♪ this is "nightline." >> byron: tonight, hunter biden. the president's son indicted on federal gun charges tied to a period in which he admitted using crack cocaine. how the white house is responding. plus, crisis disploepcy. honoring bill richardson's legacy. working tirelessly to free americans imprisoned overseas. >> did everything possible to bring me home.

>> behind the scenes of his final mission with public relations guru jonathan franks whose work led to the release of ra mean veteran trevor reed from a russian prison. >> i'll yell from the we love him. >>. >> byron: how he plans to continue the mission. cakes, having a moment with popular television shows, racking up views on social media. >> i feel it's inspiration for people at home who are, hey, i want a little hobby, i can do this too. >> byron: fans can't get enough of this hyperrealistic version of sugary contexts. >> i started noticing when i started making the cakes and the more realistic they were the attention they were getting. >> byron: is this a cake, or is it a fake? oh... stuffed up again? so congested! you need sinex saline from vicks. just sinex, breathe, ahhhh! what is — wow!

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handgun then possessing that gun illegally. hunter biden bought the colt revolver in 2018 when he was at the height of his addiction. he has acknowledged using crack cocaine, at times as frequently as every 15 minutes. >> i went one time for 13 days without sleeping. and smoking crack and drinking vodka exclusively. throughout that entire time. >> reporter: when biden bought the gun, he filled out a form saying he was not a drug user, which prosecutors say made the purchase and possession of the gun illegal. felonies that could put him in prison for more than a decade. tonight, hunter biden's attorney accusing the special counsel of bending to political pressure from republicans in congress, insisting hunter biden possessing an unloaded gun for 11 days was not a threat to public safety. today's news coming as president biden was delivering a speech on the economy. no comment on his son's indictment. >> there's a lot more i know we could talk about, i wish i had a

chance to take all your questions. but i'm going to get in real trouble if i do that. >> byron: our thanks to pierre. we turn to the life and legacy of former governor bill richardson. remembered at his funeral today as a master negotiator, perfecting the art what was he dubbed fringe diplomacy, freeing american imprisoned overseas. we go inside his final mission with a man who worked closely by his side. here's abc's matt rivers. >> thank you, bill. thank you, god. bless you. >> reporter: governor. u.n. ambassador. presidential candidate. bill richardson wore many hats. >> we have with us today former political prisoners and families of current hostages that bill richardson worked on releasing. >> reporter: but his lasting legacy, a master negotiator, helping write home americans detained abroad, like wnba

basketball star brittney griner. >> brittney griner has gone released from russian prison. >> reporter: and marine trevor reed. >> the u.s. marine veteran imprisoned in russia for nearly three years -- >> governor richardson and countless other professionals that have stepped up to help us -- >> richardson was the secret weapon. >> richardson was fringe diplomacy. i would call that a retired diplomat using a first-class rolodex to create outcomes with current decisionmakers. >> reporter: while richardson has been the public face of high-stakes fringe diplomacy, behind the scenes supporting richardson, jonathan franks, a pr crisis consultant who also has a calling to free americans held abroad. >> i sit around thinking of how to get americans out of prison in foreign countries. >> reporter: earlier this year, franks and richardson were in acapulco, mexico, one of the world's deadliest cities despite

its beauty. >> i was preparing to do what i always do, launch a medium barrage -- >> reporter: the mission, free this american navy veteran, james griswold. >> i've been unlawfully detained for 13 years with no trial. >> reporter: franks' job today, the tricky task of proving he was wrongfully imprisoned for murder in mexico, a close partner of the u.s. >> i'm pretty convinced they had no eyes on this case in the state department back in washington, d.c. before i started asking questions. >> reporter: franks calls himself a fixer. in this case he was hired by the frisvald family because the state department considered him a criminal defendant, not a wrongful detainee. what do you say to the people who say, what you do is counterproductive, what you do is a sideshow, what you do makes the u.s. government's job harder? >> the fact is they could make me irrelevant. all they have to do is go make some decisions that actually do stuff, right? the only reason families turn to third-party interlocutors is the

government often isn't doing its job. >> reporter: the state department did not want to comment on the case specifically but told us it works tirelessly to bring back americans detained abroad. franks grew up in washington, d.c. and from an early age was instilled with a sense of duty to country. >> most of my family on my mother's side served. and a lot on my dad's side. i was born with two bum knees. this is sort of a way for me to make up for the fact that i haven't served. >> reporter: franks says his consistent advocacy is driven by his addictive personality, but that also led him down a dark path in his early 20s. what were you addicted to? >> pain pills. i was front end of the opioid epidemic before anyone knew it was an opioid epidemic. and you know, those pills had me. >> reporter: his mother passed before he reached sobriety. when you think about your mom not seeing you get sober, there is a motivation in doing what

you do now that has some sort of relation to that? >> yes. i mean, i think there's -- this is very much -- there's a big piece of this is that is about my desire to seek some redemption for a lot of mistakes i've made in the past. >> reporter: after getting sober, franks moved out to california and started his own crisis pr firm. his focus soon became freeing american prisoners abroad, which he concedes doesn't pay very well. the 41-year-old has helped secure the freedom of a handful of detained americans, including navy veteran michael white, held in iran for 20 months, navy veteran taylor dudley, former marine trevor reed, both held captive in russia. >> we do have political prisoners all over the world in multiple countries who are suffering and who need our help. >> reporter: trevor reed was arrested in russia back in 2019 after a night of heavy drinking with friends. reed's girlfriend at the time said he became unmanageable

inside a car, and she forced him to pull over. reed's friends then called the police, who took reed to the station to sober up. but the next day, everything changed when police abruptly charged reed with assaulting the officers who brought him to the station. >> just a complete and utter sham. >> reporter: reed was sentenced to nine years in a russian prison camp. >> at the moment where trevor reed was sentenced, no, i don't think his parents thought the government was doing enough. >> reporter: back in the u.s., reed's parents, joey and paula, hired franks. >> trevor's parents were absolutely relentless. they were willing to go on at all hours of the day my role was to make sure trevor's parents were everywhere. >> reporter: april 2022, reed was released after months of negotiations between the u.s. state department and russia. he was exchanged for constantine yaroshenko, a russian pilot

convicted of drug smuggling. >> i want to cherish every moment that we have with him while he's here. >> reporter: the biden administration said, quote, his safe return is a testament to the priority my administration places on bringing home americans held hostage and wrongfully detained abroad. >> my name's john franks -- >> reporter: a week after trevor reed came home, franks, the reeds, and more than a dozen families of u.s. citizens held abroad created the "bring our families home" campaign. >> i'll yell from it the rooftop, we love john franks. >> i get stuck on, how many more james frisvalds are there in mexico? >> reporter: last winter, franks was working with bill richardson on his last mission, to free james frisvald, accused of murder. >> it wasn't much of an investigation. >> reporter: months of visits to the prison where he was held paid off. a judge overturned frisvald's

conviction and he was released after 13 years. >> i've never seen anything like this before. >> reporter: richardson and franks flew in this private jet with frisvald from mexico to reunite with his mother and sister in california. >> good god. >> reporter: james frisvald would be the last american bill richardson helped free. >> he's left such a big hole in the enterprise. it's certainly bigger than any one man. >> i it this world will miss a mod ill of diplomacy in which everybody could still talk to each other. in which one realizes that value of talking for the benefit of the whole world exceeds the

political risk of doing so. >> our thanks to matt. up next, cake masters. the hyperrealistic sugary confections causing a sensation and taking over social media. e . now i feel free to bare my skin, thanks to skyrizi. ♪(uplifting music)♪ ♪nothing is everything♪ i'm celebrating my clearer skin... my way. with skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. in another study, most people had 90% clearer skin, even at 5 years. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. thanks to clearer skin with skyrizi -

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♪ >> byron: welcome back. the masters of cake fakery causing a sensation on social media, racking up millions of views. the bakers behind the boom and why fans are so addicted. our ashan singh takes the cake challenge.

>> reporter: one of these potatoes is actually a cake. can you guess which one? is it this one? how about this one? is it any of them? does any of this make sense? why would a potato be a cake? let's step back for a minute. no matter how you slice it, baking is having a moment. >> what do you guys think of this cake trend, love it or hate it? >> reporter: whether on social media, tiktok, youtube, or tv. >> the texture of your flapjack, it looks a bit wet. >> oh, yeah, that's because it's not baked yet. >> ah. >> reporter: i mean, who here hasn't binged "the great britain baking show" on netflix? wherever you get your sugar fix, one thing is clear. all these videos of people stacking, icing, and crafting cakes are here to stay.

what do you think it is societally about baking that we love so much? i mean, it is just a cake, at the end of the day, right? >> i feel like it's inspiration for people at home that are just like, hey, i want a little hobby. i can do this too. >> reporter: a little hobby? doing big numbers with billions of video views online. it's transforming ordinary people into culinary superstars. michigan mom and former schoolteacher veravat whose channel has millions of followers and hundreds of millions of views. at what point did you realize this is bigger than just running your own small business? >> it wasn't until tiktok, to be honest. and just all of us under covid, everything in lockdown. it really started to explode, and i was like, there is no way all these people are this interested in watching cake decoration or even the cake process or whatever it is. that's when i knew, well, this was great, let's keep going.

>> reporter: of all the mind-blowing, mouth-watering cakes out there the craziest trend has got to be hyper-realistic cakes. i could just tell you what it's all about, bud i'd rather show you. let's take a field trip. we're in austin, texas, right now. and it's known for its famed texas barbecue, pulled pork, brisket. today we're here for something a little different. a little sweeter. a little weirder. so real, it will have you doing double-takes. as far as baking goes, there are cake artists, and then there are cake artists. there's no doubt natalie sideser is the cream of the crop. >> today i'm going to make a cake of a popular trend from the past. >> reporter: natalie is the queen of the hyperrealistic cake. that is a cake. that does not look like a cake. which came first for you? the baking or the art?

>> the art came first. i've been making art since i was a kid. and i studied it -- actually studied hyperrealistic art in college and a little bit in high school. >> making the dishes dirty is totally a side serve cake detail. >> since i had the background in art to make realistic art, i found a way to make edible materials in cake and make it here-realistic too. i also noticed when i started making cakes and the more realistic they were, the attention they were getting. >> reporter: it's really hard not to look at this and wonder, is that really a snake? or a cake? whatever it is, in just the last few years, natalie has made cake out of everything. from basic everyday essentials to the truly insane. you must be getting reactions all the time? does it get old? >> no. it's my favorite. i get to prank people. >> reporter: and today we're going to look to turn something, anything, into a cake.

now when you're at the grocery store, are you constantly racking your brain? what could be a cake? >> yes. so my husband, dave, does all the grocery shopping. i sit there and just stare at items. could this be a cake? could this be a cake? >> reporter: you think you can make a cake out of a sweet potato? >> absolutely, i can definitely do that. >> reporter: want to give it a shot? now, you like eating cake? or is this just a canvas for you? >> it is a canvas, but i also eat a lot of cake. >> reporter: you kind of forget that this is a cake, at a certain point. it kind of feels like you're just working on a sculpture, right? >> oh, yeah, definitely. >> reporter: almost like magic. before my eyes, the cake really starts to turn into a potato. >> there's just certain areas that i want to color match a little better. >> reporter: to get the full effect, my producer brought out real potatoes to try and trick me.

>> you're looking at them. you have to pick one potato and that one has to be the cake. otherwise, you lose the game. so dramatic. >> reporter: oh my god. i'm going to get this wrong, oh my gosh. all right. let's try this one. >> here. >> reporter: yep, that's the one. >> right here? >> reporter: yeah. >> are you sure that's the one you choose? >> reporter: yes. >> feel good about it? >> reporter: i don't feel good. but -- moment of truth. we got to see if my potato is actually a cake or if it's a potato. and that is not a cake. that is not a cake, i got it real, real wrong. so i'm feeling like a dummy. now we're going to actually cut into this, right? i've waited all weekend for this, just so you know. >> now the pressure's on. >> reporter: yeah, this is a cake. i'm so excited. this is the thing. oh my gosh. what is it about cake and

baking, i guess? >> i think that throughout history, cake is this way to celebrate. you're celebrating graduations or weddings or birthdays. so that to me is great. i love that i get to work with something that has a history of being celebratory. >> reporter: you cool if we take a bite, actually eat some of this cake? >> absolutely. >> reporter: cheers. >> let's have some. >> reporter: awesome. that is the best-tasting sweet potato i've ever had. >> i agree. >> byron: our thanks to ashan. coming up, close encounter. an alligator targets a girl scout troop in texas. discover the ozempic® tri-zone. ♪ ♪ i got the power of 3. i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death

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>> byron: finally tonight, too close for comfort with an alligator. >> look how big it is! >> byron: the 14-foot predator terrorizing the troupe of girl scouts at a lake in texas. the girls fleeing from the lake as horrified onlookers sprang into action to hell then escape. an 11-year-old saying, "i was thinking this is the day i die." another witness comparing it to a scene from a movie. everyone is okay. thank goodness. that's "nightline" for this evening. catch our full episodes on hulu. see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night. ♪ ♪ it was time for a nunormal with nucala.