Minutes after word began trickling out Thursday morning that a major prisoner swap between the United States, Russia, and five other countries was underway that’d bring home The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan, CBS Mornings immediately went political and went right to speculating about what this will mean for President Biden’s “legacy” while Trump’s “hype factor” promising to get Gershkovich out has been “silenced.”
Fill-in co-host Kristine Johnson took it in a political direction with this ask of chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes: “I’m also thinking about the Biden administration as a whole, the President’s decision to drop out of the race and now this news. I know it was a major priority for his administration. How does this look then for his legacy?”
Not even five minutes after news broke of Russia releasing Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, 'CBS Mornings' celebrated this as a “major feather in [Joe Biden's] cap” and touchstone of his “legacy”....
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 1, 2024
Kristine Johnson: “As I think of these families and the news and the relief… pic.twitter.com/7lT0eeEFkl
Cordes eventually focused things back on the difficulty of negotiating with these hostile regimes, but briefly entertained the political angel:
This would be a major feather in his cap because it has been so difficult negotiating with Russia, Kristine. President Biden has long said that it is a top priority for him to bring Evan Gershkovich home, to bring Paul Whelan home. Obviously, they secured the release of basketball star Brittney Griner last year and she came home to much fanfare, but these deals are controversial.
Also serving as a fill-in co-host, chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett took a pot shot at Trump:
CBS’s Major Garrett: “One thing that is interesting about the Evan Gershkovich part of this, former President Trump has been saying without any provocation, without any underlying justification, that anyone can find out, oh, if I'm elected, I'll get Evan out. Well, guess what,… pic.twitter.com/SWsgzP4GMp
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 1, 2024
“And to Kristine’s point, now Biden puts this on his legacy as he is on his way out of office,” Burleson reiterated.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from August 1, click “expand.”
CBS Mornings
August 1, 2024
8:32 a.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking News; U.S. Prisoner Swap Underway]
KRISTINE JOHNSON: Nancy, Kristine Johnson here. As I think of these families and the news and the relief they must be feeling, I’m also thinking about the Biden administration as a whole, the President’s decision to drop out of the race and now this news. I know it was a major priority for his administration.
NANCY CORDES: Yeah.
JOHNSON: How does this look then for his legacy?
CORDES: This would be a major feather in his cap because it has been so difficult negotiating with Russia, Kristine. President Biden has long said that it is a top priority for him to bring Evan Gershkovich home, to bring Paul Whelan home. Obviously, they secured the release of basketball star Brittney Griner last year and she came home to much fanfare, but these deals are controversial. There are some who argue that any time we negotiate the release of an American who has been wrongfully detained, it simply makes bad actors like Vladimir Putin around the world more likely to take Americans prisoner in the first place. And so, you know, these are very delicate, complicated negotiations. Sometimes, there are months that go by where U.S. officials simply get no response from the Russians. For example, we know that part of the reason that talks over Gershkovich’s release were delayed for so long was because the Russians were likely not going to be willing to seriously engage in talks until he was convicted. Now, obviously, U.S. officials say this is a sham trial. He never did anything wrong in the first place. He was simply reporting from Russia as U.S. reporters have done for decades. But nevertheless, that is how these — how these talks ten to go, that the Russians simply won’t engage until they have convicted someone and sometimes in the case of Paul Whelan who was convicted years ago, even then they are unwilling to release them.
NATE BURLESON: Nancy, thank you. Major, this is major.
MAJOR GARRRETT: So, there will be political repercussions as Nancy described.
BURLESON: Yeah.
GARRETT: Sometimes these deals are viewed harshly. The information that we have leads us to believe that the person that the Russians sought is in German custody, not U.S. custody. We’ll have to wait for confirmation on that.
BURLESON Right.
GARRETT: One thing that is interesting about the Evan Gershkovich part of this, former President Trump has been saying without any provocation, without any underlying justification, that anyone can find out, oh, if I’m elected, I’ll get Evan out. Well, guess what, that’s now off the table.
BURLESON: Mmmmm!
GARRETT: Whether that was politically relevant or not to voters in this country, we don’t know, but for reasons known only to former President Trump, he was hyping this. Well, that hype factor has now been silenced.
BURLESON: Yeah. And to Kristine’s point, now Biden puts this on his legacy as he is on his way out of office.
JOHNSON: Yeah, exactly. And we’ll be hearing from him shortly, as well.
