when she comes off that plane, when she walks off that plane, when her wife hugs her, when that moment happens, that is going to be decade defining. people will remember that. it should show us what we can do when we stand together, show what we can do when we don't give up on too many people. we give up on each over in politics all the time, blocking people on facebook and twitter. we get so mad and let go of each other's hands. you grab hold of each other and look what happens. >> her life will never be the same again. >> and, by the way, if she ever touches another basketball on the court, the whole world will watch, and that will transform women's sports. >> van, thank you. glad you were here with us. >> such important perspective on such big news. cnn special coverage of this monumental, the release of brittney griner now on her way back to the united states continues right now.

good morning. i'm erica hill. >> i'm jim sciutto. we are following major breaking news this morning, and it's good news. brittney griner is on her way home. the wnba star imprisoned in russia has been released this morning in a prisoner exchange for a convicted arms dealer, victor boot. president biden spoke moments ago at the white house. our team following all these developments this morning. erica, the president saying that greiner lost month of her life and suffered needless trauma. let's first go to cnn senior white house correspondent m.j. lee. president biden flanked by vice president harris and brittney

griner's partner. did he have anything to say about paurl whelan? >> i think momentous is the right word to describe what we saw this morning. the president, first and foremost, celebrating this news with brittney griner's wife cherelle saying that the last couple of months have been hell for brittney griner and now she's able to come back home and be reunited with her family. it was notable that so much of this speech he had to give this morning had to do with addressing paul whelan who was not a part of this deal. i want to play a little sound of him discussing whelan. >> we never forgotten about brittney. we've not forgotten about paurl whelan who has been unjustly detained in russia for years. this was not a choice of which american to bring home. we brought home trevor reed when we had a chance earlier this year. sadly, for totally illegitimate

reasons, russia is treating paul's case differently than brittney's. we're not giving up. we will never give up. >> reporter: jim, i want to walk you through what we know so far about why paul whelan didn't end up being part of this deal that was announced this morning. a u.s. official telling me that, of course the u.s. has been trying for months to make sure brittney griner and paul whelan were both part of this deal. this is a deal they have been pushing for and put on the table to the russians. more recently the russians simply made clear they were only going to get brittney griner. that griner was the only person that could be a part of these negotiations, and essentially the reason had to do with the fact that they simply saw the two people and the two cases as being separate because they were accused of two different things. even though the u.s. continued for whelan to be part of this deal, there came a point when officials had to ultimately accept that they were not going

to get paul whelan. i was told by this official that it was a choice to get brittney or nothing and ultimately this was a difficult decision for the aren't and one that he thought was the right one to make. a separate administration official told me this morning this was the only deal we could make right now. again, i think there were two tones that we heard from the president this morning. we'll continue to hear from other officials, one of real celebration that, again, brittney griner after so many months will be returning to the states, but also the recognition that paul whelan is still there and still not free, and this is something that they are going to have to continue to work on because now we know victor boot wasn't enough to get paul whelan o out. >> we want to bring in kylee at wood at the state department. as we talk about the entire team as we see who is with us, what more do we know about how it all

played out? >> i think it's important to take a step back here and take a look at how many months in the making any kind of deal or prisoner swop like the one we're seeing today actually took for u.s. officials. there was a deal on the table that included viktor bout, the infamous trafficker of arms serving a 25-year prison sentence here in the united states. then the united states went back and forth with russia. russia wasn't amenable to the oftens that the united states was putting on the table. they were asking for things that u.s. officials said if united states was simply incapable of delivering on. clearly during the course of the last few months, it became clear that, as president biden said, this wasn't a choice.

russia was only willing to offer up a deal that included brittney griner and not paul whelan. we're waiting to hear when that actually changed. u. sf officials had been repeatedly saying that their offer was for both of these americans to be released. it's also important to note that the secretary of state put out a statement today thanking the entire state department team who had been working on this. we know the intelligence community was work ong this deal. but roger car shens, the special representative for hostage affairs at the state department according to blinken is now with brittney griner. of course, they're headed home. i think it's important to note that what paul whelan's brother said on cnn earlier is this was the right decision for the biden administration to make. he welcomed the fact that brittney griner is coming home. the real question here is how paul whelan will now be able to get home. he said in his statement that

it's clear that the united states doesn't now have any concessions to offer russia because we know russia really wanted viktor bout. he's questioning what else could they offer up to get paul whelan home. >> honorable comments from the whelan family, they're happy for the griner family, but devastating news that paul whelan is not included there. kylie atwood, thanks so much. abby, yo morning and let out a huge sigh of relief. this has been for her, as she said, the darkest time of her life. this is a young couple that's been through quite a lot together. i think we have a little bit of what she said from the podium. let's play it. >> today my family whole. as you all are aware, there are so many other families who are not hole. b.g. is not here to say this.

i will gladly speak on her behalf and say b.g. and i will remain committed to the work of getting every american home including paul whose family is in our hearts today as we celebrate b.g. being home. we do understand there are still people out here who are enduring what i endured the last nine months of missing tremendously their loved ones. >> this is something that has definitely taken over cherelle griner's life as it does for most of these families. to give you a sense of her frame of mind, when cherelle griner became one of these families, she was brought into the fold. i actually met her at an organization, the foley foundation. they had a gala dinner. she was just in the first few weeks of this. they really embraced her, those other families. one of the things that became very clear was paul whelan and trevor reed released earlier this year, they have been detained in russia for years. there was a real prospect this

could go on for much longer. as you know, jim, russia is not a hospitable place for black people, for gay people. there was a deep fear here that she could be engulfed in a global struggle that was totally out of their control. >> she was sentenced to nine years. these penal colonies, as they're known, they're labor camps, stalinist labor camps. the conditions are horrendous. i'm cher cherelle must have been worried about her state of mind, her state of health. >> she was terrified. earlier in the summer when images came out of brittney griner as she was in detention going into court, she had a really stunned look on her face. i spoke to cherelle shortly after that. she said, you know, i talked to her. they were writing letters to her. i talk to her and i said you can't let them show you like that. that's part of the propaganda campaign, she believed, was to make brittney griner seem almost animalistic, in a case,

physically in a cage. as we got further in the fall, i spoke to her again after she met in the white house with president biden. cherelle griner was very hopeful but was deeply fearful about brittney griner's state of mind. this is before she was transferred to the penal colony. she felt like brittney griner was deteriorating mentally and emotionally under the conditions that she was in and with the prospect that this could not be resolved. >> conditions designed to demean. abby phillip, thank you so much. erica, we should discuss this, this was deliberate, the u.s. viewing her as wrongfully detained. russia has a habit of taking americans and people of other nationalities as bargaining chips to use them for people like a viktor bout who was convicted of far more serious crimes. >> absolutely. as abby pointed out, her concerns that her wife was being used as part of this propaganda

campaign. frederik pleitgen is with us along with nick paton walsh. you've reported extensively from inside russia. you were there during the trial. how is this playing out this morning? >> first of all, the russians are making it seem as though it's a big victory for russia. some of the statements from the russian foreign ministry, they say they've been working on viktor bout's release for a long time and said the u.s. wasn't open to it for a long time. we know from what kylie was saying, this went through a lot of up and downs. when the u.s. came out and said, yes, they had put a substantial offer on the table to try to get brittney griner released, the russians were irate and said they wanted to stop the entire process because all of it had to happen behind kwloesed doors. just a couple days ago the russians came out and said they

believed there wouldn't be further talks about prisoner swaps until the end of this year. clearly something was going on behind the scenes. the public messaging from the russians was very different. one of the things i was hearing abby speak about, what brittney griner went through, and i saw that firsthand. having been at her trial, it was one gut punch after the next for brittney griner at that trial. if you look at her legal team, they put together a great defense for her. they had some witnesses who talked about the fact that some of the evidence gathering didn't happen even according to russian law, that there were problems with the analysis of the cartridges that allegedly contained the cbd oil, that the amount of cannabis in that was absolutely minute, i think .7 gram. you have brittney griner brought in in shackles to that cage, had to sit in there for hours on end, she was always respectful to the court. she always talked about how much she respected russia, talked

about how much she respected her teammates. there were character witnesses who testified to the fact that she did a lot for basketball in russia and that she did a lot for her team in russia as well. there was absolutely no leniency on the part of the court. all this was one gut punch after the next. one of the things her legal team spent a lot of time with was keeping her spirits up. by the way, the u.s. embassy played a big role in that, the embassy in moscow as well. she was brought to that penal colony. it's extremely difficult psychologically to come to terms with that because it seems so final. for her, it must be a big, big moment to finally be out of this. >> we should let folks know, these are penal colonies, first built by stalin. they're hundreds of miles from moscow. they're designed to demean. they're labor camps in effect. nick paton walsh, you were the last person to sit down with viktor bout for an interview. he denied in the interviews he

was guilty of the crimes he was charged with. he called them bs. the fact is, those crimes were well documented. tell us more about him. >> reporter: he found himself expedited from thailand to the united states, a complicated sting put together by the dea, pretending to be colombian terrorists and got viktor bout to agree to supply them with high-tech weaponry. that led to a lengthy expedition back to the u.s., convicted and put in a u.s. jail. a career history, an extraordinary litany of crimes that involve the proliferation of small arms, heavy arms across africa during some of the nastiest wars of the '90s and early 2000s. you name it. in the '90s and 2000s, their accusation that viktor bout would have been involved. he always denied that entirely. jim, that was the extraordinary

paradox here. why is a man who says he's basically an innocent pilot and businessman shipping food stuffs or other materials around the world, why is he of such extraordinary value to moscow, a man they spent thousands assisting in his defense, trying to get him back. now at a time of the worst relations between moscow and washington, this remarkable deal where high-pro-file american held by russia is switched for a possibly higher profile in the mind of russians russian in american custody. that's quite extraordinary. the broader theory about who viktor bout really was in the past is perhaps he was a man close to russian intelligence. perhaps we knew people who went on to be senior in vladimir putin's circle. he may have had information on them. that was another theory, again, that he denied. a man of massive value to the kremlin. they're obviously glad to have him home. one whose real pass has not been

truly elucidated. >> you make a good point, what would russia be so interested in him if he was someone just shipping food stuffs around the world. we're joined by natasha bertrand, david sanger, nic robertson. david, the president spoke about paul whelan a great deal here and expressed his disappointment and sympathy for his family's disappointment that he was not part of this deal. he said the russians said whelan is different. where is whelan left now in all this? who can be traded for him? >> not in a good place, jim. first of all, incredibly joyous moment, huge moment for biden i th think. obviously brittney griner is such an iconic figure for so many people, this is what people are going to remember. that makes it in some ways all

the tougher for paul whelan who obviously doesn't have that kind of public profile, an ex-marine, has been in russian prison for four years, is in poof health. frankly, the one who putin wanted to get out of this was viktor bout. now that the u.s. doesn't have him to offer, as abby and others made the point before, it's going to be a really tough thing. what is it that you can give the russians that would make a difference here? that makes you begin to think that the only thing comes out of prisoner swaps at a moment that biden knows sooner or later he's going to be in negotiations with vladimir putin about ukraine. >> nick, to pick up on that ukraine point, there's a very important question of why now. none of this is happening without vladimir putin saying, okay, go ahead with this. so do we have a sense of beyond viktor bout what else putin may be trying to get out of this? could this be him trying to wage

this for some sort of good will as there may or may not be an effort for a diplomatic resolution or some sort of resolution in ukraine? >> if you're asking that question to me, i think putin has been trying to get and curry good favor with president biden for some time, particularly since he annexed those regions in ukraine, particularly since he's been trying to use that as a defining moment to get peace on the terms that he wants. he knows that exchanging brittney griner and not paul whelan for viktor bout is the better move for biden. he knows this is a better play for biden. he's trying to give biden something he wants to improve his relationship with biden at the moment and try to get biden -- it's always seen in the united states as the partner to deal with for peace in ukraine on putin's terms, that biden is the one that he wants at the

table, not the ukrainians. it does seem to kind of fit into that play. i think it also -- the fact that these conversations for this exchange have been going on in the background, despite the war and the tensions and no space at all for putin and biden to meet, no space at all since earlier in the year for blinken and lavrov, the russian foreign minister to meet. this shows that conversation have been happening, can happen and will likely happen in the future. i think that is very instructive. but read into this putin has given biden something that he thinks biden values. we've seen the value of it in the last few minutes. >> the diplomatic channels, it shows they are open. evan perez, viktor bout, when were they involved in this exchange?

>> the concern at the justice department, the fbi, dea, these are law enforcement agencies that worked for years to get viktor bout, they finally managed -- this was the operation where they captured him, got him in thailand in 2008, was something that a lot of people put blood, sweat and tears into. so the concern i've heard since we reported in the summer when these conversations were happening, was it does set a precedent for other americans and puts more americans in danger. look, once people thought that perhaps paul whelan was going to come home along with brittney griner. there was perhaps a little bit more acceptance. but the idea that now it's just a one-for-one deal, it comes across very badly, certainly among law enforcement officials, as an epically bad deal because, as you have been pointing out, there's less to bargain for to

get paul whelan home. so this was briefed to officials in the last few days in the past week or so, and they made their objections known. i should point out the justice department never likes these deals, but this one seemed to be epically more probalematic for people. >> in terms of who was briefed when, how it played out, i found it interesting that david whelan noted that this time the officials let us know in advance that paul would be left behind, he said, unlike last april. the white house learning something in those moments in terms of what happened with trevor reed and clearly not wanting to make a similar mistake this time around. >> yeah, because they know the russians play games. just last week the russians were saying very publicly that they were not going to negotiate with the americans until the end of the year. so sending very conflicting messages publicly and privately.

over the last several month there had been these negotiations and the white house said the russians were not negotiating in good faith. we reported a few months ago in exchange for paul whelan and brittney griner the russians were asking not only for viktor bout but also for a convicted russian murderer who is in a german prison, someone who the united states doesn't even have custody over. the u.s. viewed this as not a serious attempt by the russians to negotiate, and they understood i think that the russians were unlikely to be willing to do a two-for-one swap, even for someone like viktor bout who has committed allegedly such serious crimes. i think that now the u.s. is going to move forward and see whether there's anything else they can do to release paul. but because of how russia view's paul's alleged crimes there, espionage, it's likely to be treated very differently to how brittney griner's case was there. >> erica, we should note, an

american is coming home. before today there was no guarantee of that, and she was sentenced to nine years in prison and could have spent much more time there, far from a perfect deal. but the headline here is that someone who did not deserve to be sitting in a russian penal colony doing forced labor in effect is going to be reunited with her family. >> and it is such an important moment. you could see the joy in her wife's face, and you heard it in her voice. as she said, she feels deeply and is obviously still so connected with the family of paul whelan and others who have been detained, other americans and says they'll continue that fight. but it is an incredible moment of joy for the griner family. thank you all. still to come here, much more on our breaking news this morning, brittney griner is free. she is on her way home. we'll bring you all the latest details. stay with us. the conversation continues.

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following major breaking news this morning. wnba star brittney griner is on her way home. she was released in a prisoner exchange with russia for convicted arms dealer viktor bout. >> it's my job as president of the united states to make the hard calls and protect american citizens everywhere in the world, anywhere in the world. i'm proud that today we made one more family whole again. so welcome home, brittney. >> joining us now to discuss, william taylor, former u.s. ambassador to ukraine. ambassador, good to have you on this morning. i wonder, you have dealt with russia for years. you know the difficulty of negotiating with the kremlin, and you also know how russia operates. they deliberately take foreigners including americans, in effect, as bargaining trips in trades just like this one. do you consider this a good prisoner swap? >> i do, jim. i think this is a good outcome,

certainly for brittney griner's family, for her, for the united states. she's acted with dig annity all along, this is a good move. the criminal that we swapped had served time, dregs of the earth, send him back. you asked the right question about why the kremlin is so interested in him. we've got brittney griner home, and that's the good thing. >> when we see her coming home, the joy in her wife's face and in her voice even just listening to her, it is impossible of course not to think about paul whelan. that was brought up by the president, brought up by cherelle griner. jonathan franks made the point earlier, who helped work on behalf of trevor reed's release saying in terms of russian propaganda, whelan is put up there as the greatest spy of all time. with that in mind, the concern now is what or who may be left

that could be a bargaining or negotiating tool to bring him home. do you see anything right now that the u.s. could use as leverage to bring him home? >> i don't. i don't see the obvious swap. one of your correspondents mentioned earlier some question about the ukraine negotiations. i think there's nothing there. i think there is nothing there. the negotiations to end that war are going to be between the russians and the ukrainians when the russians agree that they're losing this war, when the ukrainians are ready. when the ukrainians are ready, they will have that conversation. so i don't think there's anything in that negotiation for paul whelan. >> i want to ask, because we have another story this morning on cnn regarding the u.s. sending cluster munitions -- considering, rather, sending cluster munitions to ukraine. i wonder why cluster munitions

when we know that what ukrainians are pushing for more aggressively are longer-range missiles, particularly air defenses as well, and that is what many nato allies -- i spoke to the lithuanian prime minister yesterday who was making a similar case. >> you're exactly right. what ukrainians need are the long-range missiles, the ability to fire deep into the territory that the russians control. they control a lot of ukrainian territory as we know. they're firing into that territory is important for the ukrainians. it's important actually to be able to attack the russian military units that are attacking ukraine wherever they are. we've seen that the ukrainians have used their own weapons to fire into and to attack targets in russia. they're using their own weapons for that. there's no reason why they couldn't use long-range u.s. weapons to do that. europeans, also, jim, have those long-range weapons that could be

provided to the ukrainians. >> what are you seeing in terms of the shift we're seeing in terms of long-range weapons? >> i think there's clearly a debate going on with the administration. the debate has been on going for some time. we've seen the increase in the lethality, the range and the weight of these weapons, start off back nine months ago. now we're all the way back to himars. i think they'll soon get to the conclusion that the long-range weapons ought to be provided to ukraine. >> we've had two hostage negotiations, trades, since the start of the russian invasion, one for trevor reed and one leading to the release of brittney griner here, you say those are a long way from substantive negotiations over the end to the war in ukraine. do you see russia's commitment to this war, it's coming to terms with losing this war becoming more realistic?

or are they digging in for the long haul? >> they seem to be digging in for the long haul, or at least president putin does. i think it's daunting for a lot of russians around president putin that this is a loser, this war is not being won. they know they're not winning the war on the ground. they know they've got problems with their own people who are fleeing the country rather than volunteering or being drafted into the russian military. they know they've got pressure from their right wing. so president putin has all this problem, in addition to the chinese telling him to back down. so i think this is a problem for president putin. and i don't know if he's figured it out yet. but when he does, then he'll probably be able to tell them come to the negotiating table. >> ambassador william taylor, thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you, jim. still ahead, more classified documents. what we're learning about the trump legal team's latest

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with qualifying internet. well, we fell in love through gaming. but now the internet lags and it throws the whole thing off. when did you first discover this lag? i signed us up for t-mobile home internet. ugh! but, we found other interests. i guess we have. [both] finch! let's go! oh yeah! it's not the same. what could you do to solve the problem? we could get xfinity? that's actually super adult of you to suggest. i can't wait to squad up. i love it when you talk nerdy to me. guy, guys, guys, we're still in session. and i don't know what the heck you're talking about. cnn has learned that two documents with classified markings were found in a florida

storage unit. a person familiar with the situation say it is documents were handed over to the fbi and no other documents with classified markings were found during a search of four of trump's properties. >> two more were found. this is in addition to what the fbi recovered back in august, around 100 documents marked as classified or higher, this during a search of the mar-a-lago estate. all this amid lingering concerns that the trump team has not returned all documents that belong to the federal government. cnn senior crime and justice reporter katelyn polantz. this is the trump saying we have to look and make sure we don't have more stuff. they look around and find more stuff. what are the legal implications? >> this is part of the long history, this struggle where the federal government has really tried to make sure they have all of the federal records back that they believe are theirs after the trump presidency. the thing think want to make sure especially about is any national security material is secure.

that's a very foremost concern. it's what led to this criminal investigation. there was a sealed court proceeding, after the search in august, the justice department wanted to make sure there was nothing else out there that really needed to be back in the hands of the federal government. so trump's team ultimately did go and hire their own search team, and they looked at four different places. they looked at trump tower in new york. they looked at bedminster golf club in new jersey, and then they looked at an office and storage unit in florida, finding these two additional classified records now back in the hands of investigators. all of this is going to be part of this long history now in the criminal investigation that includes looking at possible obstruction charges. so the handling of national security records is at the core of that. >> just quickly, any indications that this storage unit was secured in any way? the concern is these classified documents could be accessed by someone else. >> the reporting from kaitlan

collins and sara murray is these stored records were some of the things that the gsa had moved. there was a question of who packed them, how they were packed, who saw them. that's something that investigators will be looking at. >> all right. it continues, kaitlyn polantz, thank you so much. still to come, right now on capitol hill, house lawmakers convening. a vote expected to day on the legislation that would protect same-sex and interracial marriages in the country. we'll take you live to the capitol next .

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the hill. in the next hour house speaker nancy pelosi is set to hold a vote on protecting same-sex marriage. you'll remember this passed the senate already. now to the house. it will be one of the final bills for her as house speaker. >> cnn congressional correspondent lauren fox is on capitol hill. lauren, the house expected to vote for the respect for marriage act. if it passes, how soon could we see the president sign it? >> reporter: this is a significant and momentous moment on capitol hill. it is the last stop in capitol hill for this piece of legislation. it already passed in the u.s. senate with a dozen republican votes. we expect it will be bipartisan today in the house as well. of course, next up will be the president's signature. this is going to be a high priority for the white house. this is an important step for them, and it comes at such an interesting time, just months

after the overturning of roe v. wade and as concerns really exist up here on capitol hill about the future protection of privacy rights in this country. you saw a lot of democrats arguing this had to happen before house speaker nancy pelosi passes the gavel to republicans in a few weeks. this is a huge moment for the speaker herself. this is an issue she has been working on for decades. she wrote that her very first floor speech on the house floor really dealt with the aids epidemic and the need for congress and public officials to do more to combat that epidemic. there was also such a fight in her history for overturning don't ask don't tell as well as passing multiple hate crimes legislation. it's such an important moment for her. she'll have a bill enrollment ceremony celebrating the passage assuming that's what happens in

just a little over an hour. >> and perhaps bipartisan legislation as well. it was bipartisan in the senate. lauren fox, thanks so much. still ahead, police in idaho say they have now received thousands of tips after those four college students were murdered in moscow, idaho. next, the one tip police say they want you to hear because they believe it could help solve this crime. ♪ thankfully, amazon had just the gift to bring the families together. ♪ shop legenendary deals. i see an amazing place. feels like a dream. a place of many wonders - and fullf life. i open my eyes: earth is our pandora.

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investigators in moscow, idaho, are asking the public for help. they say they're now looking for at least one person who was seen inside a white sedan like this on your screen here, near the

crime scene on the morning they were killed last month. this is a 2011 and 2013 hyundai elantra. >> investigators believe that person who was in that white car could have more information on what happened understandably. this tip just one of thousands that has poured in over the last few weeks. veronica miracle joining us with more. a lot of hopes being pinned on this car, veronica. >> reporter: well, jim and erica, to give you a little context, the street where this house is located, it is a residential area where university of idaho students live and it is right across the street from campus. so every morning you see students walking to and from class from this street. the street is also leading to a dead end into a parking lot with an apartment complex so the cars that you see on this street are the same cars from all of those students, it's not a street where you're going to be passing

through just by accident. and so police definitely believe through a tip that this car may have been out of place and they're asking for more information based on the tips that they've received. they sent out a statement saying that investigators believe that whoever was in this car might have critical information to share regarding the case and they want to know that if anybody who has a car matching this description or if anybody knows of anyone who drives this kind of vehicle, it is a small town, so it's possible that people could spot this kind of car and call that in. they're asking for those tips. they've received thousands of tips and it's a big reason why they've been able to shape this case and kind of get an idea of what happened according to police and i'm told it's also why they don't want to put out a reward at this time, because putting out a reward could potentially dilute those leads and they've been getting strong information according to police. that's what i've been told. now, yesterday, we did see

police packing up some of the belongings of the victims and other roommates who live there so that family members can get those items back. they say this house, of course, still a crime scene, but they want to be able to let those families continue to grieve, get those belongings back to them as they continue to mourn their -- the victims right now, so that is the information that we have at this moment. of course, so much still developing and police really looking for more tips as they continue to build this case. jim, erica. >> yeah, that house, a crime scene and a scene of so much sads in. veronica, thanks for the update. still ahead here in the cnn newsroom, she is headed home. wnba star brittney griner released from a russian prison. the latest that we're learning about this exchange for a russian arms dealer and her homecoming. that's next.

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top of the hour, this thursday morning, quite a day of news, i'm jim sciutto. >> i'm erica hill. we do begin with this major breaking news, brittney griner is now on her way home to the united states. the wnba star released this morning in a prisoner exchange with russia. exchanged for convicted arms dealer viktor bout. here's president biden this morning at the white house. >> it's my job as president of the united states to make the hard calls and protect american citizens everywhere in the world, anywhere in the world, and i'm proud that today we had made one more family whole again so welcome home, brittney. >> cnn national security correspondent kylie atwood is at the state department. kylie, state department,