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

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

much as you want to home because he had a marine that was there longer. >> no question, when brittany grinerand obviously, look at, we went all americans home. we don't want anyone being illegally or wrongly detained or mistreated, but there was a lot of frustration obviously with respect to the paul whelan beginning to be held as part of that original agreement just a few years ago. so we are awaiting the details and i don't over speculate. >> brian: are you surprised you don't know more now? >> no, and to be fair this is obviously a sensitive negotiation and we want our folks to be released and obviously you are dealing with vladimir putin who is a dictator and a thug. you can't trust anything he says or does. >> ainsley: we interviewed the general counsel for the dow, the umbrella organization over all street journal and he was working tirelessly with washington to try to get him home. evans only 32 years old, and came here, his parents came here from soviet parents from russia in 1979, he grew up in new jersey, and then you have paul whelan who is a u.s. marine who is serving a 16 year s

with whether in fact the person meet certain criteria for outrage in the united states, which brittany griner did. and mr. fogel, mark focal does not. so why do you think that the double standards, the why, why were russian political figures, even though they have us citizenship favorite over ordinary american citizens with no political backgrounds like.

involved in the exchange of a russian business when evicted a boot for the american. boswell play brittany griner was spotted over the territory of the russian and clay by cleaning grad now early american natural cost of folk use reported that the american john list, the evidence goes, could bridge, could be returned to america on the 1st day, according to some sources of sleep union media outlets are reporting the russians out of him. adults of an adult say i have a convicted in sleeve unit and an espionage case could also be a positive exchange. deal is be no official confirmation from any of the states, but here are not a we will keep you posted. all right, a lot of big heavy heading stories on this day life almost going off the international from day and time. you seem here. thank you for sharing your time with us. we don't find the more to bring to you when we return. that will be in about 25 the, the russian states never as one of the most sense community best of all send, send up the, in the 65 with this new speed. the one else calls question about this, even though we will then in the eur

years ago in the swap of russian businessman victor booth for the american basketball player. brittany griner has now landed in the russian ex clave of kellen and grad fox news. as reporting, the american journalist, the evident dusk of which could be returned to the us on thursday. other reports say that the russians are 2 on both sides and, and adults ever who are convicted of espionage in slovenia. they could be a part of the swap deal right now. there's no official confirmation from any of the governments involved, but we'll give you more details on this just a little bit later in the program. but for right now, a direct strike against israel that's reportedly in the making, according to iran, that supreme leader in response to the assassination of how most potent bureau chief is male. any late night miss. all strike killed him, but his tyrone residents just hours off the he wasn't on the gas to the iranian in presidential immigration, and iran took before the united nations and said israel carried out the strike and washington is completed. this act could not be accounted we taught the a

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

viktor boot those so-called merchant of death death who was, who was traded for wnba, nba star brittany griner. 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, t

, he criticized president biden at the time for the deal that he secured to release wnba star brittany griner in exchange for the soviet arms dealer at nicknamed the merchant of death. president trump, former president trump suggesting at the time that he had turned down a deal while he was in office for paul whelan in exchange for viktor boot the so-called merchant of death. but then criticized president biden for free. 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 broadl

have been some prisoner swaps that have occurred in the last couple of years, most notably brittany -- brittney grinerll we have at this moment. >> yeah. i mean, one other thing that is worth noting is that when brittney griner was released back in 2022, and this is of course, before evan gershkovich, "the wall street journal" reporter was taken. we know the americans at the white house wanted to get paul whelan, the american contractor out as part of that deal, and there was a lot of back and forth of could they get paul whelan and brittney griner out in exchange for viktor bout who was a high-profile arms dealer, a controversial figure. we've seen the extraordinary scenes of brittney griner and viktor bout crossing each other in the tarmac in the uae and coming out that way, and there was speculation that maybe paul whelan could have been part of that package. he wasn't part of that package in the end. the russians eventually said to the white house, look. it's going to be one for one. take it or leave it. you get brittney griner, but you don't get the two of them. we know -- every time these prison