want transparency but we're not against maduro leaving. very quickly, what do you need? >> two things very quick here. first of all, if maduro prevails, if maduro use every tool to keep in power, unfortunately, there will be more people fleeing. from 8 we get to 9 or 10 million. many will try to come to the u.s. at least 700,000 have come to the u.s. this is a thing that is affecting the region. we want people to stop fleeing. we want families reunited. the other countries have to respect. what they expressed last sunday was not transparent. many countries said that.

there's no difference of gonzalez to mexico. we want to start a transition. that's why the armed forces need to step up and behave institutionally, obey the constitution and respect the vast majority of venezuelans. >> thank you for being with us today. appreciate your time. >> i appreciate you. thank you so much. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," freedom. american prisoners safely back in the u.s. today and recuperating in san antonio after their celebratory midnight meeting with president biden, vice president harris and their families at joint base andrews outside washington. >> great satisfaction and a feeling of relief for the families. >> did you think this moment would come? >> yes. >> this is just an extraordinary

testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy. former president trump railing against the exchange. claiming russia is extorting the united states. speculation over whom kamala harris will choose at her running mate. her team narrows down the list for possible interviews with her this weekend. in paris, simone biles and katie ledecky padding their olympic resumes during another amazing day and night of gold medal performances. the spotlight now shifts to the track and another group of star american athletes. ♪♪ good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. overnight, a big celebration at joint base andrews. the emotional reunion years in the making. president biden and vice president harris welcoming home

three americans wrongly detained in russia just before midnight. evan gershkovich, on the tarmac, embracing and lifting his mother, who turned herself into an expert diplomat and hostage negotiator to free her son from a russian prison. >> how are you feeling? >> i'm all right. it was a good flight. >> what about the show of support? >> evan! >> and alsu running into her daughter's arms. miriam turns 13 today. plans on hold to see taylor swift for a better present, her mom. paul whelan, imprisoned more than five years, embracing his sister elizabeth.

not returning to the u.s. just yet, green card holder and russian dissident vladimir kara-murza. twice poisoned by putin's kremlin. he is remaining in germany for medical treatment while his family, who live in virginia, will be reunited with him there. the trio later flying to an army hospital in texas that specializes in released hostages, where whelan had this message. >> as we came over england and i looked down, that is when it became real. we flew over ireland and canada and then i knew i was home. i'm never going back there again. >> we are learning from "the wall street journal" new details about the emerging multi-nation diplomacy that brought them all home. the december 2022 release of griner started the process involving seven nations, back-channel conversations and

deals with allies. evan gershkovich's detention in march adding more urgency. this year, russian opposition leader navalny was included in the deal. his death setting back negotiations. the final push came just one hour before joe biden announced that he was leaving the presidential race on july 21st, when he secured the final approval from slovenia to provide russians for the exchange. national security advisor jake sullivan on "today." >> we had to put pieces into place, one by one. we had a good sense this deal would happen. we couldn't be sure until the exchange actually occurred on the tarmac in turkey yesterday. >> before being released from russia, gershkovich was ordered to write vladimir putin asking for clemency. ever the reporter, evan added a note, asking putin for an interview. the kremlin this morning saying, if they receive an official request, they will consider it.

we begin with correspondent gabe gutierrez. yesterday, it was an emotional jake sullivan. he was a big player here organizing this, analyzing it and staying in close touch with the families. they were involved almost every step of the way. >> reporter: that's right. this was a painstaking process, as you laid out. a process that took nearly two years. as you laid out in that time line, it came together in the last two weeks or so, that detail that it was president biden about an hour before he announced he would not seek re-election, that that final piece of the puzzle came together. another person that the white house is saying played a critical role is vice president kamala harris. you heard jake sullivan detailing what role she played. saying at the munich security conference in february, she

spoke with the german chancellor. we are learning from another white house official who said she asked the staff to leave the room except for one of her aides. she moved the ball significantly. also during that conference, spoke with the prime minister of slovenia to help this come together. this, as you know, is part of the white house's effort to try to highlight her foreign policy experience. she met last week with netanyahu in washington. last night, she was side by side with president biden there on the tarmac at joint base andrews. let's take a listen. >> this is an extraordinary day. i'm very thankful for our president and what he has done over his entire career, but in particular as it relates to these families and these families. what he has been able to do to bring the allies together on many issues, but in particular this one.

>> reporter: as nbc news has reported, she clearly has less of a foreign policy portfolio when compared to president biden. her critics say that shows her lack of expertise. her supporters say she has tried hard not to overstep her boss. she's learned on the job. she is clearly in the spotlight now. >> gabe, thank you so much. i'm joined now by a special friend and colleague, u.s. ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul. to follow up on what gabe said, i was covering vice president harris in munich when a lot of this was going down. i was picking up things from foreign diplomats and others who were involved. that's when we started reporting on this. you were involved with the navalnys. they had the prospect of a release. mike, can you hear me? >> i can hear you. >> great.

i was talking about when we were in munich. you were involved with the navalnys and the announcement of his death. i was involved covering vice president harris as gabe was detailing, who was involved in talking to the german chancellor and talking to the foreign minister and trying to push forward the hints that they were getting that chancellor shulz was beginning to consider the release of the spy, the putin assassin in berlin, that they refused to consider when the griner trade was done, but they were beginning to consider krasikov for navalny. and then his death from what they were doing to him there. >> that's a major moment.

the coming together of the navalny story and the vice president's story happened in munich. as i connect dots, the night before navalny was killed, i was with his wife. i was with other members of his group. they were very excited. they were in good spirits, best spirits i had seen them in a long time. it was later that i learned they were in good spirits because this deal was being negotiated. putting -- connecting a lot of dots, she was having her own set of meetings. then the next day, of course, navalny was tragically killed. i think he was killed because there were some people and maybe putin himself that were suddenly did not want him to be part of the deal and were afraid of him coming out. as you -- we were there together. you remember that was such a moving speech that she gave at the munich security -- >> right. >> she saw the vice president.

i think that was the beginning of a period where the vice president -- you talked about other meetings she had that i didn't know at the time, where she got very involved in trying to help push this forward with a new set of people, including several people from the navalny team that were released yesterday. remember, throughout this period, she was named at one of the top 100 most influential people in the world. the vice president wrote the paragraph in her honor. yesterday, amidst this going on, it was the vice president that called yulia to talk about the release. we have been talking about the americans. but for navalny and the russian opposition, these other people that got out, it's an extraordinary event. i'm sure the vice president played a role in that along the way. >> we will talk later with a top "wall street journal" editor. in their incredible piece they

wrote overnight about this, the inside story, ella milman, this small russian immigrant, the mother of evan, had zeroed in on krasikov early on. who are the prisoners who could be exchanged? she zeroed in on the german prisoner and started advocating for that. i was at the atlantic council dinner last fall during the u.n. meetings when she went up to the chancellor who was sitting at the head table, as was zelenskyy and other people. i saw ella milman go up. now we know that she went to him and said, please, help my son. she knew that he was the key person. that's when the first hint came through her to the americans, to the state department that maybe

krasikov could be in play. let's talk about the navalny people. in fact, you know another one of the great dissidents involved in this, in the tragedy and the success, the release of kara-murza. he was twice poisoned by the kremlin. he didn't come back to andrews. he went to the german hospital, an expert hospital for treating him. they treated him and navalny before. you know this better than i. he is well enough, he will be rejoined with his family there. he is going to, perhaps have a news conference. talk to us about him. he wasn't at andrews last night. >> just like evan gershkovich, you were talking about even as he is being released, he is trying to do his job. can i have an interview with vladimir putin?

he decided to go to germany because he has been reunited with others who was released. these are very prominent political leaders inside russia. they just posted a photo of them together. you are right, they will have a press conference because vladimir is back in the fight. that's why he didn't come home. he lives in virginia. he lives in the united states with his family. first, he wanted to be reunited with his fellow opposition leaders that have been just released but continue the fight against putin. >> michael, one quick question. the people left behind -- marc fogel, he is the schoolteacher. he taught your kids. he has not been declared wrongfully detained, which puts him in a tougher category for the beginning of the legal process to negotiate for him.

the state department says they are negotiating for him to be released open humanitarian grounds. he has been held since 2021. >> yeah. it was a bittersweet day for the family. i talked to his sister yesterday. again, just to emphasize, the families that are involved in this, evan's family, all the other families, that helps to keep the pressure on. it was such a roller coaster ride for them. they got indications that he might be on the list. there was a russian press report that said he was, then he wasn't. i'm cautiously optimistic given what the state department has said, what jake sullivan said this morning, that there might be a way to release him on humanitarian grounds. his health is not well. he has serious health problems. it would be a horrible tragedy if he died in jail. i hope that this now creates the

permissive conditions for successful release for marc as well. >> ambassador michael mcfaul, thank you. >> thank you. >> a certain amount of celebration today is in order. >> absolutely. joining me now is leon panetta. it's good to see you. this was a triumph of diplomacy. you know our intelligence operatives were very involved, including one of the great experts in our administration, bill burns, who had been formerly an ambassador to moscow and is fluent in russian. talk about the role of the cia in figuring out who might be available in different countries that were russian operatives that could be traded, who could be -- the leaders of the

countries could be asked by the president who knew the leaders, to press for -- we know you don't want to give these people up, but this is the only way we can get out our people, enlarging the deal in order to get evan and paul, not to leave him behind again. >> obviously, the cia is very familiar with putin's game. this is putin's game. it's to pick up innocent people, falsely charge them and hope you can get the price you want in some kind of exchange. i'm sure our intelligence people know where their people are located, those that they would like to have back. i'm sure that the linchpin was krasikov. whatever was done to try to get germany to agree to release krasikov was critical, because

putin wants to be able to say to others that he was able to get somebody who performed the role of the fsb and was able to say to others that we also don't leave anybody behind. that's putin's game. the cia is very familiar with it. bill burns is very familiar with it. i'm sure it helped a great deal in putting together the pieces that ultimately produced this landmark deal. >> in fact, russia got back from slovenia a family of spies. some people there didn't know they were russians. it's like the americans who were moles and traded in 2010, i think. >> that's right. >> this creates tension between the fbi, which prosecutes some of the people, the americans that we gave up in previous -- the previous exchanges and the

intelligence operatives so active in finding these spies. in this case, we were getting our allies to try to find people, russians who might be traded. >> i remember that very well. we picked up ten russian spies at the time. i remember calling my russian counterpart and telling him, we have your spies. he didn't disagree. he said, you do. we immediately began to discuss what i'm sure happened here, which is, can we develop a trade? we looked at people that we thought were important, that we wanted back. they were willing to put them on the table. we ultimately had an exchange in vienna of their spies for a return of those that we wanted back. look, this is not a pleasant

game. it's a very depressing game that russia plays here. they will continue to do it. i think jake sullivan is right. we can't allow these innocent people to simply rot in jail. we have a responsibility to do everything we can to bring them back. clearly, the administration, the vice president, jake sullivan and others worked every angle here to try to develop a deal. i'm glad they arrived at a deal. i'm glad we were able to get this done. i'm glad we got evan gershkovich back, paul whelan and these dissidents back. but it does raise a concern about how long do we have to continue to play this putin game? it results in innocent people losing their freedom. >> let me ask you to switch your expertise to the middle east for a moment.

i have been told by israeli friends and others that u.s. airlines are cancelling flights. everyone is bracing for retaliation. now we learned that the israelis, everyone acknowledges that except israel, the israelis pulled this off, this assassination of the hamas leader, in a guesthouse, the negotiator for the cease-fire deal, in tehran having just met with the supreme leader at the inauguration of the new iranian president with a bomb that had been planted several months earlier. penetration of the irgc in their own guesthouse. it's extraordinary. remotely set off. not a drone, not a missile strike, but a bomb. the president was asked last night at andrews about, will this -- what is the impact on

the cease-fire talks? he said, it's not helpful. the u.s. believed they were on the precipice of something big. the risk/reward here -- >> at the same time, mossad targets these kinds of people. frankly, one of the things that we have encouraged israel to do is to target the leaders of hamas that were involved in the attack on israel. they're the best at targeting. this bomb was put in place two months ago into the guesthouse. it was detonated when they knew that this hamas leader was present. obviously, going after the leadership that was involved in the attack is what israel should

be doing. at the same time, obviously, it could well impact the negotiations involved with the cease-fire. that is what war is all about. ultimately, it's the price you have to pay in order to be able to make sure that you are going after those responsible for killing israelis. >> leon, it's good to see you. thanks so very much. >> good to be with you. the waiting game. in 90 seconds, the latest reporting open who vice president harris could be choosing as her running mate and when. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. this is msnbc. see why we need downy free and gentle with no perfumes or dyes. it not only makes your clothes softer, it is gentle on your skin. it breathes life into your laundry. (♪♪)

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2024 volkswagen models cost less to maintain than honda. get 0.9% apr financing or a $3500 customer bonus on a new 2024 atlas or atlas cross sport. over the next few days, vice president kamala harris plans to meet with some of the top potential picks to be her running mate. nbc news confirmed the harris campaign completed its formal vetting process led by eric holder and his team. we believe several of the top contenders have also completed their vetting process. they changed weekend plans, including the pennsylvania governor, josh shapiro. joining us now, yamiche alcindor, who has been covering the vice president and dean of the clinton school of public service, victoria defrancesco

soto. yamiche, what are you hearing behind the scenes about who might be left on the short list? does it depend on what the personal chemistry is in the meetings we think are taking place privately this weekend? >> that question requires me to look in my notes. we know there are a number of people who have been meeting with the harris campaign team. some of the names, we have a graphic, we have the governor of illinois and pennsylvania. senator mark kelly. we have a number of people. pete buttigieg. those are the names. gretchen says she has withdrawn. the governor of kentucky is someone who is having conversations. a number of the folks, most of the people other than whitmer, have shifted their schedules

around and our sources tell us the vice president will meet in person with these contenders. there might be more that we are not reporting. i heard there might be other names we don't know publicly because at one point the name was more than a dozen people or around a dozen. what we are hearing over and over is that this is going to be close. it might be obvious because there's this rally on tuesday where she's going to go to philadelphia with her running mate and kicking off the tour. i've been texting with people. they are saying, we're getting close, we're getting close. everyone at this organization is trying to figure out who is it going to be and when will she say it? things are moving along. more meetings and more conversations happening about what is going to make the difference between these people. one last thing, as you know having covered politics, one consideration that i was talking to a source to today said they want to pick someone who won't undermine her.

there's chemistry, are you ready for the job? but there's also, are you going to be okay standing in the shadow a lot of times of a black and south asian woman, the first woman to hold that office if she's elected? is that man going to be okay supporting her and taking -- letting her take the lead? not talking about ways to undermine her. a very important calculation is what i'm hearing from my sources. >> victoria, as the harris campaign is narrowing this short list down, will it try to avoid controversy? they have had less time to vet than is traditional because of what happened. they don't want to make a mistake like sarah palin who had a big bump out of the convention in st. paul but then really showed her lack of experience. dan quayle had similar problems in the early months of the campaign. they can't afford that. they don't have that kind of time. or the j.d. vance childless cat

lady. what are the risks? >> as you noted, time is of the essence. in acknowleding this, that's where the campaign zeroed in on the short list. these are folks who have been in the national spotlight for a good while in different roles. some in executive roles, some congressional roles. i do think that there is strength there and making the vetting process earlier. the question in terms of the chemistry, i think it's important. this is going to be the person's co-pilot. for me, what i keep coming back to -- i'm going to put my bias on the table. i'm from arizona. the border is so important. we have reached the peak of a humanitarian crisis. this is a vulnerability for vice president harris. i think in looking at mark kelly, he is someone that can help with the border and with independents. >> yamiche, i want to talk about

the former president's appearance at the national association of black journalists conference wednesday. you were there. he made those false claims about the vice president's heritage. >> she was always of indian heritage. 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. now she wants to be known as black. i don't know. is she indian or black? >> she went to a black college. >> i respect either one. she doesn't. she was indian all the way. then all of a sudden she made a turn and she went -- she became a black person. >> to be clear -- >> this is a woman who went to howard university, an historically black college and was a member of aka. we don't have to explain the fact checking here. he was doubling down on this last night, posting a picture on truth social of her at some point with her family in indian

attire. what will be the lasting impact of his comments on race? >> i think there are two points. first is the lasting impact will be there will be a lot of african americans, especially african american women, but also african american men who will be deeply offended by this. in my conversations based on my reporting, that's going to motivate them to walk to the polls, to mobilize their communities, to talk to their neighbors. they see this as racist. that's the language i have been hearing from people as i talk to them about this. you talked about her credentials. she's having to define herself and make sure people understand her biography. she's been clear, her mother was indian, her father was a black man. there will be people that will go back and learn about her. i think that that is going to help the harris campaign. that's the feeling they are

telling me. her biography, her receipts, all of the things she's been doing her whole life underscore her racial identity. another thing is maybe have people think about donald trump again and remind them that if you do maybe not like kamala harris, but you have questions about donald trump, this is what you will get from republicans and donald trump. there are people who aren't fans of kamala who will be pulled in because of some of the comments. >> yamiche and victoria, thank you both. the fight for freedom. who are the americans left behind in russian prisons? you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. hell reports." this is msnbc. (inaudible sounds) (elevator doors opening) wait, there's an elevator? only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, ♪ ♪ liberty. ♪ ♪ ♪ have you always had trouble losing weight and keeping it off? same. discover the power of wegovy®.

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lyles will need a good leg here. can he deliver? here comes the pass! look at this kid! coming in tight on the line. team usa, what a run! it's gold for team usa. noah lyles with another gold medal. in case there was any doubt, who was the breakout star of these world championships. the family of an american who is still in a russian jail today and has been since 2021 and was left out of yesterday's exchange is speaking out. marc fogel was arrested three years ago at a moscow airport for allegedly carrying medically

prescribed marijuana. he taught in moscow and taught the children of our friend former ambassador mike mcfaul. he spent 27 years teaching overseas. his family today writing, we are completely heartbroken and outraged that marc has been left behind while the us government brought other americans home. both the president and his national security advisor responding to that criticism. >> we're not giving up on that. >> i have personally worked on the marc fogel case. >> joining me now, democratic senator bob casey of pennsylvania, a member of the intelligence committee and an advocate for his constituent, pittsburgh bred marc fogel. you have been working with the family to bring him home. his family says there's a glaring injustice here. the fact is, he was not declared

wrongfully detained. that's a legal status by the state department that begins the process of negotiating. now they say they are negotiating for him, for humanitarian grounds, that he is in prison so long and is not well. talk to me about the letter that you sent to secretary blinken, uring the state department to designate him wrongfully doe tan -- detained. >> it's important to remind folks, as ambassador and mcfaul has, that mark is a teacher who has health problems that have grown a lot worse in the time he has been incarcerated. we have to make sure that we continue to focus our attention on his case. his family is heartbroken that when this major deal came together marc wasn't part of it. i met with jake sullivan the other night and urged him strongly to do two things.

to continue to aggressively pursue marc's release and secondly, to say his name. that's been a big change over the last 24 to 48 hours. you see members of the administration repeatedly saying his name. that alone is a change. we have to continue to focus on his case. i believe based upon my review of the law that he should have been designated wrongfully detained. if that does not happen, our government has the authority and the resources to continue to pursue his release regardless of the designation. >> here on this program, we have been talking about him for several years. thanks to our friend mike mcfaul who has been an advocate for him. you are right, he has not got the celebrity or focus or backing. i have to say that "the wall street journal" and the gershkovich family have been mentioning him as well as they

did paul whelan, who was left behind last time because we didn't have someone to offer. we didn't have the help of the other allies as we just did. turning to politics, i want to ask you about kamala harris. she will announce her vp pick before tuesday in philadelphia. governor josh shapiro canceled his weekend activities, as have other finalists. is he a good fit for the ticket? >> no question about it. i'm not objective here. i know josh is a great leader in our state. very effective governor in the time he has been in office. he is also a good friend. i'm very biased in his favor. i think he would be a strong addition to this ticket. i think he would have enormously in pennsylvania but also some other states. most importantly, i think this is obviously the decision in the hands of vice president harris,

and it's her decision to make. there's no question i think he is prepared to do the job of vice president. if he had to, take over as president, he would be prepared to do that job as well. >> what would be the pluses and minuses of having the first historic black woman candidate for president and a jewish vice presidential candidate? >> i think they're all pluses. these are two very capable leaders. i think i was saying earlier today in an interview, i haven't seen this kind of enthusiasm and the intensity behind that enthusiasm since 2008 when barack obama was a candidate for president. kamala harris is off to a strong start. i think the vice presidential decision will be further evidence of strong momentum. >> senator bob casey, thank you very much. you are in a tough re-election fight.

the standing offer for mr. mccormick to come on our show as well. >> thanks. the inside story. how secret negotiations led to evan gershkovich's freedom. the inside story next. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. there's a treatment that can help: bulkamid and the relief can last for years. we're so glad we got bulkamid. call this number, today. get your bladder back. in our family there was a passion for glass making that's passed down through the generations. we stood on some pretty broad shoulders to get to where we are at today. on ancestry i was able to actually put together our family tree. each person is a glass worker. that's why we do what we do. we can't help it. the glass blowing - that's a part of our dna. it's in my blood, it's in my history. it's my job to make sure that this shop makes it to the next generation.

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now the inside story of the secret negotiations that led to the historic prisoner exchange as only "the wall street

journal" could tell it. in a thrilling article posted overnight, the journal recounts the account. it reads like a movie screenplay or a novel. titled "inside the secret negotiations to free evan gershkovich." it spotlights the unrecognized hero of the drama, the soft voiced, incredibly resilient mother ella milman. joining me now is the digital editor. thank you so much for joining us. you must be exhausted. >> exhausted and exhilarated. thank you. thank you for all of your support throughout this ordeal, the long 16 months. >> my gosh, it's been so absorbing, his heroism, his incredible work, and his parents. i want to talk about this amazing story. i don't know how you pulled it together. it reads like a spy novel.

we are learning about the role that ella milman played. she was the first to zero in on krasikov and pursuing that with everybody in the government and in germany. >> yeah. this story is incredible. i need to give full credit to the team of reporters on the story who have been really relentless in covering evan's story ever since he was arrested 16 months ago. some of the detail -- a lot of the detail that emerged when we published that story yesterday is emerging now for the first time, including to many people in the newsroom. you met ella. you have interviewed her. we have gotten to know her over this time. it was very clear to me early on that she was formidable. we would often talk about her as being such a great reporter. it's something that is quoted in

the story. you could sort of tell where evan gets his great reporting skills from. this gripping detail in there. i encourage people to read it. how she identified the potential paths and at times those paths evaporated and she picked back up. i remember going to see her and her husband and their incredible daughter in philadelphia last year. she was out walking in one of the parks in the center of the city. she was on the phone at the time to one of the lawyers. i know she spent a lot of her time out walking around and kind of constantly pacing. it became clear to me that this was someone who would leave no stone unturned and would go to the ends of the earth. what's incredible is really how central she was to this deal actually happening. >> i was really struck by something that she submitted herself to on one of her courtroom visits where she got

to see her son. she submitted herself to an interrogation, hours, by his russian interrogator, a brutal character. he was waiting and waiting and didn't know if she would be another prisoner to try to advocate for her son and explain as a mom only could that he is not a spy. >> yeah. obviously, these are questions that you hopefully will get to pose to ella herself at some point. i think she made a decision early on that she needed to have all of the information. that involved speaking to everybody that she could speak to. he is her son. every day she did whatever she could for him. it's just thrilling and striking. those times they went to russia, that was not without risk for them personally. some of the story we were all able to see in the public eye, like those touching images of them standing next to evan in the courtroom in russia, when he

was in the glass cage. she said, she couldn't remember what he said, her heart was bursting so much. behind the scenes, there was more unfolding. that's what really comes through in the story. >> she's just made of iron in some ways. i remember being in the fall at the atlantic council dinner at the u.n. meetings when she went up to the chancellor of germany. what can you tell us about the document, this clemency request where evan, ever the reporter, asked putin for an interview? >> that detail, everyone is talking about it. some publication in germany has done a story on the anecdote, which is at the end of our gripping story. i'm sorry, i'm going to give it away. one of the lastformalities evan had to go through, he was

allowed to leave russia with paper that he had written and some letters and other things that he had written while in prison. he had to sign this presidential clemency piece of paper. essentially, you are given a blank piece of paper. the person who is departing would literally just sign their name. evan, being evan, he filled the entire page with what he had to write and say to president putin. at the end, he submitted a proposal of his own, after his release, would putin be willing to sit down for an interview? everyone is buzzing about it. it speaks to evan and who he is. >> his parents are from russia. she had her own heritage coming out of world war ii, her parents. the fact that they came here and she gave both of her children

russian names. he learned chess. he was raised in that family, the cabbage soup and the rest. she had so much identification with russia as he did and is fluent in russian. the whole story is amazing. you didn't spoil any ending, because it's so gripping, i could read it over and over again. every publisher should be blessed with the teams you have and with the digital editor that you are. i want to meet you in person. >> likewise. thank you so much. thank you for the support. our hearts are bursting today for evan and his family. >> and all journalists as well. thank you so very much. >> thank you. and american icons, simone biles, katie ledecky, cementing their places in olympic history as we look ahead to another exciting week in paris. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. rea mitchell reports. this is msnbc.

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the gold after having pulled out from the 2020 games with the twisties. and with the possibility of more medals to come this weekend. and katieledecky, our hometown favorite, now the most decorated american female olympian after helping her teammates secure the silver in the 4 by 200 free style, it's her 13th olympic medal with one more opportunity for a medal tomorrow. joining me now from paris with more nbc news, olympic correspondent our own medalist stephanie gosk. tell us more about these impress ive moments for team usa, the team usa women specifically. >> reporter: andrea, the ultimate prize in women's gymnastics is this gold medal in the individual all around, and while certainly the team gold on tuesday was a big event for simone biles, and she performed so well, it really was about last night, and you know, we had been told all along she's been essentially unstoppable since she came back, that it was probably going to be a blowout, and that's not what it was.

it came right down to the wire, and she had to fight for it after a slipup on the uneven bars. it came down to that last performance, that last floor routine, and in that she was unstoppable, and it was an amazing moment to see, an amazing moment of redemption. i was in tokyo when she had to pull out for the twisties, and it is really a remarkable comeback, especially in a sport that is not known for its longevity, andrea. >> and track and field about to start, and we've got the women's basketball team heading to the semis. track and field, what are you looking for? >> so we saw sha'carri richardson for the first time run today. she had a qualifying heat in the 100 meters, and you'll remember that she had qualified for tokyo and ended up not being able to compete because she tested positive for marijuana, and it was really -- it was a surprising, shocking moment. she has come back, and she is racing really well and is an overwhelming favorite to win the

100 meters. we'll be keeping a really close eye on her, and as you mentioned, the women's basketball kind of an unbelievable moment. they played belgium, and they have moved on, but remember, with all of this news of the prisoner swap happening, brittney griner was on a basketball court here in paris. imagine how emotional she must have been yesterday and still the team won, and she played well. >> brittney griner, another of our heroes. stephanie gosk, thank you so much. have a great weekend. have some fun over there. >> thank you, i will. >> and we of course, we got to see evan gershkovich come home and paul whelan, so it's been a great 24 hours for us. and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." remember, follow the show on social media @mitchell reports and you can rewatch the best of our show on youtube, just go to msnbc.com/andrea. "chris jansing reports" with my friend and colleague peter alexander right here starting after a short break. after a short break.

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