what we would expect to see before those prisoners arrived back in us custody as a transfer in another country it's happened in the united arab emirates before. it's happened in qatar before there are other countries where that could happen. and we would see this history historic exchange of prisoners, some going back to russia. so i'm coming from russia on a tarmac before everyone makes their way home alex this is just huge it gives you chills when you think of how historic this day could be for so many families, for the united states, for other nations as well. >> i mean, paul whelan has been held who was first arrested. what was it? his 2018 i'm looking back at some of my notes. i mean, think how long he has been fighting, his family has been fighting to get him out huge, huge questions still remain on the details. so we will obviously, as you said,

alex need to be careful just to read the bulletin and headline from our jenny hansler. there is expected good to be a large scale prisoner swap between the u.s. and russia, including a number of americans, is how jeni's putting it according to a source familiar alex and this is not the understanding, at least is this is not just this is not a release the expectation is this is an exchange and that is obviously important. of where who this is and who all is involved and potentially a historic exchange certainly in terms of the size of the swap, but also in terms of this number, numbers of countries involved i used to live in russia. >> i covered a huge spy swap back in 2010. this could be larger than that. i just want to correct myself. on the assassin i was talking about, his name is vadim krasikov and he is believed to be the biggest fish that the russians have wanted. and kate, i think

you make an important point. we often talk about this in diplomatic terms. he was in foreign policy terms as an exchange of numbers and nationalities. these are humans who had been suffering in prison. some of them in the most incredibly dire conditions when it comes to russia penal colonies. we know that paul whelan certainly has had medical conditions as he's been held for the past six years and the families suffer alongside them we speak with the families. we know how difficult it is to not only know that their loved ones are in these prisons, but not knowing when they're going to come home. and then in the case of evan gershkovich, for example, get smacked with the news that he's been sentenced to 16 years in a russian prison on these on these on these espionage charges that everyone believes, whether it's us officials or his employer, the wall street journal rights groups are completely trumped up simply for doing his job, gershkovich was doing a fantastic job as a young

american reporter in russia and it, as these prisoners have come out in the past, whether it's trevor reed or brittney griner they have told cnn and other outlets about the incredibly arduous journey of being in the russian penal system of the uncertainty the, of the treatment and not knowing what was going to eventually happen. but i can tell you guys that in speaking with us officials, there are furious negotiations that happened behind the scenes. in this case, a lot of it was in this case of what's happening today. we believe that a lot of it was carried out between the intelligence communities so that would be the cia director bill burns, who used to be based in russia as a diplomat engaging with the fsb on the russian side. but it's also been taking place at a political level. i reported several months ago that alexei navalny, the most famous russian opposition leader, was

expected to be part of a trade that could have included paul whelan and evan gershkovich, as well as vadim krasikov, the fsb killer. and that fell apart after navalny was killed. so this is an extremely delicate, extremely complicated months, if not years long process to get all these puzzle pieces into place. multiple prisoners, multiple countries at the intelligence level. and then finally, getting the sign-off at the political level. so we're talking about chancellor scholz in germany, president biden, and president putin, as well as the leaders of the other countries that may be involved. >> and alex really appreciate the reporting, stay with us because we've got a team of reporters are right now following this breaking news situation as we continue to try and get details again, as we understand at this point, the latest that we have is that the parties have agreed to a prisoner transfer i prisoners are expected to soon be in us custody. that's according to a

senior administration official. i want to bring in cnn, national security correspondent, kylie atwood, who joins us now kylie, look, we don't have the complete list of who may or may not be he involved here, but there are certainly a number of americans that, that had been at the center of major efforts to try and get them either released or released through a type of prisoner swap like what we may be seeing here soon, what are you hearing on your end? is there any movement at the state department yeah. >> well, listen when you talk about the americans who have been wrongfully detained in russia, one of them, of course, who we've been talking a lot about is evan gershkovich that wall street journal reporter that you and alex were just discussing and significantly, when you look at the news that has come out over the course of recent months evan gershkovich was earlier in july, sentenced to 16 years in prison, but noteworthy that it's trial actually appeared to go quite quickly for the russian system. typically, trials like that for

someone who is charged with espionage, like evan was by russian authorities, even though of course, the wall street journal say he was there. of course according for them and his family has denied those accusations. those trials typically take a long time when there was that sentence quite swiftly omar, it was signal to those of us who have been covering these cases of these americans wrongfully detained in russia for years now, that maybe there was something moving here. now, what we don't know at this moment in time is who exactly in terms of americans is included in this prisoner swap that is currently underway. that's what we're waiting to learn. but evan gershkovich of course, is one that we have been taught looking about for a while now since he was wrongfully detained in russia while he was doing his job as a reporter in march of 2023. and then of course we have paul whelan, who has been wrongfully detained in russia for more than five years

now, omar and he the sad thing for his family really has been that there have been multiple instances of other americans who have been wrongfully detained and involved in past prisoner swaps over the years. and paul whelan has been left behind. that has been tremendously challenging getting for his family he is serving there. he has called our colleague jennifer hansler multiple times from the penal colony where he is to talk about his emotions and how challenging it has been for him to effectively ride this wave of emotions sometimes he feels like the u.s. government is working on his behalf. sometimes he felt like they weren't doing enough and was pleading with them to do more. now, when it comes to what the state department has said about the status of these ongoing efforts but recently, they haven't said much. and so it was late last year that the secretary of state, antony blinken, called on russia to accept a deal that the united states had put on the table for them as far as we knew, right?

russia had rejected the proposal that the u.s. put on the table for them that was after brittney griner was released from russia last year, but since then and it's now been eight months, we haven't gotten a sudden an update from us officials in terms of what the back-and-forth between us and russia has looked like. one of the factors that we know has been ongoing going here is that the united states didn't really have many russians in their custody who russia actually wanted in terms of a prisoner swap just between the u.s. and russia. and that's why we've reported on this global scramble. us officials have been involved in to try and find countries who have russians in their custody charged with things like spying and the like, who russia actually wants, who they could use to offer in some sort of a prisoner swap that we're expecting is playing out today. in the coming hours, potentially to be used to

actually secure the release of those wrongfully detained americans. and of course, the complicating factor omar, is that the ukraine for continues to rage on. and so there is tension between the u.s. and russia that's an understatement. but there haven't been typical diplomatic dialogue between the two. so it has really been the cia who has been leading these efforts of dialogue to try and get to some sort of an agreement kylie standby. >> i know you're going to continue working your sources. let me get back over to alex marquardt. there's more breaking news, more detailed comments alex, what are you learning yeah. >> kate, what we can report according to a senior administration official, that among those being released by russia today are paul whelan and evan gershkovich fitch they are being released by russia. they are going to be on their way home. if not already, then in short order, this is such wonderful news. these are the biggest names of those who are expected to be part of this exchange. it has been such a

battle to try to get these two men are released from russian custody paul whelan arrested first in 2018 and held for the past six years, convicted on espionage charges. back in 2020, evan gershkovich simply doing his job as an american reporter in russia arrested last march very quickly accused of espionage. and then finally convicted last month in july of on those charges and sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony. now, that sentence last month came really as not as a shock, but certainly a realization that it could be a long journey before getting him home. but at the same time, we knew that the russians would have to convict him before they could start talking about released seeing him in exchange for other russians so this is tremendous news from the biden

administration, confirming that paul whelan and evan gershkovich we'll be part of this exchange we are awaiting more details others who may be released not just from the russian side and the u.s. but also from germany mean other countries as well. kate, this is just, just huge plain and simply that these two men evan gershkovich, just doing his job detained his life and you no idea what is going what was your future and fate is when you, when this happens, paul whelan, who has been sitting in his. >> penal colony, trying to get released. his family, fighting to get him released since he was first arrested in 2018, the fact that they are now part we have confirmed from your great reporting, alex, that they are going they are part of this exchange and released and they will be heading home just a huge moment. >> and it was just last month that when paul winds spoke to our jenny hansler, he described

what it really felt to be in this situation for so long to quote him, he said, when you think of 2000 days, which is around what it was at that point, how long that actually is, how many years, how many months? it's an incredible number so today, an incredible moment that has been a long time, years coming. in some cases, i want to bring in cnn chief global affairs correspondent matthew chance, who is with us now now, matthew, you've been you've been following so many different aspects so this including previous prisoner exchanges as well. what are you hearing across europe, but even on the russian side as well well, the russians are being tight lipped, but to your point, yes. >> i mean, i've been in russia for the past several years. i'm watching in horror as people like paul whelan were detained, accused of espionage sentenced to 16 years in prison the same then happened, of course, to evan gershkovich, the wall street journal reporter. and countless other

sort of russians or people associated with the west who have been detained for just doing their jobs or for criticizing the russian authorities. it seems like a deal has been reached that we'll see a large proportion of, if not all, it's not all all of those people who have suffered in this crackdown had been detained in this crackdown, are going to be set free. evan gershkovich should cause and paul whelan, the most high-profile among them, but others as well. we're looking at a deal which i mean these numbers aren't, aren't confirmed yet, but possibly 16 people sort of leaving russian custody eight going back in to russia being released by the united states and other countries. now, i think one of the issues which is the sort of elephant in the room is the moral issue the issue of the fact that the people who are being released by russia are people like evan, journalists who are just doing their job

paul whelan wrongly accused of espionage. something has been denied by him and and of course, the u.s. authorities, in exchange for those people were seeing individuals released from us jails and others who are serious you know, committed serious acts. criminal acts vadim krasikov is this fsb colonel who was convicted in germany of murdering someone in bruen well daylight, a chechen dissident in a berlin park. he's going to be going back. there are others who have been accused or even convicted of espionage in various places in the west as well. there'll be present bag and other other individuals as russian citizens who are serving sentences for cybercrimes. one individual believed to be part of this mix of that name has not been confirmed yet. who is linked with a multi-million dollar the

kind of financial fraud in verbit involving kind of bitcoin and stuff like that so we're not talking about a trade of like-for-like. we're not talking about pro democracy activists. well, we are talking about pro democracy there is basically and journalists in exchange for kind of serious criminals. >> and that of course was a major dynamic when the brittney griner prison release with victor boot and russian arms dealer. and of course, questions over the ethics of having someone like that out on the street in exchange for brittney griner. so we'll continue to monitor to see what details and people are actually involved in this particular so many details to learn good question linger over this why now, why and why now, but much more to come, just the breaking news as you see in the bottom of your screen. first, americans, paul whelan and evan gershkovich are part of this. what is being described as a large scale prisoner exchange and release i've coming from russia germany involved. we

believe germany, russia, united states, and possibly more countries involved, saw kayla tausche at the white house standing by for us on your screen there. let's get over to kayla. >> he listened a huge moment for the country and for the white house. >> and this administration. what are you hearing from there well kate you were just mentioning that december 22 exchange of brittney griner for the soviet arms dealer known as the merchant of death. >> it was an immediate aftermath of that exchange that the biden administration came under immense scrutiny from the family of paul whelan, who in at least one iteration of the proposal had been included by the united states. they had sought his release alongside grant griner's. but as we know, he was not included in that president biden took multiple meetings with the whelan the family in many cases, at their request and then the detention of evan gershkovich a few months after

that, shortly followed the president began pounding the table a drumbeat of negotiations at ramped up, yet again, in the wake of that, as the administration sought to secure the release of both men. but when there were proposals that were put forward by the biden administration for several months. they were met with radio silence from the russians, according to sources that cnn spoke to at the time, but president biden in recent months has made it very clear that the release of those americans wrongfully detained overseas remains a high priority. perhaps his top a priority, especially now as he cements his legacy as a one-term president, he put out a statement after the july 19 sentencing of gershkovich to 16 years in prison after that very truncated three-day trial that gerschkovich went through in russia as kylie just noted saying again, that journalism is not a crime and that his administration will do everything possible to bring him and others held overseas

home and yesterday speaking from the podium in the white house briefing room, nsc spokesman john kirby received a few questions from reporters about whether a multi-country prisoner swap was potentially in the offing, whether that would be something that we could see in short order. and kirby said, at the time just yesterday that all he could say was that the administration creation continues that work diligently, which has happened behind the scenes for the better part of two years concerning those particular individuals and that they hope to be able to deliver them as soon as possible. no more kayla, thank you so much. >> we have all of our finest invest working their sources right now to learn more about what it's actually underway as we speak, is what we're told we're going to get in a quick break. >> the breaking news a united states and russia carrying out a massive prisoner swap in exchange expected to include evan gershkovich and paul whelan much more of our reporting. and on this breaking

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streaming exclusively on max thanks the breaking news that is still coming in right now, a massive prisoner exchange is underway between the united states and russia are also told involves several countries sources telling our correspondents at the swap is expected to include americans paul whelan and evan gershkovich, a lot not known. it is underway right now. how soon the americans will be in us, back in us custody on us soil. that is not known. the details of who they are being exchanged for, who is heading back into russia. that is not quite known. and why this is happening now, how long this is all been in the works also. so many questions since to be answered, we will learn more as the minutes and hours continue, our correspondents are working their sources. i want to get back to matthew chance, who's in london for us. and i started i was thinking just in the commercial break, matthew of the just the last time you were in russia trying to attend and trying to be in the courtroom

to get a glimpse of evan gershkovich and everything that went down involving that yeah. >> i mean, i've always struggled with that setup in russian courts where they allow you to go in for a few minutes before the trial starts and you made to stand there in front of the accused in this case, evan gershkovich and not interact with them in any way, and of course, they're standing in a sort of goldfish bowl type glass cage and it's very difficult. and so when i went to i said a low and i asked him if he was okay and that you know, i got kicked out. but i just thought it was the right thing to do and i think me and many of my colleagues are very glad to see that evan gershkovich will to hear that evan gershkovich it is part of this, of this prisoner deal but but look, i mean, as i said earlier, this has been a an ethical dilemma it is not a like for like swap people like

evan gershkovich or beings and paul whelan are being swapped for in some ways, very hardened sort of criminal figures that have been held in the united states. and others as well. but obviously that's a trade-off that the white house, after many months of negotiations felt was the right one morally to make. and i think we'll probably many people hear any of us here who, who would, who would think otherwise? >> yeah. and i want to expand the conversation here as well because look at the center of this as we've talked about, there are these are, these are individuals, these are people who have gone through individual struggles as far as some of the americans that are being switched out here, but others we don't know who all is involved in this particular swap, but also from a diplomatic sense of things, these are potential successful negotiations between two countries that at the very least had been viewed as adversarial in recent times, cnn international diplomatic

editor nic robertson it's and joins us. now. >> nic, i just wanted to jump off of that point because what does this mean for us and russia relations moving forward it certainly signals that the back-channels have been working to a degree that they have been proven that communications can be exchanged at a level of trust has been built up and it appears it's not just us and russia here. it's quite possibly broader than that. i was speaking to a friend of one of the journalists who's being held in russia at the moment, and we don't know if that person is part of this package or not, but this person told me we'll look what happened in belarus just a couple of days ago the president, they're released a german who was an engineer humanitarian worker, who was being held there. of

course, we didn't know the significance of that at the time, but now you can begin to build that into the picture that president putin's close ally lukashenko, the president of belarus, has released a german and we understand that there are many national, different nationalities that could be involved in this in this huge and historic prisoner exchange. so the implications are that the plo mercy here has been working behind the scenes, that it's more than just the us and russia. and of course, the obvious question that comes out from that when there's all this pressure that's potentially going to be applied to ukraine in the future. and the talk about a ceasefire in ukraine is can some of that diplomacy translate into, into the footsteps of getting russia towards the negotiating table. whether vast number of countries and you think of the

more than 100 different countries are represented at the ukraine peace talks in switzerland, just they're just a month or so ago. where the overwhelming agreement was that the peace in ukraine needs to be more on ukraine's terms than russia's terms does russia inch itself towards that process? i think it's way too early to say, but it does seem to indicate that converses successful and trusted conversations are happening behind the scenes. let's see which other countries were involved. but this is for that reason alone significant but cannot be judged on what we see today. this will take months, i think to see the potential implications play out. >> yeah, that's a great point. there's the immediate relief release. and questions surrounding the immediate impact and the long-term impact for absolutely. sure nick, stick with me on that question. let's get over to david sanger with more on this. what could

this mean? david for for, for vladimir putin well, it's a fascinating question, kate. first of all, i think we all have to be very cautious. >> we haven't seen any planes land yet. we haven't seen anybody turned over. we all know these things can unfortunately, you know, go bad. so we want to be really careful about what we know and what we don't know. >> but if the overall indication from putin is that he is ready for a big swath and that we're hoping one is underway. >> then the question is, is he ready to go move on to what would be the next big swap, which would be a way out on in ukraine they're very different dynamics and very different problems. and of course, president biden's view has been that only the ukrainians can make a decision about whether they're willing to give up some ukrainian territory for peace but this certainly is the

first time since the war broke out in february 2022, where there's been any sign of a constructive conversation with the russians, hasn't happened on arms control certainly hasn't happened in ukraine hasn't happened in a range of other areas. and while prisoner swaps happened during the cold war, at various moments without many broader effects the hope here is that this could be the beginning of a fall extremely that's a really interesting perspective of kind of the impact. >> this is the first time that you're seeing maybe the beginning of a thaw, but still all of the caution and caveats. david, just what is your reaction of the timing? on the why. now, david, which is an impossible question to have a full answer for in this moment that we're seeing this exchange really is impossible to know why.

>> certainly we saw that evan's conviction happened a few weeks ago. >> and if in fact he is part of this and if this comes off as one would hope it would, it may be that the russians felt they had to get through the legal process. but from all the sounds of it, this is a much bigger swap than that. and so this because i calculus on putin's part about when he was ready, the u.s. was pretty much ready as well also, a question of how big the deal is putin has been interested in russians held in countries other than the united states, including in germany we don't know anything right? >> now about whether or not this could embrace those as well. >> but may may have decided that he's been pushing his luck here hard to imagine, just

given the fact that he's making incremental gains on the battlefield he's cut this new relationship with china really hard to crawl inside vladimir putin's mind to say the least, david stick with us. thank you so much. new hour of cnn, new central starts right now is cnn breaking news and we are following this major breaking news. >> a massive prisoner swap between the united states and russia, or the large scale swap as it is described, is right now underway. it is expected to include wall street journal reporter evan gershkovich, and american marine, paul whelan, among multiple other american eriksen's, we were told a lot, not known, a lot of questions and a lot of very stressful, very delicate minutes and hours ahead. they are expected to be in u