this parade, but my hot take as chris lacivita needs to quit the campaign save yourself, save yourself, you're too good for this he is. and do you. >> have two people in j.d. vance and donald trump. you're principals who are disasters and during capable of listening to your very good strategy advice. so quit, quit now a literal hot take, the average temperature in death valley for the month of july was 108.5 degrees, which is per i believe the washington post literally the hottest month in the history of the earth a lot of the whole earth there ever has been and you know, we might have a problem that needs some attention. we might i mean, are we just really like being unprecedented? let's come back and talk about climate change policy in the next shoe. >> yeah, and how climate change follows. >> so weird thanks for having

me so much for watching newsnight state of the race laura coates live starts now this is cnn breaking news good evening and welcome to cnn's special coverage of the historic prisoner swap with russia you are now looking at live feed from joint base andrews, where just moments from now, three freed americans will finally return home after surviving a long and grueling nightmare in russian captivity. president biden, vice president harris, and their families will be on site to welcome them home. >> as. they walk off that plane. >> and finally, finally step foot on american soil. a homecoming i suspect because replayed in their minds, an effort to hold onto hope that this day would one day be possible. >> freedom on board former marine paul whelan held for nearly six years, journalists evan gershkovich and alsu kurmasheva held for more than a

year all of them wrongfully detained, yet no ability to fight back in a russian court, no meaningful presumption of innocence or due process. >> but today, we look at the smiles on that screen. this photo was taken today after they're released and one that the biden administration worked tirelessly to negotiate. it is by all measures, the largest prisoner swap since the cold war. 24 people in total, three americans, multiple countries involved. and as part of that deal of vladimir putin got eight of his prisoners back, including a dangerous assassin convicted of murder in germany. >> you see putin here greeting him and the others earlier today. >> tonight, we learned an extraordinary detail about the negotiations. it turns out that president biden actually sealed this deal about 90 minutes before he would tell the world

that he was ending his reelection bid. >> the deal that made this possible was a feat of diplomacy. and friendship. friendship. multiple countries help get this done they joined a difficult complex negotiations at my request let's get straight now to cnn senior white house correspondent mj lee, who is at joint base andrews, mj. >> what a moment in history. i mean, we are minutes out from this plane landing. i understand that president biden and vice president harris are going to be there. what are we about to see yeah. >> laura, the plane that is carrying these three americans are in the american airspace and just minutes from now, we expect that plane to land here at joint base andrews, where president biden and vice president harris will be greeting them. but more importantly, their families will be on the tarmac waiting for them as well. this of course, has been a nightmare

for or paul whelan's family that has lasted almost six years for evan gershkovich, his family over a year, and for also chroma shave his family almost a year you're as well three americans boarded the airplane in turkey earlier today and onboard were us government officials, but also importantly, a number of medics we were told what does well, as a psychologist, the first-order of business laura, when they land here is of course, going to be getting to spend that precious time with their family members who had been waiting for for them for so long and worrying over these last months and years for some of them. but later tonight, all three of these americans accompanied by their families will be boarding another plane to go to san antonio where they're going to be taken to a medical center to get the medical examinations that they badly need and take all of the time we are told by us officials that they need to get the care that they are going to need. we know from having spoken with of course others who had been wrongfully

detained abroad odd, that the rehabilitation process and the readjustment process can be incredibly challenging. we know that this is certainly are only going to be the beach beginning of their journey as they recover, as they process everything that had happened. and most importantly, get to spend the time, but they had wanted to spend all of this time with their families that had been waiting. laura mj, as you mentioned, the family members who are going to be on that tarmac, i cannot even begin to imagine what this weight has been like. >> the extraordinary effort, the days and days and weeks and months. and in some cases, years of bad news. and the preservation of that holding pattern that it must have been excruciating what have they been going through in the day they've had in washington, dc in anticipation of this moment yeah and let me just tell you the family members who will be on the tarmac in just a matter of minutes, waiting for paul whelan on the tarmac is going

to be his sister, elizabeth waiting for evan gershkovich is going to be his mother, his father, his sister and brother-in-law. >> and for all sue kurmasheva is going to be her husband for two daughters. it is just impossible, as you say, to imagine the whirlwind of the last couple of days and we do know that these families received yves individually phone calls from national security adviser jake sullivan on tuesday and wednesday where he invited them to come to washington, dc and come for a meeting at the white it house. but of course, as we now know, it was only when they enter the oval office and met with president joe biden face to that they were able to hear directly from the president words that they had been waiting to hear for so long that their loved ones were free. you can imagine though even after that hearing those words from the president that for some of these family members, perhaps the reality and the experience of getting their loved ones back home may not feel real until they can

physically hug and touch their loved ones. and that is the moment that we are about to witness in just a matter of minutes, laura and mj lee were watching right now the motorcade we believe it's vice president kamala harris is motorcade arriving at joint base andrews. she will be in attendance along with president biden as well. and moments from now. moments from now, we will see that plane touched down and those three americans returning free once again mj lee, please stand by joining me here on set that we have cnn chief national security correspondent, alex marquardt, former us ambassador to ukraine, william taylor, and cnn global affairs analyst kimberly dozier. this is such an extraordinary moment that we are beholding right now. these families have been waiting with bated breath to have this day happen. and now it is here for three american who are finally home. we have seen some of them before. evan in court as one example, we'll see them up

close and personal today and in person, what are you going be looking to see now that they will be finally back home and in the sights of cameras in the american president, the scene that we've been used to seeing in moscow is them essentially in a cage, in this glass box. and in russian courtroom's we have gotten these glimpses of them in these still photos and i'm watching this plane coming down the eastern seaboard. we can see it in real time and it's just off a philadelphia right now. so it's going to be landing very soon. they've been flying for some nine hours from ankara and turkey before that, they flew some four hours from russia. so it's been a very long day for them but i'm going to be looking for the same thing. i think everybody else is because when we started this day, we knew that it was going to be such a joyous day for the individuals involved, for their families. and so i want to see them come off that plane. i want to see how they're doing. i mean, from the still photos that we've seen, the appeared to be in good health, but of course i'm not a doctor and an ai can tell they will be

evaluated. they have been evaluated at least preliminarily. the reunion with their families who they haven't seen for so long in the case of paul whelan, he has been in captivity for the past six years. we understand that they're going to get some private time to reunite before then heading off to texas, but it's really just that human moment of that reunion, that joy that they will certainly be feeling, that they are back on the home soil and the relief that i think is going to be washing over the entire country. >> this must be in many ways as you're tracking it, one of the longest flights of their lives, right? until they are back on american soil. it must be surreal. there must be so many moments when they thought this could be taken away from them. and, you know as alex mentioned, there's gonna be the reunification. they'll also be a process now, it won't just be there driven back to their homes and everything begins again, we'll go to san antonio that have a medical debriefing. but how that a debriefing of

sorts. what do you expect? >> yeah, they've got a lot to tell. yeah, they've been through a lot they will be able to describe how they were treated. there'll be able to describe what the questions were, what the interest in them was from the russian, from all the different aspects of the russian government. so they've got a lot to tell about what we can expect from these russians that have held them for all these times. >> what do you i mean, these would be stated reasons, of course, that the russians have given them as to why they are there. they'll have to be a lot of nuance and perhaps less than sincere statements being made how should the intelligence teams be interpreting this ville want to know exactly the kind of treatment that these people got. >> bill want to know what kind of information they were interested in? we know that they were wrongfully detained. we know that they were not they were just, you eva was doing his job as reporters job and so the stories that they can tell

about what kind of reaction from the from the jailers, from the interrogators, from the officials that they undoubtedly ran into this will be an interesting story that they've got to tell a wealth of information could be gleaned by these intelligence officials by just something that they may find otherwise benign in oregon, innocuous statement could be very telling if you piece a lot of information together but talk to me about this moment. i mean, this is the largest prisoner exchange since the cold war. it can relay this is contextually. so significant they're going to walk off that plane to the lights of the world on them and think they've been held mostly in solitary confinement. >> so yes, intelligence officials, defense officials, diplomats will want to hear every detail of their incarceration what kind of food they had, all those things. but then there's going to be that moment of this is really real and it's a moment to celebrate

and i'm thinking of all of the u.s. government officials all the european officials who've been working behind the scenes diplomats, intelligence officers, everyone who's been passing messages to make this happen and for those people being released right now they don't know all that's been said and told about them and they're going to be catching up on a lot of big gosh, they might not even know the olympic scores they might not have heard of all the controversy of the olympic opening ceremony. and so it's gonna be this mixture, this bitter, sweet mixture of seeing their families, realizing on comfortably probably that they're the center of the story. and then slowly decompressing and starting to tell their part of it that we haven't gotten a chance to hear yet. >> i mean, you mentioned, olympics they may not know that there has been a political term. what they may not be paying attention and she may not access into may information.

>> they certainly are probably prioritizing what is getting to people in these prisons in a way to perhaps manipulate further in some way. >> but talk to me about how this came together because, you know, you've got what, 24 prisoners, you've got seven countries biden saying earlier today, this is why allies are even important. how did this come together in this moment to have this extraordinary amount of coordination, alex? >> well, the reason he kept mentioning i mentioning allies and friendships was not just perhaps a subtle jab at trump and his political season, because trump is anti nato, et cetera. but really because of how many countries the u.s. had to get in line to make this happen. 24 prisoners, as you say, but it's kind of lop-sided where you've got only eight going back to russia and 16 coming from the russian side three of the russian prisoners who were released came from the united states and us essentially over the course of the past two years, have to go around the world and put

together this group of russians to be traded in order to get these americans home. the linchpin was a man named vadim krasikov, who is a russian assassin. he's a former member of the kgb and it's successor, the fsb he's rumored to be close to vladimir putin and he was in berlin and when he carried out an execution style killing of a former chechen rebel now, this was a man that putin has been trying to get out for quite some time, but the germans, because of just this the galling nature of this execution have refused to release him so there had been all kinds of combinations and permutations of deals that the u.s. put forward to russia that were rejected one after the other, because the germans refusing to release krasikov. and so for the past few months, for most of this year, in fact, joe biden himself, jake

sullivan, the national security adviser, a bill burns, the cia director. they've been working on the germans on olig scholz, the chancellor to release krasikov eventually he relented back in june and i'm told to final proposal was put forward to the to the russians in june by the cia. a couple of weeks later in early july in a phone call with the cia director, it was accepted. and then finally formally accepted. just a couple of weeks ago in person in a meeting between the cia and russian intelligence in turkey. and here we are today on this historic day. >> i mean, it's mind-boggling to me in a way, you know that the press and the american electorate has been focused on one story for three weeks, right? and yet behind the scenes, the machinations of what it took to have it's almost like what's going on the periphery all the more important ambassador speak to me about, i know you weren't involved in this aspect of it, but the diplomatic resilience and efforts that would have had to take place that convincing

to try to convince germany as alex was describing, this is somebody who's a linchpin. what would that moment be like? and all those conversations very difficult, alex and gave a good description of the complexity of all these seven different, different nations, including united states and russia, of course, but others as well. who held russians in their jails. we talked about the most important one which was held. this assassin who is held in germany the germans were uncomfortable giving up an assassin to go back free for knowing what he had done in order to get back innocent people. i mean, the trade-off was very difficult. tradeoffs difficult in this country as well. we have those same kind of arguments and discussions and tensions in getting his people back. but yet letting this guy go free. so this was difficult and exactly as alex said, you know, you had the cia got a lot of the state department folks working on this. the folks in the embassies around the around all

of these different countries working very hard as well, preparing for these conversations. lining up sometimes going up to the secretary of state, sometimes going to nasa security adviser, sometimes the conversations were at the presidential level. a couple of times we've heard that president biden had to get on the phone with a couple of these leaders to see if he couldn't convince them to let the russians go, who were in those jails we even heard from jake sullivan who got choked up today talking about what this was like. >> and you can he was referencing some of the meetings he had with the families and you can imagine, normally not good news and the frustration that families must be experiencing just in hearing this reporting, kim, i mean, call me a cynic. >> how did none of this leak is it because what was at stake was just that important that people said it fits, gets out, it could take everything they talk about something called like message discipline. >> and they showed incredible discipline. nobody wanted to

look cool by telling a friend that they knew something was going to happen because nobody wanted to jinx this and this kind of effort for the biden-harris administration, what a wind to go out on. and you think about the fact that biden was then telling the world that he was going to pull out of the race knowing that this was going to be his achievement. and what i'm fascinated by is that vladimir putin knew he was handing this to biden. and yet why did he go ahead with it was because he thought germany would only do this for biden and not for a possible future trump administration, was it because the people he was getting back were so important that he didn't want to let this chance go by. >> but, you know, it's in the wall street journal's reporting that the assassin, the former fsb colonel, that

got traded back had told his jailers that putin wasn't going to let him stay in jail so putin has followed through with a promise that he makes to the strong men who keep him in power. by bringing these people home we should just compare and contrast who is getting out today. >> that's so important, i want to go right there because the names we know, some of them, but tell me about who these americans really are by the way, we're watching because we are literally moments away from three americans stepping foot on american soil for the first time. in some cases, in years, all of whom are wrongfully detain. you can see the gaggle of reporters there. we've watched the motorcaded the vice president, president biden's motorcade is in route. the families of those who have been wrongfully detained are waiting with i can't even believe the amount of hope and anxiety they must be feeling right now. tell me about the three americans the two groups couldn't be more different in the american, on the american side, you've got

evan gershkovich a young american journalist who as the ambassador just said, was doing his job. >> he was east of moscow when he was arrested. he had done some fantastic reporting about the russian side of things essentially during this war in ukraine, paul whelan had been visiting moscow back in 2018, a former us marine picked up like gershkovich on espionage charges. both of them then convicted and sentenced to 16 years in prison. also kurmasheva, a russian american journalist who was just convicted as well, 6.5 years in prison for critiquing in their view the russian military. and then of vladimir kara murza, who is not hurricane, but he's a permanent resident. he is a national both britain and russia pulitzer prize winner. a political dissident, a russian politician opposition activist, who's done some terrific writing and in prison, i believe the sentence was 25 years on the other side, whose russia getting back there, getting back this assassin. he is the biggest name on there from the u.s. they're getting

three prisoners who were have a variety of charges and convictions for cybercrimes money laundering, that kind of thing. and then the four others our what we call illegals, their spies. if anybody seen the americans, that that's what they were. they were they were spying undercover in slovenia and norway and in poland and so the u.s. convinced those countries to hand them over. so you've got an assassin, three criminals and for spies we're being given back to russia in exchange for at least in the american case, i would say for extremely upstanding citizens, it's extraordinary to think about this cost-benefit analysis that must have been run in terms of diplomatic considerations. but as i wanted, everyone please stand by. i want to bring in longtime friend of freed russian dissident vladimir kara-muza, an outspoken putin critic, bill browder, he's also the author of several books, including race notice. bill. thank you so much. what an extraordinary moment. i mean, among the

released is you are close friend vladimir kara murza. he was actually headed to germany. how is he and his family feeling at this hour you think about this? >> well it's a momentous day for him, for his family, for me, for all of his friends. since since he was put in jail two-and-a-half years ago, we've been working nonstop on putting pressure on the u.s. government and the british government on the eu and everyone else to make sure that that he gets released. he's in a particularly vulnerable situation because before he was put in jail, the russians had made two assassination attempts against him using poison. and the after effects of the poison had been with him for a long time. he nearly died in both students and as he was sitting in prison, in solitary confinement in siberia, he was losing this sensation in his feet and his hands from polyneuropathy, the doctor said that he wasn't going to survive two years, let alone 25

years. and so literally he was facing a death sentence in russia. we were all convinced that if we didn't get them out, he would die. and so the fact that he's been released is really the difference between life and death medical treatment, hopefully coming to him and just thinking about what every day must have been like as his health deteriorated further we were talking about this just now, bill, this is the biggest prisoner exchange since the cold war. >> i mean, does the magnitude speak to a kind of level perhaps of desperation or impatience, an urgency from putin at this time well, as you were talking before about vadim krasikov, the murderer. for some reason, putin has had an obsession getting this guy out and we know this because he brought it up on a number of occasions publicly saying that he wants to get this krasikov out and he was ready to do just

about anything to get krasikov out in the bottleneck, wasn't putin, and it wasn't the united states. it was germany. germany was the country where krasikov committed the murder he did it in the tea garden of berlin. he was caught. >> he was found guilty and sentenced to long prison term. >> and the germans rightfully said, well, wait a second. >> we don't want to let a convicted murderer out. >> and the negotiations went on and on. and one of the things which i think affected the negotiations was that belarus an allied country to putin lukashenko is leader of that country. they arrested a german national and sentenced him to death. and i think that that's what probably pushed the germans over the edge. and then they finally came back and said, we will do this. but if we do this, we don't want just the american hostages released and we want the russian dissidents released. and so vladimir kara murza, who is one of the leading dissidence along with ilya yashin, oleg orlov,

and a number of others who people who worked for alexey navalny have all been released. and it's quite an extraordinary complicated situation where all the different countries involved, and it's not just germany, norway, poland, slovenia, et cetera, that is a big, it's a big accomplishment that this complicated diplomatic deal has been put together. and executed in now we have all these people free it certainly as we're hearing that president biden has arrived at joint base andrews as well. >> we are moments away from that plane touching down containing those americans who will step foot on american soil for the first time. in some cases, in years, my colleague alex marquardt, you have a question as well for bill bill, it was over a decade ago, i believe in 2010 when your colleague sergei magnitsky was killed in a russian prison. >> and as we await these three americans hurricanes to land back on american soil has wondering if you could describe

for us the conditions in which magnitsky found himself in those russian prisons what paul whelan would have gone through as well as alexei navalny, who i believe was in torreon asli horrible russian prison in the arctic circle when he died back in february so my my lawyer, sergei magnitsky, was arrested after uncovering a massive government corruption scheme. >> he was put in pretrial detention and then he was viciously tortured in pretrial detention for three hundred and 58 days. they put them in cells with 14 inmates and eight beds. and let's lights on 24 hours a day. they put them in sales with no heat and no window panes and moscow, they put them in cells with no toilet, just a hole in the floor and sewage would bubble up. they moving from cell to cell to cell and as this war on, he got sick he developed terrible pains in his stomach and he refused medical treatment and things just got

worse and worse and worse. and then eventually he went into critical condition and instead of treating him, they put them in an isolation cell and eight riot guards with rubber batons beat him to death. that was in november of 2009 and of course, we all know the story of alexey navalny. alexey navalny was also a friend of mine and ally ally of ours in the, in the, in the campaign for justice for sergei magnitsky. we don't know what happened in the prison camp in siberia, but we know that he will one day he was alive and fine and the next day he was dead can say is that russian prisons are very, very rough places and terrible place for vladimir kara murza, my friend who has been released today, terrible place for, for evan gershkovich have terrible place for paul whelan and these are places where people die. it's not, it's not an unknown thing to have happened they're very, very unpleasant and so this, this, this is a real achievement to get these individuals out and the only

sad part about the whole story is that for those people who've gotten out, there's a lot of other people were still sitting there in prison rotting away phil, please stand by. >> i want to bring in our panel and kim, on this point. i mean, it is truly stomach turning to think about the conditions that are being faced by people in these prisons that alone those who have been wrongfully detained it makes all the more important what will take place in the next 24 to 40 hours as these particular americans are going to be transported for medical treatment, debriefing. we talk about the physical, but there is going to be an extraordinary mental toll that has been taken on each of them and it's going to reveal itself to them. day after day in different ways. first, there'll be this elation and then the quiet moments in the night. it'll come back to you that are you really free you'll wake up and wonder wait, where

am i right now other people who've been released have talked about not being able to sleep in a bed, having to sleep on a concrete floor because that's what they've been doing for a long period of time. so yes, there'll be that emotional toll. and just the processing of that emotion. but the good thing is, alex, you've been talking about this, the program that they have down in san antonio to help them through this yeah. >> it's really important now, i was struck by something, trevor reid said earlier tonight, here on cnn, he was released back in 2022, exchange then for a russian pilot who was involved in drug smuggling. and he was talking about this program that is offered to them. and he said he knew about it before he was released from prison, he thought once i'm released, once i'm home, i'll be fine. and he said his advice to those coming home tonight was don't underestimate how much support you're going to need, even if you are relatively fine physically, you are going to need some support

recovering from this experience for many it's really it's truly traumatic to kim's point that what's on offer is a program called pisa pisa. it's at the brooke army medical center down in san antonio. it's part of the biggest department of defense medical complex in the country, and it is meant to cater to people who have gone through traumatic experiences like this hostile it is prisoners, that kind of thing, brittney griner, the wnba star, went through it. i believe she stayed for about a week and essentially what they tell these these returnees is, you take the time you need they'll sit down with therapists and psychologists there'll be evaluated medically and they will start to go through various types of treatment and really get what they need. and there's been all kinds of widespread praise for this program, for these types of people. >> ambassador, i mean, i still go back to this question that is circling all reminds us that the timing of all this thank god it is happening, but the

why now is still works pretty deep for so many people. but also, i do wonder what happens with the information that is gathered. if you hear about some of the torture, his treatment, if the americans are aware of, now only mistreatment, but certain information that's coming in, what do you do with that in terms of diplomatic relations, we russia is already not a nation with whom we are an ally. we are geopolitical enemies to say the least about at them. what do you do with that information? and as we're watching right now, that motorcade coming in, the president united states seems to have arrived actually one moment, please, ambassador, i want to go right back to cnn's mj lee, who is at joint base andrews, mj lee. what are we seeing right now? has president biden arrived? >> yeah what is pulling in right now into jba is the president's

>> its foot on the tarmac and sets foot on us soil for the first time in about a year or so we are waiting for, of course, the family members of those three americans to come out onto the tarmac as well. they will be standing on the tarmac alongside president biden and vital it's president harris of course, both of them had made this fierce of furious diplomatic push over the last

several months. many of those conversations of you have been talking about with alex and others. those conversations and those efforts had been in private because of the sensitive nature of this historic deal. hello. >> again in just a few minutes, that airplane that took off in turkey earlier today carrying those three americans. >> any moment now will be landing here at joint based andrew's. we are awaiting that moment. and that really joyous and emotional reunion we expect to see for those three americans and their families i'm always laura lee, keep us posted as we wait for this historic moment, moments away. i can't imagine ambassador what one says to a loved one, what you feel is it just the pouring out of emotions just to hold them and feel them against you once again, would be unbelievable and yet, mj lee mentioning that alex and we've also touched on and that is the

role of turkey in this why is turkey is such an important aspect of this negotiation with all these nations involved know laura, so turkey has been in the middle of several negotiations. >> we remember that performs all these atrocities ukrainians are not going to talk to russians ukrainians, we're going to talk to the turks and we're going to talk to the un and un and dirk van and turn talk to the russians. so they've been playing that role and they're centrally located. so they can fly down and have that exchange it's right there, but i'd like to go back to something that bill browser soon and that and the difference in treatment you were talking about, the treatment between people like victor boot no. >> i was thinking of more of a magnet ski and navalny a cynic like putin took them in and in the end, torture them and killed them he was never going

to release them. but that same cynic putin knew that he was going to release some of the people that are released today paul and yvonne. >> why do you think he knew that? >> that because that's why he stole them. that's why he grabbed them in order to trade them as pieces for people that he warned back this assassin that we've been talking about. he wanted that man back. and the way to do that was the grab an american or two or three. >> why does he want this assassin back? >> the thinking goes that he come, he's cut from the same cloth. it comes from the same school. he was also kgb. he was also fsb. he was uniformed colonel. yes, there are other spies in the mix but this guy was he came from the same place as putin and putin is sending these assassin's out around the world i think kim mentioned this what these would-be assassin's now see is if you are sent out and if you're asked to do this kind of thing, the russian state will come and

get you later on. they'll make sure that you're taking care of and then eventually you come home and that is one of the dangerous lessons that has been taught tonight. i would never disagree with my friend bill taylor, but there there was some speculation that navalny might be in the mix. navalny, the most famous opposition activist who was, who is in this awful penal colony. but he was in the discussions at least i'm told he was never on a formal proposal to the russians but after the russians had rejected proposal, after proposal from the u.s. there was some discussion that perhaps germany would be willing to give up krasikov if they would release navalny. why was navalny important to germany? well, after we've been poisoned he went to germany for to be rehabilitated for medical treatment. and that is something that we were told that the germans were at least considering and then he died in early february, you know, i

don't know if it's just me, but i find it terrifying to think that there is somebody collecting like chess pieces americans are other here's who are still wrongfully detain them in russia with the anticipation of trying to reclaim those who have been rightfully prosecuted and other nations for carrying out the monstrosities that are being described here i am wondering though as this, we're not always accustomed to somebody like putin off finger extending, reset, reciprocal loyalty is this a factor of his insecurity about his positioning that if he were to fail to carry up through his his objectives or his promises at there can be political consequences at a time like this look the same way. >> it's a message to every american that your country won't leave you behind. putin has just sent a message to everyone around him who is keeping him in power, that he will go to the mat for them and

he's also sending a message to anyone who might be incarcerated around the world right now. >> i wouldn't second kim, i want to show everyone this beacon that you're seeing in the distance is actually the plane that contains the three americans who will set foot on american soil. yet again, the symbolism of this moment of watching a light in the sky, not knowing what's behind it, approach watching the landing of joint base andrews where the president of the united states and the vice president and the families of these people are waiting can you think of a more extraordinary moment then to watch people who were previously not free land on the united states of america soil and watch that light it's coming as if descending from the heavens. this is an extraordinary moment that we're seeing right now. i think all of our hearts are in our hands as we see the plane getting ready to taxi and come to a stop and coming out will be h3

freed americans they are now, they're landing gear is down. they have arrived, they are in the united states of america. once again, ambassador taylor this is unbelievable this is the moment that they've been thinking about just landing at the united, in the united states. and seeing their families very soon seeing the people of the united states welcomed the moon back this, this is indeed a great moment for them. >> think about every moment we've seen in the course of our own lives taking a flight and you here that landing gear go down, you begin to brace yourself for the light impact, hopefully that will come. but for these three americans, alex this is their entire lives yes and to phil's point, obviously this is something that they've been thinking about intellectually for so long. i don't know how you begin to process this. how do you process the fact that 12 less than 24 hours ago, you're in a russian cell and then you were

suddenly told to get up and move and rushed onto a plane that first took you to turkey and is now landing the united states, not just home, but they're being welcomed by the president of the united states, the vice president of the united states i'm also told that the cia director is going to be there. there's going to be a whole host of of american dignitaries. it just must be a staggering amount of emotion that is going through their heads. and of course, their families. we understand that the president and vice president are not going to make any remarks so it'll be very interesting to see what kind of ceremony this is. if it even is a ceremony is certainly the priority is going to be on letting these three americans be reunited with their family almost certainly in a large way in private but what we're about to watch unfold is not just historic, but it's very dramatic and extremely emotional. >> came were watching that plane taxi. and when it comes to a stop when that staircase

is revealed and they're able to come out, they will be on american soil. and as alex was mentioning, with each of those stops from turkey and beyond can you imagine what was going through their heads? are they being sent back? did something fall through? is this really going to happen? >> i imagine they're going to be thinking about things like, please don't let me trip down the steps as everyone's watching but also, this is really real. and there's going to be all this joy at the same time. it is tempered by they know that there are other americans still left behind we cnn's talked to some of the loved ones of those who are not getting to take part in this and former president donald trump has already criticized the biden ministration for the swap that it did to get these people back but that really seems mean spirited when you see a moment like we're about to see transpire, you've got

these people home i want to go back to cnn's mj lee. >> she's at joint base andrews, mj. the plane is here. what are you seeing? what is the energy like around you knowing that they are yard? it's away yeah, the plane is in fact here just over my left shoulder actually, some of the officers working here handed members of the press these year plugs because it is about to get very loud. >> that's how close we are about to be to this plane that is going to pull up. and as you we were talking about, we expect the staircase to drop down and then at some point for those three americans to emerge from the plane and set foot on american soil here at jba and just a matter of moments, i'm just trying to get a good peak at exactly where the plane is. yep, there it is. >> and we haven't yet still seeing the family members

emerged from where we know they have been waiting at a waiting center here at jba. >> we know that the motorcades of the president and the vice president, of course, arrived. they have not yet emerged, but behind me, just under the riser are a number of drugs journalists, including about a dozen or so employees of the wall street journal, who are so eagerly waiting to see evan go over, emerged from that airplane. laura, i have to tell you obviously for all three of these americans, this is going to be such an emotional all day. i hear comes the plane just right behind us we are seeing a very big plane. we're seeing that it is not a big plane, but it is full of the promise of united states of america. and we're watching right now as it is coming to a stop and just look at the proximity. and she mentioned again to washington reporters remember world america, there is a wall street journal reporter who was simply doing his job and one of his last statements as he asked for

clemency in a handwritten note to press isn't putin was to ask him for an interview before leaving russia, that someone on the plane, somebody else at the plan of course, is i'm going who has watched other prisoners be released and has remained inside somebody else who was a critic of putin, who is now here back in the united states. and we are about to see the door to that that plane open and the first steps of freedom, it almost has the impression of a kind of moon landing in some respects, we're all sitting here as americans. i sit here as a mother and a daughter and a human being who has her heart in her hands thinking about what they must be feeling like to get off of that plane ambassador. all the diplomats who have had a role in this from the pilot to the diplomat, to the ambassadors to the cia. and beyond. >> they are all waiting for this moment to finally come and they've been working real hard at this moment for problem for

years, for months and years for this very moment. >> but to get these people back it's been a lot of effort. they've had to talk to a lot of people. they've talked to all the folks that boat in these capitals. now is the time that they've been looking for alex, as these conversations have been ongoing in some cases, for years. >> and the similar scene has played out and other countries across the globe, as they were also welcoming home of their own yeah, we saw a similar scene playing out in moscow earlier today when those eight russians got home and president putin, like president biden, met them off the plane. >> but as we were saying, obviously these are wildly different types of prisoners. and here we see the president and the vice president walking towards the plane trying to make out who else is among with them. i have to imagine that it's it's family we do know among the family members that elizabeth whelan so that paul whelan, sister, i'm going to venture a guess that's her on the left side in the white is there we also know that

evidence waving and also saluting he's there with a military officer, the gershkovich is are their mother and father mikhail and ella, as well as his sister, danielle. i hear the sound of something opening. could it be this is the moment in time they were getting ready to see as the president. yes. the south they're case has gone up. who will be the first to come home? let's watch

it was paul whelan who has been serving a sentence for years. he was the first to descend down the stairs, having now embracing the president of the united states of america after a lengthy conversation with the vice president with whom he is now embracing as he is turning his head towards the family members that await him, waving back to the crowd as

america waves back evan gershkovich he is now on the ground right we're watching

evan gershkovich having shook the hands of the president and vice president embracing both it appears that appears to be saying, thank you as he's walking now, arms outstretched to his no we're now seeing also comer shaver was shaking the hands of the president of the united states, the third american freed in a prisoner swap alex remind the audience

about the significance of this particular person being freed here we are united with her daughters and her husband. >> her daughters are bibi and miriam. her husband is pavel. butorin and, what can you say? just a beautiful family reunion for all three of them how can this not bring tears to the eyes or anyone watching? >> all day is transpiring daughters reunited with their mother, husband's with their wives, mothers with their sons sisters, and brothers the president, vice president there standing back and paul whelan has just gone right back up to

them to resume the conversatio n alsu's husband appears to be wiping tears from his space. >> the daughters have not let her go one of them, it's her birthday as soon as it hits midnight, it's a birthday. >> and president biden had them sing happy birthday to her earlier today. and this is just got to be the best president when we think he's pinning on paul whelan's collar something he was doing to his collar, what to wait and see calls her brother has going three conduit for information to all of us. >> right. but the bowman, his brother was freed and he said that's it. don't ask me for interviews with paul. >> i'm going to give him back his agency and let him make his decisions from now on. >> he put out a statement,

david whelan, who became a family spokesman and he said that paul was a russian hostage. >> president biden's getting ready to speak. let's see, we can hear what he is saying on this extraordinary moment as he approaches them. microphones i asked him to do some things against her meat self-interest very difficult for me to do germany, slovenia, i'm really came in at the last minute and i tell you what chancellor was your credit maui what's your message to other walk with a good way to get sort hey, want

it looked that's been the case for all history my job is to make sure number one they do. >> we get them back i don't buy this idea that i can let you go, let these people rot in jail because other people may be captured all the notifications for all the other countries all our citizens countries, not to do it. and what to do, what not to do. >> and they got to pay attention i got more work to an extraordinary day. and i'm very thankful for our president and what he has done but in particular, as it relates to these families and these individuals what he has been able to do to bring the allies together on many issues. but in particular, this one this is just extraordinary testament to the importance of having a

president who understands the power of diplomacy and understands the strength that rests and understanding insignificant. it's up to the promisee and strengthening alliances that's even on families and there is in their primes why were drones? >> i made sure everything was slovenia made the right the right time what do you thinks i'm talking about relationships as foreign policy much you've heard me kid with varadkar politics is personal matters trust to you, trust them you get and that's how

this got down anyway i'm very concerned, about. >> i have direct media prime minister very during got it. >> we have the basis for a ceasefire. >> we should move on and they should yeah chance for a ceasefire ruined after the assassination of not helped we. just heard from the president united states, and the vice president. the president talking about how this deal came together, expressing that countries such as germany and slovenia acted against their immediate self-interest. but that slovenia made the right move at the right time. president biden for us at his

number one objective was to have this not happen. and then if they did go and they word attain, bend the number two was to get them back rather than two as he caught it, rot in jail, he admonished americans to pay attention to the different warnings issued by the state department. others about which countries to visit in which not to it was an extraordinary day as vice president harris has said, and she expressed her gratitude for president biden and for his pressures and bringing the allies together, even saying it was a testament to the important power of diplomacy him. and understanding the strength that rest in it. and our alliances before moving on to questions about what's happening in gaza president biden, pressing concern about the events of the last 48, 72 hours. evan gershkovich is now grading the press. remember he is a wall street journal reporter and 12 of his colleagues, and they embraced friends. are there now let's watch as he continues to embrace those who have tried

relentlessly to bring him home he is making a state, but we don't have a microphone on him. alex, that strikes me he seems very calm, cool, and collected. and this extraordinary moment, i'm sure his emotions belie his stance it is remarkable that after spending a little bit of time with his parents and his sister, and i believe his brother-in-law, he made a beeline over there too. >> the press pen. i'm sure he's got a lot of friends in there, not just among the wall street journal reporter's, but among all the others. it looks like he's making some remarks there too. the presses as our mj lee was saying, some of them are there to cover it and others are there just to welcome him home and as fellow journalists, i think we have to give props to the wall street journal for really keeping his story front and center they did a very good job of making sure

that we didn't forget about his case of consistently reporting it out marking milestones of his detention i've issuing statements when things happen like the outrageous conviction that he got last month and when he was sentenced to 16 years, so i'm sure he's over there thanking is wall street journal colleagues earlier today and the wall street journal newsroom in new york, we saw a big celebration with the editor in chief, emma tucker up pop champagne and toes evan gershkovich for all the journalists at the wall street journal today it is a momentous and extremely joyous day when we have sound, we hope to bring it to you. he could can you to embrace people? i mean, the consummate journalist ambassador, he knows full well, he was in russia to do his job before we wrongfully detained and still in this moment when he could be embracing, you know, his mother, he's just wanting him, her her arms he is

talking to the press in a nation that believes in the freedom of the press yeah, absolutely. >> does a real professional took a lot of risk there, meet as the president points out, it's a risky place to be. it's a risky place to do journalists jobs. and he was there reporting and sending back stories and now he's dealing there with his friends probably a lot of wall wallstreetjournal people right there as well his mother did a lot his mother talked to president biden, have talked to the chancellor. his mother took some messages back and forth. so this was a big, a bigger boat again, we are seeing right now the vice president embracing the daughters of alsu kurmasheva bibi and miriam. and of course, we know that once birthday is a mere minutes from now, already having had the president united states, lead a song earlier today in elevation of her birthday, what an extraordinary image moment it

must be to have their mother back in her arms. we also know that paul whelan, sister is there. evan gershkovich father and mother? sister and brother-in-law, and the husband of alsu kurmasheva, as well. president biden, vice president harris, walking side-by-side in a critical moment can we go back to excuse oh, they're walking right now with evan gershkovich, his mother were hearing i think the voice of paul whelan, if i'm not mistaken biden is approaching towards the press right now, while we hear more from the president in it tastes on this extraordinary moment even briefly trotting to access the press relief for the family. >> did you think that this moment would come, sir? >> yes. >> what made you feel so confident relation move ahead? that was what