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>> brian: it is 8:00 on the couch in new york city, this is the thursday august 1st edition of "fox & friends" and we start with a fox news alert, donald trump said to be interviewed today about the attempt on his life. this is a new video taken by one of the people shot shows a figure, you see it right there? moving across the roof moments before the shooting started. >> ainsley: into another alert, the fdny, families of 9/11 victims are outraged, ripping a plea deal that will spare the mastermind and two other terrorists behind the attacks from the death penalty. >> well, it's just terrible and it shocking, these individuals hold the truth to what actually happened on 9/11. >> brian: plus a 19-year-old lifeguard injured while saving a 7-year-old from drowning, he says he would do it all over again and joins us live to talk about it, "fox & friends" final

hour starts right now, mornings with friends. >> ainsley: we start with a fox news alert, shocking video from one of the trump rally shooting victim shows that figure seen with a red circle, shows the figure moving on the roof, moments before the would-be assassin open fire. >> brian: and today, meeting with the fbi to share the perspective of july 13, cb cotton is live in butler, pennsylvania, cb. >> hi, good morning, guys, captured at 6:08 p.m., 1 of 2 wounded during the assassination attempts, and we know the gunmen began firing at 6:11 p.m., so many people are left wondering whether these chilling images are of crooks on the roof of the building moments before he began firing. at the one minute mark, you can see what appears to be a person

on the roof adjacent to where he is speaking, and is visible at the two minute 57 market, and was killed by a secret service counter striker and the attorney is now telling fox digital his client is sad about the state of politics. >> he just wants people to understand that how unnecessary it was, and that the political divide in this country has become so great people are literally willing to attend rallies for people who are exercising their first amendment rights and start firing bullets into the ground. >> trump return to pennsylvania for the first time since his assassination during the campaign stop in harrisburg, he think the state for for its support and teased his return to butler, last night even brought out the staffer who put up the charge which he turned to moments before the gunman took aim at him, possibly sparing his

life. >> just tell her to come out here for a second, quick, quick, she saved my life in a sense. i said you saved my life, here she is! wow! >> hi. >> an interesting tidbit about that chart, donald trump says he only uses it at about 20% of his campaign stops and for more to come today, we are going to be looking for those details on the fbi's interview with the former president. back to you. >> brian: so you would think that the interview with the former president on the fbi is going to be pretty short, because he said essentially i'm just giving the speech and turn that way and somebody shot me. he did not see the person, so that parts would not be very long, but you have to figure there will be a lot of questions about what was that campaign toll about suspicious people and

why just go out. >> i think especially after this new video that fox business obtained there's going to be questions not only for the fbi but especially for the secret service about what was possibly seen by the counter snipers in the moments leading up to the gunfire, because from where james copenhaver was at, he had a clear view to this person or what appears to be a person traversing across several roofs. >> brian: the thing is with these events, it seems like it they don't get charged if they have to register and it seems like there will be a way of getting in touch with them where if may be the fbi if they are doing a thorough investigation would do an email to everybody intended to, do you have any video that might reveal more information about this? >> yes, brian, that's right and we have reached out to the fbi and the secret service to see what they know about this video or waiting to hear back, but we

have talked to several people in the community who say they have been contacted by investigators. >> ainsley: former president trump discussing his plans to turn the economy around while taking questions from that panel at the national association of black journalists annual convention, including from our very own harris faulkner. >> then nonprofit to release data from its midyear analysis that we have found a 52% rise in people who are seeking counseling for being and credit debt, they are paying for food that is sky high on their credit cards and now they can't pay that out, much of that falls on the shoulders of single moms, single black mom's when you look statistically, how do you turn it around? what is your plan for the black community when it comes to mo money? >> inflation is ruining our middle class, working-class, virtually every class, inflation

is a disaster in our country. inflation as a country buster. it breaks every country. and we had in my opinion the worst inflation we have had, they say it's 58 years, but i think it's much more than that. it's been devastating. young people, young black people, they don't have the american dream anymore, they can't buy a house, they can't borrow the money because the cost of the money. they can buy because of the cost of housing. because of the host of building, because of inflation, inflation is a disaster and it's destroying our country and it's destroying the black community, probably as much -- >> so what do you do, what's your plan? >> we have to bring down the cost of energy and that's going to bring down the cost of inflation. >> brian: harris faulkner joins us right now and i believe in chicago good morning to you. >> good morning, yes, i am still

here, the audio problems we were having were really, really frustrating. and i am watching that back and i'm seeing that we were able to at some point the former president and i have a conversation. so much of what america is focused on and so much of what it started with the with the moments from the interviewer who was seated directly to his left, his really overtaken the fact that we had an opportunity to talk with the president who walked into a racial storm yesterday and there were journalists, activists, whatever you want to call people who let their politics show who wanted the na bj to resend their offer to have the 45th president of the united states come and sit. they also invited joe biden and he had said yes, but he is not on the ticket anymore and they have also invited kamala harris, finally yesterday after some reported back and forth about her schedule, so on and so forth she will do something via

satellite and i know that she is attending represented sheila jackson's funeral today, but it several days, five days, wednesday through sunday. so that is been worked out. but all of that i say because there were protesters who were forecast to come, and then the internal stuff that was going on. he walks out on stage and not a greeting to acknowledge that it's been 18 days at that point since you survived an assassination attempts. we will ask you tough questions, but mr. president, well, and we are glad you're still here. i mean, it did not take much to show humanity and in that moment i was so disappointed that that did not happen. i cannot control it, but it got things off to an emotional start and you and i both know that once that happens and you are interviewing someone, there is an agenda. and i'm glad that you guys played a clip of that, because america in the journalists in the room who sat and listened, somewhere laughing with the

president, there were some critical in the audience too, but it was expressed respectively or respectfully rather, there was a way to take some of the energy out of that moment with that reporter. and what it would say is that anyone who is going to be discussing race while the left is playing the race card mightily, take the air out of the balloon a little bit and let things cool down by saying, look, i am willing to discuss anything with you, but if you show me disrespect, if we can't have mutual respect, then it is up to you if you want me to get up and leave. it's all on you. you have the control, and boom, take it down. but what the president did say yesterday was that he really made some points on the economy. he made points on the border. but the race comments, they have been tough and i don't know -- ainsley, i don't know, and steve, that people are going to have votes on the color of their skin in the hair texture this

time around, this is about mo money, and it's about's were saying, no matter who is in the room, black communities are not hit, of course they are, let's focus on that how do we empower the voters to look at what they know to vote as early as a couple of battleground states. i will say one of this points. with regard to what we do know about the president's pick, j.d. vance, i thought that it was interesting to ask him the question, well, why didn't you pick him? and i did drill down on that. that's something that i want to go further with him, because his comments, j.d. vance's comments about roman have been brought up and they were brought up about really, really necessary. he showed up, he showed up and was early and ready to go,

abc news an end bj had tons of technical problems, we were lucky to even get it going, we were over 40 minutes late, but i am glad that we were there. there was a moment in history to see him walk into the room and every seat was filled, over 1,000 people in a ballroom, three rows of media global america local media, no one moved. you could've heard a pin drop at some points when he was talking. >> ainsley: i watch the whole thing and i was catching glimpses of it during the afternoon and then i went online and i watched the entire thing and i thought you did an excellent job. you are asking questions that the voters care about and that was the issues and i was very proud of you and i'm glad that you stayed on topic. any credited to you for that, thank you for staying on the issues. but what i liked about donald trump's -- he is so honest in what i liked about it to the viewers at home that did not realize they were technical issues yet until your

questions and we did not realize they were 35 minutes late. so he said -- and then he said out of the gate, no, thank you for being here. i'm the only one who is here. you told me that kamala harris was going to be her. she is not here. i took time out of my schedule, you have technical problems and this is the question you want to start with, so thank you for getting to the issues and i think that's what america cares about. >> ansley, thank you very much for recognizing that. you are absolutely right in terms of from the moment the walk on the stage, there is a way to, he has the nation's 45th president, and i was disappointed to know so much about how journalists felt on their own behalf, we are talking about people in the room who did not want to hear from someone until they did. so that was an accomplishment. where it fell down though is really on how it was handled, and you are right, the president is very transparent. i actually said, i'm glad you

said that, because i am having a hard time hearing you, we receive a part, and not in covert restrictions anymore and i even said, we needed to be more of an arc so we could talk to each other. i can't impress upon you how much complicity there is potential complicity for mainstream media to lock in on the issue of race and to divide us as a nation further if we don't carefully call out when we don't see things being treated fairly. and i will take some heat from it, for it rather in certain circles of journalism, my home is fox news. our viewers deserve the truth and that moment was not fair. >> brian: were sitting right there and we appreciate you getting up early to tell us what it was like. >> i was already up, i watch you guys. >> brian: thank you very much. >> ainsley: he talked about what he did for record

unemployment amongst women, he talked about inflation how he did better with inflation then biden and harris have, and giving opportunities to historic with the black college and universities. >> steve: it was big but not as long as people thought because of the technical issues. and in the meantime coming up on 815, we have a fox news alert, israeli defense forces have confirmed they have killed hamas' military leader, the man known as the osama bin laden of gaza. >> brian: trey yingst is live in tel aviv right now, it did not just happen, but happened a week or so ago, and got confirmation yesterday? >> yes, another major development as it killed another hamas leader and one of the masterminds behind the october 7th massacre. the strike took place around three weeks ago but took israeli intelligence as much time to

confirmed that the operation was successful. you can see the explosion in that video there, the israelis had gone after this high-profile target unsuccessfully for nearly two decades and the confirmation is another blow to the militant group that used to have full control over gaza at least 90 palestinians most civilians were killed in the same strike that took place in southern gaza. the announcement of death comes as a funeral was held today for the leader who was killed in a strike early yesterday morning. and now confirms t the dash has vowed to take revenge against israel, forces across this country are on high alert as reports citing american intelligence sources believe iran and its proxies will attack israel at some point in the next three days. washington is urging calm, but the region is quickly unraveling. here in tel aviv, life continues as normal, but small signs about an impending war. some international airlines have canceled flights to the city and

hotels are telling guests to move to lower floors in case of missile attacks. guys, back to you. >> brian: some people say that since was doing that on negotiation by half of hamas and was really relaying what it was saying, this gives in more and more power in the negotiations being that he has now eliminated. do you subscribe to the school of thought? >> i will tell you two things come around the time of this targeted assassination in iran, many people trying to describe as a moderate voice as the ludicrous. and this is a man who has part of the charter wanted to implement the destruction of israel and the jewish state and so we look forward to the next leadership decisions inside hamas', and make a great point, the only man left out of the top three who were the masterminds

behind the october 7th massacre, someone who devoted his life to israel, and has since taken the battle to israel along the gaza border, conducting that massacre and continuing the fight 300 days into this conflict. so they are shaky at best and i have been speaking with some of the qatari's involved in this process, they were simply shocked by the fact that he was taken out in iran and says it will not help the ongoing negotiations but note that these conversations will likely continue if they are delayed a matter of weeks amid rising tension across the region. >> brian: can i ask you, as the only reason that sin more is alive because he is surrounded by hostages and know where he is? have you heard that? >> that's a great gas, we don't know exactly, we've been trying to gather information on the whereabouts for the past 300 days and i have met with everyone from top intelligence

officials here in tel aviv to the defense minister u of gollancz, and it appears that the israelis have an idea of where he is, but he is likely around some of the more than 100 hostages that are being held inside gaza. one thing we should note is that we have interviewed some of the hostages released as part of the november cease-fire and gather reports about what their experience was like one of the most disturbing images was a description by one hostage that said when she was taken into the tunnels under gaza she met him they are near some of the hostages today. >> ainsley: using them as human shields, thank you so much, trey. yesterday in times square there was a huge anti-israel protests. >> brian: can you believe this? >> ainsley: holding up the one who was killed in iran. >> brian: a terrorist who has an enemy of america that used to not be okay. turning to your headlines, the suspected arm robbery arrested robber in georgia today thanks

to a brave chick-fil-a delivery driver, the suspect was, cameron, last month pointing a gun at the employee, the driver says he was forced to lead the man to the storage safe, and that's when he fought back. after struggling for several minutes, looking at this now the worker was able to remove the suspect's mask allowing police to track him down. hunter biden's federal text troubles moving forward, set to begin september 5th in los angeles, accused of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes, and is facing two felony counts, filing a false tax return, one count of tax evasion, four misdemeanor accounts and two failure to file, and hunter has pled not guilty to all of it. meanwhile, former president trump accepts vice president kamala harris' debate challenge. >> well, kamala let's go! challenge accepted, are you

ready? >> brian: the exact details of when or where are being worked out, they had a date in the books, but that's what joe biden coming on the president has a really strong case. i don't know whom i was debating coming you are not even the nominee at. >> ainsley: and does not want to debate on abc and yesterday when that happen with the abc journalists you might say forget abc, and kind of mentioned the network, who do you work for? you work for abc, don't you? fake news. >> steve: they are going to have a debate, but have to work out the details. 8:20 in new york city, families of the 9/11 victims ripping the plea deal that will spare three terrorists from gitmo, and calls the decision discussing and he is next. ♪ ♪my 32 these are people who have served. they've been in leadership positions. they're willing to put their life on the line if necessary. and they come to us and they say,

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>> brian: fox news alert now, the u.s. and russia have agreed to a prisoner transfer for our more, let's go to mark meredith at the white house. what can you tell us? >> brian, steve, ansley, good morning to you, for quite some time, but exactly who is released and when and where is still yet to be publicly made available, but obviously these efforts to exchange prisoners is going to have a dramatic effect on u.s.-russia relations and

whether or not this will be seen as a sign may be a new chapter given everything happening in ukraine, but i want to mention again that from the white house's perspective, we are not giving those official comments get if they are not talking about who is going to be evolved and how long, how many from the u.s. side will transfer back over to the russians and one. there are some reporting out there, some wire services have a few of the different details but we are going extra careful want to make sure we get the information correct where there are so many families waiting to know about the whereabouts of their loved ones. as for president biden, he did not have any public offense on his schedule today, a press briefing at 1:30 if developments continue like they are, i would not be shocked to see if the president were to add some on camera event but as of right now that's not the place. you can imagine that there is

such complex negotiations and remember what happen with the wnba player and what it took to get her out of russia and we saw the dramatic effect that that had on u.s. russia relations and whether or not we will see that continue going forward. we are still waiting to get the exact details but checking in with the white house and the headline at this point is that these discussions are underway. and it looks like something is happening, but exactly what, when, and we are still to, guys. >> brian: stay tuned, we heard the germans were willing to give up one of the people they were holding that one a back as early as january. but nothing has been executed since. so this is breaking news, let's bring a new york congressman a member of the house foreign affairs committee mike waller, congressman, good to have you. with this breaking news, a lot of details we don't know including what the deal was. we don't have the names, we just know something is going on and usually this is how it works. >> absolutely, and obviously we certainly look forward to getting more details and welcoming home those individuals that would be released under the terms of this agreement with

russia. however, this has been part of the challenge in this administration particularly. there's very little consequence and so we will see what they negotiated and who is being released back into russia's control and consequences of t that. >> brian: has foreign affairs, have you been briefed? did you know something was in the works? >> no, and the last few minutes we have learned some of the details, but really, a lot of it is obviously tight-lipped. >> ainsley: so yesterday we learn news about khalid sheikh mohammed and two other terrorists for 9/11, accepting a plea deal, they have agreed to that, the families had a meeting yesterday, a discovery hearing for all the evidence room 23 years ago was finally unsealed, they were able to get answers and we knew someone in the room with her two sons, they lost their dad.

she lost her first husband. and she said it was just brutal to sit in that room for seven hours and hear all the evidence unsealed and watch the terrorists coming here the terrace laughing. she said i will never get that laugh out of my head. how do you feel about this plea deal? >> in many respects its evil, and it is a betrayal for these 9/11 families. 23 years later we are still losing first responders to 9/11 related illnesses on a monthly basis, you heard the words of the ufa president and pba president heartbroken, but trail, devastated, and i think that that is the collective response from 9/11 families. this does not seem like justice, and to give her a go, i send a letter to president biden and the department of justice demanding that they do not enter into a plea agreement, that they take it to trial and push for

the death penalty. khalid sheikh mohammed should rot in for eternity. he definitely will, but it should be a lot sooner than it will be. and i think that that's where so many families feel today that this was a miscarriage of justice and for those families to have to endure seven hours yesterday and hear the laughter from these terrorists is what speaks volumes to obviously the evil among us. >> brian: one of the problems with the case, we have known what has happened for decades, but given the fact that they were taken to some of these cia dark sides, there was waterboarding enhanced -- interrogation, some people refer to it as torture, that could contaminate everything they said as evidence, so the worry was okay, we will have the trial, but next thing you know they will win on appeal and throw it all out.

>> obviously there is complexity within the legal system and you want to ensure a fair trial, yes. but we also know that khalid sheikh mohammed admitted his involvement in masterminding this terrorist attack 23 years ago and this resulted in the death of 2,977 americans and that's the bottom line. >> brian: let's bring in dan hoffman now, former cia station seat chief who is a fox news contributor, dan, we hope to have everybody heading home from what you know, what is in mo motion? >> well, let me start by saying this, brian, it's been a motion for a long time as there is painstaking negotiations going on behind the scenes for months if not years, remember paul whelan who is allegedly one of

the americans illegally and wrongfully detained in russia who may be released today was detained in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020, so they're up in ongoing negotiations since then. but there is already some reporting out in the press that said paul whelan and evan gershkovich have been moved from there prison camps and they are on their way potentially to be swapped and what would be a massive field. now when i am looking at is who is left behind. we have a radio-free journalist walid bin attash, and one illegally detained in 2021 and an american ballet dancer who is wrongfully detained a few months back. so there is a lot yet to ascertain as well as who we are giving up, the russians drive a hard bargain and we know that they want the one who committed murder in germany and maybe his part of the deal for the russian

side. >> brian: fox news can't confirm any of the names yet, waiting for official confirmation, can you explain how something like this works? behind the scenes without giving up any names at this point? just which side approaches which side and how is the negotiation commenced? >> it could be either side approaching either side. we have a long history of so-called spice lots with the russian -- one of the largest ones in recent memory was in 2010 when we exchanged russian deep cover of foreign intelligence operatives the most notorious of who was anna chapman to get four russians out of jail as they would've taken their last breaths in siberian death threats, and one was to call the intelligence defect or proven who tried to kill with the band

chemicals, but the negotiations themselves take it very much behind the scenes in great secrecy, not subjected to the vagaries of diplomatic reporting or press coverage, that's the way that the russians and frankly we like it as well so that we can have these open discussions and develop if this may sound odd, a level of trust with russian providers, i have met many times with russian intelligence officers and believe it or not we can speak the same language literally and figuratively to deal with challenges when those of our interests are at stake and can negotiate a suitable outcome. >> ainsley: and your experience wonder the prisoners find out that they are going home? is it sudden? they open up the locked door, put them on a plane and go home? and what is their experience when they do go home, how long does it take them to adjust? some prisoners have been there for decades. >> writes, so it's very sudden for them. they won't know until the very

last minute and many of them will suspect that it is a ruse until the last minute, because the russians play psychological games with our prisoners. so, they won't know until the last minute. it takes quite a bit of time for them psychologically to deal with the trauma they suffer. there is an element of ptsd for sleep deprivation, poor health conditions and frankly, not enough food and not enough healthy food that they are given and being without their family, evan gershkovich reportedly was only given one hour outside of his -- that has lasted impact. >> brian: dan, we can share this with you and get your reaction, wall street general reporter and ex-marina paul whelan are involved in the prisoner swap and they have been released by russia as part of this major swap, we don't know on the other side yet, we are beginning to get that information, so you know what

they have been through over the last few years, what is your reaction? >> ainsley: really quickly, evan is a part of her family and works for "the wall street journal." >> this is a day to celebrate their release, but it's also important for all of us to remember that it was vladimir putin kgb russia which denies their own citizens, and anyone who visits freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, this is the result of that and so i think while we celebrate the return of our american citizens, we await the opportunity to give them all the support that they need and it's going to be a lot. we also at the same time have to remember what a despicable regime extending in the the kremlin right now. and yes, and they are barbaric invasion of ukraine is another over example of that, not to mention their alliance with little rock and north korea and xi jinping.

>> brian: let's go right back to the white house, a couple of names now. >> you are right, a couple of names and a couple of big names as you guys were just talking about which is "the wall street journal" reporter who was just sentenced in july to 16 years in prison. he had been accused of espionage, the u.s. as well as the wall street government as well as "the wall street journal" had flatly denied that and said that he was simply being a political prisoner of the russians, we are understanding now from white house officials that he is part of this prisoner swap as well as the former marine who had been arrested and convicted in 2020, so these are two of the biggest names in the two of the biggest targets that the u.s. had been trying to free from russia for several years. you can only imagine the painstaking negotiations that this administration has had to deal with and also going back even prior to the biden adminstration that this has been a big focus about bringing these

americans home. we don't know at this point ant is what was included in the exchange, what were the russians essentially getting to make such a high-profile swap? these are two names that were constantly in the public eye and we have heard from their families repeatedly even in "the wall street journal" where they have up their account down of how long wrongly imprisoned. for 90 days, we had seen the pop up every once in a while when they would have these court cases and he would see them behind the glass disk lake case, and nothing like the u.s. justice system, considered a mockery out in russia, but for the use two prisoners soon to be free americans, this could be a day that will be of course life-changing and never forgotten. as for their families i will imagine we will hear reaction from them as well, as for the white house reaction officially getting any statement from the white house for the national security council and the president is not of any public events on a schedule today, but with the significant news event like this it would not shock me if we would hear from him and

they would add something on the schedule simply what we would come to expect. but a huge development of foreign policy between u.s. and russia relations and of course great news for these two americans who hopefully will be home within a matter of days. back to you. >> >> brian: we have those released and going to go with a swap from moscow, said to involve 20-30 prisoners so hopefully because i don't know if we have an exact number, but mike you have an exact number of how many was to her left, how many have actually been held in russia? >> ainsley: do we get 20 prisoners back? >> we will get a full readout, state, dod, this will involve all the agencies that will get out the details, but i would imagine given how complex things are and that you have people literally that will have to fly out of territories if they want to make sure that they get their eyes done and their t's crossed before they put out those exact

details. and you can imagine the be a lot of questions about what do the russians get in praise and criticism coming from capitol hill that will think the russians got too much and some people think that it could've handled differently but that reaction is still to come in as we learn more details. and you just admitted, they will probably get briefed in real time and the houses on their august recess as the senate is still in town and i would imagine that they will be getting briefed as well, guys. >> brian: will talk to him in just a moment, let's bring in hugh dugan who is our guest right now, he has been a former acting special convoy for active negotiations, q, r white house guy has not yet heard the confirmation from the federal government, but i have seen movies like this and generally, they don't become official, the word does not become official until they have landed the planes and they are in our custody. >> yes, thank you for having me on.

we have to look at this in terms of what are russia's geopolitical motivations for doing this right now. they've been frozen out of the olympics and they have been ostracized on the world stage, but if they are looking for a chance to be on the world stage and appear conseq consequential, putin's take away is that this is going to overtake the paris game certainly for a while, but this is also going to show that you may have a heart which is not the case, but may be willing to compromise, i think particularly as we run up to the democratic national committee chain that appears as though the putin regime would not like to have a trump returned to the white house and if they can go positive towards the democrats prior to the convention and give them a big win on foreign policy stage so to speak, that could be well worth the investments that russia is willing to take on this swap. >> brian: that's projection,

hard to know, but we know this for russia, the moscow times reporting that the individuals that recently disappeared these four russians who are detained in the u.s. on cyber crimes, smuggling, and money laundering are said to be part of the exchange. so this could involve more than just americans. we know about paul whelan and we know about e evan gershkovich fm "the wall street journal." >> ainsley: and some information not yet confirmed, but speculation that half a dozen other americans most of which were political activists were jailed for opposing the russian government also might be a part of this deal. >> steve: also there's a possibility it's not just united states and russia, we have seen some preliminary information that the number of other countries were also involved in this. we have michael lawler come a congressman who sits on florida relations who is actually with us on the couch right now. from what you have heard so far, what can you tell us? >> obviously, more details will

be released by the white house and the administration in short order, hopefully. but it appears certainly based on the preliminary reporting that you're talking about upwards of 30 folks being exchanged, now the question probably one of the biggest exchanges in decades, but the question is, you know, who and how many are the united states releasing folks back to russia or other countries as is being speculated about the multiple countries are involved here. at the end of the day, vladimir putin is a vile dictator and thug, he has been working in a concerted effort with china, with iran, and is seeking to undermine and destabilize the united states in the free world. and when you see what is happening from the russian invasion into ukraine to the terrorist attack on israel to the threats in the endo pacific, to china purchasing petroleum

over $100 billion since joe biden took office, we are dealing with one crisis after the next. obviously this exchange is important to get americans home including a marine veteran and it "wall street journal" reporter who were illegally and wrongly detained, but i will say, the big question is what the biden a administration gave up as part of this agreement and that obviously we do not know yet. >> brian: because we know the president, victor booth, brady greiner, one of the leading arms dealers for brittany griner, a lot of people looked at unbalance as much as you want to home because he had a marine that was there longer. >> no question, when brittany griner was released and obviously, look at, we went all americans home. we don't want anyone being illegally or wrongly detained or mistreated, but there was a lot

of frustration obviously with respect to the paul whelan beginning to be held as part of that original agreement just a few years ago. so we are awaiting the details and i don't over speculate. >> brian: are you surprised you don't know more now? >> no, and to be fair this is obviously a sensitive negotiation and we want our folks to be released and obviously you are dealing with vladimir putin who is a dictator and a thug. you can't trust anything he says or does. >> ainsley: we interviewed the general counsel for the dow, the umbrella organization over all street journal and he was working tirelessly with washington to try to get him home. evans only 32 years old, and came here, his parents came here from soviet parents from russia in 1979, he grew up in new jersey, and then you have paul whelan who is a u.s. marine who is serving a 16 year

sentence in the same with evan gershkovich, so to have them home is wonderful, we have interviewed their family members and evan's parents, i'm sure they are so relieved, what can we expect today? probably a press conference, from who? the president? >> one would think that the president would want to brief on this, it's important news and to inform everyone of what the agreement actually was. and hopefully we will hear from the state department as a member of the foreign affairs committee and obviously we will inquire immediately to get information details, and the moment it is safe for a briefing, they should do so. >> ainsley: i wonder if it will be biden or kamala harris? >> i know she is going to houston for sheila jackson's funeral, but look at, joe biden is the president of the united states, this would seem like something that he should be briefing the nation on. >> steve: 13 minutes before the top of the hour, we will

bring in rebecca grant, international relations expert, rebecca, this could be -- we know about evan and paul, but this could be as many as 30 or 40 reviving other countries, what is your reaction? >> well, first of all, i am delighted that evan and paul and any other americans may be coming home. it's high time, but i tell you, there are some people here that putin really, really wanted back. we see where it is, but particularly if it is individuals like the awful betting press the call for the s.a.p. kernel and let me know at some others we are hearing that may go back are some cryptocurrency traders and some high tech arms smugglers, those individuals or justice department has pursued and convicted a few of them, but they are the ones that are helping russia maintain the illegal sanctions abating and getting more that high tech stuff so they can continue their war in ukraine, very interesting to see who russia will bring

home. >> sure, and the breaking news as there is a u.s.-russia prisoner transfer, we have paul whelan and "the wall street journal" reporter evan gershkovich, apparently part of the deal. rebecca, it sounds like there could be a lot of other names as well, how much -- you are talking a moment ago about how vladimir putin one at some of these guys back, how important is the presidential campaign calendar and the election calendar? if there is a possibility in november that there could be somebody else who has the keys to air force one the following january, is that part of the calculation? who is running the united united states? >> well, it is hard to say, but i guarantee you this, the russians will get their propaganda going and make the most of it. so if whatever their intentions are, if they can use this prisoner swap to continue their

influence operations, they will do it. and of course, this comes at a time when putin is also making big threats about what he will do when the f-16s get to ukraine, when u.s. weapons can be used at longer range and all of that. the nuclear threats and everything that goes on the whole time, this is going to feed into that somewhat. so if you can twist us to use against us, you will find a way to do it. >> ainsley: rebecca, and other prisoners we have kept here have been treated in a far superior away than they have been in russia, how is evan, how is paul? how are they treated there? and what are the types of presence they have. >> yes, he did, and a sentence was terrible, very nearly the maximum and just a horrible place, they were not treated well. the bare minimum to sustain life, but they were not treated well and of course, anybody weather and the german system or

in our system that might be going back has gotten better treatment. so that's one reason we will all be so glad to see them coming back. and don't forget, for putin, this is a business. picking up evan so that he could continue this nasty business of swapping out spies and crypto traders that he wants back. >> brian: keep in mind, rebecca, one of the things evan did was write a story about the cratering of the russia economy days before he was picked up, they don't want journalists over there. and that is everything to do and it's a message that the journalists i'm sure that are still there. rebecca, thank you. meanwhile -- thank you. let's go out to mark meredith, at the white house. mark, we have confirmation now. we know that it has been a while, almost 500 days, but the white house at a couple of days ago that evan gershkovich, they are not forgetting him. and now it looks like we are getting him back. >> brian, you are right. at the white house made a pretty formal statement about his

situation just a few weeks ago when evan gershkovich was convicted to 16 years in prison. they put out a statement that the president said that he had no other higher priority than getting both evan as well as paul whelan and other americans wrongfully detained back home. we know that they have been working through the united nations as the u.s. ambassador who made a pretty fiery speech about the same situation. so obviously the white house will come out to not only say, here is what happen, but i also imagine to show that they were able to get this accomplished. there are going to be a lot of people asking, well, what's the cost appropriate? what in terms of getting the russians? since we don't have those details yet and no one is able to chime in on that part, but i wanted to bring up what you mentioned that president biden in his own words just two or three weeks ago had said evan has endured his ordeal with remarkable strength and we will not cease in our efforts to bring them home and then again the indication that they are going to be able to do just that. you mentioned that we have not really seen the president much this week as he was in austin,

texas, for that speech at the lbj library. and spoke to reporters a little bit when he got back in late last night and kept to schedule open today. may be an indication they knew this was likely to happen and it would have a chance to allow the president to go out before the cameras and to share some news. you also mention the campaign trail which i thought was interesting because former president trump has brought up the situation before multiple times and said that he would be able to get evan gershkovich back home if he was put back into the white house and i just checked his social media accounts and have not seen any reaction yet, but no matter what this will have a implication between u.s. and russia relations going forward and you have to wonder whether or not this is a continuation of hostilities or will this get through perhaps a little bit brighter if you will of a relationship given of course the war in ukraine, i can imagine that truly to be the case, so we are still waiting from the official details on what is happening with the white house scheduled for today, but there is a big gap there which i find to bet all my money that we will

hear from president biden at some point today. >> steve: i bet you are probably right, mark you are talking about the last couple of weeks and that's because we saw evan gershkovich being convicted and he was in the glass box other and that moscow court room, and he had kind of at times a wry smile, because he knows that this is how it works, if he is going to find it as part of the prison deal, which apparently he has, has to be convicted.

and so, once the conviction happened, then, we are off to the races. >> absolutely, and you are right, there will be a lot of questioning, sorry, the lawn mower is going, because of course, why not right now? but the way that it is worked in the past is any indication of where we are today just like we have seen with previous prisoner exchange deals as they were waiting until they had that leverage. but i would also be curious to see how much president biden is able to say what was happening behind the scenes or whether or not they are going to focus on the final result. and whether other americans will also be included in this exchange. obviously we have talked about the two names we have been able to confirm, whether or not there were other people on the sidelines with other nationalities that could be related to this is still to come out. keep checking our headlines here as we will likely get a read out from the white house and the national security council and whether or not we are waiting for the president. >> brian: mark, hold on, my glow was here. and he just got more information about what might be detained and involved? >> potentially, germany, slovenia, belarus, the united states, engaged in obviously a large swap involving not just, paul, and evan, but potentially some critics of putin, but potentially the u.s. is releasing really dangerous criminals as part of this. >> steve: explain how that works. in our heads how we look at it,

they have one of our people, we let one of their people go. if there are five or six or seven or eight other countries, how do they get around the table and say i want this guy? no, i went that guy? >> obviously vladimir putin is evil. and we know that he has used this tactic of taking americans hostage to get what he wants, which is people who will act in furtherance of his evil conduct. and his war crimes. and i think that when you look at the situation like this where we just saw just a few months ago a number of israeli hostages released in exchange for a lot of palestinians and hamas terrorists, and so these negotiations are obviously always complex. they are always difficult. and --

especially from multiple countries, but we as the west are always going to fight to get our people back. >> ainsley: we also all s p >> ainsley: the "wall street journal" had to remove all their reporters and others did also. hard to talk about information on the country when you aren't in there itself. evan spoke the language and lived there and apparently in prison he is reading books in russia and understands that lifestyle and loved it. now that's pulled away. journalism will be pulled away from countries like this. >> that's what they rely on to stay in power. look at venezuela. these dictators, despots, totalitarian regimes rely on

propaganda and control. >> brian: i did not know we were holding russians. russian prisoners held in the u.s. vanished from the inmates database heightening speculation they're part of this. i didn't know we were doing that. >> steve: let's bring in hugh dugan. have you ever heard of a prisoner swap involving perhaps so many different countries? >> yes, actually there is always a triangulation of sorts. around the poker table a lot of people want to be dealt in when they see the stakes are getting high and they have side bets and other things happening. so this can be quite expensive and not only whether we are giving russia in that case if in fact it comes to that but what will we owe some of these other countries? they have dedicated lots of their resources, they are giving up assets they feel are critical to maintain.

so i'm not sure we'll get all of these details. certainly know very little right now. we have to be on guard that putin isn't just teasing the world and willing to be a spoiler in the end after raising expectations. so let's be confident, cool, let our team continue their quiet negotiations but understand that this is a large circus of sorts and when something like the gershkovitch case in the media becomes available for propaganda purposes we expect the russians will play it out in many ways as long as possible. >> brian: noteworthy despite all the prisoners, ukrainians and russians have of each other doesn't seem like they were involved in this. >> steve: thank you very much. just a reminder, the news is apparently evan gershkovitch, the "wall street journal" reporter, and paul whelan, arrested back in 2018, are on the way home.

it is part of a -- sounds like what could be a sweeping prisoner transfer between the united states and russia and perhaps others as well. >> dana: evan only 32 years old slated to stay in prison until his mid 40s. that's great news. then paul whelan and he is a u.s. marine and they are coming home. >> brian: "new york post" and we have it here and covering it. >> ainsley: i'm heading to go interview usha vance. first interview since her husband became the vice presidential candidate. everyone have a great weekend. >> steve: "america's newsroom" starts now. >> bill: good morning. we'll pick up the coverage from here. there appears to be good news this morning. it appears that evan and paul apparently are coming home. a major prisoner exchange between the u.s. and russia in the works as we speak that would free the jailed american