it's good to be with you, i'm ana cabrera, in for katy tur today. some of the highest profile

americans being detain instead russia are now in u.s. custody, following the biggest prisoner exchange since the cold war. among them, evan gershkovich arrested in march of 2023 and just sentenced last month to 16 years in a penal colony on espionage charges. also freed former marine, paul whelan he's been jailed since 2018 on what the u.s. says is baseless charges. and alsu kurmasheva, accused of spreading false information about the russian army, and russian activist, vladimir kara-murza. and we got this video from russian state media, claim to go show the freed prisoners in transit right now, and this photo from the white house of them on the plane showing the sheer relief just painted on their faces there. what happens next? we have the latest on where all four are right now in their journey home.

plus we have reporting on the effort it took from several nations to get this deal off the ground, and what vladimir putin just got in return. let's get started. joining us now, nbc news international correspondent josh lederman, nbc news national security correspondent, courtney kube, and nbc news white house correspondent monica alba. bring us up to speed, what are we learning this hour? >> at this hour, ana, evan gershkovich, paul whelan, and alsu kurmasheva are on their way to the united states. president biden tweeting that photograph of them smiling on the way back to the u.s. they will be landing later in the day at andrews air force base where vice president kamala harris and president biden will be on hand to receive them. they'll have a chance to be reunited with their families. obviously we saw some of those relatives at the white house as president biden was speaking later, and vladimir kara-murza, the u.s. national is going to be

heading instead to germ nil. they expect at some point he will then be able to come to the u.s. to meet with president biden and others involved in his release. we heard from secretary blinken earlier saying he had spoken to these released americans by phone, that they sounded strong. they sounded like they were in good spirits. and if history is any guide, we expect that after they spend some time in washington, they will likely head to san antonio, where the u.s. military maintains a program known as post isolation support activities. this is a specialized program to really provide care for people who have been held hostage or detained like this to make sure they deal with any trauma, potentially ptsd, make sure they get a really solid medical workup, and really help them acclimate back into being in the u.s., and being free men and women. clearly this is going to be a long journey ahead, back to normalcy, especially for someone

like paul whelan who has been detained in russian custody now since 2018, ana. >> monica, what have we heard from the white house, how long has this been in the works? >> almost two years, ana, this is really something that did require an intense diplomatic effort behind the scenes, and this is an administration that often when asked about the status of a potential prisoner exchange, for good reason, as we saw today, they didn't want to divulge too many details because now we know that there were these conversations that were going on, mostly through intelligence canals, led by the cia, and there really were these many many mounting questions after brittney griner was released, but when paul whelan was behind, and what happened next, and of course, evan gershkovich was detained and this became a layer to the complex puzzle. we know there was a major breakthrough earlier this year when it did seem like germany was going to be more on board

with that potential swap because they would have to be that critical player to see if this could get done, so president biden continued to work that with the chancellor there. in addition we are learning that vice president harris also had some key meetings with chancellor scholz while she was at the munich security conference, for instance, and that both of them were having these ongoing communications, but it was president biden's years, decades with some of these leaders and in terms of the diplomatic, real effort that went into this that the white house is crediting for the success of what we are seeing today, and here's a little bit more from president biden himself explaining the really delicate dance that did take place with some of these countries. >> i particularly owe a great sense of gratitude to the chancellor. the demands they were making to me required me to get some significant concessions from

germany, which they originally concluded they could not do because of the person in question. but everyone stemmed up. poland stepped up, slovenia stepped up. it matters to have relationships. it really does. >> reporter: and somewhat remarkably, we're learning in terms of the time line that this current deal was presented to the russians around the end of june, and it wasn't until about two weeks ago that it seemed like it was going to be able to coalesce. and we also now are learning a little bit more about this detail, which is notable that president biden on the day that he dropped out of the 2024 race, about an hour before he made that public, we understand that he was on the phone with the slovenia prime minister, trying to nail down some of these final key details to try to see if this could get over the finish line. that really tells you about just the pace of these negotiations, how the president was essentially, according to the white house, working the phone at all hours at all times, and

again, much of this work is not seen so that the pictures and the images that you were just showing can now be seen around the world today. >> thank you for pulling back that curtain with your reporting. courtney, tell us more about what or who russia gets out of this deal? >> well, they're getting back eight individuals. three are coming from here in the united states. two were convicted on various crimes involving cyber, espionage or in most cases, financial crimes. there is one individual who the u.s. is sending back who had not yet been convicted, was suspected of being part of the ssb, all three coming from the united states, but the one that's macking the most headlines is vadim krasikov. now he has been held in a german prison for a number of years now. he is the one who vladimir putin has made it clear he wanted back. he is the one prisoner who putin has continued to put up in these negotiations, including going

back to when brittney griner was released a year or so ago. the reason they believe vladimir putin wanted him back is he's a colonel in the fsb. he's an assassin. he is a very well known criminal, and he's someone who the german chancellor, olaf scholz, has really declined to release over time. but among the details that we just heard from monica alba about how this has been delicately negotiated over years now, we did learn as well that there was a direct communication between president biden, german chancellor olaf scholz said i will do this for you president biden, and that is what set off this enormous prisoner swap. it was that one person, vadim krasikov, that was able to open the door for the rest of the prisoners to be exchanged in both directions. he's really the one who's made the difference here, ana, and i will say of all of the other prisoners that we have been able to look into their backgrounds who have come from various places, he's the one who has the

potential to be the most controversial. >> josh lederman, courtney kube, monica alba, thank you. joining us now, michael mcfaul and puck founding partner and washington correspondent, julia. you know several of the prisoners exchanged today personally, including vladimir , he was on msnbc one day before his arrest. and here's what he told my colleague ali velshi then. >> there are many people in russia who want our country to be a normal, modern democratic european state. i think it would be very demoralizing, those of us who are the public faces o. opposition movement would all just leave the country. i do not condemn anybody. it's everybody's personal decision, if you're asking about me, i'm a russian politician, russia is my country, russia is my home, and this is where i have to be.

>> i'm worried for you, my friend. you have been a source of my information for many many years, so i'll worry on your behalf. >> so there he is. and that was before his imprisonment. we've seen some videos of him from russian state media that purports to be these prisoners moving after this exchange. he doesn't look the same, and there's some reporting about him being in ill health. what do viewers need to know about him and others? >> well, vladimir, i've known him for a couple of decades. he's one of the most courageous political leaders inside russia when he was there. he has used, you just heard, he speaks english with a british accent, more fluently than i do, and so when he performs, including several times here at stanford where i teach, he is a fantastic communicator, talking about big abstract things like democracy, human rights, et

cetera. so i think it was a horrible tragedy to anybody who believes in these things that he was arrested and it is a fantastic moment for the russian opposition, anybody who believes in freedom in russia that he is now released. in addition to several others, we can talk about others, but on the russians, and thank you for focusing on them as well, this is a great day. for my friends, for his former lawyers, for those that are welcoming them, this is a great day. for him, ola garlof, colleagues of alexei navalny, it was a fantastic day for them. >> this was a multi-country effort. walk us there your reporting on what it took for us to get to this point. >> before i do that, i just want to add to the ambassador's excellent point, as you also have a young artist who was released who's 33 years old, she was caught and jailed when russia launched its full scale invasion of ukraine in february

of 2022, putting anti-war slogans in place of price tags in a st. petersburg superstock market. a quote unquote crime for which she was sentenced to seven years. she was also released today, which is tremendous. in terms of this being a seven-country effort, i think this just illustrates how important alliances are, and that if you treat them as such, as important investments that aren't a kind of what have you done for me lately kind of thing, then they can pay off handsomely in the future. the white house highlighting this, highlighting the importance of alliances, the fact that german chancellor olaf scholz said i will do this for you, joe biden, is kind of a reprimand to donald trump, a point of contrast to donald trump, that, you know, if you

act like a lone shark with your allies, you're not going to get this kind of deal. if you go at it alone, you will be alone. if you invest in your alliances, you can pull off something that is this complicated that involves over two dozen people being swapped, and seven countries, many of whom had to release some really hardened criminals. >> it was a very complex deal obviously involving these countries, lots of diplomacy happening behind the scenes and negotiations, it was complicated, and yet, the president was asked about how he handled this exchange. compared to how donald trump says he would handle it. i want to play that moment. >> president trump has said repeatedly he could have gotten the hostages out without giving anything in exchange. what do you say to that? >> why didn't he do it when he was president? >> ambassador, i just wonder is there any way to get hostages

out without doing an exchange? you have been involved in some of the movements that happened behind the scenes? >> it very rarely happens. it sometimes happens. for instance, the negotiations between his release was not about a swap, and the germans took the lead there, too, by the way. but to julia's point, i mean, the importance of alliances, the importance of relationships, this was a very heavy lift for the germans. i remember when i worked at the white house, when we did the swap back in 2010, releasing alleged -- we released alleged spies from russia, and it was not considered symmetric by our intelligence agencies and our law enforcement agencies. they didn't want to do this. it was a hard negotiation within our government, not just between governments, and i'm sure that's what happened in germany, and that only happens when you're

doing it because you believe that you have a friendly relationship with people that commonly believe in democracy and human rights like the president has with the chancellor today. >> julia, how is vladimir putin going to spin this as a win for his regime? >> well, he got some loyal soldiers back. a uniformed fsb officer, he was caught serving his country as vladimir putin would frame it, and you're already seeing pro kremlin voices saying that these are heroes, russian hero coming home from unfair detention. putin believes if you serve the country loyally, and he is, remember, a veteran not just of the kgb, but he used to be the head of the fsb, he believes that, you know, if you're a hero, you're owed a hero owes treatment, and we don't leave, i think if his mind, we don't leave men behind enemy lines.

we get everyone home, that's why he was so focused on krasikov. i will also say that, i think donald trump's comments about how vladimir putin would do this for him and only for him and that america would give nothing up for these jailed americans, including evan gershkovich and paul whelan, i imagine would have ruffled putin's feathers. he doesn't like being told what to do. he likes setting the tune and being the unpredictable one, and kind of being lectured and told how he was going to do things. i'm sure really rubbed him the wrong way, and i personally wonder if that was a big factor in the timing of this deal because, again, donald trump bragged that as soon as he was elected, vladimir putin would just magically release these prisoners. >> interesting. thank you very much for your contribution to the

conversation, ambassador mcfaul, and julia ioffe, our breaking coverage of the u.s. russia prisoner exchange continues after a quick break. what these first hours, weeks, months will look like for the newly freed detainees. plus, more on what went on bind the scenes to bring them home and what president biden is saying about fears something like this could happen again. we're back in 90 seconds. has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com.

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breaking news coverage, three u.s. citizens and one green card holder, including "wall street journal" reporter, evan gershkovich, and former u.s. marine, paul whelan are among those released as part of a prisoner swap with russia. joining us now, opinion columnist for "the washington post," jason, he was imprisoned in iran for 544 days while he was the post teheran correspondent. it's great to have you with us, jason. so many of us followed your story, and being detained in iran. you know something about what these americans are going through now. what might be happening in the journey home, things like psych evaluations, et cetera. >> the first step is to gather information about their physical well being, to ensure that they're doing okay, that they don't have any medical needs that need to be addressed immediately. then, you know, the hard work of beginning to psychologically unpack what they have been

through starts pretty quickly. in terms of intelligence gathering and debriefing, that tends to happen a little bit later, but those first hours, really just trying to introduce these individuals to freedom, to life, to choice. which had been stripped from them for so long. >> let's talk more about that, especially longer term. what are those challenges of reintegration, what are they facing in the weeks and months to come. >> there's so much challenges, i don't even know where to start. there's very practical bureaucratic ones, like getting your taxes down. in my case, i had thousands of dollars of penalties that are piled up because i couldn't do my taxes while i was in prison. fixing your credit score, getting your driver's license renewed, very mundane things. but then, you know the really important work of reconnecting with your loved ones, with your

friends, with your communities. in the case of paul whelan, for example, it's been five years that he has been imprisoned, and, you know, you can't expect on day one, you're going to be back to your normal self. >> what you describe sound very overwhelming, what is that emotional or that mental recovery like after being held in captivity for months or in paul whelan's case for six years. >> the reality is the best thing you can do for yourself is give yourself time. it takes a long time, you know, getting good sleep, exercise, reconnecting with the things that you enjoyed in your life before in and really accepting the life that you left behind is never going to be exactly the one that you returned to. there's a lot of notoriety and

attention that will be paid to them. in different levels in the short-term, medium term and perhaps in some cases, long-term. and coming to grips with all that you've endured is an important part of the challenge. >> jason, the "wall street journal" said in its statement, in addition to expressing tremendous joy in the return of evan gershkovich, that quote, there is an urgent need for a change in the dynamic to prevent the seizure of innocent hostages. president biden was asked about that as well this afternoon. let's listen. >> these so called abductor states from simply taking more americans in order to get more of their prisoners home. how do you end these perverse incentives. >> advising people not to go to certain places, telling them what's at risk. >> jason, what's your reaction to that? is it that simple to tell people don't go there? >> i mean, it is simple to say

that in some cases like iran, russia, china. you have hundreds of thousands of americans with loved ones and connections back to those countries. i for one agree that you shouldn't travel to a country that has a track record of taking american citizens hostage. the other thing that we have to look at is that countries do this, not because there's some great incentive to do it, but they can get away with it. they have seen time and again, they're able to take an american, and extract something of value in return. i don't think the response is to not do deals or not give concessions but concurrent with trying to recover and free people who were currently being held, we have to raise the cost of doing this in the first place. at the moment, there's no cost. >> i appreciate your perspective on this, and the insights that you were able to share. thank you so much. >> thank you, ana. coming up the international

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now let's check... “medal coun”" and when is gymnastics on? “olympic schedule” it's that easy. find it, see it, count on it with the best seat in the house. get the fastest connection to paris with xfinity. we're continuing our coverage of today's historic prisoner swap between russia and the west. the swap involves 24 people total, including "wall street journal" reporter, evan gershkovich and u.s. marine, paul whelan who were on their way home to the u.s. right now. i want to broaden out our discussion with nbc news senior executive editor for national security david rohde and political analyst, peter baker. national security adviser jake sullivan described this as vintage joe biden, rallying allies to get this done, and i want to play a moment from his briefing just a short time ago. >> i spent a lot of time with

the families of evan and paul and alsu, and most of the time, as you can imagine, those are tough conversations. but not today. today -- excuse me -- today was a very good day. and we're going to build on it. drawing inspiration and continued courage from it for all of those who were held hostage or wrongfully detained around the world. i saved my tearing up for this podium. i would like to strike that from the record, i don't know if that's permitted, probably not. >> a really emotional time, clearly, for all of those involved in the deal, in the biden administration, can you paint the picture of how intricate the international coordination was here and how president biden's decades of foreign policy experience helped get this over the line. >> yeah, i think it's important to remember that, first of all, jake sullivan has been personally invested in these hostage families going back more

than a couple of years. as he mentioned there, met with them, talked with them, delivered the bad news repeatedly over the years, and he, you know, is so deeply involved in the negotiations, in the discussion, in the strategizing and trying to bring them home, and that therefore, you know, it was for him not just a matter of a policy win or, you know, a diplomatic win, but something very very personal. he expressed that in a way that was striking. you don't see that every day from the white house lectern. you're right, it was a complicated deal. it wasn't just a deal between the united states and russia. that would be complicated enough. that by itself would be intricate and delicate, it also involved multiple allies, norway, poland, slovenia, germany, and have to release russians, that they themselves didn't necessarily release part of the swap, most particularly the assassin, vadim krasikov, who shot and killed chechnyaen separatist in berlin, and was imprisoned for murder in

germany. they obviously did not want to simply release him, you know, without a lot of persuasion, so the president had to get on the phone, and he even got on the phone with the prime minister of slovenia, on that sunday, two sundays ago, july 21st, barely an hour before he released his statement dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. remarkable amount of presidential, multitasking, if you will, and had to be brought together into multiple planes and multiple countries, all arriving in ankara at the same time, to pull it off today. it was something we haven't seen like that before. >> it does speak to his passion and his priorities, especially as he was realizing that he would be leaving that office in just a number of months. david, we touched a little bit on this with jason, you too, have spent time in captivity. you were detaining, covering what was happening in afghanistan a number of years ago, and you spent seven months

in captivity and a few days beyond that. i'm just wondering, what is going through the mind right now for somebody like evan gershkovich or paul whelan or any of these other detainees who are now free? >> they're elated, they're thrilled, they have been dreaming about this moment for months, with paul whelan, years, the russian-american journalist, she feared she would be forgotten. it's a magical moment, and i think jake sullivan's, was surreal. she has spent a great deal of time with families. i want to point out -- i fear adversaries are going to feel this level of attention, i applaud jake sullivan for what he's doing, there's this level of attention, the hostages in the white house, could result in more hostages being taken, we spoke about this earlier. this is a huge success, but there needs to be a broad effort by the u.s., germany, europe,

all of these countries to stop hostage taking by governments, and it's growing. so it's a big step forward, it's a big achievement of president biden. i would watch in the weeks ahead, if he will announce some sort of strategy to punish countries that do this financially to somehow create a cost. this is what jason talked about too, so states can't do this, it's a problem. it's russia, it's iran, venezuela, hamas, you know, kidnapped over 200 people. 100 people are still held hostage in gaza. a joyous day, very disturbing trend. >> we are learning more and more details from this deal and the release of people like evan gershkovich, who we know spent so much of his life, and so much of his identity was being a journalist in russia. and you were a journalist so similar situation as well as you were covering afghanistan. well, this is an interesting

detail from the "wall street journal" reporting that was part of his release. gershkovich had to fill out an official request form to vladimir putin for presidential clemency. the journal writes the pro forma printout had a long space, they could desire or as expected, leave blank in formal high russian, he had honed over 16 months in prison, the journal ice russia correspondent filled the page. the last line submitted a proposal of his own. after his release. would putin be willing to sit down for an interview. he doesn't sound deterred. does that surprise you? >> good for evan. that's our job, and he should, vladimir putin should face him. he should face this journalist who was wrongly convicted and answer his questions. that's journalism, that's a free press. hats off to evan, he's even more courageous than i realized. >> quickly, if you will, peter, do you see this event impacting the 2024 race?

>> oh, i don't know that it will necessarily. obviously it's a victory for president biden and to some extent that that shines on vice president kamala harris, so be it. you know, i think americans are focusing on a lot of different things. it is a ray of good news at a time when we have had a lot of bad news. i think in that sense, it's a pick me up far country that could use it right now. >> peter baker, david rohde, thank you very much. up next, more on the 2024 race for the white house as republican lawmakers are urging donald trump to back away from his commitments, i should say his comments on kamala harris's race and ethnicity. trump is digging in. what he's saying now after the break. ng now after the break. after careful review of medical guidance and research on pain relief, my recommendation is simple: every home should have salonpas. powerful yet non-addictive. targeted and long-lasting. i recommend salonpas. it's good medicine. ♪ hisamitsu ♪ ♪ rinse it out ♪ ♪ every now and then ♪ ♪ i get a little bit tired of the stinks ♪

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bipartisan fallout from former president trump's inflammatory comments continues today after he questioned vice president harris's biracial identity. at the national convention, a black journalist asserted that she was quote, indian all the way, and suddenly, quote, became a black person. the trump campaign has doubled down on his remarks since then, while "politico" reports republicans are privately freaking out and publicly deflecting. senator josh hawley of montana, he told axios -- sorry, i don't think he's from montana, from missouri, rather, he told "axios" this, not a great idea

for either of the parties to be playing racial identity politics. senator steve daines said i think the better policy is to focus on policies of kamala harris. and on the panel interviewing former president trump yesterday, also with us, msnbc political analyst and former democratic representative from maryland, donna edwards and former gop strategist and cofounder of the lincoln project, rick wilson. i want to start with you since you were on the panel yesterday, these comments, really nothing new for donald trump as he was the chief propagator, president obama's birther conspiracy theories. that's really what launched his own political career. did anything you heard surprise you? >> yeah, i hadn't heard this whole kamala isn't black, kamala harris isn't black thing before, so that was actually surprising. and as the news of the day went on, i understood that this is a

new attack line. positioning her as a person who flip-flops on things. however, it kind of initiated her flip flopping on her identity, however misleading and false that is, and her background, educational background. but, yeah, it was a little surprising, a little stark, especially in a room of many many black journalists and on stage with three black journalists interviewing the former president. >> congresswoman, wa went through your mind when you heard these comments? >> well, it was staggering, actually, i mean, i think that donald trump continues to struggle with the way it is that he is going to run with kamala harris as an opponent. but it really showed his lack, the way america is. he has never heard the term

biracial before. i think, you know, kamala harris identifies as both an indian woman and a black woman. she went to a historically black college and university, howard university. and so i just think that donald trump continues to dig himself into a hole when it comes to challenging kamala harris. and frankly, he seems quite out of step with the rest of america. >> and, rick, the trump campaign, however, is not trying to back peddle. they appear to be leaning all the way into these comments. donald trump is still putting out social media posts today, essentially echoing what he said in the remarks about kamala harris turning black more recently. how do you explain that, is this part of his strategy? >> there's no real strategy in this. there's a great division in the campaign. the professionals like susie

wiles want donald trump to please shut the hell up. they understand it drives voters away, it's political poison. they understand donald trump cannot be controlled, however, he does not know how to run against vice president harris. he does not have a strategy or a plan. this is donald trump's lizard brain telling him what to do, and he's trapped in the feedback loop with his audience, who want the racial hatred, and the owning the libs act that he was trying to do. they want the ugliness and nasty remarks. that's something they have been programmed to get with him, and they give them feedback on it, and he keeps doing it. it's a very powerful drug for him. i want to make one more comment, the idea of somebody being biracial in this country is as natural as anything now. this is not 1950 or 1850 donald, but, you know, donald trump is a guy who isn't one but identifies as a billionaire. he isn't one, but he identifies as a strong leader. it's an absurdity that he thinks

someone can't define who they are from both sides of their family tree. >> what i don't understand is why he would be leaning into this. if it's about political instincts, doesn't this alienate undecided voters who maybe were turned off by these types of comments in 2016 and 2020? >> they're terrible instincts and he has gotten away with a lot of this in the past. right now he's facing a formidable candidate connecting with america at a level he no longer is able to achieve, and it's making him insane. it's driving him completely out of his mind, and as every day passes, he's going to get worse and worse. no one should expect the new tone or a better donald trump, there is no better donald trump. >> kadiya, how do you think race will be a part of this 2024 campaign going forward? >> i didn't expect this, but it seems to be ramping up. as you mentioned, donald trump is playing into this and now we see people like marjorie taylor

greene also throwing her hand in, also tweeting out things that are, you know, race based. and as you mentioned before, the party is sort of split on this. i do think that democrats will actually not do this or like kind of stay away and like pivot towards whatever underlying issue they said, like, you know, they'll probably say like republicans are, you know, unable to you know, talk about anything else because they have no policies. i think they'll stay away from that and let republicans run with this, sadly, to the detriment of their own party. as you mentioned, it might be great fodder for the base. it is not going to be good for independents or people on the fence of whether or not they'll vote for trump over kamala harris. >> rick, let's talk about the vp stakes. we're expecting vice president

harris to announce her vp pick any day now. her campaign has talked about events scheduled with her running mate next week. with those independent voters, with those people who are on the fence or undecided right now about what they're going to do for this election, who do you think would best broaden harris's support? >> look, i think you've got an embarrassment of riches right now for vice president harris to choose from, to choose her vice president, her running mate. you have people who have been tremendously effective, mark kelly in the senate on border issues, national security issues, you've got josh shapiro, one of the best governors in the country who has made the commitment as a governor not to play politics with it but to go in and build roads and bridges, do the things that people need to have done. you've got walz who could be tremendous, a great communicator. you have a lot of great people on the list that may not be publicly on the list, all of whom are able to go out there

and post up not only to show that they could be part of an effective harris administration, but also as a counter point to the single worst vice presidential candidate of all time, including sarah palin and dan quayle in the form of j.d. vance. i think any of those folks that are being discussed right now could take j.d. vance to the wood shed politically, when it comes down to a head-to-head comparison or in a debate. i think she's got a lot of great choices ahead, and i think any one of them is going to show a superior connection to americans than j.d. vance who has spent the first, you know, ten days of his role as the vice presidential candidate alienating women, cat owners and every other form of american he can try to insult. >> donald trump was asked about his pick, j.d. vance, as well, at that interview. yesterday and he just sort of said, it doesn't matter who you pick as vp, and i'm paraphrasing here, but basically said the vp pick doesn't matter, and that it is the person at the top of the ticket that most voters are

voting for or against. congresswoman donna edwards, our thanks to you. she had to jump. we had bad audio, bad video connection. thank you, kadia. thank you so much, rick, for being part of this discussion. coming up, a busy day for president biden on the world stage. what we're expect to go hear about his call with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu today. e minister benj netanyahu today. you know what's brilliant? boring. think about it. boring is the unsung catalyst for bold. what straps bold to a rocket and hurtles it into space? boring does. boring makes vacations happen, early retirements possible, and startups start up. because it's smart, dependable, and steady. all words you want from your bank. for nearly 160 years, pnc bank has been brilliantly boring so you can be happily fulfilled... which is pretty un-boring if you think about it.

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president biden is scheduled to hold a call this afternoon with israeli prime minister the benjamin netanyahu as tensions flair in the middle east. this call comes after israel announced today the leader of hamas' military arm and one of the alleged architects of the october 7th attack was skill kilned in a strike on july 13th in gaza. they are just confirming it today in this video released by the israeli military from that strike, it's been veriied by nbc news. today in tehran a funeral for the leader of hamas' political wing, after he was killed in a strike yesterday. joining us now is raf sanchez from israel. this biden and benjamin netanyahu meeting comes on the 300th day of this war. after these back to back killings of hamas and hezbollah leaders, what can we expect to come out of this conversation? >> reporter: so i think president biden has short-term and long-term priorities. short-term priorities is

preventing an all-out war from break out in the region, which is something i got to tell you feels much more possible today than it did 48 hours ago. you have iran saying it will take revenge on israel for the killing of that hamas chief in the heart of its capital city. you have hez baa larks the powerful militant group saying it will take revenge on israel for a killing of a senior hezbollah commander in beirut. so this is a deeply, deeply volatile situation. the biden administration involves in a lot of diplomacy right now. jake sullivan, the national security adviser, addressed that a little earlier. take a listen. >> there have been moments that have required intensive effort to keep a lid on things. the risk has always been there, and the risk remains today.

we believe we do have to be engaging in intensive efforts now through deterrents, through deescalation, through diplomacy, to prevent a wider war. we will continue to do that. >> reporter: it's interesting. he talked about deterrence there. you might remember in the days after october 7th, president biden sent a pair of american aircraft carriers in the waters around israel to deter israel's enemies. we'll be watching to see if there's further deployment of american forces at this perilous moment. the long-term priority, trying to finally get to that cease-fire in gaza,ened the war there, bring the hostages home, who are now in their 300th day of captivity. >> thank you. we'll continue to follow that developing story. in the meantime, i'll see you back here tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. eastern. thank you for joining us. "deadline: white house" is next. s "deadline: white house" is next. . but no matter what business i'm in... my network and my tech need to keep up.

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