It’s Thursday. Happy August! Simone Biles and Suni Lee are competing in the women’s all-around final right now! 🤸
And does anyone else think July could have its own “We Didn’t Start the Fire?” 🎵Kamala, JD Vance, assassination attempt, ‘Apple’ TikTok dance. RNC, George Clooney, Biden drops out, immun-ity… 🎵 Anyway, here’s what’s happening today:
- Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and a former U.S. Marine were released in a major U.S.-Russia prisoner swap(!) WSJ’s newsroom broke out into cheers when the news was confirmed.
- Former President Trump did an interview at a Black journalists’ convention, and it was both … tense and newsy.
- Trump mocked Vice President Harris’s heritage, and it’s been getting a lot of attention.
- The Washington Post reports that President Biden is much more relaxed and reflective since stepping away from the race.
- I pulled some of my favorite Olympic clips from social media.
I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send tips, commentary, feedback and cookie recipes to cmartel@thehill.com. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here.
🌏 News This Morning
Amazing news. Evan is coming home!:
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were released from Russia as part of a major prisoner swap between the U.S. and the Kremlin.
Backstory on Gershkovich: Evan is an American journalist who was arrested in March 2023 and accused of collecting state secrets on the Russian military on behalf of the U.S. government. He denied these charges and became the first U.S. journalist to be detained in Russia since the Cold War. He was recently sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Backstory on Whelan: Whelan was arrested in 2018 and was later convicted of spying and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He and his family deny the charges. The U.S. government designated him as “wrongfully detained” and had long been trying to free him.
Statement from WSJ: “Evan and his family have displayed unrivaled courage, resilience and poise during this ordeal, which came to an end because of broad advocacy for his release around the world.” Read the full statement
Tidbit: The Wall Street Journal’s Annie Linskey posted that “Applause breaks out in WSJ’s DC office, as editors here get confirmation that Evan Gershkovich is off a Russian plane.” 🥲 📸 WSJ’s newsroom today
➡️ Check out the Wall Street Journal’s homepage right now
🗨️ Live blog of updates on the prisoner swap news
➤ THIS IS WORTH READING:
The Wall Street Journal published a behind-the-scenes account of the secret negotiations to free Gershkovich.
Excerpt: “The secret negotiations to free The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich unfolded on three continents, involving spy agencies, billionaires, political power players and his fiercest advocate—his mom.”
🗣️ The Campaign Trail
Call me, debate me. If you don’t wanna face me, it’s OK:
Vice President Harris has amped up the pressure on former President Trump to debate her ahead of the November election.
Is Trump down?: He first told reporters he would “absolutely” debate her, but then his campaign declined to commit until she’s officially the nominee. Then, Trump told Fox News that he would “probably” debate her.
Why this back-and-forth is worth mentioning: The Hill’s Brett Samuels and Alex Gangitano point out that “[Trump’s] reluctance to firmly commit to a debate has given Harris’s campaign an opening to go on offense and get under Trump’s skin, casting him as scared to get on stage with the vice president and former prosecutor.”
Timing?: President Biden and Trump had agreed to a Sept. 10 debate hosted by ABC News, but Trump has expressed his frustration with ABC and may push for changes.
➤ WHERE THE TRUMP-HARRIS POLLING STANDS:
Harris cut Trump’s lead in half, according to the newly relaunched polling average from the Cook Political Report. Trump now leads by 1.3 points. He had been leading Biden by 2.7 points.
🎤 Getting Traction
That interview was a wild ride:
© GIPHY/Election2016
Former President Trump agreed to participate in an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention on Wednesday.
The interview started with quite a bang. 📹 Watch the tense opening
The biggest headline from the interview: Trump questioned and mocked Vice President Harris’s identity, telling the crowd that “she happened to turn Black” in recent years.
How this came up: ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott pressed Trump on his suggestion that Harris was a “DEI hire” (diversity, equity and inclusion). Trump then responded by saying, “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.” Read the back-and-forth
How this has played out: Harris responded by saying “the American people deserve better.” The White House communications director said Trump’s comments come “full circle” and Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) hit Trump’s “bigotry and ignorance.”
Coming to his boss’s defense: Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) called Harris’s reaction “hysterical” and compared her to a “chameleon.”
For what it’s worth: Veteran Republican political pundit Scott Jennings said Trump “did crap the bed” with his comments about Harris’s race during the interview.
➤ MORE MEMORABLE MOMENTS:
Trump was asked to define ‘Black jobs’: “A Black job is anybody that has a job,” Trump said. (It was a term Trump mentioned during the June debate.)
Trump had to defend his running mate: Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) has come under scrutiny for his “childless cat lady” comments. Trump clarified Vance’s remarks and then downplayed the importance of the VP. “I will say this … historically, the vice president in terms of the election, does not have any impact.” 📹 Watch Trump downplay his VP
More memorable moments, via The Hill’s Caroline Vakil
✈️ In the White House
If you’re wondering how Biden’s doing these days:
President Biden seems to have reconciled the fact that he will retire from his 54-year career, enough that he’s comfortable making jokes about it. The Washington Post’s Matt Viser observed President Biden aboard Air Force One and spoke to people around him, who described a more relaxed president.
Biden’s mood: One person who spent Monday with Biden described him as “reflective.” Another said he’s “at peace” with his decision. “Biden is occasionally wistful, and he has engaged in lighter and even playful moments after a weeks-long period of intense stress, for example peeking through American flags and around columns near the Rose Garden to make faces at aides who had gathered to applaud him after his Oval Office address last week.”
Tidbit: Biden watched the wall-to-wall cable news coverage of the speculation over Vice President Harris’s running mate while he was on Air Force One. “Kamala and I talked,” Biden joked. “I said she could pick me.”
Biden’s schedule: His schedule has been lighter this week. That’s his attempt to step back and allow his No. 2 to seize the spotlight, aides expressed to Viser.
➤ SPEAKING OF HARRIS’S ‘VEEPSTAKES’:
Democrats are *giddy* over how competitive Harris’s running mate selection has become, underscoring the party’s newfound excitement beyond 2024. Read Julia Mueller’s reporting
🐝 Internet Buzz
🍺 Celebrate: Today is National IPA Day!
🥇 Some Olympic highlights: I’ve been loving all of the Olympic content on social media. Here are some of the highlights I’ve seen in the past day.
📹 Watch the U.S. anthem for the men’s rowing team
📹 Team USA’s basketball team has a ‘candy guy’
📹 Simone Biles’s tumbling pass was recreated with 120 paper cutouts
📹 Watch this insane rugby play
📹 Colin Jost explains NBC’s satellite engineering
📆 On The Agenda
Today’s the last day of the Senate session before August recess. The House has already left. President Biden is in Washington, and Vice President Harris is in Houston. (all times Eastern)
- 1:30 p.m.: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters. 💻 Livestream
- 1:45 p.m.: A Senate cloture vote on the “Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act.” 📆 Today’s agenda
- 2:20 p.m.: Harris delivers the eulogy for the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) in Houston.
- 6:10 p.m.: Harris returns to Washington.
👋 And Finally…
Not to embarrass this dog, but going through a car wash for the first time can be scary.
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