>> thanks to everyone. fox news a night is next. i love you america! [ applause ] >> trace: good evening i'm trace gallagher with the breaking news additional fox news and ip are this is alive

look at joint base andrews where three americans finally set free from russian prisons are set to land in just minutes. we are talking... they will be met by president biden and vice president harris. both the president and vice president are now en route to base andrews and are expected to arrive there in moments. the three americans are on board a private jet and we are told when the plane actually lands and comes 12 full and the doors open, both biden and kamala harris will go from the nose side of the aircraft and walked to the bottom of the stairs while -- will they were great them. all remains unclear is if any mobile offer remarks or answer questions and we don't know yet exactly when the families will greet the prisoners, the former prisoners as they touched down on u.s. soil whether they will go on board the aircraft or wait until they come off with

president and the vice president. we have team fox coverage, the senior national correspondent kevin corke live on the ground. live in new york from how the swap came together and here in los angeles with with more on the politics of the prisoner exchange. we begin with kevin corke live at joint base andrews. >> good evening. i can answer a question for you you talked about the idea of just may be there might be remarks. we are told right now that it's unlikely to happen. however, given the norm's emotion of the moment, one can't be certain but at least right now we don't anticipate that we also can tell you as you laid out i think in excellent detail what we anticipate seeing here behind me once the aircraft is here in the vice president and the president have an opportunity to meet them they will go inside and meet with their families, they will have a moment to relax and have good conversation. after that we anticipate they will than head out and make

their way to san antonio for medical observation at a possible treatment they may be completely fine. that is what is expected. i wanted to share this as well. i have covered unfortunately for the families a number of these over the many years that i've been in washington. i can tell you it never gets old because the emotion of the moments. this is not just a win if you will for the biden administration, not just a tremendous victory for the negotiators and the families involved but i think the american family will be celebrating in unison tonight as we bring you live coverage. we will bring it all to you but for now back to you. >> trace: kevin corke live for us. we are also learning more details tonight about how the prisoners swap came together and about the nations involved in that exchange. live in new york with more background on the negotiations themselves. good evening. >> it took many months of negotiations behind the pull off one of the largest, most complex

prisoner swaps in u.s. history. it involves 24 people and it seven countries. sixteen detainees held in russia are being exchanged for eight russians. they are from the u.s., germany, slovenia and poland. of the 16 prisoners leaving russia, five include germans, seven are russian citizens where political prisoners in their own country and four are here -- are on their way here to america including... a moscow correspondent from the wall street journal whose high-profile arrest caused outrage in 2023 while on a reporting trip to russia when he was falsely accused and convicted nubs spying. his colleagues waged a campaign for his release are now celebrating. also coming home tonight is for marine paul whalen who was in russia for a wedding in 2018 win he was falsely accused of being a spy, he spent six years in a russian labour camp passed over in previous prisoner exchanges

and tonight's family releasing this statement saying in part the case was that of an american in peril, held by the russian federation as part of their initiative to use humans as ponds to extract concessions eric for this -- for the steal toed happened, they demanded they release a russian hit man from a berlin president which complicated negotiations of course and there were many times this deal almost fell apart including when run russian opposition leader... this was supposed to include him to but the swap does not include pennsylvania teacher mark vogel who officials say they are still actively trying to bring home from russia. officials also claim that no money had to be exchanged and no new sanctions were put in place to make this all happen. >> trace: life russ in the new york. that is alive look at joint base andrews in the car you saw, that

was the vice president kamala harris arriving at joint base andrews. we are told the president is about eight or nine minutes away from coming to joint base andrews. we are being told that resident biden has jake sullivan with him along with... and five others. so he's got a pretty good contingent along for the ride with him. we don't know if there will be comments, if the president will speak if the vice president will speak. we will bring you the information. you can see it live on the left-hand side of your screen. meantime the prisoners swap was a big win for the biden administration after many months of negotiations between the u.s. , of five nato allies and of course russia. it did not take long for that victory to collide with presidential politics. live with how the exchange is already part of the presidential race. good evening.

>> the biden administration is taking a victory lap on this prisoners swap. they say this deal was only possible because biden is president. >> so i would say that if you had not had joe biden sitting in the oval office i don't think this would've happened. but as i said in my remarks there were a lot of other people who played a central role in building out the pieces of this and then executing on that. >> reporter: earlier today a colleague asked if that comment right there was meant to be sort of a shot across the ballot to vp kamala harris with the white house says met with the germans as part of this deal. >> he almost took a swipe at the vice president. is that at her inexperience or ... >> they are partners in this and you will see her tonight join the president to welcome back those americans who were unjustly imprisoned in russia. >> former president donald trump

reacted to the prisoners swap on truth social posting and part are we releasing murderers, killers or thugs? just curious because we never make good deals. at anything, but especially hostage swaps. our negotiators are always an embarrassment to us. i got back many hostages and gave the opposing country nothing. president biden responded to trump's comments during his press conference earlier today. >> he said he could've gotten the hostages out without giving anything in return. >> why didn't he do it when he was president? >> president biden apparently forgot that two of the americans released today were actually arrested in russia during his presidency. not donald trump's. send it back to you. >> we will get back to u.s. news news breaks. like spring in our panel. steve hilton, contributor and former trump foreign policy advisor...

>> trace: thank you all for coming on. if we go back very quickly to joint base andrews we are there. we saw the vice president's motorcade come up. she is there. she is waiting for the plane. they are on a private jet. we are talking about the three americans about to land, touchdown on american soil are on a private jet. the president's motorcade we are told we'll be there in about six minutes which of course will be before the plane comes in which we are not exactly sure but we expect sometime in the next ten to 12 minutes. steve to you first, the swap itself. what are your thoughts on that? >> first of all i think we have to all acknowledge what we are

about to see is an incredible moment of joy. the emotional aspect of it shouldn't forget that. but we can be analytical as well as emotional. the truth is that this is not some kind of diplomatic triumph for biden and harris. it's exactly the opposite. here's the negotiation basically be consummate up, it may have taken months but the headline is this, prudence as what he wants, biden says you can have it. and they effectively with this complex map of the countries involved were acting. joe biden and kamala harris acting as agents of putin to get him what he wanted. phoning up other governments, begging them to release dangerous prisoners, criminals on behalf of prudent. the real lesson with all of this is not actually in this situation as in so many others, it is strength that actually deters this kind of behaviour and its weakness that invites it

and this is another example of that. >> it's interesting... today john kirby was talking about the balance of releasing criminals for americans. he said the following and i will get your comments. >> yes these are all criminals on the russian side and yes, they are all innocent on the west side. and the balance i think we can all agree that it's better to have innocent people no longer rotting and russian prisons for the rest of their lives and i think on balance that's what it came down to. >> but doesn't work like that? because you still have americans were being held in russia and i'm wondering if you think the same thing that may be this increases the leverage for vladimir putin. >> i don't know if it increases as leverage. he hasn't really given up all of his hostages, so to speak. he still has about six americans, several of which are very clearly can be characterized as hostages of

putin's regime but i don't want to detract from the positive story that's hear that finally we are able to get some of our citizens back to the united states and hopefully there -- there are still other levels that this ministration has two pressure prudent to finish giving us back our citizens. >> your thoughts on what's happening here. >> a couple of things. i agree with steve hilton. we can't exactly do a victory lap about this prisoners swap. we are happy that they are home, the families have suffered. our hostages have suffered. and this is a big deal but there is a moral dilemma when you let a russian assassin out and an innocent wall street journal writer and reporter. and part of this kind of deal. i we have to keep focused on the moral dilemma that exists and also the weakness that exists in

the west to allow this to happen in the first place. on the other side, it was kind of a victory for the western alliance given that a half-dozen countries came together to make this happen. >> this is kind of in your expertise sarah, i'm wondering if you agree with that, if you disagree. we are all elated as we said that these americans are back on american soil. we are just kind of analysing the process that got them back. what are your thoughts on this? >> i got the end of the day it's a great day to be an american knowing that our country at this point in time will do everything that it can to bring you home in your time of need but i also think at the same time now that we are starting to see more and more americans coming home from captivity we need to shift our focus to deterrence and justice. i think with congress, i think with this administration we are seeing a lot of focus on deterrence and there's a lot of tools that we can start enacting

wants we've seen all of these americans come home. i would like to get the americans home then let's start enacting indictments against these criminals, freezing assets, opening up private litigation, even seeing ace -- restrict travel to some countries. many still think that they are safe going to these countries and really we need to think very seriously about taking a pause and going into places like russia, afghanistan, iran, venezuela and stop travelling to these countries right now. >> it's a tough thing because you can't adjust stop americans. you know if you go to russia and you are a journalist which is a very big concern for journalists who travel there all the time, it is one of those dangers that you face that you could be arrested at any point in time. you cannot just tell americans you can no longer travel abroad especially to these questionable countries of china, russia, north korea, afghanistan and so on.

>> i agree with steve in terms of flexing our muscle a bit. if we had that deterrence capability maybe the likes of vladimir putin would be less likely to take americans and a take innocent americans hostages and we rejoice for the release of the prisoners, they were unjustly imprisoned but what a precedent and today we are releasing hardened assassins, criminals, cyber criminals that ruined americans lives. a track record here for the biden and ministration. britney greiner a few years back released the merchant of death. he was plotting attacks against americans. taking back the -- take it back to 2016, the nuclear deal but also releasing u.s. prisoners but we delivered $400 million in cash to the iranian regime and so we keep ending up on the short end of the stick in these deals. >> we should get people up to speed. it's 11:14 in the east right now live look at joint base andrews. we've been told that the vice president has arrived, she is on

scene and we are told that the president and his entourage should arrive sometime in the next few minutes. as soon as that happens we will bring you in on that. he makes a good point, you and i have been on this show over the last nine months talking many times about the hostages but you wonder when you are exchanging them at you wonder if hostage diplomacy is rising around the world? >> two things can be true at once. we can also hear and be elated as we are pure crime so proud to be american tonight. ongoing to be celebrating tonight with the families of those coming home and with all of this country because it's a great night for all of us. we all should share in that but at the same time, we have to wonder about everything that went on for this release to happen. we have to wonder about the monsters that are being released so americans can come home. we have to wonder about what concessions were made in order to make this happen that we don't know about yet. we have to wonder about why

putin decided that was the time to do this in a way that he did. there's a lot that's going on right now. i don't want to play politics tonight. >> trace: on the left-hand side of the screen we are being told by my executive producer that there is a group of wall street journal reporters and journalists that are on scene right there. evan gershkovich is a reporter for the wall street journal it's unclear of some of those people might be working. they might be unseen because they are doing their jobs and others have gathered to welcome their colleague back home after spending 450 plus days in a russian president. he was sentenced to 16 years which kind of kick started the negotiations. we will keep you up to speed again. the vice president has arrived and the president we assume we'll be arriving in any minute. you move on to... what do you think of the release and what you think of the future

of journalists going into these areas, these questionable areas like russia and china and north korea just doing their jobs. >> i was a british journalist and it's part of our job to run a certain risks. if we didn't want to run risks we didn't have to become journalists. could i just mention because nobody has mentioned it so far that it wasn't just americans, it was also leading members of the russian opposition and of russian civil society. that in my view was the sacrifice on the part of putin and it was not insignificant. so we also managed to get these people freed. as american administrations did several times during the cold war. when we managed to extract soviet dissidents from the soviet union in return for the

release of soviet spies. >> but you would think at the same time, tell me if i'm wrong here, in exchange vladimir putin got many, the german court system called him a terrorist in germany. the assassin. he was given back because of this. is that something you think we'll make this more controversial as time goes on? >> a clearly is controversial yes. but he was -- he was not an individual terrorist, he was working on behalf of the russian state as a russian officer. they wanted him back and were prepared to do something in return. these deals are never clean by their very nature. >> i want to play the sound because it's a preview, the

former president trump is going to be on show tomorrow morning. he said this about this. watch. >> it was a win for putin or any other country that deals with us. we got somebody back so never going to be challenging that. it wouldn't have happened with us, we would've gotten it back, we wouldn't have had to pay anything, we wouldn't let some of the great killers of the world go because that's what happens. >> the president is now arriving. he has at joint base andrews right now as is the vice president. we anticipate the plane will be landing very shortly and the reunion will be underway. the president's thoughts here talking more about the process. everybody is happy with the result, it's a process that will be analysed and reanalysed. >> some people might say it's not appropriate to bring the politics into it at this moment of great joy and human emotion but let's remember who brought the politics into it today. it was joe biden.

joe biden was the one, you saw jake sullivan there, clearly making a political argument there about only joe biden could have done this. you could make the contrary argument. only joe biden would've done something as because this. so the idea that you can't actually analyse the politics of this in this moment as well as celebrating the joy i think is contradicted by how biden himself and his team have behaved. i want to echo what was said there. they are one of the permanent resident who is going to be part of the group. incredibly brave leader there of the opposition in russia. fantastic to see that he's going to be freed and he has been freed and he sacrificed a lot as has his family and it's wonderful news that he's going to be back here. >> i wonder as we talk about steve hiltons, over analysing and reanalysing, is russian --

is putin are they testing the waters at all? maybe to do something more, maybe to negotiate more with western countries. maybe a dry run this time and they release some people, is there any linkage to this and a potential and to the war in ukraine? >> that question i've been trying to dig into and looking at what's being reported back in russia. a lot of attention is being made that prudent side actually initiated this exchange. and that a phone call early in july -- june between general austin and the newest -- the current defence minister was viewed so positively that they thought now was the time to do this. in the back of my mind of course i think many people have the same question is putin still has a lot of leverage with americans healthy, he has a war that's not going well in ukraine, is there

some possible leverage or some opening that goodwill that maybe this might get the u.s. to be more on his side to come to a favourable conclusion of the war in ukraine. my assessment is it's probably, that's probably a bridge too far. it still merits some serious consideration and further analysis. >> i think the bigger issue is that we don't have a russia policy. and for those who don't want to make this political, but are leaked -- linking it to the larger election season that we are in, this really will be an issue. how do we bring credibility and deterrence to dealing with russia? this does not suggest we are even close and it is a discrete but important victory tonight but there is a larger failure and when you can't have journalist on the ground, they are our eyes and ears, the writers and thinkers about war. when they are not there either

domestically, the russian journalists themselves are under threat and those abroad. how do you make decisions about what you should be doing in a conflict like the ukraine war. i this is a bigger, sadder story about the lack of a grand strategy. >> the white house was saying that vladimir putin had no part in these negotiations and anybody who's rational things latimer putin's finger prints are all over this. nothing gets done in russia unless vladimir putin says it gets done. >> he greeted the assassin as he came off the airplane today. it's hard to believe that the dictator in moscow was not hands-on in these negotiations. again i think they make a great point, a projects weakness. you think of yesterday, he gets a plea deal. president biden said we had nothing to do with that it was the department of justice and yet you are setting the tone throughout the ministration, he

gets a plea deal. this is a consistent theme here projecting weakness and weak men create hard times and that's what we are seeing right now. >> it really is. the question here is if you are going to stop these hostage negotiations and hostage diplomacy as some are calling it, how do you impose consequences on countries like russia and like north korea and like china, what's the plan to? >> first of all i want to bring attention to the other hostages that are still being held who were hoping for this moment for themselves and their families are hoping for this moment as well. i think we need to get them home as well and make some tough decisions about what the right way to bring them home is as well. we need to bring them home regardless. then there are things that we can do.

we can turn up the heat on wrongful detention sanctioning which we know that sanctions don't work but it sends a really clear signal. we can again start really confiscating assets, making them hurt in the pocketbook. when they start seeing their finances go away, if we gave that money to the victims of hostage taking we could see a lot of progress in around feeling that pain. so how do we start turning up the pressure in these little ways and also its of ways, how do we stop people travelling to these countries? how do we stop them from coming to the un for example. we still allow around to come to the un once a year for... and we're not stopping them. we are allowing them to come so take away some of those luxuries that they are able to achieve

and then we work with our international partners to turn up the heat even further by partnering together. i we need to keep sending these messages in the future and in little ways but in a big way altogether. >> we talk about people fleeing these lands and their homelands in some scenarios to go back to elizabeth and she started this online holocaust museum called lust people forget. it's one of those things where the people don't realize just like evan gershkovich's parents who fled russia, your parents fled russia. you know the feeling, you know the politics and you have an interesting perspective when it comes to all of this. >> when he was taken in russia i remember thinking that could be me. i remember reading his story and thinking his parents, juice from the soviet union fled just like minded. it hit really close to home. i remember getting very emotional seeing that and realizing the same impression that they fled from was the same

impression that took him in and no one knew if he was going to come home. it was a very difficult year, i can only imagine force family but also for many of us quite a fight with him in that story and all of us here in the united states that stand against everything that russia represents, everything that emotions like this and situations like this represent. that the reason that we are altogether celebrating tonight because we stand against anyone that wants to take in a bargaining chip by taking a human being, a journalist over who was there for innocent reasons. it's very difficult for people like me especially who resonate with the story so much. i thought to myself over the last year that could've been me so i'm sure a lot of americans sure that because many fled like his parents and mind to be here. >> when you were working as a journalist and the soviet union i'm wondering if you felt threatened at all. you go back to evan gershkovich's trial which was not that long ago. he was charged with espionage and they didn't put up not a

single piece of evidence that had to do with espionage and yet he was convicted so clearly it's a rigged system. what are your thoughts on that? >> yes, it is a rigged system. we all know that. and yes there are risks working there and there are of course bigger risks for russians. who oppose the regime. that is a fact. but still, you want to get these people out, you have to give something in return. i have to say, there is no evidence so far at all that sanctions have had any effect in changing russian behaviour. other sanctions against the country as a whole or against individuals. >> president biden is now in the

main terminal at the entrance and as we said at the top of the show, what will happen here as soon as the plane lands and we so far don't have any indication. we know that it crossed into u.s. territory so it should be landing very shortly. we are told that the president and vice president will actually when the plane lands and it comes to a full stop with the door open, the president and vice president vice president will approach the aircraft from the nosecone of the private jet and it will go to the stairs and that's where the three americans will walk down the steps. we don't know the status on a family members and where they are, if they are being held in a certain area and when they will see their loved ones as soon as we find out we will let you know more about that. you go back to this point because general jack keane was on special report and he talked about what this means. you can see this is -- is this the president's motorcade?

he brought jake sullivan with him and five others. there's a big contingent there. the vice presidents -- her entourage was i don't think as big but we are checking to see exactly who she brought and steve i want you to listen on special report, we will get back if the president or vice president gets out of the car we will get back. here's what he said about the swap itself. >> putin, he depends on those security forces that he has around him and his links to keep him in power. they have got to be the closest to him and those that are -- that he can trust. when he's bringing home one of his operatives and some other people as well who did his business overseas, that sends a huge message. >> a huge message. >> it is so central to his grip on power this climate of fear and their cronies around him and

you saw it both in a positive sense for him and getting his people back who do his bidding but also when they go against him with the killing of the head of the wagner group earlier. it's just, this is how he operates. one thing i'm reflecting on just watching these scenes is the incredible changes we've seen in russia. back in the eighties in the soviet era i remember one of the teachers in my school was involved in a situation like this. she was a language teacher. then in 1993, we haven't talked about this, i was in russia working for president yeltsin and his campaign in the first free elections in russia. that's how the relationship between the west and russia changed and now we're back to something that is much more close to what we saw in the soviet era. these in orme's changes and it is really stunning to see and i guess the optimistic note could be let's hope it changes back.

to the more positive and open relationship but to get there we need a good policy as they were talking about earlier. >> what was the security aspect back in early 1990s? did you feel safe? did you feel going over there were totally fine? >> 100 percent. we were going around as part of their team. i saw the country, we were doing focus groups across siberia, working with the kremlin. unimaginable today. >> it really is. again you see the president's motorcade arriving. the vice president's motorcade arrived a short time ago. was told in my ear about 55 seconds ago that the ten minute warning has now been issued. the plane should be wheels down in ten minutes so approximately nine minutes a plane should be wheeled down and it will go up to that area and park and as we said that is where the president and vice president will greet the three former prisoners. they are back, americans back on american soil.

they will avoid it, we just don't know exactly the time sequence there but they will board another plane this evening and be flown down to san antonio texas. we don't know if that plane will lead -- leave immediately. we don't know if there'll be some type of small celebration. we have been told as kevin corke reporter at the top of the broadcaster there will be no remarks from anybody made. they have set up microphones in case there are remarks to be made but we have been told there will be none as far as celebrations as far as family gatherings there, we don't know. kevin what are you seeing and give us an idea of what the atmosphere is like there. >> it's interesting and i'm glad we have these pictures to share with the audience. this gives everyone at home a chance to see what we see here. a large contingent of vehicles obviously whenever you have a president make his way here, now we're talking about the

president and vice president in this particular circumstance. i can tell you that while we don't anticipate as i mentioned earlier that there will be specific remarks, you just can't say that certain because this is a massive opportunity and you know how important this is to him. is not only massively important for his legacy and for this a ministration but for the families. so we would love to see him say something but at least right now we are looking to my right and i see the motorcades but we are still awaiting the aircraft. i believe we are at the ten minute mark now. maybe a little bit beyond that. i was told a moment ago it was ten minutes but things keep getting pushed back so give or take ten minutes, as soon as we know that they are just about here i'm going to stand out of the way and let robert do his work. in the meantime back to you. >> a flag us and we will get back to you as far as our

account and maybe eight minutes, seven and a half or eight minutes. kevin says it's important for president biden and they are now reports that the final details of this swap were actually worked out in some aspect. there is the plaintiff. we've got eyes on that right now, it should be landing and we can't really tell how far out it is but it should be landing in moments. when it does, we are told because there's not a lot of traffic out there right now, this will move right up into position. that it will land and the door will open and we will have -- we will sit and watch what happens there. very quickly, how far do we think we are away from this landing? here it is. seven minutes? okay. seven minutes is what they are saying but it looks like it's in view so could be a lot sooner than that. it's important for biden because right before he resigned, he...

we are go de paz right now so our affiliates can join us. welcome back to fox news continuing coverage of three americans held prisoners in russia who are about to touch down. what you are looking at their's joint base andrews, that is alive look of the private jet that they are on board a. and they will land at sometime in the next few minutes. we believe, it's kind of hard to tell exactly how far away they are but when they land, the process will be that they will touch down and they will move toward the area where the president's motorcade and the vice president's motorcade have moved in to position there. we are also told that there are at least a dozen people whether they are working colleagues right now are people who just came to greet their colleague evan gershkovich, they will be also on hand to greet these people and then the president

and vice president will go to the stairs and watch as the three americans make their way down. the families, we are still waiting for them and waiting to hear exactly what the process will be as we go forward to. again this is historic. this is a six nation swap and we were just talking with eric about the fact that president biden reportedly made some of the final details, one of the final details right before he posted that letter on x. saying he would not run as the democratic candidate. >> i his legacy is a great thing talking about but you can look at it from two perspectives and there's the other side with joe biden leaving office, leading and gathering storm against america. russia, china, iran, north korea ,. >> the plane has touched down by

the way. we are told the wall street journal also has documentary crew on scene. it's a private jet so this is a long runway. it will be very quick and very short to the gate and will have more on this. your thoughts as we watch the plane come in to view. >> it takes me back to something that i've shared with my students. the iranian hostage crisis. and americans coming home. after 444 days. this is not like that. there were more than 50 americans held during that period. and then during the reagan presidency. americans were held hostage in lebanon. this is a feature of international politics against democratic representative governments where authoritarian leaders are able to hold us hostage, our governments, our societies and when it's over there's a sigh of relief but this keeps happening. and we've got to have a strategy

to make this knot be a part of what we spend so much of our time on. thank of the inter- agency work that into releasing these hostages. and the global diplomacy on top of its. there's so much more that we are facing the world and this is now a dominant force. >> the celebration here, the families, this is one of those things where it's history. we have seen a lot of history over the past month and this is among those moments. >> this transcends politics and transcends everything. when you said you saw the plane coming and i teared up i'm sitting here trying not to embrace myself on live tv but it's emotional, it's beautiful unsure were going to be discussing a politics associated for the next 40 days until the election. i'm sure after that this is monumental in many ways both negative and positive. tonight this is beautiful and i'm proud to be here to share with the american people. >> i wanted to very quickly get into this before they come in

because you have a very personal response to this because your dad was a hostage held for quite some time. >> he was the longest held hostage in american history. the law is named after my father. he was held by iran and we found out thanks to president trump actually in his administration in march of 2020 that he past away in captivity. as i watched this scene, this the scene that i always dreamed of watching from the tarmac for myself so when elizabeth talks about trying to hold it together, i empathize with that. it's an amazing moment for all of america and to see the amount of progress that we've made in bringing hostages home over the past 17 years is really just unbelievable.

it's not specific to any ministration. it's truly incredible. >> it is always amazing, it makes you feel very american. i remember i was working in idaho when some of the iranian hostages came home and one of them lived in boise and you think when it came home -- he came home it was like the rose parade. it was an amazing event. this is one of those things that like super bowls, everybody watches because it is such americana. it is so compelling and so powerful. when you see... when you see them come off the plane and you see the reaction of their families and the politicians and the people who got them to this position, a really is an amazing thing. >> it is and there's so much identity politics going on in the united states right now with the presidential race. this transcends race and gender and all those ways that we

identify ourselves. it's just americans coming home and we need to remember that we are one nation and we are all one people. this reminds us of that basic fact in one of the most heated political periods of a presidential race. >> your thoughts brent. >> on wanted to add to that. it's probably a good time to reflect on the fact and... that we are >> this had menstruation has not said their names frequent the enough or taken enough action to put pressure on hamas or iran to get their release. hopefully the lessons from tonight will also start to echo and we will see some more forcefulness and backbone from this administration to bring those americans home that were taken while they were in israel. >> we've talked about this a lot on the air is that there are people, there are americans that

are still being held. there are israelis and a lot of people being held as much as we celibate tonight we mourn for them because a lot of those people, we had one of the families on tonight, they still don't know if their loved ones are alive or dead. >> credits israel to not cave to strong-arming and demands by the bitingly ministration over the months to agree to a premature cease-fire. israel has stuck it out and they've stuck to finishing the job of crushing hamas because you see the biden administration is willing to do a deal at any cost no matter how hot the cost is. this goes back to when job items vice president dealing with iran then. the nuclear deal, the prisoner exchange in 2016, $400 million in cash and the dead of night going to the iranian regime. >> i want to go back live to kevin corke. when using as far as the vice president and the president, any sign of them, any sign of others

or family, you can see the media has been moving out toward the plane which is a signal that the door is about to open. what's your perspective there? >> literally we are about would say 15 yards out of -- away from the wing. this is an incredible moment just to be here to see the emotion of some of the reporters here. as you know there are many staffers from the wall street journal who have been waiting for this day since all the way back. [ simultaneous talking ] >> they are on the move. let me put on my specs as i see what's happening. there's the president and the vice president as you see right there. adding some waves from family members to some of the wall street journal team members back here to my left. i'm going to let this play out. i'm going to lay out here for just a moment trace so the folks at home can sort of absorb the moment as well.

[ cheering and applause ]

>> that appears to be paul whelan who was held for the better part of five years addressing the president and vice president. 2043 days to be exact. paul whelan who is a former marine, businessman, security firm working over in russia, also charged with espionage in his trial. not a single bit of evidence pointing toward espionage and he was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years in prison. [ applause ] [ cheering and applause ]

>> there is evan gershkovich.

[ cheering and applause ] >> as we said, alsu kurmasheva. was in a russian prison for almost one year.

[ cheering and applause ] >> her husband and two daughters greeting her. they lived in russia and moved to the united states. we haven't been told what family members if any are there for evan gershkovich but there are members of the wall street journal, at least a dozen of them. others came to greet and some working on a documentary about him. but all of them, you see they go back over to the president to say something and again, this will be brief because we are told that all three of these

americans will now board another plane and they will make their way down to san antonio texas where they will be checked out for medical reasons to see how healthy they are and to address them and then that is probably the first time that we will hear from them and that may be some time tomorrow or friday. >> it's quite something to see it isn't it. we've been talking about it for most of this hour and then you see it and it hits you doesn't it? the emotion, the incredible sense of joy. i want to say something that really applies to us here at fox. let's remember that evan and a way way is a colleague of ours. the sister company the wall street journal. and i want to attribute their incredible work to keep his name alive. we heard that phrase.

>> hold on -- hold on one second >> [ inaudible question by the media ] >> toughest call on this one for other countries as i asked them to do some things that were against their immediate self-interest and it was very difficult for them to do. particularly germany and slovenia. slovenia came in at the last minute and i tell you what, the chancellor was incredible. [ cheering and applause ] >> [ inaudible question by the

media ] >> that's been the case for all of history. my job is to make sure they don't get them and if they do we get them back. i don't buy this idea that you can let these people rot in jail we send out notifications to all these countries of what to do and what not to do and you have to pay attention. >> this is an extraordinary day and i'm very thankful for our president and what he has done over his entire career, but in particular as it relates to these families and individuals, what he has been able to do to bring the allies together on many issues but in particular this one. this is extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy and understands the strength that rests in understanding the

significance of diplomacy and strengthening alliances. it's an incredible day and... >> we have to make sure everything is in place. slovenia... i know everybody thinks i talk about... [ inaudible ] >> [ inaudible question by the

media ] >> i'm very concerned about it. i had a direct meeting with the prime minister today. very direct. we have the basis for a cease-fire, we should move on it and... >> [ inaudible question by the media ] [ inaudible ] >> trace: you have the reunion on the right-hand side of the screen of paul whelan and a evan gershkovich and alsu kurmasheva meeting with their families for the first time in a very long time. it is heartrending to see that as they get off this private plane.

they will probably get back on to go down to san antonio texas. interesting that you see, want to wait to see what they are cheering about. [ cheering ]

>> we will paws to take -- to say goodbye to our affiliates for two seconds. >> trace: welcome back to our continuing coverage. i'm trace gallagher live in los angeles. we have just seen the three former prisoners in russia, paul whelan, evan gershkovich and alsu kurmasheva get off the airplane. be greeted by the president and the vice president as well as some of their family members and what you just saw as we started this was evan gershkovich over there greeting some of his

colleagues. some of his colleagues at the wall street journal who came down en masse. there were at least a dozen of them by our count that came to welcome him back to american soil. they will all three now had to san antonio texas where they will be medically checked out. paws and listen

>> about 15 feet, 20 feet on the side of it we saw evan gershkovich drip greet them. kevin i know they are trying to get evan gershkovich to speak old on 1 second will jump and

you see the president they are walking away the vice president as well. not sure if they will address them but let's just watch for a second. >> mr president, mr president! >> mr president! thank you sir. >> how do you process at this moment getting the 3 americans off the parade -- plane? >> president joe biden: of feeling of satisfaction and relief of the famifeel so confident? our relationship with other heads of state that i had to get through. brian. tell us what you said. how did it compare? what did you say? the three americans, sir. audrey, what did you have to say to the three americans and their family members? sir welcome home. and be