— gershkovich? that is the official word from _ gershkovich?hat is the official word from his _ gershkovich? that is the official word from his employer, - gershkovich? that is the officiali word from his employer, hugely important today. everyjournalist important today. every journalist will important today. everyjournalist will in that newsroom will have wanted to see this, every editor who has ever worked on that newspaper will have wanted to see this. anyone working on the wall streetjournal would have been hoping for this day without getting their expectations too high because it isjust so complex, but their real, putting it out there now that he is a free man. real cause for celebration, notjust for the wall streetjournal, for us journalism in general. we heard from the committee to protect journalists, those sorts of organisations have been working very hard to secure his release, keeping up hard to secure his release, keeping up the pressure on diplomats and the biden administration and whoever might have some clout in terms of being ab

gershkovich has been there now since march 2023 in russian custody.e's just a journalist continuing to do the courageous reporting that he has been doing for years. any insight into the timing beyond the fact that we just had obviously the court hearing and the conviction of gershkovich, but just the fact that there's been pressure for years on some kind of a deal to release americans. so why now? >> that is the million dollar question today, especially given the political situation, and the speculation, the assumption in a lot of corners, that president putin if he was going to do a deal might wait until after the u.s. presidential election, in case it might give him an opportunity to strike a deal with former president trump were he to be reelected. now, given the fact that by all signs this is involving multiple countries, we've discussed the case of sought by the u.s., not in u.s. custody but has been in german custody, it may be that the contours of what was likely necessary to meet the russian criteria for releasing some of these detained americ

just earlier— gershkovich's release... just earlier this year, gershkovich's release..... just earlier this year, impact, just in july the — earlier this year, impact, just in july the special envoy for hostage affairs. _ july the special envoy for hostage affairs, roger carlson, said, i know evan— affairs, roger carlson, said, i know evan and— affairs, roger carlson, said, i know evan and paul will come home to the us and _ evan and paul will come home to the us and step — evan and paul will come home to the us and step on home soil. ijust don't _ us and step on home soil. ijust don't know— us and step on home soil. ijust don't know when. so there has been this baseline of a certain sense of optimism — this baseline of a certain sense of optimism. it has been a very tough road to— optimism. it has been a very tough road to get— optimism. it has been a very tough road to get to point. obviously focused — road to get to point. obviously focused on the various complex elements _ focused on the various complex elements. it is notjust going to be one direction, so one has to

he knew that america wanted evan gershkovich.and others and he had something to trade. i think this is pragmatic. i think it is a dealfor vladimir putin. remember this is a man who believes he is at war with the west and, as far as he is concerned, the russian dissidents in prison are enemies of russia. in a way this is a kind of wartime exchange for him. this is not an act of political thawing, it is not an act, a conservatory act, or an act of mercy. it is made in conditions of mercy. it is made in conditions of war between two countries, a political war if not a fighting war. for the families of these prisoners it has been an agonising time and so many of them have campaigned really hard to try and see this day and make sure it happened. if we could just talk about one of these prisoners for a moment and you have mentioned him already, vladimir kara—mirza. i know you have had correspondence and interviewed his wife before. tell us what she has been so the family has been through. i don't know where there is confirmation that h

. ., ~ ., ., gershkovich.l whelan, gershkovich. former marine paul whelan. three — gershkovich. former marine paul whelan, three american - gershkovich. former marine paul whelan, three american citizens | whelan, three american citizens and also, leading kremlin critic and green card holder vladimir curra more as an as our plane comes into land, you can only imagine the relief that the families who have been campaigning for their loved ones to return home and in some cases for years now seeing that moment as our plane finally taxis in with their loved ones. returning. we still got my colleague, will grant there, well, that plane out, touching down and what were expecting next is president biden and vice—president, kamala harris to greet them of the aircraft? that's right. i think you really point out the sense of emotion that the families must be feeling now. what a world when few days the must of hard, we understand that evan gershkovich�*s mother knew about 48 hours ago, and so ever since then, she must�*ve

first, americans, paul whelan and evan gershkovich are part of this. what is being described as a large scale prisoner exchange and release i've coming from russia germany involved. we believe germany, russia, united states, and possibly more countries involved, saw kayla tausche at the white house standing by for us on your screen there. let's get over to kayla. >> he listened a huge moment for the country and for the white house. >> and this administration. what are you hearing from there well kate you were just mentioning that december 22 exchange of brittney griner for the soviet arms dealer known as the merchant of death. >> it was an immediate aftermath of that exchange that the biden administration came under immense scrutiny from the family of paul whelan, who in at least one iteration of the proposal had been included by the united states. 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 th

we don't know where, for example, gershkovich and whelan are right now. but the senior administration official she'll who we spoke with, said that they are expected to soon be in us custody, but that could take all day. this is a highly just tickle and complex operation to undertake. again, we believe involving multiple countries, some of the others who we believe may be involved in this swap of vadim krasikov would be the biggest name who the russians want. this is a colonel in the fsb, which is the successor to the kgb, has been and held for years by germany after carrying out a killing in a berlin park. and so as the u.s has tried to negotiate the release of gershkovich so wic and whelan, the russians have been asking for krasikov and so the u.s has been putting pressure on germany to try to get them to release tim. so at the very least, we believe that the countries involved in today's exchange, or are the u.s. who would release several russian prisoners? there aren't very many high profile russian prisoners. there are people for example, who've been

we had the family of evan gershkovich played a l evan gershkovich played a pivotal role, particularlyhen it came to the negotiations into this complex deal. what more openly heard from the families and are they expected to be there as well as the plane touches down? indefatigable is a word that can be used about evan gershkovich�*s mother, simply refusing to let his name drop out of the headlines, making sure every single time there was a high level meeting that evan's name was mentioned. we can see the motorcade of president riding arriving now. —— president biden. the most high—profile us prisoners in modern times, and they are almost back in modern times. hopefully we can bring pictures of the motorcade. there they. we will just of the motorcade. there they. we willjust sit on those pictures for a bit. another question, and we touched on it earlier, but this was incredibly complex a deal to get to where we are today? it really is. not only did it involved a number of agencies involved a number of agencies in the us but it involved seven different nations around the world, in total

the gershkovich family, the whelan family, and others involved here? yeah. we should note that this is part of a broader and expanding strategy by russia, you could call it hostage diplomacy hostage brinkmanship, even which us officials have been discussing with me for years now whereby russia deliberately takes americans hostage, in effect on trumped up charges so that they have bargaining chips that they could use to pressure the u.s. and get people out that they want. think of a brittney griner for viktor boot and almost invariably totally incomparable pairs here, right? a wnba star for a massive weapons deal or in the case of the griner boot exchange. and 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

i think when evan gershkovich was arrested just over a year ago, gershkovich was arrested just over as arrested just over a year ago, i think perhaps those negotiations really intensified. certainly to get american citizens released and returned from russia. i know from families and relatives of russian political prisoners who are being mentioned as part of this major prisoner swap as possible names, not confirmed yet but possible names, i know from them that they have been advocating very firmly and very loudly whenever they have been meeting european diplomats and government ministers and officials, they have been saying there needs to be a much broader exchange. for example the wife of vladimir kara—murza has always made it quite clear, that she advocated firmly for russian political prisoners, especially those with serious illnesses, to be returned from russian prisons. it does seem that the scope and scale of this swap, that has been arranged, has gradually expanded to the size that we now see it being. this is a huge deal, unprecedented, and i think are so many families, all wat

specifically, paul whelan, evan gershkovich, a feat of diplomacy.van gershkovich, of course, alsu kurmasheva. she was imprisoned overfailure course, alsu kurmasheva. she was imprisoned over failure to course, alsu kurmasheva. she was imprisoned overfailure to register as a foreign agent will stop and vladimir kara—murza, who is in prison on treason charges. so taking all those together, we know there will be a real sense of relief obviously for the families that will be echoed by president biden, but he will be adding that sort of sense of rejoicing when he speaks to them in the white house, when he addressed the white house, when he addressed the nation. i think this is hugely significant in terms of politics. there were 16 people secured by the united states in exchange for eight in the other direction, so purely on the numbers it looks good for the biden administration to have carried that off. but also the significance of those four names i have just mentioned. long—standing celebs, particularly evan gershkovich, as a young journalist working fo

gershkovich in the strongest, in the strongest terms. >> gershkovich faced a three day trial in moscow two weeks ago and was found guilty. sentenced to 16 years in russian prison. >> this was a fast, secret and completely bogus trial. >> everything about it was a sham. >> paul whelan is a former marine arrested while traveling in russia in 2018. he was also charged with espionage, convicted in 2020, sentenced to 16 years in prison. whelan, the biden administration and trump administration denied the allegation from russian authorities. >> the deal that made this possible was the feat of diplomacy and friendship. friendship multiple countries helped get this done. they joined a difficult, complex negotiations at my request, and i personally thank them all again, biden says while he celebrates the return of the americans and rejoices with their families, he says the u.s. will never stop working to bring home the other americans still being held in russia. >> perry russom, abc news, washington. >> the phrase childless cat ladies is being used derogatively by the republican presidential ti

ironclad evidence: how the exchanged american spies gershkovich and willon were caught, the intelligenceces revealed the details of the operation. rain floods flood buryatia , the trans-baikal region, washed out the baikal highway between ulan-udy and chita, causing a huge traffic jam. the kiev regime supports terrorists, why is mali breaking off diplomatic relations with ukraine? protesters in britain hotel with illegal migrants, how the night went after. skirmishes in the country. the russian economy is the third in the world with the lowest level of public debt. the most difficult situation in the usa. russian intelligence agencies presented evidence in the cases against american spies evan gershkovich and paul villon. the facts completely refute all statements by western publications that us citizens were convicted of nothing. anton potkovenko. got acquainted with the evidence. march twenty-third , yekaterinburg, correspondent for the moscow bureau of the wall street journal, evan gershkovich i arranged a meeting with a representative of ural-vagonzavod. referring to the editorial as

they are bringing "wall street journal" relater evan gershkovich and paul whelan home.e israeli defense forces confirming they did, in fact, take out the leader of hamas. we know that the leader was taken down, the hamas leader was taken down in iran yesterday with. but we did not have the confirmation that it was israel. now on the follow-on to that, the ayatollah khamenei is reportedly ordering a direct retaliatory attack on israel. markets this morning are are rallying after the federal reserve left interest rates steady and, of course, said that there is a chance for a rate cut in september. jay powell saying that he could see a scenario of zero rate cuts or several rate cuts depending on where inflation is. we're watching the july jobs report out tomorrow we are expecting job growth for the month of july, and look at this market going into it. we're also focused on amazon and apple reporting earnings after the close tonight. let's get some final thoughts from this esteemed panel. mark themmer. >> all investor eyes more than likely are going to be on apple and amazo

— gershkovich? that is the official word from _ gershkovich? official word from his employer, - gershkovich? that is the officiali word from his employer, hugely important today. everyjournalist important today. every journalist will important today. everyjournalist will in that newsroom will have wanted to see this, every editor who has ever worked on that newspaper will have wanted to see this. anyone working on the wall streetjournal would have been hoping for this day without getting their expectations too high because it isjust so complex, but their real, putting it out there now that he is a free man. real cause for celebration, notjust for the wall streetjournal, for us journalism in general. we heard from the committee to protect journalists, those sorts of organisations have been working very hard to secure his release, keeping up hard to secure his release, keeping up the pressure on diplomats and the biden administration and whoever might have some clout in terms of being able to bring

we are really relieved _ about evan gershkovich? relieved to _ about evan gershkovich? we are really relieved to hear— about evan gershkovich? we are really relieved to hear this - about evan gershkovich? we are really relieved to hear this news| really relieved to hear this news and looking forward to welcoming evan back to american soil after the 16 long months that he spent in a russian prison accused of spying, when in fact he was arrested for doing hisjob as when in fact he was arrested for doing his job as a journalist. and i doing his 'ob as a “ournalist. and i wonder, doing his job as a “ournalist. and i wonder, before _ doing his job as a journalist. and i wonder, before we _ doing his job as a journalist. and i wonder, before we talk _ doing his job as a journalist. and i wonder, before we talk a - doing his job as a journalist. and i wonder, before we talk a bit - doing hisjob as a journalist. and i wonder, before we talk a bit more about evan and the other people you are looking to hear news about, i wonder what your tho

in the usa, among others sent evan gershkovich and paul willan.n intelligence released footage of both the journalist and the former marine being detained with their personal details. proof that both were engaged in espionage on our country's territory. at anton potkovenko's. march 23, yekaterinburg. the wall street journal's moscow bureau correspondent, evan gershkovich, arranged a meeting with a representative of ural-vagonzavod. referring to an editorial assignment, he asked to provide him with information about the defense enterprise's activities in the context of the svo, reveal state secrets. well, what is the best way to do this? i asked for all this to be done with me, yeah, the only thing is that it is good to do it very carefully, because there is specific, secret information there. we will not even write that we saw the documents, we will only have anonymous sources, that is, we are not suspected of collecting. and no one is suspected of the sensor, we will have it written, anonymous sources, they told us, this is the recruitment proces

evan gershkovich and paul whelan are coming home, along with two others.in american custody, along with another american citizen and one american green card holder in a

gershkovich-— have all followed the case of evan gershkovich.is another day that he has been in prison, so close to 500 days. but he is _ in prison, so close to 500 days. but he is by— in prison, so close to 500 days. but he is by no — in prison, so close to 500 days. but he is by no means the person that has been — he is by no means the person that has been held for the longest. yes, absolutely, — has been held for the longest. yes, absolutely, i think it is worrying. it is absolutely, i think it is worrying. it is this— absolutely, i think it is worrying. it is this kind of self reinforcing de miguel type situation of the sea that they— de miguel type situation of the sea that they can use people who are in russia _ that they can use people who are in russia for— that they can use people who are in russia for legitimate purposes, working — russia for legitimate purposes, working as journalists are working as aid _ working as journalists are working as aid workers or whatever and take them _ as aid workers or whatever and take them as— as aid w

reporter evan gershkovich and former us marine paul whelan.d spent more than five years in a russian prison. but this was the start of their journey to freedom. along with other prisoners to be swapped, they were flown to ankara airport in turkey and the stage was set for the largest prisoner swap since the cold war. those moscow had released went one way. the russians they'd been exchanged for boarded their plane home. the swap involved 26 people being held in seven different countries. as well as evan gershkovich and paul whelan, moscow freed us russian journalist alsu kurmasheva. also, prominent kremlin critics, including vladimir kara—murza, oleg orlov and ilya yashin. and an anti—war artist, sasha skochilenko. swapped, among others, for this man — convicted assassin vadim krasikov, identified by german officials as a russian agent. to set up a prisoner swap... evan gershkovich�*s boss says she is overjoyed to see her reporter free, but... it feels all wrong to be trading people who are entirely innocent for, you know, a convicted criminal

evan gershkovich is now free, paul whelan is out, we'll talk to evan's friend.l jack keane, advising people not to visit. and secret service will hold a press conference today with whistleblowers making claims about cheatle's replacement and kamala harris expected to make v.p. pick by monday as questions swirl over josh shapiro cancel ing fundraiser to be by her side. progressives are saying he better not be her pick. and a lifeguard injured saving a boy from drowning, that hero will join us. plus, gronk is here, no longer playing, but in good shape and will talk football. and maverick city music will rock the series, they are playi playing already. get dressed, hope you laid out your clothes the night before. you're now on your own, make me proud. k . they've 20,. ♪ >> todd: americans are celebrating the return of political prisoners from russia but some in the media are taking the opportunity to celebrate biden's so-called accomp accomplishments. >> the president is going to leave in the next six months with a huge win. the economy is growing. he is releasing

trying to present uyun gershkovich as some kind of victims, western. media are telling their own lies, because you can’t argue with these materials. anton potkovenko, lead. one of those who returned to russia and the united states as part of the prisoner exchange was roman seleznev. on the air of studio 5, he told how he was abused in an american prison. they gave me 27 years, that is, only this can, well serve some kind of, well , plunge you into depression and... then they just started to torture me, well, not physically, but emotionally, they planted some prisoners who tried to extract some information from me, there were some threats, people with knives were passing by, that is, the prison administration also somehow treated me, well, not very well, let ’s say, i... had - well, like the program for me to check in every 2 hours was daily, they woke me up at night every 2 hours , they asked if i had run away, the lights were constantly turned on, it was so that the capser was locked for 40, every other day, 60 days, they gave me less food, they didn’

the front page declaring evan gershkovich is free. his family thing we can't wait to give him the biggest hug. he was detained on assignment in march 2023. last month he was sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony for espionage. the u.s. government called it a sham. president biden celebrating at the white house, surrounded by family members. >> now the brutal ordeal is over and they are free. >> they include paul whelan, the veteran detained in 2018. tonight his family thanking president biden while accusing the kremlin of taking years off his life. also, alsu kurmasheva, a russian citizen that was visiting her mother in may of last year when she was detained on a foreign agent charge and vladimir kara-murza, a prominent dissident who holds a u.s. green card. a complex prisoner swap, nothing like it has seen since the cold war. involving two dozen individuals and the handover in turkey with seven separate aircraft and eight russians that putin wanted back. greeting them with flowers. the group, including convicted spies and their chi

evan gershkovich father and mother? sister and brother-in-law, and the husband of alsu kurmasheva, as well. president biden, vice president harris, walking side-by-side in a critical moment can we go back to excuse oh, they're walking right now with evan gershkovich, his mother were hearing i think the voice of paul whelan, if i'm not mistaken biden is approaching towards the press right now, while we hear more from the president in it tastes on this extraordinary moment even briefly trotting to access the press relief for the family. >> did you think that this moment would come, sir? >> yes. >> what made you feel so confident relation move ahead? that was what

american spies evan gershkovich and paul willan were caught red-handed. russian intelligence services have published undeniable evidence against the convicts. the facts completely refute the west’s version that these are allegedly not intelligence agents, but that the evidence from the russian side is fictitious. anton potkovenko has all the details. march of the twenty-third year yekaterinburg. we are not suspected of gathering and no one is suspected of being a sensor, we will say, anonymous sources said, this is the recruitment process that we heard, we see that this is nothing more than recruitment, and recruitment is an operational activity that is carried out only by representatives of the special services, so to say that he is simply a journalist is ridiculous, that’s what they write in the western media, they say he was a journalist sentenced on the basis of allegedly false charges, here is a wall street journal article from august 2, a day after the big exchange. the trial of gershkovich, called a sham by washington, was conducted in secret and w

so here is the evidence: secret documents in the hands of gershkovich, the one whom he considered hiseded information on... he secretly brought the papers to the meeting, informing the fsb. and when the operatives arrived, gershkovich, this is clearly visible, wanted to hide the documents somewhere under the table, shove them between the sofa and the wall, and in the end he was taken red-handed. so did former us marine paul willen. here he is on december 28 , 2018, during a secret meeting in the toilet room of one of the hotel rooms metropol. his contact, as intelligence agencies say, gives wheelon a flash drive with classified information. about the personnel composition of the fsb of russia, well, then whelan was caught by the hand, a search in the room, now he is already pensive in the fsb reception area. now after the exchange, i perked up, made irony, and watched the wall street journal again. you know, the fsb grabbed me, said that i was a spy, apparently an army general, a secret agent, this is an absurd story that they came up with, they would not have left it so easily. i vis

gershkovich appearing to crack a smile in his seat.efense ministry video showing they were released in turkey. >> until it happens, you never know if this is actually going to work the way it might have been planned. there's a lot of tension in the air to make sure nobody's going to pull a trick at the last minute. >> juju: involved in the secret negotiations, the united states, russia, germany, belarus, poland, norway, and slovenia. >> multiple countries helped get this done. they joined a difficult, complex negotiation at my request, and i personally thank them all again. >> juju: president biden directly involved in the negotiations. >> this is an incredible relief for all the family members gathered here. it's a relief to the friends and colleagues all across the country who have been praying for this day for a long time. >> juju: david wheelan, twin brother of paul while lan, held in russia for more than five years, speaking out. >> we had been through two prisoner releases where he had not come home. i didn't allow myself to beli

front page declaring evan gershkovich is free. his family says we can't wait to give him the biggest hug. he was detained on assignment in march of 2023. then, last month, he was hurriedly sentenced to 16 years in a russian penal colony for espionage. the u.s. government is calling that a sham. >> it is an incredible relief. >> reporter: president biden celebrating at the white house today, surrounded by family members of those released. >> now the brutal ordeal is over and they are free. >> reporter: they include paul whelan, the marine veteran who was detained in 2018. tonight, his family thinking president biden while accusing the kremlin of taking years off his life. also, alsu kurmasheva, a russian dual citizen who was visiting her mother in may of last year when she was detained on a foreign agent charge . and vladimir karen moussa, hold the u.s. green card. a complex prisoner swap, nothing like since the cold war. two dozen individuals, the handover in turkey with seven separate aircraft and eight russians putin wanted back

reporter evan gershkovich and former us marine paul whelan.more than five years in a russian prison. but this was the start of their journey to freedom. along with other prisoners to be swapped, they were flown to ankara airport in turkey and the stage was set for the largest prisoner swap since the cold war. those moscow had released went one way. the russians they'd been exchanged for boarded their plane home. the swap involved 26 people being held in seven different countries. as well as evan gershkovich and paul whelan, moscow freed us russian journalist alsu kurmasheva. also, prominent kremlin critics, including vladimir kara—murza, oleg orlov and ilya yashin. and an anti—war artist, sasha skochilenko. swapped, among others, for this man — convicted assassin vadim krasikov, identified by german officials as a russian agent. to set up a prisoner swap... evan gershkovich�*s boss says she is overjoyed to see her reporter free, but... it feels all wrong to be trading people who are entirely innocent for, you know, a convicted criminal, an ass

evan gershkovich father and mother? sister and brother-in-law, and the husband of alsu kurmasheva, as well. president biden, vice president harris, walking side-by-side in a critical moment can we go back to excuse oh, they're walking right now with evan gershkovich, his mother were hearing i think the voice of paul whelan, if i'm not mistaken biden is approaching towards the press right now, while we hear more from the president in it tastes on this extraordinary moment even briefly trotting to access the press relief for the family. >> did you think that this moment would come, sir? >> yes. >> what made you feel so confident relation move ahead? that was what american, sir. >> what did you have to say to the three americans and their family members? welcome home and beyond that you said, sir, that family is everything earlier today. what has it meant to be with the family all day today as they are now finally reunited with their loved what you appreciate it. >> look anyone who's lost family worried about whether famil

that is evan gershkovich in the middle. you see alsu kurmasheva, and then paul whelan on the right holding an american flag pretty remarkable to see that photo i want to talk more about all of this now with a ranking member of the house intelligence committee congressman jim himes of connecticut. your reaction to this, sir? >> well, dana, you know, it's it's funny. the reaction is always the same and it's maybe particularly personal for me because it was my constituent morad tahbaz who was freed in a similar hostage deal months ago. and so it's obviously elation. i mean, if you have spoken to the families of the people who've had to go through this. you know, what it's just a euphoric moment it is. but of course that euphoria is always tempered by the knowledge of the kinds of criminals that we trade innocent people for and so i always think it's a moment of real celebration, live and by that fact that these deals by iran are inherently inherently anxiety producing. >> you are part of the so-called gang of eight when it com

you go back to evan gershkovich's trial which was not that long ago. he was charged with espionage and they didn't put up not a single piece of evidence that had to do with espionage and yet he was convicted so clearly it's a rigged system. what are your thoughts on that? >> yes, it is a rigged system. we all know that. and yes there are risks working there and there are of course bigger risks for russians. who oppose the regime. that is a fact. but still, you want to get these people out, you have to give something in return. i have to say, there is no evidence so far at all that sanctions have had any effect in changing russian behaviour. other sanctions against the country as a whole or against individuals. >> president biden is now in the main terminal at the entrance and as we said at the top of the show, what will happen here as soon as the plane lands and we so far don't have any indication. we know that it crossed into u.s. territory so it should be landing very shortly. we are told that the president and vice president will actually when the p

evan gershkovich, _ released? definitely. evan gershkovich, the - released? definitely. evan.list, i heard gershkovich, thejournalist, i heard from our white house team that he even made a request while he was still in russia to vladimir putin to see if the president wanted to do a sit down interview with him. so he has not lost that sense of journalistic mission and i am sure he will be speaking about his experience, although it might take some time. there is a lot of adjustment coming back after such a long ordeal. taste adjustment coming back after such a lona ordeal. ~ ., ., adjustment coming back after such a long ordeal-— long ordeal. we will have to leave it there, thank _ long ordeal. we will have to leave it there, thank you _ long ordeal. we will have to leave it there, thank you very _ long ordeal. we will have to leave it there, thank you very much - it there, thank you very much indeed. . ~ it there, thank you very much indeed. ., ,, , ., it there, thank you very much indeed._ you - it there, thank you very much indeed._ you can l it there, thank you very much . i

he meant, of course, paul willan, evan gershkovich, olsa kurmasheva and vladimir karamurza.hat in total. the us emphasizes that this exchange does not mean any change in relations between moscow and washington, i hope we have the opportunity to listen to a fragment of president biden's speech. such transactions are subject to strict requirements, and never happen. there are no guarantees, nothing is more important to me than protecting americans at home abroad, so we will continue to work for the release of all illegally detained americans around the world. this deal would be impossible without our allies in germany, poland, slovenia, norway and turkey. they all stepped up and were with us, they were with us, they made bold decisions, released prisoners held legally in their countries, and provided logistical support to bring americans home. well, here in the usa this deal is called the largest exchange operation in recent years, some even say that this is the largest exchange between russia and the west. contemporary with the second world war, and they really call it histor

evan gershkovich arranged a meeting with a representative of the ural carriage works.l assignment, he asked to provide him with information about the activities of the defense enterprise in the context of the northern military district and to disclose state secrets. well, what 's the best way to do this? i did all this to myself just like that, yeah. the only thing is that please be very careful, because it is secret. we won't even write that. an event that is carried out only by representatives of the special services, so to say that he is simply a journalist is ridiculous, like recruitment, and recruitment is an operational operation . that’s exactly what the western media write, saying he was a journalist? sentenced on the basis of allegedly false charges, here is a wall street journal article from august 2, a day after the big exchange. the trial of gershkovich, called a sham by washington, was conducted in secret. and russian authorities have not publicly released any evidence supporting their statements. so here is the evidence: secret documents are in the hands

exchange russia handed over to the west in the usa, including evan gershkovich and paul willan.russian special services published footage of how they detained both the journalist and the former marine red-handed. proof that both were engaged in espionage on the territory of our country, from anton potkovenko. march twenty-third, yekaterinburg. correspondent of the moscow bureau of the ool street journal evan gershkovich arranged a meeting with a representative of ural-vagonzavod. referring to the editorial assignment, he asked provide him with information about the activities of a defense enterprise in the context of the svo, to disclose state secrets. well, what is the best way to do this? he asked for everything, i did it with me, yeah. the only thing that is very good is class, because it is classified information. we will not even write that we saw the documents, we will only have an anonymous source, that is, we are not suspected of collecting and. they suspect in the sensor, we will have it written, anonymous sources and told. this is the recruitment process, which we have

among them, evan gershkovich arrested in march of 2023 and just sentenced last month to 16 years in a penal colony on espionage charges. also freed former marine, paul whelan he's been jailed since 2018 on what the u.s. says is baseless charges. and alsu kurmasheva, accused of spreading false information about the russian army, and russian activist, vladimir kara-murza. and we got this video from russian state media, claim to go show the freed prisoners in transit right now, and this photo from the white house of them on the plane showing the sheer relief just painted on their faces there. what happens next? we have the latest on where all four are right now in their journey home. plus we have reporting on the effort it took from several nations to get this deal off the ground, and what vladimir putin just got in return. let's get started. joining us now, nbc news international correspondent josh lederman, nbc news national security correspondent, courtney kube, and nbc news white house correspondent monica alba. bring us up to speed, what are we learning this hour? >> at this hour, a

among those freed by russia were gershkovich, paul whelan, and alsu kurmasheva.he other way was the russian assassin, vadim krasikov , who had been held in a german prison since 2019 for the murder of a chechen exile in berlin. additionally several deep cover illegal spies arrested in norway pennsylvania along with russians held on criminal charges in u.s. jails. turkish intelligence says they have been helping to put together the exchange for months. negotiations finalized today. >> it was a complex operation. planes flying in from east and west. the location had been a closely guarded secret. the stage for the largest prisoner swap since the cold war. and involved 26 people being held in seven different countries. among those freed from russian jails, wall street journal reporter evan gershkovich, former u.s. marine paul whelan and u.s.-russian journalist, alsu kurmasheva. released too, prominent kremlin critic's and antiwar campaigners like vladimir kara-murza and human rights campaigner oleg orlov. back to russia, convicted assassin vadim krasikov, identified

independent newspaper. writes that the release of wall street journal reporter gershkovich, convictedn russia for espionage , is directly or indirectly related to the election race in the united states. journalists call the incident a victory for the democrats. in their confrontation with the republicans, as the guardian recalls, donald trump said that he would release gershkovich as soon as he won the election, but the biden administration fulfilled his election promise. well, biden himself called the deal with the kremlin a diplomatic breakthrough. in the modern history of russia and the west, this is the largest agreement between intelligence services and diplomatic departments. the last time something similar happened was 39 years ago... seven countries took part in the exchange, for example, belarus freed a german sentenced to death who caused an explosion on a railway. russia has pardoned 13 people, including those convicted of treason against russia and americans convicted of espionage. report by dmitry melnikov. in a break with his own daily schedule, which does not involve su

mentioning evan gershkovich's mother. if anyone hasn't read the wall street journal's tiktok of how everything unfold up for them behind the scenes, she is the mvp of this. she's the definition of a mama bear given everything that she did. you can see at right there. she is overjoyed. she worked tirelessly, the links she went to. she became a reporter and had connections. the story is incredible. everything she did. you can see how belated all the families are here. also, the president. it is striking to see the president is taking this moment in. he's in a very good mood. he is taking questions and he lingered and hung around to try to absorb this. all the work he and his administration is put into this, and he tried to put it in the context of two things. one, family. how important family is and that's the driver of everybody but he also said it's the essence of who america is as a country. that you have relationships and you have moments like this and you get things done and come together. you can tell he is feeling ve

we saw ella and mikhail gershkovich in the room, danielle gershkovich, the family, also the 13-year-oldu, the radio free europe reporter, whose birthday is tomorrow. the president hugged her and said to her that this is your day and led the singing to her. wonderful moments. the whelans were there. i know -- i did want to ask you about marc fogel who has been left behind. the explanation is that there was a legal reason under russian law and that they couldn't come up with enough to get him out. again, he has been left behind. he is a schoolteacher, taught your children. talk to me about the big picture and about the diplomacy involved. you know how difficult it was to get the germans to agree to give up the assassin in berlin. >> first, i just want to say, this is a fantastic day. it's a fantastic day, a joyous day for the families you mentioned that were with the president. vladimir's family was there today. i have been in touch with folks and friends -- three of my russian friends released today. i can tell you, there's deep elation. one of the lawyers who had been working these case

and to that end, on their flight home, paul whelan, evan gershkovich gershkovich. and all kurmasheva were all job point on that airplane by multiple medics, a psychologist and of course, us government officials from the nsc to the state department. we are told and once they do land at joint base andrews, they will spend some time with their families, but then all three of them will get on a flight to san antonio. that is where they will head to brooke army medical center to get the medical well evaluation and the care that they need. that, of course, will just be the first step in there readjustment to life back in the united states all right. >> mj lee. thank you so much. and we just wish then the past and one very happy for their families, but i want to get more on this historic prisoner swap and how it was reached. we're joined now by cnn, chief national security correspondent alex marquardt. this is truly extraordinary the way this deal came together involving 24 prisoners, seven countries, and much of this was driven by us intelligence it's alex, how did it al

because evan gershkovich went on trialfor espionage at because evan gershkovich went on trial for espionages adjourned until mid august. then suddenly the second hearing was brought forward. we seem to have lost the connection to steve rosenberg. frank gardner is still with me. we arejust to steve rosenberg. frank gardner is still with me. we are just starting to get more details about what has happened in the deal that has been struck. ., ., ,., , happened in the deal that has been struck. ., ., , struck. there are no reports could be as many _ struck. there are no reports could be as many 24 _ struck. there are no reports could be as many 24 people _ struck. there are no reports could be as many 24 people who - struck. there are no reports could be as many 24 people who are - be as many 24 people who are involved in this exchange involving six countries. russia, the us, uk, germany, belarus and slovenia. extraordinary if this happens. it would make it even bigger than the exchange of 14 people in 2010. this would be the biggest change of prisoners since the end of the cold war by far. it

the states are trying to present gershkovich, wheelon and others as innocent victims, unjustly convicted, and this rhetoric begins with biden. they say they were unfairly held in prison for many years. but the publisher of the all street journal, where the alleged journalist gershkovich works, writes that his employee was convicted on the basis of false, allegedly accusations as part of a total attack on... the free press, is it gershkovich , the free press with secret papers under his arm, or the traveler willon, who during a secret meeting in the toilet room of one of the rooms of the metropol hotel received from his contact a flash drive with secret information about the personnel of the fsb of russia, but the new newspaper europe, which is considered undesirable in our country, justifies willon, saying that the recording shows how a man hands willan a small white object, he puts it in his pocket, the recording there is no sound, but they are trying to at least cling to something, they look stupid, but they need to practice the methodology, the foreign agent meduza is generally lying

gershkovich became an issue in the presidential election. former president donald trump boasted that gershkovich would only be free once trump was elected president. >> ivan gershkovich, the reporter for the wall street journal being held by russia will be released almost immediately after the election but definitely before i assume office. he will be home, he will be safe, vladimir putin, president of russia, will do that for me and i don't believe he will do it for anyone else. >> trump that he alone could secure ivan gershkovich's release, many other people felt otherwise, including ivan gershkovich's on mother. according to the wall street journal, april of last year, she rushed up to president biden at the white house correspondents dinner and grabbed his hands before imploring him, you're the only one who can bring my boy home. she was right. not only did president biden secure the release of evan gershkovich and other hostages, biden did so using a careful and skillful strategy that donald trump and probably a lot of other politicians

"wall street journal" reporter evan gershkovich in united states marine veteran paul whelan are both heading home. they left turkey moments ago. they are from a russian prison is part of a multinational deal that set two dozen people to pray. hello, everyone. this is "outnumbered." i'm kayleigh mcenany with my cohost emily compagno. fox news contributor tammy tammy bruce, host of the "kennedy saves the world podcast" and fox news contributor and former white house press secretary, ari fleischer. live at the white house with more details on this developing story. what a day. they have landed off of a russian aircraft. what's happening at the white house? meeting with families on this joyous day for americans everywhere. >> just to give you a little idea of how this came together. we knew this was in the works for several hours. and we were cautioned not to report any of this information until the detainees were wheels up and firmly in u.s. custody. we know that they have left russian custody and are in u.s. custody. the plane's wheels up, and they are on their way home. soon, the pres

ivan gershkovich wasn't. i mean, so it's fair to point that out. the bottom line though, is david in this moment, how much does this matter for biden politically well, i think it's important to his legacy. >> this is a major achievement to get these people home and let me just say, erin, if i were advising donald trump, this is not within his range of possibility, but this is a great day for this country. this is a great day for americans. people are happy to have these americans home. and donald trump can't stand it because he's afraid someone else will get credit for. this reminds me of what happened last fall when or last winter when there was a chance to pass a really, really impactful border no, and he told his allies in congress not to do it because biden would get credit this is a very bad look for him. so in terms of biden's legacy, absolutely. and he said he wanted to work on problems when he announced that he wasn't going to continue to run. this was a big one and it's obviously been in the works for a really long time and it's to his gre

not evan gershkovich. he wrote, i request an interview with putin, incredible.o earlier, grainne mccarthy had to say about him, his heroism and his joy this morning. >> it is the best day, no better day. i walked in this morning and windows say "wall street journal" reporter evan gershkovich is free. we have been wearing pins and buttons, i stand with evan. it is the most exhilarating feeling. we knew yesterday, minute we knew he was off the russian plane, it erupted. his character, spirit and determination shine through. this was 16 months he was locked up in putin's russian and continued to stay strong, mentally and physically. he provided a source of determination and inspiration for all of us to keep going. >> k >> kayleigh: no journalist on the ground in russia. you can't go abroad or bring light to the regimes. >> brian: you have eight americans still in russia. a ballerinia, mark vogel, teacher. >> steve: he has makings of a book, i wonder if he will go back to work for "wall street journal." does he want to go back to the front lines or will he say i'm g

reporter evan gershkovich and former us marine paul whelan.prison. but this was the start of their journey to freedom. along with other prisoners to be swapped, they were flown to ankara airport in turkey and the stage was set for the largest prisoner swap since the cold war. those moscow had released went one way. the russians they'd been exchanged for boarded their plane home. the swap involved 26 people being held in seven different countries. as well as evan gershkovich and paul whelan, moscow freed us russian journalist alsu kurmasheva. also, prominent kremlin critics, including vladimir kara—murza, oleg orlov and ilya yashin. and an anti—war artist, sasha skochilenko. swapped, among others, for this man — convicted assassin vadim krasikov, identified by german officials as a russian agent. to set up a prisoner swap... evan gershkovich's boss says she is overjoyed to see her reporter free, but... it feels all wrong to be trading people who are entirely innocent for, you know, a convicted criminal, an assassin, but, you know, we wanted our