During a White House press briefing on Thursday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan & Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre spoke about the major prisoner swap with Russia.
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NewsTranscript
00:00So, it's a historic and important day.
00:03President Biden and his administration have secured a deal for Americans who were unjustly
00:08imprisoned in Russia.
00:10I know for a lot of reporters in this room, especially Wall Street Journal team, this
00:16is personal.
00:17And I know for the families of Paul, Evan, Alsu, and Vladimir, it's one of the best days
00:23of their lives.
00:24As President Biden said in his statement, as we celebrate the return of these brave
00:30Americans, we remember all those still wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world,
00:37and reaffirm our pledge to their families.
00:40We see you, we are with you, and we will never stop working to bring your loved ones home
00:46where they belong.
00:49And with that, I will turn it over to our National Security Advisor, Jake Selvin.
00:56Thank you, Corinne, and good afternoon, everyone.
00:59Today, as you've seen and heard from the President and from Corinne, we've completed one of the
01:03largest and certainly the most complex exchange in history.
01:08And Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kermysheva, and Vladimir Karamurza, three American citizens
01:14and one American green card holder, are finally coming home.
01:18I had the honor and pleasure of joining the President this morning in the Oval Office
01:21as he shared the wonderful news with the families.
01:25And then together, they spoke with Paul, Evan, Alsu, and Vladimir, who are on the tarmac
01:30in Ankara with U.S. officials where the exchange happened.
01:34To say that everyone in the room was overjoyed, even at a loss for words, is an understatement.
01:40Since taking office, President Biden and Vice President Harris have made clear that they
01:44will not stop working until every American wrongfully detained or held hostage around
01:48the world is reunited with their family.
01:51As an administration, we're proud to celebrate the return home of over 70 such Americans
01:56from places around the world like Afghanistan, Burma, Gaza, Haiti, Iran, Russia, Venezuela,
02:02Rwanda, and elsewhere.
02:05Today's exchange is a feat of diplomacy that honestly could only be achieved by a leader
02:09like Joe Biden.
02:10At his direction, the professionals in our national security, foreign policy, and intelligence
02:15community worked tirelessly and relentlessly to secure the release of 16 individuals who
02:21were detained in Russia.
02:23The three American citizens, one American green card holder, five German citizens, and
02:27seven Russian political prisoners in exchange for eight individuals held in a combination
02:33of the United States, Germany, Norway, Slovenia, and Poland.
02:38The President was himself personally engaged in the diplomacy that brought this about,
02:44including multiple conversations with Chancellor Schultz, with the other leaders of the countries
02:49who provided some of the Russians as part of the exchange, and most recently, as has
02:54now been reported, calling the Prime Minister of Slovenia early in the afternoon of Sunday,
03:00July 21st, to coordinate the final arrangements to make the final piece of this deal fall
03:05into place.
03:07There is no more singular or concrete demonstration that the alliances that the President has
03:12reinvigorated around the world matter to Americans, to the individual safety of Americans,
03:18and to the collective security of Americans.
03:20And we're deeply grateful to our allies who supported us in these complex negotiations
03:25to achieve this outcome.
03:26And while I'm standing at this podium, the President is reaching out to give personal
03:31thanks to the leaders of Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Turkey.
03:36And honestly, guys, I can just say this was vintage Joe Biden, rallying American allies
03:44to save American citizens and Russian freedom fighters, and doing it with intricate statecraft,
03:49pulling his whole team together to drive this across the finish line.
03:53His goal has always been to put the families first, the families who are enduring an unimaginable
03:58ordeal.
03:59From the President on down, we've stayed in regular and routine touch with them.
04:03I spent a lot of time with the families of Evan and Paul and also.
04:09And most of the time, as you can imagine, those are tough conversations.
04:12But not today.
04:13Today, excuse me, today was a very good day.
04:22And we're going to build on it, drawing inspiration and continued courage from it for all of those
04:27who are held hostage or wrongfully detained around the world.
04:30And that includes Mark Fogle, who we are actively working to get his release from Russia
04:36as well.
04:37And there are others being held in Syria, Afghanistan, other countries around the world
04:41who we are working to get released.
04:44And just on a personal note, I want to say that this is the culmination of a monumental
04:48level of effort and level of skill by my teammates across the national security enterprise.
04:55My colleagues here at the NSC, my colleagues at the Central Intelligence Agency, my colleagues
04:59at the State Department.
05:01These are dedicated, talented professionals who are not in the headlines, who don't get
05:05to stand at a podium like this one, and it was at the President's direction that they
05:09built and pulled off the most intricate, expansive deal of its kind in memory.
05:14So they know who they are.
05:16I salute them.
05:18And every American should be proud to have those kind of people standing up on their
05:22behalf and on behalf of American security.
05:25While this has unfolded, we've been closely monitoring the events in the Middle East as
05:29well.
05:30Since October 7th, we have worked to deter and prevent escalation into a wider regional
05:35war.
05:36That risk has always been there.
05:38That risk is there now.
05:39And we are determined to engage in deterrence, defense, and de-escalation to try to ensure
05:45that we do not have a wider regional conflict or escalation that goes unchecked.
05:51So I'm happy to get more into that in response to your questions.
05:54And with that, I'll turn it over to you.