(08/01) GAS Hour 1 - Prison Swap

This is Gary and Shannon, and you're listening to KFI AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app Listen.

It's also amazing to me that even after the trade deadline, some big moves actually take place, and in this case, this was the huge, huge, arguably the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War, where Moscow has decided that they're going to release wrongly convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershikovich.

How are we saying it?

We didn't discuss this one, Kershkevich as part of this large and very very complex prisoner swap.

Yeah, we get back a reporter, a marine veteran, and a radio journalist, and they get back a convicted murderer who is heavily involved in Russian intelligence.

Twenty four prisoners are involved, the big names of course that we've talked about. Twenty four prisoners in total, at least six countries, and this is all after months and months of negotiations. The biggest guy that RuSHA gets back was being held in Germany. His name is Vadim Krazikov. He was this Russian hit man who is serving a life sentence for the murder of a rebel leader in I mean in a literally in a park in Berlin, in front of children.

He killed this guy. This was Russia's sticking point.

They wanted their killer back, they wanted the guy entrenched in their intelligence back, and he was the sticking point for everyone. But apparently, and Kamala Harris's name comes up in this, Apparently Germany was just not going to release him at all, and Biden passed street cred in Germany and the German Chancellor said, I want to do this

So she gets a little nod here.

So all of this is taking place, they're on airplanes, where they're in airports.

Apparently Turkey played a massive role in this.

In fact, that's where the prisoners from Russia were taken originally.

But there's a question of the timing of all of this.

Michael Allen was a foreign policy expert in the Bush administration and he works now at the National Security Institute and talked about why.

Now you know, I.

Think a lot of this has to do with the withdrawal of President Biden not running again next time. I think he's able to go to some NATO allies maybe with heavy heart, and say, listen, I understand that this Russian committed murder in a park in front of children inside of Munich, but we're trying to do a historic deal here. Let's win one for the Gipper, if you will, let us have a little bit of room in order

This is also proof that the good guys don't bargain well, I mean the bad guy. They literally get a convicted murderer, the massive hit man that Putin's been trying to get back on his team for a long time, and we get a.

Radio girl, a veteran from the Marines, and the journalist. Not to mention, they still have a ballerina of ours locked up.

Really do yes? I didn't know that. Yeah, there are several people that were not involved in this swap, one of which is a ballerina who holds I believe dual citizenship.

Putin has been talking about this for some time, has been saying at least that he has been open to

Other people currently imprisoned in Russia Americans that were not involved include American teacher Mark Fogel, musician Michael Travis Leak, US Army staff sergeant Gordon Black, and Russian American ballerina Casina Carolina. The President will be speaking about this. This is painful. It's going to be painful.

I just know it. I know it already.

But anyway, we'll take those comments live when he gets to the podium.

And he's a scheduled any moment now, so it definitely sometime we have to break in to do it. I also want to point out the niper team in Pennsylvania is now saying the Secret Service is line. How is that not the biggest story of the world right now because that we're crazy.

No, but that's been the narrative for two weeks. It's been that, Oh, it's their fault. It wasn't our fault, not my ass. I'm covering that.

It's gonna be there the local guys. No, it's a secret service. I mean, everyone's pointing fingers and they.

Have from go they better be in the same room at some point and has this thing.

They're not going to because it looks off. No one is going to own this.

Now they are bringing on Evan also Vladimir, three American citizens of one American green card holder. All four have been imprisoned on justly in Russia. Paul for nearly six years, Vladimir since twenty twenty two, Evan since March of twenty twenty three and alls since October of twenty twenty three, Russian authorities arrested them, convicted them, and show trials and sends them the long prison term with absolutely no legitimate reason whatsoever.

None.

Paul, a former marine, was in Russia for a wedding. Evan, a journalist with a Russian in Russia, was in Russia, signed by the Wall Street Journal. Also also a journalist was in Russia to see family. All three falsely accused of being spies. And Vladimir was a Russian citizen by birth and holds an American green card. It's a Pulitzer Prize meaning journalist and was a Paul bearer of my

And now their brutal or deal is over and they're free.

Moments ago the families and I were able to speak to them on the.

Telephone from the Oval office. They're out of Russia.

Earlier today they are flown to Turkey and soon there'll be wheels up on their way home to see their families. This is an incredible relief for all the family members gathered here. It's relief to the friends and colleagues all across the country who've been praying for this day for a long time. The deal that made this possible was the feet of diplomacy and friendship.

Friendship.

Multiple countries helped get this done. They joined the difficult, complex negotiations at my request, and I personally thanked them all again. And I've thanked them personally, I'll thank them again. All told, Russia has released sixteen prisoners. Eight Russians were being held in the West will be sent home as well. These sixteen prisoners from Russia that Russia has released include.

Four Americans, five Germans, seven.

Russian citizens who are political prisoners in their own country. One of those Russians runs a human rights organization Memorial, which won a Nobel Prize in twenty twenty two Throw in prison for voicing opposition to the war in Ukraine. Four others work with Alexi Navalni, political opposition that died in Russia prison this year. Now they can live safely abroad and continue their work of advocating for democracy if they so choose.

This still would not.

Have been made possible without our allies Germany, Poland, Slovenia and Norway, in Turkey, they all stepped up and they stood with us.

They stood with us.

And they made bold and brave decisions, released prisoners being held in their countries who are justifiably being held, and provided logistical support to get.

The Americans home.

So if anyone who questions with allies.

Matter, they do. They matter.

And today is a powerful example of why it's vital debt friends in this world, friends who can trust, work with and depend upon, especially that matters of great consequence and sensitivity like this aciences make our people safer.

And we began to see that again today.

Let me say this, It says a lot about the United States that we work relentlessly to free Americans who are unjustly held around the world.

It also says a lot.

About us that this deal includes the release of Russian political prisoners. They stood up for democracy and human rights their own leaders through them in prison. The United States helped secure their release as well. That's who we are in the United States. We stand for freedom, for liberty, for justice, not only for our own people, but for others as well. And that's why all Americans can take pride and what we've achieved today. I want to thank

Seems he doesn't have to carry on with this charade for four more years, he relaxed.

Yeah, totally, I get it.

My State Department has introduced new warnings for Americans about the risk of being wrongfully detained by a foreign government. Deals like this one come with tough calls, and there's never any guarantees. There's nothing that matters more to me. I'm protecting Americans at home and abroad, and so we'll continue to work for the release of all wrongfully detained Americans around the world. Let me from where I began with Paul Evan and also Vladimir and their families. They

All of you.

Matter of fact, this lady right here, I think, sitting in the Oval office with us for a while, all can decide. I can't imagine their joy right now their home. Tomorrow is a big day, the thirteenth birthday of Mariam Mary Murray.

Oh that's not a good blood.

Happy birthday on any birthday, ready, all of your happy birthday to you.

Oh my god. Wow.

He reminds me so much of my dearly departed grandfather so much.

That's exactly what you would want to Love you, God, love.

You, That's what he would say all the time.

Yeah.

Wow, She gets to celebrate with her Mom's what this is all about. Families able to be together again like this should have been all along. It's I want to thank you again to everyone who did their part. In just a few hours, we'll welcome home our fellow Americans. We're looking forward to that, God willing, we're going to be out at Andrews and get that done. So thank you, thank you, thank you, And this is a good day, is all right?

And he wrapped it up right before the break, so that works out. Well. This is a massive, massive deal.

The Wall Street Journal referred to this as the largest and most complex East West prisoner swap since the Cold War, in which Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter, and more than a dozen others that have been jailed by Russia were exchanged four Russians held in the United States and in Europe.

The swap at that Turkish airport, they say was painsta makingly choreographed, and you could imagine. That's why I said I would read this book or at least watch the movie about all the machinations and the behind the scenes.

Ropes that were pulled.

Here Tom Hanks movie where they exchanged the spies on the on the bridge.

I was just thinking about that. What was it and that that was, Oh yeah, that was a good movie.

That was an example of you know the amount and that was long before Bridge of Spies. What was the one that had the bridge in it and it had the spies.

Oh and it's on Netflix so you can watch it again. That was that was a great movie.

And it was till the last second they didn't know if they would release And that's so good, and it's just the intensity of that one.

I was listening this morning to a couple of different channels, BBC, Sky News, Fox. They were all talking about They didn't want to get into too many details about what they knew about it, what their reporters knew about it, because it wasn't done yet, basically, which means until that plane is on the ground in the in the country of somebody that we like or likes us, we're not going

Yeah, that's why Iran was so pissed off. They thought nothing could happen to the leader of Hamas when he was in Iran.

Right, That's why you gotta be careful. Oh did you hear that they had that bomb planted for months? Yes? I finally saw one of the French.

I don't think she's French, actually, but I saw one of the oh Belgian, the Belgian triathletes that swam in the sane river yesterday she came in twenty fourth, so it wasn't I mean, she probably has She's not hey, she had a better knighted. But she talked about the experience of swimming in the absolutely filthy river that was the same, and she said, this is my great Joli again. Vermeil Yan said she felt debris in the water now a fifteen swim. I hope she means just leaves.

And her her.

Quote to the Flemish TV channel VTM was while swimming under the bridge, I felt and saw things that we shouldn't think about too much.

Oh no, so actual feces she's talking about like it.

She said she did ingest a lot of water during the race and was concerned with what it might do to her body. Her quote, We'll know tomorrow if I'm sick or not. It doesn't taste like Coca cola or sprite.

Of course, the big news today President Biden just speaking from the White House confirming this massive prisoner swap with Russia involving six countries twenty four prisoners. Biden said Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershovitch Gershakovich, Gerskovich, we can.

Say it anytime as free.

Now American Paul Whalen and others are free. It's the largest prisoner swamp with the Kremlin since the Cold War. Both those guys were sentenced to prison for espionage, with both men and the US denied. Also, a female radio host also involved.

A weird story.

Study actually came out that suggests that Gen X and millennials are at an increased risk of developing cancer, certain cancers compared with older generations. So basically, anybody born from sixty five to ninety five?

Is it the cell phones? No?

No, Actually they referred to diet most specifically, really eating habits and diet changed significantly, ultra processed foods and things like that.

But they did.

They talked about specific kinds of cancers that were more prevalent.

Shop around the perimeter of the supermarket. Stay out of the middle. The middle will kill you. The middle taste, I know, it does I know, And all I can think of now are like cinnamon rules.

Yesterday we told you the former president was at a I wouldn't call it a campaign event, but it was an event the National Association of Black Journalists.

I said this yesterday as it was happening, as the first words were coming out of his mouth. Who in his campaign thought this was going to be a good idea in what world?

Well, you knew he.

Was going to step in it, and he made it himself, and then he stepped in all of it.

Around the planning table, there were people who were like, listen, we're going to have to make inroads with black voters, and one of the ways to do that is to show we're okay with having conversations and we'll talk about whatever we want to talk about.

They know their candidate and they know he's incapable of not crapping the bed.

That's the problem is, and you said this yesterday.

If he had stuck with the story of just inflation, the high cost of living where we were for when he was president versus where we are now with Biden as president, and all you did was just look at the basic numbers, that would have been a winning argument there.

The takeaway is John Coblt said it great. Why did he have to get into this? Why did he open up his mouth? Because this is all people are talking about, and it's all people are going to talk about for the next week. Is when he said that she decided to turn black.

So I'm asking you a question.

Direct find it, define it for me.

I just defined it, sir.

Do you believe that Vice President Kamala Harris is only on the ticket because she is a black woman.

Well, I can say no.

I think it's maybe a little bit different. So I've known her a long time, indirectly, not directly very much, and she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black, and now she wants to be known as black.

He just sounds so ignorant in you either are black or you're Indian, that you cannot be a hodgepodge like most Americans are of different backgrounds.

We are we are a nation of of mutts. Yes, to put it blind. Now, Kamala Harris had the opportunity to take to the microphone in an event a little bit later, and she had said, let me say, I got to change a month here because it's now August and I have to go to a different folder and pull.

This is what she said. Yesterday after the comments were.

Made, Donald Trump spoke at the annual meeting of the National Association of black journalists.

And it was the same old show.

The divisiveness and the disrespect. And let me just say, the American people deserve better. The American people deserve better. Now.

Jade Vance went on to say that she grew up in Canada. I guess she spent some time as a teenager living in Canada, but that suggested that that means that she is what not America. Vance talked about Harris, saying that she spent her teenage years that she changed her identity. She changes her accent for political benefit. Everybody does. We played for you the other day when she was in Atlanta and started putting on a nice southern affect, apparently because she thought that that was.

Gonna Is that an unconscious thing.

Or a conscious thing that politicians do when they start trying to talk like their audience like that.

They all do it.

I mean we've heard Bill Clinton did it. Everyone has done it. Hillary Clinton carries hot sauce in her purse. And the whoring is well documented and it goes back our at least my entire lifetime.

Now, there was an interesting thing that I found that back on the twenty eighth of July, so just a few days ago, but long before these, you know, a couple of days before these comments, the New York Times had an article that was titled the lesser known side of Harris's identity Asian American, and it goes on to describe that part of her life, that half of her ethnicity and her family and her history, because I guess

President Biden spoke just a short time ago about it.

Deal.

It made this possible was a feat of diplomacy and friendship. Friendship multable countries help get this done. They joined a difficult complex negotiations at my request, and I personally thank them all again.

I thank from personal and I thank him again.

The four Americans are going to be on an airplane back to the United States very soon.

Harry Shannon.

First thing I noticed about Biden's speech, at least in the prisoners, was he was not about to.

Attempt just you say last names.

He didn't even try.

He didn't even try right out.

All right, I gush, that's so true.

I don't like Trump's personality, but he's a poem that these policies are, okay, the best of what we got. But why does everybody keep thinking that He's saying she's not black.

He's saying she she's playing the card of is she even Indian? She's like the Indian. Isn't she Pacific islander?

I don't care, But he's just saying she was playing the part, now she's playing the black part.

That's what he's saying.

She her mother was Indian, her father was Jamaican. So no Pacific islander in there.

That's all. It doesn't take. You've been listening to The Gary and Shannon Show.

You can always hear us live on KFI AM six forty nine am to one pm every Monday through Friday and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app,