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CNN This Morning
Americans Freed In Prisoners Swap Reunite With Families; Biden Weighs More U.S. Defense Assets For Israel; 100M+ Facing Dangerous Heat Across The U.S. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired August 02, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:37]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is Friday, August 2nd.
And right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
Finally, free. Three Americans wrongfully detained in Russia now back on the U.S. soil.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Alliances make a difference. They stepped up and took a chance for us, and it mattered a lot.
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DEAN: How President Biden secured this complex prisoner swap with the help of U.S. allies.
And more U.S. defense assets could be headed to the Middle East as fears of a wider conflict there grow.
Five a.m. here in Washington on a Friday and the live look now at Capitol Hill.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean for Kasie Hunt today. It is great to be with you this morning.
They are home. "Wall Street Journal" reporter, Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and Russian American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, all walking off a plane at Joint Base Andrews just before midnight Eastern Time last night, free from Russian captivity. One by one, they were greeted by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and then the ultimate moment, their family.
The largest prisoner swap since the Cold War pulled off successfully. Turkey playing the role of mediator in this deal, which involve 24 detainees and seven countries.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BIDEN: Great satisfaction and relief for the family. To me, this is about the essence we are as a country. It really is about personal relationships. It's about families, it's about being able to have access to your own people you love and your door.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is just extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: The freed Americans and their loved ones just arriving in San Antonio, Texas, in the last hour. They have been taken to Brooke Army Medical Center there for medical evaluation.
And Paul Whelan just spoke to reporters about the moment this all finally felt real to him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL WHELAN, FREED AMERICAN: It didn't feel real until we were flying over England.
I'm a British citizen, Irish citizen, Canadian and American. So as we came over England and I looked down, you know, that's when it became real. We flew over Ireland, then Canada, into America and then I knew I was home.
So getting off the plane, seeing the president, the vice president, that was nice. It was a good homecoming.
So looking forward to seeing my family down here and just recuperating from five years, seven months, and five days of just absolute nonsense by the Russian government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: The prisoner swap involved the release of 16 individuals previously detained in Russia in exchange for eight individuals held in the U.S., Germany, Norway, Slovenia, and Poland.
Let's bring in former CNN Moscow bureau chief, Jill Dougherty.
Jill, good morning to you.
This is -- this is a nice morning to be able to say that these Americans are back home. They're back on U.S. soil. And we were just walking through there, how many countries participated in this. You heard the president talking about the importance of diplomacy, how complicated is it to pull off something like this?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You know, it's extraordinarily complex, Jessica. You have to, you know, think about how long this has been going on, because as Paul Whelan mentioned, he's been in prison in, you know, Russia, actually in a work camp for more than five years, almost six years. And efforts have been going on, going way back.
And then, I think a really interesting part of this important part is the fact that it wasn't just the Americans who were freed, that you had these -- you can call them dissidents or opposition people, Russian citizens who were freed. And that's very rare.
So there are a lot of aspects to this. And now to mention, of course, where they all came from I think some were you know, when you look at the Russians who are being held they were excuse me in Slovenia, Norway, Germany, et cetera, so seven countries. And this is extremely complex.
DEAN: Right, and took months and months of tedious back-and-forth.
[05:05:02]
And we also learned that Alexei Navalny was supposed to be part of this swap until the moment that he died. And it really underscores just how much time was of the essence here in a lot of ways.
DOUGHERTY: Yes. And, you know, I was really struck watching the homecomings in each country.
So here in the United States, at Andrews Air Force Base, you know, it's families. It's -- it felt informal in a way, children running out, et cetera.
If you look at what happened in Russia, I think it is symbolic of the way that Putin looks at this. There were soldiers in uniform. They had their rifles with bayonets, a very formal type of thing.
And who comes down the plane? Of course spies. People who've been involved in crimes like shakedowns and hackers, et cetera.
This is really what Putin wanted. I mean, we can look at it and say, yes, it's spies, but that is what he wanted. He is a former KGB agent. He wanted to get his guy back.
And I think that in the context of Russia, which right now I would argue is an extremely militarized society, that's his message. You know, you fought for the fatherland. You were loyal. We're going to welcome you back and they're two very different messages.
DEAN: Right, right. And you look at the Americans who were wrongfully detained, didn't do anything wrong. And to your point, just want to get back with their families.
DOUGHERTY: Yeah. No. I mean, the Russians would say, well, there were spies, but of course we know there was never any proof that was given. And this was really pulled through the system or push through the system slowly in some cases, quickly in others just to make a point.
Putin needs people in prison to be able to have future trades and as we know, there are, at least I think its three Americans who are left in Russia who weren't allowed to get out. And so that's another chapter that will go on. But it's tough. I think this is -- there are so many different levels
to this historic because of the size, Putin in the midst of a war that he's started and his reasons for doing this and outgoing president in the United States -- I mean, it's really quite, quite amazing.
DEAN: It really is. And we have this map that shows again, I know can it up, but all the countries that participated in this to make it happen there it is, right there. And you mentioned this Jill.
The president, really leaning on his relationships here and really trying to make the example, and again, interesting right? Because he's -- he's also -- one of the things he wants to be known for is bringing together the West to backup Ukraine against Russia right and really trying to underscore the importance of these alliances and these relationships.
DOUGHERTY: Precisely. And in fact, some of the first comments that President Biden made, I believe it was still in the White House, he said that the Russians had been pushing him to do things that he could not do alone.
And I really glom onto that statement because it's really true. I mean, he could not deliver on his own what Putin wanted because Putin wanted his assassin, FSB assassin, who is being held in Germany and obviously the American president cant tell them what to do, but the German chancellor, said, I will do this for you.
And so, there were a lot of uncomfortable political decisions that had to be made on the part of Germany and other allies. And the fact that Biden was able to pull them together is part of his big message that the United States needs its allies. And this is obviously a political message that has resonance right now, but it's a very important part of the Biden administration approach.
And here, the allies came together and really made this happened.
DEAN: All right. Jill Dougherty, thank you so much. Always good to have your analysis. We appreciate it.
DOUGHERTY: Sure.
DEAN: Up next, the White House and reaffirming the U.S. commitment to Israel as the American ally braces for a row retaliatory attack from Iran.
Plus, Donald Trump doubling down on his comments about Kamala Harris's racial identity.
And that feat of diplomacy. What it took to get Americans freed and back on us soil.
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[05:14:14]
DEAN: President Biden considering more U.S. defenses in the Middle East this morning as Israel is bracing for Iranian retaliation, it could come any day now, Iran has vowed to fight back after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran this week. Israel has not confirmed or denied its involvement.
Biden said he's, quote, very concerned about regional tensions after speaking with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: We have the basis for a ceasefire. We should move on and they should move on that.
REPORTER: Is that chance for a ceasefire ruined after the assassination of Haniyeh?
BIDEN: It doesn't help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: CNN's Ivan Watson is joining us now live from Beirut, Lebanon.
Ivan, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps promising, quote, harsh, and painful response to the assassination.
[05:15:03]
What does that look like? And what is the U.S. expecting that retaliation to look like as it prepares to backup its ally?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, we just don't know and we don't know whether it's just purely going to come from Iran or from its proxies around the region, including Hezbollah here in Lebanon, which has been fighting a border conflict with Israel now for more than nine months, in solidarity with Hamas and the Palestinians in Gaza.
But I want to turn to what's taking place right now and that is the funeral in the capital of Qatar for Ismail Haniyeh that former political leader of Hamas who was assassinated in Tehran this week presumably by Israel though it has not claimed responsibility for that.
This Hamas leader getting all kind of the accolades and respect from the Qatari government as he's being laid to rest, and honored in the national mosque in the capital of Doha. That's the Imam Abdul Wahhab Mosque.
The prime minister of Doha, of Qatar, who was a mediator in the ongoing hostage release ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, after Haniyeh's assassination, effectively stated that what's the point of mediation when the negotiator on the other side of the table is assassinated? Which does not put much hope to any kind of ceasefire, which President Biden was just talking about, a need for that.
So that puts us in this position in the region where the so hopes for any negotiated peace are dwindling or have been torpedoed. And meanwhile, Iran and its allies are talking about and threatening in some kind of attack against Israel, which could only further escalate potentially, the tit for tat attacks and drive this region into a regional war.
And that's really the worry right now. We're hearing reports that Delta and United Airlines have canceled their flights to Tel Aviv. We've had some flight cancellations here to Beirut, and that might just be the tip of the iceberg depending on what happens in the coming days -- Jessica.
DEAN: And thousands have turned out -- turned out Thursday for the slain political leader Haniyeh. What can you tell us? What are we learning more about his assassination and the Iranians' failure to prevent that from happening on their own -- in their own country?
WATSON: Right, that's a deep intelligence failure on the part of the Iranians. Haniyeh was staying at a compound a guest residence that is reportedly a run and guarded by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. "The New York Times" initially reported and CNN has backed this up, confirmed it with a source familiar with this, that Haniyeh was killed by some kind of a bomb that had been planted in that building. Apparently in Haniyeh's room itself, which killed him and his bodyguard, and that is a devastating failure on the part of the Iranian security establishment.
You've also had a parallel failure that took place here in Lebanon where Hezbollah, hours before Haniyeh's assassination, Hezbollah saw one of its top officials killed in an Israeli airstrike claimed by Israel in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
How these individuals were found and slain so close together indicates that that these organizations, their security has been compromised. So they're threatening retaliation against Israel, but they also have some very serious questions to ask about their own internal security.
Back to you know.
DEAN: All right. Ivan Watson for us, reporting live. Thank you so much for that.
Up next, the leader of the Freedom Caucus, Bob Good, conceding after a recount in Virginia.
Plus, emotional moments on the tarmac, as Alsu Kurmasheva hugs her family. Today is her daughter's 13th birthday. President Biden celebrating her yesterday at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
BIDEN: Remember, no serious guy until you're 30.
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[05:23:59]
DEAN: It is 23 minutes past the hour. And here's your morning roundup.
The U.S. recognizing Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the winner of the country's contested election. The country's electoral body declared incumbent Nicolas Maduro as the winner, but the U.S. says, quote, it is clear Maduro lost the popular vote and Gonzalez won instead. Maduro is under mounting pressure to release vote tallies.
Bob Good, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, conceding the Republican primary in Virginia its fifth district after a recount. Trump endorsed John McGuire came out on top. That is requested a recount after the race ended with a difference of only 374 votes.
And later this morning, pop star Justin Timberlake is scheduled to be arraigned on one count of driving while intoxicated. Timberlake was arrested on Long Island in June. He'll appear at the hearing virtually while on a tour in Europe.
[05:25:01]
And there's dangerous heat spreading across all regions of the U.S. this morning, plus a tropical system in the Atlantic set to bring heavy rainfall to Florida.
Meteorologist Derek Van Dam tracking it all for us.
Derek, a lot of people going to be experiencing some very high temperatures.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, that's right, Jessica.
And today's heat brought to you by climate change. In fact, according to Climate Central, a nonprofit organization who dedicates their entire business to studying climate change and the impacts on humans in the world. They say that nearly half of the U.S. population today experiencing heat influenced by climate change itself. It's just incredible, 100 million Americans with some sort of heat alert stretching from coast all the way to coast.
That is why it's impacting such a large population. And what we're talking about here is not only what we considered extreme heat in the past to be the new normal, it is becoming more frequent. So we're seeing that climate shift, what we call in our Earth's environment as well.
And it's imperative and what we can see clearly in our temperatures here just shows the picture of a woman world really. And we've got our active wildfires that were still monitoring mean over the western U.S. So many too highlight, but I want to get right to the tropics because this is also an important threat, something that's impacting over the next 24 hours. But look at the 80 percent probability from the National Hurricane Center in the eastern golf.
Now the latest computer models have in this track over Central Florida peninsula event re-emerging into the Atlantic Ocean for the early parts of next week. One thing is for sure, it'll bring a lot of rain to Florida and potentially the Carolinas by early next week -- Jessica.
DEAN: All right. Derek Van Dam, thanks for keeping us up to date on that.
VAN DAM: All right.
DEAN: Up next --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: To anyone who question, do allies matter? They do. They matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: President Biden reflecting on an emotional and historic prisoner swap.
Plus, how the return of the detained Americans is already playing into the 2024 election.
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