superstar brittney griner after she was imprisoned in russia. lester holt joins us with her story from paris right now. >>> tonight, the big announcement from kamala harris, choosing minnesota governor tim walz as her running mate. the new democratic ticket making their debut at a rally this evening in philadelphia. harris picking walz, the progressive from minnesota, as democrats look to appeal to battleground voters in the midwest. our new reporting, what finally convinced her to choose him. donald trump slamming the new ticket as the, quote, most radical left duo in american history. we're on the trail tonight. >>> also tonight, tropical storm debby unleashing catastrophic floods across the southeast. the rising toll. at least six dead, and is the worst to come? we're tracking it. >>> another assassination plot allegedly targeting donald trump foiled. the suspect with purported ties to iran now charged. >>> team usa thrilling here in paris. gabby thomas winning gold in the 200 meter. the u.s. women's soccer team after a nail-biter against ger

when the brittney griner exchange was done, he was left behind. that was heartbreaking for them. he has been serving a false, you know, trumped up conviction on espionage charges. he's elated if he's one of those prisoners. we don't know. evan gershkovich, doing reporting and he was sentenced to 16 years in jail. there's a russian-american journalist, i do not know who was involved in this trade, who was also secretly convicted her name is alsu kemroshava, she was visiting her ailing mother, and she was arrested and convicted of spreading false information about the russian military or russian state. we don't know who's in this exchange, but it's extraordinary for them to come home. >> i'll let you take a drink of water while we have a chance to think about this because i can only imagine what it's also like, not just for them individually but their family members. i spoke with paul whelan's brother. i remember when brittney griner was released in 2022, and he talked about the anguish he felt for his brother and his mental strength. the fact that his brother was singing the ameri

brittney griner, but not freeing paul whelan. and we'll alongside her so certainly there's going to be a political discussion that follows this, but i think that president biden has talked for years about his ability and his work behind the scenes to strengthen the alliance's of the united states overseas. and there's no question that the u.s. and the white house in particular needed to lean on some of those alliances with multiple countries in order to secure the potential for a deal like this to happen. so certainly expect that to be something that we hear from the white house if and when this deal is to happen and something that we expect to hear from democrats more broadly plea absolutely. >> kayla is at the white house for us going to be bring us any updates you hear from there still here with us is jonathan franks, spokesperson for the bring our families home campaign. he was involved in the release and helping to secure the release of former us marine trevor reed in 2022 it's underway as all the reporting and what all the

now in paris, winning is griner's sole focus.ayer lounge room is fun. fun time. a lot of intense uno games. >> reporter: you and steph curry might be playing some uno? >> we might. he better watch out. i need to bring the uno revenge in that thing. >> reporter: sadly, no cameras allowed in there. but, all eyes on griner as she and her teammates go for gold. what do you want people watching from home to know about brittney griner right now in this moment? >> bg is locked in and ready to go. i'm happy. i'm in a great place, representing my country, a country that offered me to come back, and i'm going to represent well. >> reporter: liz kreutz, nbc news. >> what a fighter in all sense of the words. >>> coming up on the "today" show, the amazing racers. the stars that dominated the grueling 1500-meter race and set a new record in the process, speaking out about unexpected wins. >>> and the restaurant value wars are heating up, and it's not just fast food this time around. how chains like pf changs are getting in on the action. all t

olympian brittany griner. brittany griner helped lead the united states to victory 87-74 against belgium. and the reason that was possible, the reason that brittany griner was able to represent the u.s. in these olympic games and help the united states claim victory in women's basketball was because of a real feat of diplomacy by president joe biden. it was february of 2022 when ms. griner was detained in russia on trumped-up charges related to cannabis products that were found in her luggage. by august griner had been sentenced to nine years in a russian penal colony. but just a few months later in december of that year president biden announced that he had negotiated a historic prisoner swap, securing brittany griner's safe release. and that is why brittney griner was able to play today for team usa in the olympics. the biden white house worked to use the momentum from that deal to continue negotiations for other hostages. there was paul whelan, a u.s. marine, and there was vladimir, an american green cardho

certainly in britteny griner's case as well.ted about the fact that these are coming home. we recognize russia has other americans including mark foley. we want to make sure we get his last name right. but -- okay. we had previously said mark fogel. we got that from the national security advisor under trump and i believe that's correct. we're inconsistent and we'll work on that. steve hilton now, fox news contributor, steve. in a global sense we've accomplished something so much with all these other countries as well with their citizens that are going to be going home. your top line thoughts. >> i want to echo what you've been saying and all our guests. we celebrate for evan and the others and families, particularly evan and our colleague at the "wall street journal" and emphasize the point you made these are innocent people being exchanged for guilty people. hostage is the right word. my first thought when i heard this news, harris was to the political point that benjamin touched on earlier. why now? is there a connection with

griner was freed in exchange for convicted arms dealer viktor bout. >> so fans are. the grateful dead are rallying behind kamala harris for president. a group of deadheads are hosting a virtual fundraiser to raise money for the vice president's campaign for the oval office. the free online gathering is promising special guests and plenty of music. the virtual event is on august 13th at 8 p.m. donald trump's campaign announced today that it raised $138 million last month. trump's campaign says it has $327 million in cash on hand, heading into august. harris's campaign has yet to announce its july fundraising totals, or how much it has in total campaign funds, but we reported earlier this week her campaign has raised $200 million since she emerged last week as the likely democratic presidential nominee. our election coverage continues on the ktvu fox local app. it is free to download for your smart tv now available on all platforms. >> new at 11 tonight, emeryville police are searching for a man suspected of assaulting his girlfriend and killing her puppy. police say t

olympian brittney griner. brittney griner helped lead the united states to victory, 87-74 against belgium. the reason that was possible, the reason whitney greiner was able to represent the u.s. at these olympic games and help the united states claim victory in women's basketball was because of a real feat of diplomacy by president joe biden. it was february 2022 went ms. greiner was detained in russia on trumped up charges related to cannabis products found in her luggage. by august, she had been sentenced nine years in a russian penal colony. just a few months later, in december of that year, president biden announced he had negotiated historic prisoner swap, securing brittney griner's safe release. that is why brittney griner was able to play for team usa today in the paris olympics. whitney griner was not the only american prisoner held in russia. the biden wife has used the momentum from the griner deal to continue negotiations for other hostages. paul whelan, former u.s. marine arrested on espionage char

they had sought his release alongside grant griner's. but as we know, he was not included in that president biden took multiple meetings with the whelan the family in many cases, at their request and then the detention of evan gershkovich a few months after that, shortly followed the president began pounding the table a drumbeat of negotiations at ramped up, yet again, in the wake of that, as the administration sought to secure the release of both men. but when there were proposals that were put forward by the biden administration for several months. they were met with radio silence from the russians, according to sources that cnn spoke to at the time, but president biden in recent months has made it very clear that the release of those americans wrongfully detained overseas remains a high priority. perhaps his top a priority, especially now as he cements his legacy as a one-term president, he put out a statement after the july 19 sentencing of gershkovich to 16 years in prison after that very truncated three-day trial that gerschkovich

a wnba star for a massive weapons deal or in the case of the griner boot exchange. we should it also note it's not just russia that does this. iran does this as well. china does it. you'll remember the hostage deal that released american siamak namazi, as well as others that involved a multi-billion-dollar exchange of cash from the u.s. to avant to iran via proxies. china has done similar when a senior executive with huawei was taken by canada for extradition here in the u.s among one joe, they immediately took to canadian citizens in china as collateral to then get her release. so we are in a period where these countries use hostages to get what they want and that's why there is understandable concern and about exchanges such as this. >> alright, i want we'd have some very significant details here, just breaking at this moment, the exchange we understand we are getting the number of prisoners, 26 people involved according to turkey which intelligence there says they brokered and mediated this between seven countries, 26 individuals involved that would be it appears

we know what happened with brittney griner, and brittney griner was eventually exchanged as you know,ms dealer, not a spy, but viktor bout was an arms dealer in american custody, but according to all of my reporting for more than year now, he was the last russian spy or russian high-level prisoner who was in american custody. so i have been told for quite some time that this would definitely have to involve other nations, other american allies being willing to release their prisoners, their russian prisoners, people that they have worked very hard to capture, in exchange to try to get americans out, and so to make that possible, clearly this had to be a very carefully, you know, very complicated deal if it, in fact, has taken place, and that's what we are talking about. there was a great deal of reporting, ours and others, and public reporting, acknowledgment that there is a russian assassin convicted of killing people in berlin, in germany on a life sentence, and that is the one person that vladimir putin has told a lot of people, told the late bill richardson, told u.s. negotiators

nobody could really understand why britteny griner would be the only one released at the time. gershkovitch wasn't in custody at that point but paul whelan was. his family has been stalwart and recognize them if you saw them. they've been on our air and evan's family, brave sister and wonderful friends who has kept his name in the news and also say this. from the moment he was taken, the "wall street journal" has been absolutely on the case. they had people dedicated 24/seven to making sure that he could come home and nobody forgot and we did that piece recognizing his days there, his one year in prison, and i think that we'll learn a lot in the coming days but i do think thanking the "wall street journal" for their leadership on this is important. >> bill: our building in mid town manhattan is 40 stories tall. if you go to the subway below our building on day one the journal had a poster of evan gershkovitch and it said bring him home. today it still stands there. until we see physical evidence and pictures and talk to the family we'll go with caution here. to the white house

griner tonight saying she is head over heels for the families.own with robin roberts last year to talk about her arrest and imprisonment, which all began when russian customs found cannabis cartridges in her carry-on bag. >> you know there are those who say, come on, how did you not know that you had cartridges in your luggage? what do you say to the skeptics? >> i would say, have you ever forgot your keys in your car, left your car running? it's so easy to have a mental lapse. >> juju: the prison where griner was sent known to be one of the worst in russia. >> what were conditions like in that particular jail? >> really cold. you go there to work. there's no rest. >> juju: today, the white house sharing photos of the newly freed americans en route with the stars and stripes. from russia, they were led across the tarmac by soldiers and onto a waiting plane. gershkovich appearing to crack a smile in his seat. russian defense ministry video showing they were released in turkey. >> until it happens, you never know if this is actually going to work t

they weren't going to give him up for griner.ul got left behind so sadly for another few years -- another year and a half. talk to me about what it takes to negotiate with russia and to get all these other countries involved. >> i say two things. not knowing the details but knowing the players. first, there's -- my guess is there had been multiple channels of negotiations at the very highest levels. i won be surprised if bill burns was involved. roger carsons has been involved. tony blinken. the president of the united states. multiple channels working this for months. that's my guess. i don't have facts. that's my guess. >> i can confirm that from firsthand conversations that that's all true. second, you said something really important abo this was -- without that, this doesn't happen. remember, he is a killer in germany. i know the details when they were being negotiated for navalny. i think two things. one, without that, this doesn't happen. we need allies. we need friends in the world. we are better off with them than without

brittney griner was arrested, and the two of them came home. each of them were exchanged for a single russian in the russian the us judicial system. and he was essentially left behind our colleague jennifer hansler spoke to him repeatedly and he expressed his sadness at not being exchanged, not being freed, but at the same time, he expressed his happiness that others got to, got to be releasing, got to go home. trevor reed said upon his release that he felt bad that paul whelan we're still in captivity and that he would continue to work for his release. so we're so happy for all of these prisoners who were released today. but i'm thinking specifically of paul whelan who has had such an an arduous and horrific ordeal over the past, almost six years. >> they were names being shouted out from some of the press about some who have been left behind as well. and there has been criticism of, or at least concern for those who still remain in particular, someone named marc fogel so there are he's another american he was convicted of drug smuggling he wa

they saw they could get back from venezuela and victor back for brittney griner and now they can see they can get a kgb criminal assassin who killed someone in broad daylight in a park in germany they can get him back for evan. that this is unfortunately the track record of the biden administration. having said that, i never criticize deals to get americans home because it is so great for them and their family. if one of my daughters or my wife was held hostage i would do every thing i could to get them home. but we have to understand all we are doing is transferring the misery that the families now to the future family of someone else and that is why trump did not engage in these deals. we inherited massive numbers of wrongful detainees and hostages during the obama administration that got almost no one home. that number was very low. we had a deal, john, for paul whalen to get back on a handshake deal that i made in geneva but when we lost the election the russians pulled that back. i feel terrible that was another three and a half years but we had a deal to get them home and unfor

where we have seen other people like brittney griner when they're brought back to the united states, what we civilians might call it a reintegration training, what they -- the military calls it post isolation situation awareness. where they call it pisov. they bring them back and put them through meetings with counselors, with doctors, they'll talk to people about what they went through. sometimes you have americans who are coming back who have been held for years in dangerous, deplorable conditions. they may need very basic reintegration on things like sleeping in a bed again. they may not have even been held in a room that had a bed. they may have to reacclimate themselves to things like sunlight. it can involve weeks of this training, the families will often be brought in as well where they will go through how they can help their loved one reacclimate to being back in the united states, being back in society. so, it is -- every situation is different. they can go through this weeks long process. and i will say, brook army medical center where oftentimes people are brought back to

that's just after brittney griner was released in a prisoner exchange. this was negotiated through intelligence channels, led by the cia. and the russians would not agree to a swap without vadim krasikov. he was that assassin in germany who was convicted of murder. the germans would not agree to any type of prisoner swap without him involved. secretary of state antony blinken was the first official, according to a senior administration official to reach out to russia about the deal after griner's release through his russian counter part, sergey lavrov. jake sullivan, the national security adviser here at the white house, he was engaging his german counter part throughout 2023 and 2024, but the real breakthrough in this, chris, was in january of 2024, when president biden called the german chancellor and invited him to the white house. the president told the chancellor that a prisoner swap would be on the agenda for the meeting, and the goal was for a deal to include alexei navalny and the release of vadim krasikov. things changed after alexei na valueny

the december 2022 release of griner started the process involving seven nations, back-channel conversations 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 p

brittney griner was released. then paul whelan was not. that is something the ministration decided they were going to try for to get him released. discussions began. then evan gershkovich was detained and the idea of doing something bigger comes into the mix. it was critical to get germany on board with releasing the russian assassin that wanted to make clear he wasn't going to cut a deal. once that happened, they felt it got momentum. then as peter mentioned, -- was supposed to be part of it and only negotiated between the u.s. and germany. once he was pronounced dead, they had to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to do this. over the past couple of months, that is what they have been doing. this was playing out, they made offers to the russians that were rejected. as it came to a head, you have this parallel track of president biden. he is overseeing this momentous moment where he was eyeing a significant victory and giving families a lot of joy they have been waiting for. at the same time his own political careers unraveli

it was more helpful for brittney griner for the vice president for a long period of time to not speak up more, to not raise the temperature. so there was a lot of conversation in negotiation about the stuff and all these things are overlapping circles to the vice president talks about our venn diagrams but a lot of these things are over overlapping circles. and you have to figure out what's the right thing to do. and i listened to j.d. vance and i just think this guy is just sold his soul to the donald right? he is out here just saying whatever it is that donald trump wants to say without really thinking about what it's going to mean for the country or for maybe the rest of his political career. and it's a shame to watch them do this. >> alright, we'll all thank you very much. i appreciate it on this historic work workday to be able to speak to all of you. next, the man who has been key to this entire historic day, this prisoner swap deal since the very beginning the investigative journalist christo grozev, it all started when christo wrote down the name of one man on a cocktail. now

and that exchange of the us basketball star for a brittney griner and that exchange of the us basketballor bout, at the time, there was, according to some people, including former president donald trump, criticised that, saying it was too heavy a price to pay and he also said on truth social in 2022, he said they had the opportunity for an exchange of paul whelan, the us former marine, with that arms dealer, who he called the merchant of deaf. a one—on—one exchange and he had decided to rule it out because it would be seen as too costly, but presumably of course washington had continued with these negotiations and to considered that, due to the nature of who they would hopefully be getting out today, including evan gershkovich, of course, the most high profile right now, but also paul whelan, who has beenin now, but also paul whelan, who has been in prison for such a long time, since 2018. been in prison for such a long time, since 20113-— since 2018. politically, is the biden administration - since 2018. politically, is the biden administration going l since 2018. politically, is the |

high-profile people through here include bergdahl, brittney griner and benjamin hall. >> steve: theyoing to be sammed for next couple of days. 24 hours ago, we had some inclination this was about to happen, we had embargoed information. it was important and the government stressed to not reveal the names too soon because you cannot trust putin and he might do something at the last minute. that has been shown time and time again. you have a government that will seize people, trump up charges and use them as bargaining chips. when you deal with their egos, you can threaten the freedom of people you are trying to get released. it is very sensitive at th threshold of release here. >> brian: i never thought multiple countries. i did not know we had five russians of various smuggling, counterfeiting and cyber crimes. they disappeared from the prison rolls. you have sloef sloef and germany involved and i couldn't believe the ukrainian war had income to do with it. both sides had so many pri prisoners. >> steve: key was germany. united states had to convince germany, we get americans back if

how agonizing was it when trevor reed, a fellow marine, got out and then brittney griner, who had --and now mark fogel and others are left behind. >> paul realizes that this was part of the russian playbook all the while. had there never been a paul whelan there wouldn't have been a trevor reed, a brittney griner, an evan gershkovich, alsu kermashena. paul has an understanding as he's trying to understand what was happening on this side of the atlantic that he was just exploited and reexploited as were, i believe, all the american public by what's happened to paul. so obviously something has to be done in the coming years about hostage diplomacy. it's no way to run foreign relations policy between countries. so hopefully this is something that the government will focus on to ensure there's never a paul whelan again. >> clearly a policy of vladimir putin's. what -- the secret steps behind the scenes that got him out? was it enlarging the deal to include more people in the trade? >> yeah. ultimately, look, the white house was very firmly committed to getting this done. across all of go

i can remember interviewing brittney griner and reading her book. to think of what they've been through. i want to get back to you. i've interviewed him multiple times. he was a frequent guest. he's literally -- he was on "the reid out" as well. one of the bravest people i ever met. before when he was getting de-miced, i asked him, why in the world would you go back there? i asked him, why would you go back? he said, absolutely. i'm a russian politician. this is what i have to do. one of the bravest men and most committed. i nt wa you to talk about him for a minute if you can, ambassador mcfaul. >> i've known vlad for decades. i've watched his career. i've watched the up and downs of the opposition movement there. the there were glorious times when it looked like they were surging and it looked like they were going to bring democracy back in 2011, 2012. he was then part of the harder period when he was on your show when they were mostly in opposition trying to figure out what to do. he went through the same tortuous decision that alexi navalny went

you have two people brittney griner and mark vogel broke the laws and went to jail for it and got the book thrown at them because they are americans. in my opinion, it is not the same basket as evan gershkovich who went to do his job approval from the russian government to do and was accused of being a spy. so i don't want to see a butcher release to get mark vogel home then i want to see a butcher to get brittney griner home. i want a government that imposes enough fear and the hearts and minds of our enemies and everything they do or at least enough respect their enemies don't do anything like this. so in my opinion, he is the toughest one to root for because they will ask for a lot more than we should if up. and there was at least a morsel of legitimate see of him being in trouble to begin with, and that it's a little bit tougher. >> dagen: moving on to the middle east, the whole world on edge as iran and hezbollah retaliation for recent killers of top tier leaders. and on the brink of a wide war, israel at the center of it all. president biden spoke with prime minister benjamin ne

if we go back a year-and-a-half in this timeline after brittney griner was released, the u.s. was continuing efforts to try to get paul whelan out in a month later in january of last year i'm told that the cia met with the russians in an unspecified third country and offered a new deal dl2. russian spies from slovenia for paul whelan, that offer was rejected by the russians repeatedly, including after burns continued to push it and then in march, evan gershkovich was also detained and a couple of months later, the u.s. went forward with a new deal. the cia took it to the russians in moscow saying, we can now offer for of your spies from slovenia, from norway, from poland, in exchange for both paul whelan and evan gershkovich, that too was rejected. pam and the russians made clear that they would not do any deal without that fsb assassin, vadim krasikov, that set off months of discussions trying to figure out how they could come up with different formulations. the name alexei navalny, the russian can opposition leader. he was added into the mix but that was going to take a lot

we saw the same thing happened with britteny griner in 2022. they wanted to make sure they had everything secured and the information come out that way. for president biden, they've been vocal about their efforts to free both evan gershkovitch as well as paul whelan. he was arrested back in 2018. the administration was facing pressure every time there was a development with russia what about paul whelan and his situation and the administration said it was working every day to secure his release. then we saw what happened with the "wall street journal" reporter after his arrest and then what has transpired. the "wall street journal" has been public in trying to keep evan's name out there. we in the media have been doing our part. the correspondents dinner a spotlight to bring him home and other americans detained. the focus on evan from the media's perspective has been tremendous. president biden had put out a statement two weeks ago after evan had been convicted and sentenced to 16 years if prison and said it was a sham and felt something had t

in 2022 following griner's imprisonment on cannabis charges, there was a lot of concern that releasing someone like that was completely disproportionate to release someone like that in exchange? for an american basketball player on a trumped up drug charge. >> victor boot cut a figure so legendary in the arms trafficking underworld that he's widely acknowledged as the inspiration for nicholas cage's character in the movie, lord of war. >> the arms bizarre was guided missiles on guns mortars, minds, armored personnel carriers, whole tank divisions analysts say there was no weapon. >> victor boot wouldn't sell for the right price and to devastating effect, if you look at the wars that were directly impacted by his weapons deliveries, you can see they escalate directly in proportion to the amount of weapons arriving. so i would say certainly, you know, tens of thousands of people suffered, if not hundreds of thousands of people because of the weapons he was able to deliver what's in store for vadim krasikov back in russia, analysts save vladimir putin will probably make him into a hero an

oil will be a big deal as well. >> that is interesting information for the release of brittney grinersomething that spearheaded the disappointed families at that time up paul whelan and evan gershkovich and an impetus for their release. i can only imagine the family of marc fogel today hoping there was some impetus today that leads to his release. thank you for that release. we certainly hope so. let's bring in fox news chief political anchor bret baier. when you listen to the president's words, in the first question that was asked about what you say to abductor states and the response being, don't go to these places. i just wonder about the future of journalism, the future of bright journalists who want to shine a light on otherwise authoritarian despotic and opaque regimes. i wonder if that message applies to journalism as well. >> good afternoon. that is a good question. i think there are big questions going forward. let's take 30,000 feet on this day. it is tremendous to get these people back. looking into this deal, it is going to play out exactly who these people are and what it

griner was released from a russian prison in december of 2022 after spending ten months in custody.rt and later freed as part of a prisoner exchange in exchange for a convicted russian arms dealer. this morning we talked with robert moret, a retired vice admiral and deputy director of syracuse university's institute for security policy and law. he explained what is next for the newly freed americans. >> the first one is the medical, dimensions of this, to make sure that, all of the folks that we were able to get released, are have the sufficient medical care of all types, whether it's physical health, mental health and so forth. >> after that, he says, the americans will be debriefed so that the government can learn as much as possible from their experience. and while the united states completed the biggest prisoner swap since the cold war, researchers say there are still dozens of americans wrongfully detained abroad, according to the james w foley legacy foundation, there are at least 43 u.s. nationals currently being held hostage or wronlyetaid in 16 countries around the world. a

. >> i mean, there their cases are nearly identical for any griner same court different sentences. both were sentenced to the maximum one of the most frustrating times of my life to not be heard or taken seriously we don't have the nba and we don't have the wall street journal backing us. and we've mark has been largely ignored and he needs the designation because she needs real medical treatment he fell he's fallen multiple times. it's very cold where he is and there's lots of ice things are just not going well for him he spent the last month and a hospital where there are no doctors, but he's given multitude of injections and not having any clear understanding of what they're giving him and you can imagine how terrifying that would be a senior us official says, the white house, tried to include fogel in the swamp, but wasn't successful. >> the official also said the administration will keep redoubling its efforts to get him out of prison can you militant leaders assassinated and now growing threats of retaliation against israel? bill latest on the turmoil in the middle east comin

wnba star britney griner was here after her imprisonment in russia. released a statement saying in part we are overwhelmed with joy for the u.s. citizens who were returned safely to the united states today. we don't know exactly how long they will be here. each one of them will vary, the timing here. but we do know as soon as they are given the all clear as civilians, they can then be with their families and return home when they are ready. whit? >> whit: all right, mireya, thank you. joining us now is white house national security adviser jake sullivan. jake, good morning to you. it's great to have you. we saw a different side of you yesterday, getting emotional talking about those difficult discussions behind the scenes. and then overnight, you witnessed that special moment. i wonder what was it like watching those americans step off the plane on u.s. soil? >> it's really hard to describe. it was such a human victory. three innocent people reunited with their families, their loved ones. getting to see that was just incredible. but i think it was als

that's what we've seen before with griner for example. and then really there's paul whelan, the former marine embracing someone there. and then they go through this process of trying to acclimatize back to life to be checked for medical conditions. but also, i'm sure they maybe he isn't conversations with it's a military base, so have some military will want to get glean what information they can as well from these three former prisoners in russian prisons to see what else they can find. got to remember, there are still americans in american prisons, so a bit of a bitter a sweet moment here but a huge moment in diplomacy, western diplomacy, working with russia to see this moment now, will this prisoner swap leads to warmer relations between washington and moscow? >> i small we'll have more on that after the break 1968 that was this eighth in the american spirit. >> i was happy. >> i shall not seek, and i will not accept the nomination. we should my party for another term. as your friend, 1960 years. >> sunday at nine on cnn. >> do not buy

your member that brittney griner was released in a prisoner swap and then paul whelan was not. he was left in russia and that was something that the administration decided that moment they were really going to drive towards getting him released. so discussions began and exploring ways that that might be possible. then evan gershkovich detained and this idea of doing something much bigger comes into the mix and they really, it was critical for them to get germany on board with releasing this russian assassin who putin very much wanted to make clear that he wasn't going to cut a deal unless that was part of that deal. and so once that happened in january, february, around that timeframe, there was nobody there, they felt like this really got momentum and then as peter mentioned, the alexi navalny, who is supposed to be a part of that, this was only being negotiated between the u.s. and germany at that point it hadn't gone to russia. once he was pronounced dead at they had to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to do this. and so over the past couple of months that is

, you know, that that got brittney griner out. paul whelan was not set free. and that generated some criticism. and again, politics is not really a night for politics. but but politics are are seeped into to the potion here. yeah. no doubt. and i think there's something to be said. and steve alludes to it of president trump negotiating from a position of strength. i mean, frankly, during his four years, russia, iran, china, north korea, they didn't know quite what to make of them. yeah and he kept them on edge. and i think even turkey, which is kind of a rogue member of nato right now, needless to say, trump pressured erdogan, the strongman there, to release pastor andrew brunson, a few years ago, and the us didn't give much in return there. trump basically said, hey, you're going to do this. so he exercised that leverage with erdogan. and by the way, one side note, trace, i wish president biden would stop saying stop and don't to america's enemies because every time he does it, they ignore him. tonight he says about putin, stop h

initiative, when it comes to the ukraine war or the prisoner swap that we saw that release brittney griner, which also took place in turkey. so turkiye played a pivotal role here. now, as you're hearing from mj there are americans who don't get included in these prisoner swaps that is the sad part of days like this. marc fogel, who is an american teacher, who was detained and sentenced to 14 ten years in prison, facing charges of drug smuggling. his family just found out today that he wasn't included. that's according to his lawyer who i spoke with, xi he said to me that the white house didn't call their family. she said that they were shocked. they're really upset. we'll hear more from them. i am sure, but that is one of the challenging he says of days like today, we heard from the secretary of state who spoke to the fact that the biden administration has been working on this so tirelessly inside sometime the families, even those who are involved in the swap today, we're being released from russia today. didn't know if those efforts would actually pay off. now they're seeing that they wil

with whether in fact the person meet certain criteria for outrage in the united states, which brittany griner did. and mr. fogel, mark folk well does not. so why do you think that the double standards, the why, why we're russian political figures, even though they have us citizenship favorite over ordinary american citizens with no political backgrounds like market photo, it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that this is an election year and, and they're trying to get in political points perhaps, you know, they're definitely trying to gain political points and they don't care about people that represent the main stream of american society. like a white male, for example, who was merely a teacher who had a certain percent certain amount of medical marijuana. whereas brittany grinds, for example, in black female basketball star. i probably have more marijuana and did not have it wasn't medical marijuana, it was recreational marijuana. so it just, it just proves that this administration is playing politics with these people. it is using them as political ponds in order to score points wh

daylight days and days on ends showing what russia tyranny really is, i want to point out that unlike grinerm celebrity faction because case was blown up she was rightfully rescued as well but that was very lopsided deal brittney griner in exchange for illegal weapons merchant evan did not get star power case should have been amplified. >> dubious ridiculous spying charges cents eliminate in a russian gulag almost 500 days. >> horrific it is great news, just sort of as you think about what political what is going on politically do you wonder does president putt putin do this because he doesn't want president trump in office things about russians supporting trump clearly would prefer a weak united states, and view kamala harris as weak leader beneficial to them. maria: great point, we are going to take a short break -- and come back, with final thoughts you are watching "mornings with maria" live i fox business. stay with us. .you uld ea . chase freedom unlimited. so, if you're off the racking... ...or crab cracking, you're cashbacking. cashback on flapjacks, baby backs, or tacos at the taco

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. >> jos

host: here is "usa today" on brittney griner.first olympics since russian imprisonment, brittney griner more grateful than ever. brittney griner knows the face she presents to the world is often a mask. she knows what you see, a 6'9" kid who loves skateboarding, it is only a fraction of the truth. to outsiders, it looks like she has moved on quickly from her 10 month detention in russian custody, but that terrifying and isolating stretch of time that would have broken most people, as she poses for photos with fans, it looks like things are back to normal, that are not and she is not. she will begin play early next week and her third olympics. she is the defensive anchor for the team. brittney griner is a member of two teams, already winter of two gold medals, but she knows this one would feel different." it says, "what she has gone through the last couple of years is unprecedented, and to be able to put this jersey back on and to be at open ceremony last night" -- it goes on "22 months ago when americans headed to australia for t

. >> it is interesting because we recall that brittney griner was convicted on a similar charge.r. there is that kind of thing you hope? >> well, there is a real contradiction there, isn't there? that is where we get into the whole favoritism of celebrities. it is hard to deny that. it has been, it's been bitter. mark is, of course, twice her age and with a whole series of surgeries. the last 10 years he was in moscow, he had three major surgeries. one on his hip, one on his shoulder, two weeks before he left for russia and then the fusion on his back. so those are big, painful things to with -- deal with. >> that's right. anne, you said he knows about the swap. is that because you spoke with him? >> yeah. my sister-in-law and nephew wrote to him. they broke it to him. he called my mother yesterday morning. >> what was his reaction? >> he has not been able to get out of bed. he is devastated. he is devastated. we saw trevor rego home, we saw brittney griner go home and now you have seen the historic swap of the last 70 something years happened, of which he was not included. it ha

it's the eighth consecutive gold for the american women and american brittney griner, emotional after as she was getting the medal, as well as during the national anthem. >> griner, a two time gold medalist, was in a russian prison two years ago for drug possession charges. and at tonight's closing ceremony, the olympic flame is passed on to the next host city, los angeles. the 2024 games are over, and now the focus is on 2028. >> reporter laura diaz shows us l.a. city officials were in paris for the handover and to get an in-depth look at what it takes to put on the biggest sporting competition in the world. it really is absolutely spectacular right now. >> the entire city of paris is alive with energy and excitement. >> that's a buoyant l.a. councilmember tracy park talking to fox 11 from the paris olympics. park is there on official city business. as you see here, hitting the ground running in the city of lights. just a couple of days to absorb how l.a. can learn from paris. >> we have a much larger geography to cover, which i think reinforces how important transportation and conne

really as you mentioned, it started after brittney griner was released in december of 2022, and it went from there. but if you just take what happens starting in january when the u.s. felt like it really got a breakthrough with germany because that was the sticking point whether the germans were going to allow this russian fact to be freed. russia wasn't going to deal without that happening. in january, the president called the chancellor and said let's have a meeting. this is on the agenda. they met in february and tay agreed to have alex see navalny as a big prisoner swap. days later they learned alexei navalny died. they never proposed that deal to the russian officials who thought they were close. then it collapsed and they had to move on to a plan b. and that's what's been happening in recent months with a number of meetings. the president wrote the chancellor a letter in really trying to pull all of this together. at the end of june, they finally thought they had an offer to give to russia that they might actually accept and they did. they told the u.s. on july 17 that they would

i want to play some of what britney griner said after she came home about finding a new normal, whatever that means. >> we have to find a new normal. you know, your whole life changes up. at first it was such a shock, having security with us, and just how we move about our lives. >> david, can you even express what that's like to come back and you're trying to reintegrate, you're the focus of a lot of attention. your family is going through it as well. >> the early stage is extraordinary. you can go eat whenever and wherever you want. you're with your family, this terrible worry and pressure that's been on them is relieved. again, as i said earlier, it's just pure joy. you face a channel, and i think of evan here, he, you know, russian american. he always wanted to cover russia. that was his dream as a journalist. he has done that. as long as vladimir putin is ruling russia, he cannot go back to russia. his career is over as a russia correspondent. it was many years ago, the taliban, but i decided to stop, you know, being a foreign correspondent, to stop covering conflict. i'm an editor

griner, who is currently representing the u.s.. the president earlier with family members at the white house, touting the complex diplomatic efforts. jake sullivan becoming emotional as he discussed conversations with the families yesterday. >> today -- excuse me. today was a very good day. >> reporter: in exchange for the american prisoners, eight russians convicted on a range of cyber, financial and violent crimes, returned to moscow thursday, receiving a hero's welcome from president putin. >> joining us now david ignatius and carol lee. carol, you've got brand new reporting, a behind-the-scenes look at just how this extraordinary deal went down. >> that's right, jonathan. we're told from officials this is something that has been in the works for nearly two years. the administration has been trying to get paul whelan out for some time. they weren't able to do that in november of 2022 when they freed britney griner. once that happened, they hit the ground running trying to find some sort of deal to get paul out. that went throug

a couple of years ago and when griner was traded for boot, there was a lot of resistance within the biden ministration specifically from the department of justice who saw this as a way of incentivizing the kidnapping of people like paul whelan and evan gershkovich. now, we did hear jake sullivan pushed back against that today. he actually said that he doesn't believe there is any real evidence to suggest that based on an analysis that he says was carried out by ambassador there, roger carstens, who is the u.s. special envoy for hostage affairs, who does all of this negotiating around the world. so when asked how they can prevent this kind of thing from taking place in the future for americans getting picked up in the future and then eventually having to be traded, they answered this is why americans need to find hello, are suggestions and right now of course, the biggest suggestion for russia is simply don't go there. that is something that is, that it's told to american civilians, to american business people, and to us as journalists as well. it's really drilled into us that you are in d

olympian brittney griner who said in a statement yesterday every american returned is a win. unfortunately, there are several other americans still being held in russia who were not part of yesterday's prisoner exchange. anne-marie? >> a good reminder. leah mishkin, thank you. >>> coming up on "cbs mornings," u.s. national security adviser jake sullivan will join us to talk more about the prisoner swap and how it came about. >>> and now to the presidential race. and instead of trying to quiet his critics, former president donald trump is doubling down on falsely questioning kamala harris' racial identity. he posted a -- on social media yesterday a family portrait of the vice president and wrote, "your warmth, friendship, and love of your indian heritage are very much appreciated." pennsylvania governor josh shapiro canceled a fundraising trip this weekend among speculation he could be kamala harris' running mate. she's expected to make the announcement next week. ed o'keefe reports. >> reporter: speaking at the funeral for the late texas congresswoman sheila jackson lee, vice

and you remember that we saw that with brittney griner with a swap for a russian who was being held in a viktor bout. so this is you're right, a very complex picture. it is. it is happening right now. an administration official saying that we can report right now that that parties have agreed to a prisoner transfer and that they are now in a position where they're expected to soon be in us custody. now, is that evan gershkovich? he was held in march 2023. so he's been in prison now for more than a year. the wall street journal reporter and recently sentenced to a quite severe sentence. yes, he was. he was sentenced recently and that happened quite quickly. and that raised questions about exactly what the russians were doing and whether something like this was being prepared for. and then there is paul whelan. he's been in prison there, a lot longer since december 2018, and there were hopes when brittney griner was released that paul whelan might be released as well. he wasn't. could he be among those who are now heading towards a possible freedom? people very worried that he could be l

following griner's imprisonment on cannabis charges, there was a lot of concern that releasing someonee that was completely disproportionate to release someone like that in exchange? for an american basketball player on a trumped up drug charge. >> victor boot cut a figure so legendary in the arms trafficking underworld that he's widely acknowledged as the inspiration for nicholas cage's character in the movie, lord of war. >> the arms bizarre was guided missiles on guided missiles, mortars there's minds, armored personnel carriers, whole tank divisions. >> analysts say there was no weapon. victor boot wouldn't sell for the right price and to devastating effect, if you look at the wars that were directly impacted by his weapons deliveries, you can see they escalate directly proportion to the amount of weapons is arriving. so. i would say certainly, you know, tens of thousands of people suffered, if not hundreds of thousands of people because of the weapons he was able to deliver. >> what's in store for vadim krasikov back in russia, analysts save vladimir putin will probably make him i