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of the biggest east-west prisoner swap since the cold war. emergency crews struggled to contain wildfires burning through the western u.s. former president donald trump doubles down on the remarks he made about vice president kamala harris at a convention for black journalists. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by. >> discovers her grandmother's artistry and creates a trust to keep the craft alive. a financial advisor gets to know you, your passions on the way you enrich your community. life well planned. ♪ >> the corporation of new york. working to reduce political polarization with support.

more information online. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to the newshour. the waiting, worrying and the dreadful wondering are over tonight for three americans jailed in russia and their families. two journalists and a former u.s. marine are heading home

tonight after an extraordinary deal struck among the u.s., allies and the russian government. a fourth person, a u.s. green card holder, was also released. >> in 80 years of u.s.-russia spy swaps today was the most complex. two dozen people on one tarmac. russian dissidents, convicted russian spies and contained americans coming home spoke to their family members in the oval office on a day president biden -- pres. biden: this is incredible relief for all family members gathered here. it is relief to friends and colleagues across the country who have prayed for this day for a long time. >> among those released, a 32-year-old reporter. the first journalist since the cold war sentenced in a russian court for spying. a former american marine

detained by russia six years ago. a russian-american correspondent sentenced to 6.5 years for spreading false information. they posed for a photo with u.s. officials as they flew home. also released, an american resident. >> this personal accountability might be the only thing that would make them think twice. geoff: he is a pulitzer prize winning journalist and activist to lobby congress for the u.s.'s most well-known human rights sections. he was twice poisoned but kept returning to russia to try to create the democratic future he envisioned which he told me back in 2016. >> russia should enjoy the same human rights that the rest of russia enjoys. >> the u.s. worked with several countries.

for now, handed back to russia. most notably someone who murdered a russian dissident on a german playground. president vladimir putin lauded his work to tucker carlson. >> that person due to patriotic sentiments eliminated a bandit in the european capital. >> slovenia is releasing russian sleeper agents who posed as argentinians. the administration says they were part of today's deal and secured in a phone call between president biden and the slovenian prime minister on july 21. . just hours before president biden withdrew from the presidential race. the u.s. is releasing three russian intelligence officials each convicted by u.s. courts for cybercrimes. >> it is difficult to send back a convicted criminal to secure the release of an innocent american. and yet sometimes the choice is

between doing that and concerning that person to live out their days in prison in a hostile foreign country. >> a u.s. official tells pbs news hour the central intelligence agency try to secure earlier versions of the deal. in 2023 the slovenian sleeper agents. in march of 2023 do sleeper agents and two russian agents for two. each was rejected by russian intelligence and demanded another person. germany's willingness to send him began as an attempt to try to release alexi navalny. that deal was initially agreed upon in early february. but before alexi navalny's name could be offered to russia, he died in a russian penal colony. official said they negotiated for months including a letter from biden a germany finally agreed to release him in return

for some of alexi navalny's former alliein detention. russia is also releasing a well-known human rights defender and political prisoners. jailed for criticizing the war in ukraine. all of whom get new lives in germany. pres. biden: they stood up for democracy and human rights. the united states help secure their release as well. >> not all americans got out. army staff sergeant gordon black will remain in russian detention. as well an american teacher, convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2022. his mother met with donald trump in butler, pennsylvania the same day of his failed assassination attempt. as for those released, vladimir putin welcomed the russian spies

and their families home. the american families felt relieved and will soon see their loved ones for the first time in years. a younger daughter will celebrate her 13th birthday. pres. biden: she gets to celebrate with her mom. that is what this is all about -- families able to be together, like they should have been all along. geoff: john feiner is president biden's deputy national security advisor and i spoke to her about the prisoner swap moments ago. welcome back to the newshour. >> thank you. good to be here. geoff: this was among the most complex prisoner swap's undertaken since the cold war. the deal was in the works for the last two years as i understand it and ultimately came together in the last two weeks. what were the key inflection points? >> i think there are a few key aspects of the deal that speak to the approach that are

administration and president biden have taken to foreign policy since we got here. one is diplomacy. with the hallmark. the president mada call to a fellow head of state, the prime minister of slovenia one hour before telling the world he would no longer be running in this year's election to try to free up one more aspect of the deal that was ultimately successful. it is that kind of diplomacy at the core of our policy. second is allies and partners. the president said his worldview was predicated on rebuilding america's alliances and you saw a half-dozen allies come together with different aspects of the deal that ultimately led to getting it done. the third is execution. it was highly complex and involved a wide range of countries and complex logistics coming together on the same day and was executed without a hitch. a large number of people who would otherwise be held captive are coming home including three

americans and one legal permanent resident. >> why now? why did vladimir putin see this deal as being in his own best interest? >> i am the last person who would speak to the mindset of vladimir putin. that would be a question better placed to others. one thing you realize having worked on a number of these deals is they sort of move on their own speed. they are long, very agonizing. in which it feels like not a lot is getting done. you try to be creative and come up with new solutions. problem solved. have conversations. ultimately things can move faster than anyone anticipates and that is what happened here. ultimately we got it done we believe in a timely fashion that has led people to be home with their families before too much longer and we are quite happy about that. geoff: to what degree does a signal any breakthrough of tensions between the u.s. and russia?

might any of this successful diplomacy be put to use in helping bring an end to russia's war in ukraine? >> i would caution anyone to drawing too many broader conclusions about the u.s.-russia relationship with this deal. we are on a difficult place, opposite sides of the conflict in ukraine and i do not see that changing anytime soon unless russia makes significant changes to its approach and worldview and we do not anticipate that. we had a target of opportunity to get some people home who otherwise would continue to be held in an unconscionable situation. we took that opportunity. we are continuing with our approach with the ukraine war into our broader approach to the world. geoff: this nightmare is certainly over for those released, there were other americans who were left out of this exchange, namely mark vogel, an american sentenced to

14 years of hard labor and a u.s. russian citizen facing charges of treason for allegedly donating $51 to a ukrainian charity in the u.s. what is the administration doing to secure their release at this point? >> there continue to be a number of americans held under difficult circumstances including the two americans you mentioned in russia and americans in syria and afghanistan and other places around the world. this administration has made an enormous commitment from before the time we came into this office to do what we could to get these people home. the president has an extraordinary track record of doing just that and we will continue to work on those cases and all cases of americans held who should not be until the end of this administration. geoff: john feiner. thank you for joining us this evening. >> thanks again. geoff: let's get some additional perspective on the prisoner swap. nick has that.

nick: to discuss the larger implications we turn to andrew weiss, a former state department official who served under bush and clinton and is the vice president of studies. thank you. welcome back. >> we showed a few minutes ago russian president vladimir putin welcomed home all of these russian spies and their families. a big red carpet. what message is he sending? >> vladimir putin goes to great lengths to wrap himself in the valor of the russian security establishment. all of that covers up an embarrassing fact which is russian spies have been arrested all over the world, or caught red-handed doing bad stuff including the hitman in the berlin case. what vladimir putin is doing by putting on the big show is covering up for the continued underperformance of his security establishment and acting like they are big heroes. they are screwups.

they are not heroes. >> the u.s. offered two different trades before today for a person by himself and others including russian sleeper agents. both were rejected. the message that the u.s. got was "call us back when we have the main person." why is he so important to put. >> there are indications they know each other personally. it says they potentially worked together when putin was in st. petersburg in the 1990's. this is a career russian intelligence operative who has presumably conducted a variety of assassinations in various parts of the world including moscow. and who claims to have gone to shooting ranges and other things with vladimir putin personally. there seems to be a connection between the two men and you

sobbing he came down the jetway today at the airport in moscow, vladimir putin hugged him. >> we have talked about the different parts of the national security apparatus. could there be a dispute inside of russia over who to release and what the fsb putin, being a former kgb colonel -- >> a sprawling apparatus which is big by design. vladimir putin. what we have seen rather than the russian security establishment backing away from confrontation with the west is reports of the russian intelligence services trying to assassinate the ceo of a senior german defense manufacturer. we have seen them conduct sabotage operations. when vladimir putin says he is at war with the west we should

take him on his word. >> why would he agree to this three months before the u.s. election? >> vladimir putin is a cold-blooded operator who is tactical and who believes in being transactional. for him to get what he thinks is a pretty good deal. they have been pushing to get the hitman in the one case released. a person serving a life sentence for conducting a targeted killing in broad daylight. for them this is a good deal. when you look at the other russians coming up the tension, these are people the russians wanted back. operatives that have been rolled up in poland, norway pennsylvania -- norway and slovenia. this comes down to the numbers. u.s. officials today are saying we are getting 16 people out and the russians are getting eight back. it is not an apples to apples comparison. >> putin did not release other americans.

mark vogel included. why might he withhold some of them? >> they are bargaining chips. there are other russians they want back. there are people the russians will continue to take in detention. any american foolish enough to visit russia even for family reasons is at risk. president biden made a point of that, seeing the underlying message is people need to steer clear of travel to dangerous destinations like russia. >> you have had an extensive career in government. how complicated would it have been to coordinate all the european countries and u.s. allies in russian intelligence to get that done? >> that is what is truly unprecedented. it was a multidimensional problem. it was not just negotiated between the u.s. and russia. the german role was critical. that was the key demand from the russian side. without the german support this deal would not have come together.

>> andrew, thank you very much. geoff: thank you both. nick, as you mentioned one american not released today is teacher mark vogel, sentenced to 14 years in a russian penal colony and 2022. he was arrested in 2021 at an airport for carrying medically prescribed marijuana. mark vogel's sister joined us from her home. thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me. it is really important i tell mark's story. geoff: some families are rejoicing today as they reunited with their loved ones but your family still has to wait. how are you holding up? >> it has been a heart-wrenching 36 hours. i spoke with mark yesterday morning on the phone. when i realized he was still there, everyone else had been

pulled out of the penal colonies, my heart really sank. it is hard to give up hope. for the entire day, i roller coastered around sinking it is about 4.5 hours from moscow and maybe they would be driving him down. it was really hard to let it go. geoff: when you spoke with him, what did he tell you? how is he doing? >> he was kind of in the dark. he knew something was going on and he saw a little bit of news about paul. constantly looking at the television and new stations in the penal colony he is in. he knew something was going on but he does not speak russian so he was not exactly sure. he called. i did not want to -- i know this is crushing him so i did not

want to tell him what i knew. at that point in time, we were calling our senators and the ambassadors we have been in touch with and were trying to get something activated for him. it was a crazy day of phones and messaging and emailing and it is all for not. geoff: the national security advisor jake sullivan said today the administration is working toward your brother's release and russia. have you heard anything from the administration? >> no. we have never heard from the administration. i spoke to my sister-in-law and i spoke to jake sullivan two years ago but mark has never been prioritized. he was convicted under the same code as brittney griner but he

was never designated as wrongfully detained. we do not have the nba behind us or the wall street journal behind us so it has been difficult for us. >> your 95-year-old mother filed a lawsuit in june against the u.s. state department over its failure to declare him as wrongfully detained. why do you think he has not received that designation and how has the complicated efforts in your view to secure his release? >> i do not think he has been designated because he is not important enough. like i said, we do not have the notoriety, the celebrity status. believe me, the worst part of this process is being pitted against other americans. i don't want that -- no one wants that. mark does not want that. geoff: when we started our conversation you said you wanted to get your brother's story out. what do you want folks to know about your brother? >> mark has had an outsized

impact on the world because he has taught internationally for so many years. he has thousands of students he has taught and there is not a hall of fame for teaching but he is the best of the best. you have one of his students in your newsroom as we speak. he has students all over the world, writing to him, praying for him, making movies about. we need justice. he needs to be with his family. his wife and sons need him and this is absolutely unfair that they could not bring him home with the greatest historic prisoner swap since the world war. i wish i could be more steady,

perhaps, in saying these things, but i feel very wrong for mark. he needs to come home and the biden administration has nothing to lose. they should have brought him home. geoff: our thoughts are with you, your family and your brother. thanks again for your time this evening. >> thank you. ♪ >> here are the latest headlines. there are concerns of growing conflict in the middle east. that is after israel's military confirmed an airstrike last month had killed the leader of hamas's military wing. also today, irna's supreme leader -- iran's supreme leader attended the funeral for a leader killed this week.

. israel has not claimed responsibility for that. in lebanon, mourners paid their respect for a hezbollah commander killed in an israeli strike. addressing the crowd, hezbollah's leader threatened retaliation saying the conflict had entered a new phase. the israeli prime minister said his country is ready for any response. >> israel is highly prepared for any scenario both defensively and offensively. we will exact a very heavy price for any act of aggression against us from any arena. >> in tel aviv israelis took to the street to mark 300 days since the october 7 attack and called for an a get release of hostages still being held in gaza. the air force concluded a deadly osprey crash off the coast of japan was caused by a catastrophic failure in a gearbox.

the investigation also found the pilot ignored warnings to land the aircraft. the crash killed eight service members and lead to a month-long grounding of all military ospreys. it was one of several osprey crashes that killed 20 service members. and new york appeals court rejected donald trump's appeal to have the gag order in his hush money case lifted. a panel found the judge in the case was right to extend parts of the order until trump is sentenced in september. the former president's defense team has asked for the third time that the judge be recused from the case. in a court filing day cited and alleged conflict with the judge's daughter and her ties to vice president kamala harris who is likely to be trump's opponent in the november election. a chipmaker announced it is cutting its workforce by 15%, citing a lack of revenue as the chip market pivots to ai.

the layoffs are expected to save the company $10 billion in 2025. intel is a major beneficiary of the chips and science act with the biden administration awarding $8.5 billion this year to build ship plants. texas has continually violated the civil rights of juveniles at the tension facilities according to the u.s. justice department. . a doj report details sexual abuse, excessive pepper spray and prolonged isolation of youth detainees. one official called this a racial justice issue. 80% of people -- switching gears. we have more results from the paris olympics. the all-around final for women's gymnastics was packed with stellar performances but in the end gold went the greatest of all time. simone biles can add a record sixth olympic gold to her resume.

another american, suni lee, got the bronze. katie ledecky made history by capturing silver in the 4x200 relay. it is her 13th olympic medal. looking at the overall team medal count usa has solidified its lead with 37 metals including gold medals today in swimming, rubbing and fencing events. we will speak with voters about hw the shakeups in the presidential race have shifted their views. key conspirators of the 9/11 attacks held in guantanamo are set to plead guilty. what is in the deal. a new book on the international strongmen who work together -- ♪ >> this is the pbs news hour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter

cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >> and especially active fire season is exacting a huge toll across several western states. a series of fires have turned deadly in colorado were at least one person was found dead. in california more than 5800 personnel, 500 fire trucks and 40 helicopters are badly a fire larger than all of los angeles. the largest fire in the country has ballooned to historic proportions in just over a week. >> this is the view for firefighters on the front lines of california's park fire. the blaze believed to be started by a local man's burning car is now the fifth largest in state history. >> i have not personally seen a fire grow so fast. >> in just a week nearly 400,000 acres burned across four counties, forcing thousands of

evacuations and destroying hundreds of structures. in rural area, dave and his son jonathan are both members of the county fire department. while they battle to protect their town their own homes were lost to the flames. >> i feel luckier than some of the people here because we do have a few things -- not very much but a few things to hold in our hands that survived. the friends from -- that i have known for so many years have just stepped up and shown so much support. you know, i feel rich in that. >> they also live in the area. they left their house to another fast-moving fire six years ago in paradise, california. now, this is all that remains of the home where they rebuild their lives. they had no fire insurance. >> one of the most important

things like rad, me and my brother and sister have our mom's ashes, along with our dad. i was able to grab some pictures and her ashes. >> the explosive expansion is nearly unprecedented says a ucla climate scientist. >> this is a top-tier event in terms of how quickly it moved across the landscape in the initial days. some of the fastest rates of spread over the initial 24-48-hour period. >> nearly 100 fires are currently burning across the west nearly 100 fires are currently burning across the west and 4.5 million acres have already burned this year, about one million above average. this week, multiple blazes broke out across colorado's front range, killing at least one person and forcing residents to flee their homes near denver. governor jared polis has now activated the national guard to assist with logistics. meanwhile, in oregon, crews are stretched thin, battling more

than 30 separate fires. >> i've lived here all my life and never seen it this way to way. stephanie: to make matters worse, another brutal heatwave is forecast to turn up the temperature this weekend, a dynamic that swain says continues to drive the intensity of this year's fire season. >> it has become a very active season. and a big part of the reason for this is that nearly the entire western half of the country, as well as the western half of canada, have experienced, much like california has, record-breaking heat in recent weeks over a very long and sustained period. so all of that extra heat, even following what was a relatively wet winter in some places, has really dried out the vegetation, in some cases to near record dry levels, and that is really setting the stage. stephanie: that means there's plenty of fuel for the fires, yet to burn.

geoff: former president donald trump is facing backlash for calling vice president kamala harris' racial identity into question when he addressed a black journalists convention yesterday. that's as the vice president herself wrapped up a series of events aimed at speaking directly to black voters. our laura barron lopez has more. laura: delivering the eulogy before hundreds of mourners at fallbrook church in north houston today, vice president kamala harris bid farewell to a friend, the late texas representative sheila jackson lee, who served in congress for nearly three decades, and became one of its most influential black members. >> to honor her memory, let us us continue to fight, to realize the promise of america. a promise of freedom, opportunity, and justice. not just for some, but for all. laura: harris -- remembering a fellow black woman trailblazer -- as her own racial identity is

being attacked by her rival, donald trump. speaking to a historically black sorority yesterday, harris slammed her opponent hours after the republican nominee questioned her racial identity. >> donald trump spoke at the annual meeting of the national association of black journalists. and it was the same old show, the divisiveness and the disrespect. and let me just say, the american people deserve better. laura: trump was asked if harris , who is poised to be the first black and south asian woman to become a presidential nominee , was a dei, or diversity higher, as some of his republican allies have said. >> she was always of indian heritage, and she was only promoting indian heritage. i didn't know she was black. until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black and now she wants to be known as black. so i don't know, is she indian or is she black? laura: in spite of the backlash,

trump is digging in, posting this to his social media platform, thanking harris for the "nice picture" that showed the "love of your indian heritage." and, at a rally in pennsylvania last night, the trump campaign displayed news headlines that referred to her as an indian-american senator. the former president accused harris of faking her identity. >> in her speech in atlanta last night, kamala harris even tried to outbrand a new southern accent. did you hear her new accent? laura: harris is biracial the , daughter of an indian mother and jamaican father. and her black identity -- a key part of her history as the member of a historically black sorority, while a student at a historically black college. today at the u.s. southern border, trump's running mate tried to put the spotlight back on policy, namely, immigration. vice presidential nominee, jd vance toured an unfinished section of border fence in arizona, and blamed harris for the biden administration's

border policies. >> has kamala harris done anything you've asked her to do, she is the border czar -- has your border czar done anything you've asked her to do? and the answer is no. laura: harris, however, was never charged with overseeing border security. instead, she was tasked with addressing root causes of migration and why people flee their countries of origin. with 96 days until election day, the breakneck piece of campaigning for harris and trump is just beginning. the trump campaign says it raised nearly $140 million last month, trailing the $200 million harris raised in the first week of her campaign. harris could be the official democratic nominee by monday and will hold her first rally with her yet-to-be-named running mate next tuesday in philadelphia. for the pbs news i'm laura hour, barron-lopez. geoff: for voters who have *not firmly decided which presidential candidate to support, the events of the last month including an assassination attempt and a new democratic

candidate have dramatically reshaped the ration. -- the race. lisa desjardins connected with the type of voters likely to decide the election before and after these shakeups. lisa: we heard from thousands of voters across the country, different ages, politics, and walks of life, all dreading this election. >> i'm wishing for something more normal. >> i'm despondent. i feel there is no good choice. >> i just feel overall really disappointed and really hopeless. lisa: we will highlight a few now. in june, they were unhappy. >> frustrated. disappointed. let down. >> a little dejected. lisa: but just weeks later, extraordinary events changed the race. . and assassination attempt raised a new image of trump followed shortly by a new partner in the

race, with trump choosing ohio senator j.d. vance as his running mate. just days later -- >> decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. lisa: biden was out of the race and vice president kamala harris was in. but what did this mean for voters? from our deciders, we have a snapshot of the change. it was large for anna fernandez, it 22-year-old in miami about to go to law school. . here's how she felt over a month ago. >> i have not a lot of confidence things are going the way they should in this country. lisa: but her feelings now? >> i feel joyful, excited and hopeful. lisa: anna, finishing a gap year, is herself an immigrant from cuba. she crossed the border is a four-year-old and sees her family as part of the american dream. but she also sees immigration policy that is failing both migrants and the border itself. a democrat, she trusts harris more than trump to improve things. she has questions about harris

but is ready for a new generation and all the memes harris has sparked. >> she is definitely energizing me. while i love to think i'm a serious consumer of news, i also loved when charli xcx tweeted that kamala was a brat. lisa: there's also hope here. but it may not help harris. she has a full life, trivia night, getting outdoors, but rent is high and she barely gets by. she believes both parties are failing people like her. she wants to vote third party, but in june was worried about that helping trump. this was her than. >> we have these two candidates that don't care about people in my situation. and steadily year after year, watching things for me, my friends and people in my community get worse. lisa: and now? >> i feel a lot better voting

third party now that i know that the democrats are putting a candidate that has a good chance. lisa: what about a group trump especially needs? unhappy and critical republicans. >> so a few things have happened since we last talked. >> they have. it has been quite an experience so far. i told you i was not too excited for this election cycle. and i guess this has been the most exciting we've had in a while. lisa: exact horn is a teacher in western pennsylvania, a family man and sports fan with two kids, he's highly tuned into the election. in june, he was undecided. >> this is the first year i was not as excited as i would have been in the past. lisa:lisa: what three weeks later, the assassination attempt just an hour from his home, put trump in a more human light for him. >> it helped to make him more personable i guess is what you would say. in a way in terms of the vote and things like that, it moved

me closer to a trump vote. lisa: he washed the republican convention thinking perhaps trump would be a unifier. and for 25 minutes, he heard a candidate he could support, but then the speech and zack's thoughts changed again. >> it became a stump speech. a lengthy stump speech at that. that last me -- that lost me, to be honest. i was hoping for a call to unity and it did not happen the way i expected it to. that initial move closer kind of got washed with those things later. lisa: now he's looking at harris, considering her seriously, and saying her vp decision could make the difference. zack's experience with pennsylvania governor josh shapiro has been good. >> if josh shapiro gets selected as vp, i would go in trump to lean harris. lisa: another unsure republican. >> if it was tomorrow, i would

have a lot of prayer. lisa: steve beck runs his own travel agency in alabama. in june -- >> on one him i'm discouraged, but on the other hand we have a process that has been around a while. lisa: he remains disappointed, but he's trying to move past it, even as he still doesn't love the candidates or how they got here. >> i wish kamala harris had gone through a process. i wish there was someone other than trump. but this is where we are at and it's up to me as a voter to continue. lisa: one more decider in a swing state. this was. a georgia voter in june. she felt neither trump nor biden listens to voters. now with harris as a candidate? >> i feel differently. i feel more positive. i feel like maybe she is more in touch than he is. of course, she's younger and

she's female. lisa: she works for the social security administration and finds joy and travel. while she had been more anti-trump before, she now sees reasons to like harris. >> something feels different. i don't know what that is. but i'm a little more hopeful. lisa: like something feels different. for voters, the deciders especially, the race is not over, it is restarting. for the pbs news hour, i am lisa desjardins. geoff: the man accused as the mastermind behind the september 11 terrorist attacks and his accomplices have agreed to a plea deal in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. the development comes 16 years after their prosecutions started. ali rogin has the latest the . reporter: the three men khalid , sheikh mohammed, the alleged leader behind the attacks, and

and walid muhammad salih mubarak bin 'attash and mustafa ahmed al hawsawi all agreed to plead guilty in exchange for life sentences. the men have been in custody since 2003 and initially charged in 2008. but there have been years of legal delays, due in part to the brutal torture the men were subjected to while in detention. in a letter, government prosecutors said they recognized the deal would be met with mixed reactions among thousands of family members who lost loved ones, but they called it the best path to finality and justice in this case. for a closer look, i'm joined by wall street journal reporter jess bravin, he is author of the terror courts -- an account of military trials at guantanamo bay. thank you for joining us. how did this deal come to be and how is it happening now? >> this deal was under negotiation since 2022 and not the first time a deal like this was considered. for years, prosecutors and officials in the military apparatus thought that a deal

for life sentences in exchange for guilty pleas would be the only way out. so an earlier effort was quashed by higher ups in the pentagon. this one began in 2022 and has continued as some of the detainees, some of the defendants, ks m and the other two decided they wanted finality for their own fate and move forward. it accelerated in the last two weeks. there was a court session at guantanamo bay. prosecutors and the defense attorneys said they were ready to wrap it up and try to get the case closed. reporter: prosecutors had sought the death penalty but the alleged torture the defendants underwent four years complicated those proceedings. how did that factor into the decision? >> it was really essential. right after 9/11 when reports began emerging about brutal treatment of enemy prisoners, torture, as in fact president

obama called it i one point, and there were questions about how this could affect any future trials. there were legal experts that warned it could make it difficult, if not impossible, to prosecute people if they were severely mistreated by the government if in custody, and that's what happened. these detainees wanted to bring in evidence of how they were treated by the cia. they had been waterboarded, beaten, all because of things done to them that the u.s. would not tolerate for its own citizens. they wanted to bring in evidence saying any statement they made were infected i torture. so a lot of the pretrial wrangling over the decade has been, what can the defendant introduce about their treatment? there was a second factor under a doctrine sometimes called unclean hands. the government is punished by courts when it commits misconduct in a trial. abusing defendants in custody is misconduct. so it's possible even if they

were convicted and sentenced to death on appeal, a higher court might sanction the government by taking the death penalty off the table. the death penalty seemed to be a bridge too far given the mistreatment of the prisoners after being captured by the u.s. reporter: what do we know about how the families of 9/11 victims are responding? >> it is a mixed bag. there are thousands of families and victims and opinions across the gamut. there are some who feel nothing short of death is appropriate for these defendants and based on their actions, it would be hard to say if the death penalty is appropriate for anyone. others simply oppose the death penalty. many americans and people around the world are philosophically and morally opposed to the death penalty, period, and some are among victims families. and those -- there are those who say ideally they would pursue capital punishment, but it is just time for closure in time to

finish the proceeding and move forward. one of the features of the deal is that it would be a sentencing hearing where defendants can testify but they have to answer questions from the victims families. many of those families are looking for answers and some sense of the accused perpetrators, that hearing will be the substitution for a full trial about what happened in the lead up to 9/11. reporter: what happens next and where do these defendants spend their life sentences? >> it has not fully been approved by all the proceedings, but the plan is they will next enter a plea probably within a week or month of now, next year will be a sentencing hearing in the sentences confirmed, they likely will spend it where they are now at guantanamo bay. the technical status of their detention will change, they will be sentenced prisoners, but in terms of their day to day lives, probably not much will change.

the same four walls they are looking at right now. reporter: just brave and covering this every step of the way, thank you. -- jess bravin covering this every step of the way, thank you. geoff: today's historic prisoner release from russia was thanks to a group of democracies. but as william brangham reports, a new book examines how autocracies are gaining power, and what they're doing with that power. william: in her new book, pulitzer prize winner anne applebaum punctures the commonly held image of an isolated autocrat. instead, she documents the often interconnected ways these strongmen rise to power, how they bolster each other, and then work in tandem to undermine democracy.

the book is called "autocracy, inc., the dictators who want to run the world." anne applebaum joins us now. welcome back to the newshour. can we start with a definition? because people throw out socialist, fascist, communist, often without knowing what those terms really mean. what is an autocrat? and who are the autocrats out there that we would know? >> an autocrat is someone who seeks to rule with no checks and balances, with no checks on his authority, with no with no judges, no media, o intermediary figures or institutions, who wants to control everything that happens in the state and to make all decisions. the autocrats who i am most interested in are the ones who not only want to have that system at home, but who are interested in protecting people who want to create those systems abroad so the brook -- book is mostly about russia, china, iran, north korea, venezuela and a host of others, zimbabwe azerbaijan. , there's a there's a list of them. increasingly, they operate as a

network. they seek to protect each other and also to disrupt the democratic world. and that's because the language of the democratic world, meaning rights laws, rule of law, justice -- william: accountability. anne: accountability, transparency. those things are harmful to them and of course, that is the language of their own internal oppositions, so they need to undermine the people who use it, and if they can, discredit it. and that's that's part of what we're seeing happen now around the world. william: one of the stereotypes you try to puncture here is this idea that they really don't have shared interests, they work individually to oppress and terrorize their own citizens but don't care about what happens elsewhere. what is it that they do see as the value in helping -- what does xi see in helping putin or putin in north korea, for instance? anne: some of it is pragmatic.

putin gets ammunition from north korea and he gets drones from iran, and he gets components for his defense industry from xi. and some of it is is a little bit more than that. so xi may have an interest in not seeing putin fail because if putin fails, that speaks badly of autocratic systems and the kinds of leaders who rule with absolute power and might have a negative impact on him. they worry a great deal about the autocratic club and the fate of its members. william: your book is dedicated to the optimists out there, and i wonder when you look at how the west and nato stood up to putin's aggression in ukraine, does that give you a sense of optimism? that the forces of democracy can be marshaled against autocracy? anne: it really did. it was a moment nobody was really sure what would happen when when russia invaded ukraine in a full scale invasion in 2022, and the degree to which not just the old west, you know,

europe and america, and not just nato, but the entire democratic world rallied. there's something like 50 countries who participated in the defense of ukraine or the aid of ukraine. the flipside is that i don't think we fully understood at the beginning of the war the degree to which there was going to be an autocratic network that we've -- was going to support. william: supporting him with arms and money. anne: arms and money and support of other kinds. and we need to now begin thinking about how to counter that. and people are beginning to think about it. but a little late. william: this is not a book about donald trump. i mean, he gets a few passing mentions and a good chunk of the last page of your book. but you do write that if he were reelected and uses the tools of executive power against his perceived enemies that it would "would be the blending of the autocratic and democratic world would be complete." do you think donald trump wants to be an autocrat? anne:anne: he certainly says so.

sometimes he says so in a kind of jokey way. i'll be dictator for one day. sometimes, he says so in the language he uses about whether it's about president xi, who he admires, or president putin, who he admires, or even the dictator of north korea, who's, you know, driven his country into poverty and isolation, who he also admires. so he's he's telling us what what kinds of people run. and he and he rarely he has very few kind words for american allies or for fellow democracies. it's really the absolute people with absolute power that he wants to be like. you can also hear in the language he uses, whether it's about judges or whether it's about the media or whether it's about american institutions of other kinds, about the electoral system, that he has great disdain for the institutions of democracy and the the rules that were set up to make sure that power is checked in our country, and that the executive isn't a king. and those are disturbing traits. and they would be, you know, they would be disturbing at any time in history, but they're particularly disturbing now when we have the rise of so many

leaders with absolute power around the world who would love to have a transactional american president to do deals with. william: people who live in democracies love to think that, when pressed, that the system will be robust and stand up to this. i mean, that was what many people thought happened during the first trump administration, that the system held. you think that that's naive? anne: it can be naive. i mean, there is a pattern. you can see it with viktor orban, for example, of people who lose elections, people like donald trump, who believe they are owed power or they deserve power, who lose elections and who come back in a second term and say, right, this time i'm not going to make that mistake again and who then change their electoral systems. in orban's case, change the constitution, change the judicial system, in order to make sure that they never lose. the attention that's paid, for example, to project 2025, which is a project of the heritage foundation, which describes

exactly how you would do that, and which sounds remarkably like what's happened in other countries, including, by the way, in venezuela. that was how that was how hugo chavez took over. this isn't necessarily a right wing or a left wing project. it's just an anti democratic project. and the fact, the fact that he will be surrounded by people like that is disturbing. william: the book is called "autocracy, inc: the dictators who want to run the world." anne applebaum, great to see you. anne: thank you. geoff: and that is the news hour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thanks for joining us. announcer: major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- the ongoing support of these

individuals and institutions, and friends of the news hour including the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social chains worldwide -- change worldwide and with the ongoing support of these institutions. and friends of the news hour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ announcer: this is "pbs newshour" west, from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪

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