with other key stake holders as well. and if you heard a little bit of cheering just then, it is president biden and vice president harris and evan's mother. they are walking over here now who are waving and coming over to where evan is. and the president is coming over to take a couple of questions here. >> mr. president, what was this moment like, sir? >> did you think this moment would come, sir? >> yes. >> what made you feel so confident? >> my relationship with the heads of state. we had to agree on a lot of stuff. >> what did you have the say to the three americans and their family members, sir? >> welcome home. >> you said, sir, that family is everything earlier today. what has it meant to be with

the family all day today as they are now finally reunited with their loved ones? >> look, anyone who has lost family or worried about whether family would come home, whatever the circumstance was, has to understand the extreme, you heard me say it before. my dad said family is the beginning and the end. and it really is. it is about who we are as a country. >> what is your message tonight to vladimir putin? >> stop. >> what is your message to the american people? >> there is nothing beyond the capacity we had to give. nothing. nothing. nothing. we are the united states of america.

>> mr. president, should american journalists ever feel afraid about reporting abroad? >> i think look, no matter where you are, there are certain places you will be afraid. you wouldn't show up in the middle east or russia or anywhere. it matters. it matters to be aware of what you are going into and not to take undue chances. >> mr. president. >> where does this rank among your many achievements as president? >> look. to me, this is about the essence of who we are as a country. it really is about relationships, families, being able to have access to the people you love and adore. imagine how you all would feel

if you had, if you were being held captive unfairly. and you had children waiting at home for you. imagine how you feel. how many of you have children? raise your hand. yeah. okay? imagine. >> hours before you were announcing they would be leaving the 24 race. can you talk to us a little bit about how important it was for you to get this deal done knowing that you were not going to seek a second term? >> i still get it done even if i was seeking a second term. you are stuck with me as president for a while. there is no way out. you got me for at least another 90 days or so. so it doesn't have anything to do with that. it had to do with the

opportunity. and trying to convince one last country to say okay, they will step up. >> mr. president. >> how will this be cemented as a part of your one-term legacy. how are you thinking about the rest of your time in office? >> we can talk about that another time. >> getting this deal across the finish line. could it have been possible without that agreement that you made? >> no. >> your reaction tonight. >> a very good night. a very good night and the testament to the work we prioritize under joe biden's leadership and our administration. the which is the importance of building alliances, building the strength that we have through diplomacy. to have outcomes like this. and there is so much at stake right now in our country and in

this upcoming election including who has which approach to understanding america's strength. this is an example of the strength of american leadership in bringing nations together. to deliver americans. >> this extraordinary moment. you see paul whelan walking behind president biden. giving the president a pat on the back. good evening once again. it is just after midnight here on the east coast. 9:00 p.m. on the west coast. i am stephanie ruhle continuing our breaking coverage of this absolutely extraordinary night. extraordinary day in american history. we just saw the newly freed americans returning back on u.s. soil for the first time. this is the largest prisoner

exchange with russia in post soviet history. and we are still watching it unfold. i stil down there. now it appears he is speaking to his wall street journal colleagues. you and i were talking about them as they were waiting for the plane to land. they had said they were going to be there for their guy, their friend, their colleague. so it is funny. we are watching him do interviews with reporters but those reporters are also his dearest friends. >> that's exactly it, steph. and the layers to that are just remarkable. if you really think about it and it was obvious, there, that while president biden and vice president harris were eager to take questions and in fact, those were some of the longer q and a sessions that we have had with either of them in some time, and they clearly want to talk about this moment. they want to expand on it. evan gershkovich had the opportunity also to come over and talk and there were a couple of reporters trying to

wave him over to the cameras over here as well. and he politely declined putting a hand on his chest. and seeming to say not right now. and maybe when the time comes, there will be a moment where he will want to talk on camera a little bit more publicly perhaps about his experience and ordeal beyond those conversations that we saw him sharing with his own colleagues. and with certainly those who behind the scenes again, that is exactly what we were talking about just a moment ago. every single day. this is what the people in the journalistic community at large were taking ads out, ensuring at any kind of gathering of professional journalists or anything like the white house correspondent's dinner that evan would be front and center and his story would be prominently told and there were times when we understand they felt like maybe this deal

could be within reach only for it to collapse. they didn't want to betray any of the delicate negotiations going on. and you can only imagine and probably relate to this, steph, of course, as a journalist, how difficult that might be for some reporters who did have a lot of this information about how things were happening many realtime. but who needed to take great care in what they were able to report to preserve the possibility of this deal ultimately happying. now they are able to witness what that has meant in reality for them. and to be able to hug evan. it was his own family earlier today that said the thing they were looking forward to the most was to see his sweet and brave smile in person and i can tell you after having just seen it, it was indeed a remarkable

sight sight. it is something we will have to take that stretch in order to really go through it and understand what this has all meant and i think it is a night they won't soon forget but it is really just the beginning of a very long road and process. and again as i look over here, i can tell you that the families have moved out of the area that they were in along with the president and the vice president and their respective motorcades. and that is likely because now the family members and evan paul are going to be getting on a separate aircraft to make that journey to san antonio which is where the next part of this story takes place. steph? >> it just seems like it is a feeling of elation and relief when you saw evan, after he had that funny moment with his hands on his hips, and the president and vice president

had their backs to him. just that hey, i'm right here. but moments later when his mother just gave him a thousand kisses. peter, you have spent your entire career as a journalist. you were a bureau chief in moscow. obviously, here now, what has the last 40 minutes been like for you watching this? peter baker. >> yeah. obviously, it is emotional for all americans i think to watch a moment like this. you know, it is particularly emotional for those of us who have been in moscow that could have been me or my wife or my colleagues or my friends when we were there. something like that. and so, well, i don't know evan. i can't pretend we were contemporaries. he came after i left. i feel like i know him. i feel like i know what drove him. what mattered to him. and i feel like i have a small tiny sense of the ordeal he has experienced these last year-and- a-half almost in basically a d-

russian dungeon not knowing if he was ever going to get out and see his family again. the last time we saw him in court, in that sham trial, he looked so bad at that point. so beaten and drawn and so forth. and to see him now today, with that smile. to see him hug his mother and lift her off the ground. to see him hinteracting in a bright and friendly way with his colleagues and his friends you know. it is nothing but relief obviously. that is the young man who has been through an awful lot. and he will have a lot to deal with i'm sure. process it. but, back on american soil. back with the people he loves. and that should touch all of us. >> just so casual and personal even looking at the president speaking to paul whelan just a few moments ago. it appeared he put some sort of pin perhaps on his lapel. and here he is. this was about 35 minutes ago.

evan gershkovich has the president and vice president turned around. he is having his moment with them before he got to see his mother who had to be jumping out of her skin. your thoughts gillian? i think we lost gillian. carol? >> yeah. i'm here steph. you know, it is mentioning evan gershkovich's mother. if anyone hasn't read the wall street journal's tiktok of how everything unfolded for them behind the scenes, she is the mvp of this. and you know, the definition of a mama bear. given everything that she did and you can see it right there. i mean, she is just overjoyed. and she worked tirelessly. the lengths she went to. she became a recorder. she had connections. the story is incredible. and everything that she did.

and so you can just see how elated all the families are t here. and also the president. it is striking to see the president is really taking this moment in. he is obviously in a very good mood. and he is taking questions and he really lingered and hung around to try to absorb this. all the work that he and his administration have put into this. and tried to put it in the context of two things. one family. how important family is. but said this is the essence of who america is as a country. and that you have relationships and you have moments like this and you get things done and you come together. and so, you can tell he is feeling very nostalgic. it is kind of funny. you are stuck with me for a while. i'm still going to be the president. i have other things to do. this is true. it will be a very enduring moment for these families and

one that will stick with the president. but it is a little more fleeting for him. he has more work to do. they want to get back at it and try to get some of those other americans who were wrongfully detained around the world including in russia to have this moment with their families in the future and i'm sure that is something that the president would really like to achieve before he leaves office in january, steph. >> i know he has other goals but we can't stress enough what a tremendous achievement this me is. and truly great moment for america. we are showing on the screen right now what happened about 25 minutes ago. where it appeared president biden put some kind of pin on paul whelan's lapel. can you speak about this? >> yes and i think you know, we put this question to the white house a short time ago. and i was trying to see there if you could tell in that

image, steph. and it is hard to tell. but it strikes me that potentially as a marine veteran, that paul whelan is of the group that is a little bit of the connection there. what kind of pin that is the pin we have seen a lot of on this platform and this group of assembled journalist is the i stand with the evan opinion to get evan gershkovich released. now, beautifully, those pins, those hats, those signs can nows be retired which is a wonderful thing to be able to say and do. but we will be sure to report back on report back on what that may have been. i can tell you earlier today when you see the younger

relatives. the daughter hugging her mom and not letting go. she is celebrate ago birthday so president biden earlier today had the entire room serenade her with a rendition of that. he said in typical biden family tradition, and something else that just struck me in those moments is that she also wanted to take a selfie. take a couple of pictures with her mom and be able to do the thing that any teenager at any given moment could do and you would think nothing of. but in this particular moment struck me as being a little bit more special of course. undoubtedly given everything they have just been through. there was another moment i'm not sure if it was caught on camera. after the americans came off the plane, the president actually went up the stairs and into the aircraft. i'm told to thank the pilots who made the journey and then

also what was not seen on camera because they didn't necessarily want to be named or identified or really have this moment to take credit. but there were several u.s. government staffers on the plane who made this possible. who were key in the transfer on the tarmac in turkey to ensure that everything there went smoothly. and of course, they accompanied evan, paul, and alsu on the your knee. president biden wanted to go t and thank them as well i'm told. so he did that very briefly. and just in a moment that encapsulates the incredible news and evolution of what we have seen the last couple of weeks. there was a time here when president biden was answering questions from a couple of us and i was talking to him and at the very same time, vice president harris was taking questions elsewhere and talking to journalists down the line here on the platform. both of them effectively

gaggling at the same time. it is this remarkable split screen of now where this foreign policy achievement can go. and you expect after the incredible benefit of all of this from a real diplomatic aspect starts to fade it will turn a little bit to vice president harris potentially talking about how she would envision her own foreign policy and what she would do if she is to win the white house in november now as the presumptive democratic nominee. that story is one s you start today see emerge here because of her presence. because of the fact she wanted to take questions. she answered questions. she wasn't just deferring all of them to the president. she praised his toleadership. his role. he was the critical lynch pin to all of this. i asked about whether he

thought this would have been possible without the chancellor's commitment and he told me simply no. in another exchange, the president did speak to the fact that this is not something he wants to be unique just to this group of americans. this administration will get back on the task to get other wrongly detained americans free after the absolute joy and appreciation of this night continues. >> i just learned some special reports from a source close to our show. what president biden was doing with paul whelan, that was an american flag pin. the pin he wears every day. he had it on his suit jacket when he arrived. he took the pin off his own jacket and put it on paul whelan's jacket so when you saw the president after speaking to

reporters, he is leaving joint base andrews tonight without that pin. and it is now being worn by paul whelan. what an extraordinary night for this country. what an achievement. what a proud day to be american. just think when the president made his way onto that plane, monica, think about talking to those pilots. what it was like for those pilots when they turned around and said you have arrived safely. we are here. you're home. what a night. let's bring in former senior adviser at the state department and former senior director at the white house. what has this been like for youo watching all of this unfold? >> this is such a great moment for the people who worked tirelessly. hearing their stories, trying to share information with them. about their loved ones being

detained, wrongfully detained by these regimes around the world. and there are so many situations you don't get to share the good news. you don't get to turn around and say come to the airport. i have great news for you. and these are frankly the moments that diplomats, folks who work and represent the united states overseas, these are the moments that you feel you have accomplished your mission in represents the united states. this effort is about showing american citizens that when you travel, your passport matters and who you are matters. you o will be backed up. you will be protected by the american government so these are deeply patriotic and human moments we don't often get to experience. it is very heartwarming.

>> heartwarming indeed. i want to bring in michigan congresswoman hailey stevens. paul whelan is one of her constituents and she has worked tirelessly to get him released over the past five years. it is just a reminder to our audience, five long years, congresswoman, how are you feeling tonight? >> over 2,000 days. honestly, stephanie, this feels surreal. i am so proud of this administration. i'm jus so proud of the whelan family and everything they have been through. but with grit. determination, perseverance, lots of twists and turns and just, the example of true leadership. and a lot of times, you know, true leadership gets bestowed upon you with a circumstance you didn't sign up for. i will tell you in michigan, people are rejoicing and they

are elated. my phone has just been ringing off the hook. texts across the board. this has been a very, very long journey and it took diplomacy. it took bringing together our allies. cutting a deal with russia in the middle of this abhorrent war with ukraine that they started. and now, when i see paul whelan who was taken by the russians at the very end of 2018 when he was in russia at a wedding on personal business, he was framed, set up, accused same as evan gershkovich. of espionage. total sham. total falsehoods. i got the call two days before i was sworn into congress. to see elizabeth who is one of my personal heros hug her brother tonight at andrews air

force base. we can all be so proud. this is a very proud day for this country. >> have you spoken to anyone of his family today? >> i will let the family speak for themselves. we have always been in regular touch. i was very touched by a personal statement they released which was so full of grace, thanks this administration. recalling the work we have been through. i told elizabeth very early. i said let's just let my office be your soft landing and i'm going to say this because a lot of times members of congress, they want to own everything. we have staffs and we have people who have been working in my office on foreign policy who have spoken to elizabeth and her hafamily. day ein and day out. regular communication. communication across the

advocacy groups. just a remarkable unique set of individuals who have come together and stephanie, you need to know this. we passed the hostage and wrongful detainee day. march 9. the flag flew over the white house today. we also got money for families like the whelans, like the gershkovichs, who have been traveling and spending personal resources, you have to understand, paul whelan was taken into custody, falsely, wrongly at the end of 2018 before covid. before this war hit. we are getting reports about what was going on with covid in these russian jails. it is just unbelievable. not getting the care he needed from the start. the health care. watching what happened with

trevor reed and brittany griner. paul whelan being used over and over again as a political pawn. he is home now. this is something to celebrate and it is also a reminder that we have to continue with with deterrence and make sure this doesn't happen again. in russia, iran, syria, across the globe, there are still wrongful detainees in gaza as well where we are marking 300 days of that hostage nightmare. so we are hard at work. and i'm doing this with the task force. a task force to support these families and support wrongful detainees and hostages. >> thank you so much for all that you have done. thank you for joining us tonight. i want to point out to our audience again, the shot we showed of president biden on the screen. he was speaking to reporters after he met with evan gershkovich and paul whelan. he is not wearing that american

flag anymore. it is now on the jacket of paul whelan and i suspect he will keep it for the rest of his life. thank you for being here with me tonight. this has been an extraordinary experience. a great moment in american history. when we return, i'm going to share my interview with majority leader chuck schumer on today's prisoner release. the latest on the 2024 race, and much more when the 11th hour and our special coverage continues. andur o special cov continues. ep being you... and ask your healthcare provider about the number one prescribed h-i-v treatment, biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in many people whether you're 18 or 80. with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to undetectable—and stay there whether you're just starting or replacing your current treatment. research shows that taking h-i-v treatment as prescribed and getting to and staying undetectable prevents transmitting h-i-v through sex.

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earlier i sat down with chuck schumer to talk about how the biden administration got this extraordinary deal done. and the state of the 2024 race. watch this. senate majority leader chuck schumer joins me now. there is so much i want to talk about. i'm so grateful you are here but you know we have to start with this prisoner swap. >> uh-huh. >> what are your thoughts tonight? >> look, the administration did a great job. evan gershkovich, what a fine person. i actually worked in a very bipartisan way with mitch mcconnell to try to put pressure on the russians to get him out. but the administration did a great job. whelan, he was just a marine, he went to a wedding and they just arrested him.

and they did a very good job. because the number of people op our side who got out was far exceeded the number of theirs and a lot of them were just political dissidents. some were friends of navalny and others. this says to the other americans who are imprisoned in authoritarian countries, we will never forget you. we will keep working until we get you out too. >> when you talk bipartisanship, it gives all of us hope but i will talk about someone who is not into bipartisanship. and that is donald trump. he is making this race about gender, he is making it about identity. and just yesterday, he referred to you, the highest ranking jewish american member of our government. >> ever. >> as a proud member of hamas. i want to get your reaction. but also, what do you do with that? that makes its way through right wing media. >> yeah, but everything. all different things make their

way through right wing media. look. it's ridiculous, the lower he gets in the polls the more unhinged he gets. he is unhinged. he is scared. a leading republican senator said to me in one of the rooms we were in, he said we are going to lose because of this guy. >> would you like to tell us who said that? >> i would not like to tell you who it was, but good try. but look. kamala harris is scaring him. he is even afraid to debate her. she is proven. she has a great record with biden. she is practiced. she has been a super prosecutor and did a great job in the senate and she is primed. stephanie, i have never in a long time seen such enthusiasm from her candidacy from every part of the democratic party from the most liberal to the most conservative. you are hearing independents talk about her favorably. this is great. and she is going to go on and win. >> is there any second guessing of why didn't you nominate her

sooner? whether it is kamala harris 18 months ago or the six to eight people we have been talking about the last two weeks to potentially be her vp, her running mate, it's like the democratic avengers, this unbelievable next generation. some of whom we never heard their names before. >> we nominated joe biden and he did his job in two ways. he beat donald trump. but he had one of the most amazing three-and-a-half years now in congress that we have ever had. i know. i worked with him on all those bills. we passed so much more than in 30 years. we passed the irs which reduced the cost of prescription drugs. and did more to fight global warming than anything else. the chips and science act. it brought jobs back to america. we beat the nra for the first time and said young people can't have assault weapons. veterans overseas and were exposed to burn pits so their

lungs got all kinds of cancers, the va wouldn't pay for them. we changed that. sew joe biden has done a great job and he was a very good candidate. he, look, he is a patriot. he knew that donald trump winning would be a disaster and as always, he did the right thing for america. but he had a great four years and three-and-a-half now. nothing will take it away from him. nothing. >> it has been two weeks since he decided to end his reelection campaign. you are very close to him. you were very close to him. during those last few days, make tag decision, i know you met with him. what was that like? >> we had a heartfelt conversation. caring and loving conversation because we have so close. i told him he had to hear the views of many in my caucus but it was a good conversation. i don't want to get into any

specific details. >> you're welcome to. >> one day maybe, but not tonight. it was a conversation that i knew that he would do the right thing for america. and he did. and he is walking away from this with his head up tall. he has had a great, great presidency. and now, he is doing the right thing. and, putting you know, he decided that kamala would be the best successor quickly. it was an open process. anyone could have run. hakeem jeffries and i, the leader of the house, we decided she asked us. kamala called me about 20 minutes after the president called me and said he wasn't running and she said i want an open convention. >> she said it? >> yes. i don't want people twisting arms so i didn't call a single senator but within the first day there was such enthusiasm that about 40 of my 51 senators endorsed her. >> she is walking forward and donald trump is walking away from project 2025.

>> yes. >> this 900 page manifesto put together by the heritage foundation and some members of the heritage foundation who are part of the trump administration. >> and would be again. anyone who thinks they won't enact this stuff is smoking something. >> how do you? donald trump is now disassociating himself saying project who? how do you keep it in focus and help voters understand if he wins, this thing will be back and here is how it will impact your lives. >> i think it is very important our senators are all doing this. looking at how it affects things locally. they want to slash veterans benefits. we only have one veteran's hospital on long island. 3million people. a lot of them veterans and north port is the hospital that gives good health care. i have helped get them funding and the system they needed. but if that hospital closed our veterans would be out. yet you read on page 800 something, they will close a

lot of these hospitals. so i think localizing it is important. i got on the floor of the senate. held up a picture of north port and said we cannot let this close. i will not let this close. but that's what they want to do in 2025. last week, you read about the tornadoes for the first time in utica, new york. rome, new york. guess what they want to eliminate? they want to get rid of the national weather service. they want to privatetize the whole weather service. i said can you imagine if there was no warning system? with all the weather changing? we never had 20 tornadoes in a day in new york state just about ever? so looking at the specifics and taking specifics and then localizing them to how it affects your community, i think, will be very devastating. if you say it will cut a whole lot of things and no one will pay much attention. >> let's talk about something else you introduced. the no kings act that will end presidential immunity. if a president were to have

committed a crime, this seems like a great idea. >> it is. >> here's the issue, is it too late? >> no. because we want to make sure it doesn't happen in the future. it is not too late because the court made this awful ruling that says if the president does something official he can't be held accountable and he can define what is official. that's not what the founding fathers said and it is not in the constitution. we call this the no kings acts because americans from george washington to the future, we don't want a king, we want a president who is part of, who is limited by the rule of law. this was the most awful ruling by this court. so the no kings act, i have 38 democratic sponsors. repeals it. some people say you need constitutional amendment to repeal it. you don't. the actual, you know, judge alito said congress can't regulate the courts at all.

bull, you read the conversation, the plain language in ways we can regulate the courts and this is one. >> but that would require congress working together and passing something, sir. >> well, i would hope that our republican friends would see something as egregious as this that says any president, democrat, republican, breaks the law, that they can't get immunity. and i'm hopeful. this got a lot of sponsors right away. our republican colleagues, sometimes they are under the sway of donald trump but i think they are learning very quickly given what has happened the last few days that he is not their best leader. and just as that gentleman said to me, that senator said to me this morning. >> whose name is? >> mr. x. >> mmm. >> he is not the person to follow. if mr. macho is scared to debate kamala harris. >> that mr. x who said he is not the person to follow. don't you have a hard time looking him in the eye?

that person is an elected official who holds public office who will tell you privately in the gym, god, that guy sucks but he won't say it in public. >> i have been surprised by how many republicans privately when they talk to one another and talk to us know how bad donald trump is. but they are afraid of him. he is a bully. they go along with him. >> before we go. >> let me many tell you one thing. >> when he loses and he will lose badly in my opinion, then maybe we will get a republican party. it will be conservative but not the kind of party following trump. >> one of the things that will help him lose is kamala harris, vp harris choosing the right running mate. who do you want it to be? >> i have faith she will choose the right candidate. >> come on, nothing? >> i have faith she will choose the right candidate. >> and i appreciate you joining me this evening. thank you so much senator. i appreciate it. we are still following the breaking news that those freed american prisoners are now safely back in the united states. our special coverage continues after this very quick break. ras after this very quick break.

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pin. he wears it every day. he wore it when he arrived at joint base andrews this evening and when he shook paul whelan's hand when he hugged him, he took it off of his own jacket and he put it on paul's. when paul spoke to reporters you saw the pin on his jacket and when president biden spoke with reporters it was no longer on his. i suspect paul will be keeping it. there you see the president who no longer has it on. this incredible evening is the result of over two years of negotiating by the biden white house. and our own peter alexander has all those details. >> this is the emotional moment inside the oval office when the families of those released prisoners spoke to their loved ones. finally freed. >> what did you say? >> i said welcome home. >> reporter: president biden

spearheading the deal just an hour before he announced he was dropping out of the 2024 race. and personally lobbying the german chancellor to help facilitate the swap. olaf schultz responding for you i will do this. >> the deal that made this possible was a feat of diplomacy. >> reporter: jake sullivan holding back tears. >> today was a very good day. >> reporter: fierce putin critic alexei navalny was part of an earlier proposal before he died. no sanctions were loosened to secure today's release. sullivan acknowledged the challenging decision. >> we have assessed and analyzed that risk and we have judged the benefit of reuniting americans, of bringing people home, that benefit out weighs

the risk. >> reporter: former president trump did not embrace the news instead slamming the negotiators saying they are always an embarrassment to us. president biden asked about trump's claims he could get him out. whelan had been held since trump was in office. >> why didn't he do it when he was in office? >> reporter: a long awaited homecoming. >> i want to bring home a new friend of russian dissident vladimir kara-murza. the largest foreign investor in russia until 2005. he also wrote the book freezing order. a true story of money laundering. bill, i'm privileged to be with you tonight. because we got to see several

americans who were freed from putin's wrath. how do you feel? >> it has been a very emotional day and evening. i watched those images as they got off the plane and touched the ground and saw their families and i know the feeling. because i have been intimately involved in the duress of another family. vladimir kara-murza. he will be on the tarmac in germany meeting the german chancellor along with a number of other russian prisoners who left russia. the uncertainty that leads up to these moments, the distress that the family experiences, it

is indescribable what everyone goes through. and to have it all resolved. it is an emotional time for everyone involved. i would imagine anyone looking at these images feel those emotions. >> you begged your friend vladimir not to return to russia. as soon as he did he was arrested. you have been working to secure his release. did you think it would happen? >> i have always thought it would happen because i have been an optimist about any type of initiative. there is a lot of uncertainty on lower chance he would survive until we got him out. that has always been my concern. vladimir, they tried to kill him twice with poison before they imprisoned him in both of those poisoning attempts left him in really ill health. and so when they put him in prison and sentenced him to 25 years, he was really suffering.

refused him any medical treatment. the doctors we were in touch with said he wouldn't survive a year let alone 25 years so my biggest fear was he would die. and we of course all know what happened to alexei navalny who was killed in february. many people know what happened to my lawyer. and so, my biggest fear was death. and the fact he was able to walk out of russia onto an airplane and go to germany where he is getting medical treatment right now is just the biggest relief of my life. >> i know you wouldn't know what the doctors have said, but do you have any update from the family? >> i spoke to his wife today. i spoke to his mother. they all say that he is in good

spirits. and he is joking and so on. it is really hard for anyone to tell over the phone his wife isn't going to get to germany until tomorrow at the earliest. his mother should be there tomorrow morning. hopefully, we'll get a bigger update. he has been kept in very, very bad conditions for a very long time. in a situation where his health was more frail. and so, i think it is going to be a road to recovery for him. now he is free. just praying he bounces back. hopefully this will get him into a normal state. >> why do you think he decided to release these prisoners now? >> putin wanted this guy. the murder.

the assassin in germany. my guess is he needs to send a message to all of his other assassins if they get caught kills people he will come and get them. that is not a comforting thought for people who are enemies of putin. everybody who knows the prisoners didn't want them to die in detention. and so i think it was as jake sullivan and president biden said, it was a risk worth taking. i have a strong opinion about people traveling to russia. i don't think based on the hostage taking going on in russia that americans and british and europeans should be allowed to travel to russia. there. it puts all of us in jeopardy

as these terrible negotiations have to unfold. >> i am so elated tonight. and i'm grateful to be here with you. thank you so much for being here,. >> thank you. >> and i know i say this to you every night. but maybe more than any other night i have been here in this chair. i'm grateful. i am honor today be an american. and i wish all of you a very good and a very safe night. i'm glad we got to do this together. from all of our colleagues, from across the networks of nbc news, thank you for staying up late with us. i'll see you at the end of tomorrow. ee you at the end of tomorrow. have you ever thought of getting a walk-in tub for you or someone you love?

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