President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris greeted three American citizens and one permanent resident as they arrived home after a long flight following a landmark prisoner exchange with Russia on Thursday.
Video shared online shows the president greeting Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Russian American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and green-card holder Vladimir Kara-Murza at Joint Base Andrews late Thursday night. Their release had been announced earlier in the day.
Biden and Harris were seen greeting and talking to the former detainees when they exited the aircraft. Whelan was the first to exit the plane. A streaming video shared to the president’s account on X, formerly Twitter, captured the moment as it unfolded.
“My job is to make sure … we get them back,” Biden told reporters a short time later. I don’t buy this idea you’re going to let these people rot in jail.”
“This is an extraordinary day,” Harris added. “I’m very grateful for our president … This is just an extraordinary testament to the power of having a president who understands diplomacy … This is an incredible day and I can see it in the families, in their eyes.”
White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt said that Biden helped finalize the details of the exchange on July 21—about an hour before he publicly announced that he was exiting this year’s presidential campaign and endorsing Harris’ candidacy.
Andrew Harnik
“We have waited 491 days for Evan’s release, and it’s hard to describe what today feels like,” Gershkovich’s family said in a statement on Thursday. “No family should have to go through this, and so we share relief and joy today with Paul and Alsu’s families.”
“We are grateful to President Biden, Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken, [White House national security adviser] Jake Sullivan, [German] Chancellor [Olaf] Scholz and every US or foreign government official who helped get Evan released,” the family added.
As part of a 24-prisoner exchange, the Biden administration and ally countries agreed to release a total of eight Russian detainees, while securing the release of 16 prisoners from Russia, including five German citizens and seven Russian political prisoners.
Despite Russia agreeing to release twice as many prisoners as the U.S. and its allies, former President Donald Trump suggested that the exchange was a “bad deal” in a post to Truth Social, while claiming that details of the deal like the number of prisoners that each side released were a mystery.
“How many people do we get versus them?” Trump wrote. “We never make good deals, at anything, but especially hostage swaps. Our ‘negotiators’ are always an embarrassment to us! … I got back many hostages, and gave the opposing Country NOTHING … They’re calling the trade ‘complex’ – That’s so nobody can figure out how bad it is!”
According to the White House, Biden has secured the release of more than 70 Americans in prisoner swaps and hostage releases across the globe less than six months before his term ends. The Trump White House online archive says that Trump freed “56 hostages and detainees from more than 24 countries” during his presidency.
Trump’s prisoner and hostage releases were not in exchange for “nothing.” In one instance, the Trump administration secured the release of two Americans in exchange for freeing 250 Houthi rebels held in Oman. Months later, the Houthis were designated terrorists by Trump.
In May, Trump claimed that Russian Vladimir Putin would agree to release Gershkovich only if he wins November’s presidential election, saying that the journalist would “be released almost immediately after the election but definitely before I assume office.”
Senator JD Vance, Trump’s 2024 running mate, claimed that Biden negotiating the release of the American prisoners was a “testament” to “Donald Trump’s strength,” arguing that “bad guys all over the world recognize Donald Trump’s about to be back in office, so they’re cleaning house.”