Author: PolitCens

ATLANTA, GEORGIA — Former President Donald Trump returns Saturday to Georgia, which he lost four years ago, to campaign in a state that Democrats and Republicans see as up for grabs yet again.

Trump’s 5 p.m. event alongside his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, comes just days after Vice President Kamala Harris rallied thousands in the same basketball arena at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

Both parties are focusing on Georgia, a Sun Belt battleground that Democrats had signaled just two weeks ago they would sideline in favor of a heavier focus on the Midwestern “blue wall” states. President Joe Biden’s decision to end his campaign and endorse Harris fueled Democratic hopes of an expanded electoral map.

“The momentum in this race is shifting,” Harris told a cheering, boisterous crowd on Tuesday. “And there are signs Donald Trump is feeling it.”

Biden beat Trump in the state by 11,779 votes in 2020. Trump pressured Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to change the outcome. Trump was later indicted in Georgia for his efforts to overturn the election, but the case remains on hold while courts decide whether the Fulton County district attorney can continue to prosecute it.

In announcing Saturday’s rally, the Trump campaign accused Harris of costing Georgians money due to inflation and higher gas prices, which have risen from pandemic-era lows at the end of the Trump administration. The campaign also noted the case of Laken Riley, a nursing student from the state who was killed while jogging in a park on February 22. A Venezuelan citizen has been indicted on murder charges in her death.

Trump and his allies have repeatedly labeled Harris the current administration’s “border czar,” a reference to her assignment leading White House efforts on root causes of migration.

But in recent days, Trump has lobbed false attacks about Harris’ race and suggested she misled voters about her identity. Harris has stated for years in public life that she is Black and Indian American.

At her rally in Atlanta, Harris called Trump and Vance “plain weird” — a lane of messaging seized on by many other Democrats of late — and taunted Trump for wavering on whether he’d show up for their upcoming debate, currently on the books for September 10 on ABC.

Saying earlier that he would debate Harris, Trump has more recently questioned the value of a meetup, calling host network ABC News “fake news,” saying he “probably” will debate Harris, but he “can also make a case for not doing it.”

The fact that Harris and Trump have been focusing resources on Georgia underscores the state’s renewed significance to both parties come November. Going to Atlanta puts Trump in the state’s largest media market, including suburbs and exurbs that were traditional Republican strongholds but have become more competitive as they’ve diversified and grown in population.

In a strategy memo released after Biden left the race, Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon — who held the same role for Biden — reaffirmed the importance of winning the traditional Democratic blue wall trio of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania but also argued that Harris’ place atop the ticket “opens up additional persuadable voters” and described them as “disproportionately Black, Latino and under 30” in places like Georgia.

Next week, along with her eventual running mate, Harris plans to visit that Midwestern trifecta, along with North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada. On Friday, she will make another stop in Georgia.
…

paris — It is not enough — it has never been enough — for Simone Biles to do gymnastics.

The 27-year-old American star has been intent almost from the start on pushing the sport in new directions by doing things that have never been done before. That could continue this week when she tries for her eighth Olympic medal in Paris.

Five elements currently bear her name in the Code of Points after she successfully completed them in an international competition: two on vault, two on floor exercise and one on balance beam.

A quick primer.

Biles I (Floor exercise version)

She was just a teenager and recently minted national champion when Biles performed a tumbling pass at the 2013 world championships that she completes by doing a double layout with a half-twist at the end.

The move looks dangerous — Biles is essentially flying blind — but she and former coach Aimee Boorman came up with it because it was less taxing on her legs.

“It was almost kind of necessity is the mother of invention,” Boorman told The Associated Press in 2015. “Her calf was hurting. She had bone spurs in her ankles and she’s really good at floor with landings.”

Biles II (floor exercise version)

Biles returned to the sport in 2018 following a two-year layoff after winning the all-around at the 2016 Olympics.

Not content to merely repeat herself, Biles began working on a triple-twisting, double flip that is now known simply as ” the triple-double.” She unveiled it while winning the 2019 U.S. Championships then did it again at the world championships a few months later when she won the fifth of her record six world all-around titles.

“I wanted to see how it looked,” she explained afterward.

Biles I (vault version)

As with a lot of gymnastics elements, Biles took a Cheng vault and added another layer of difficulty — this one an extra half twist on a vault originally done by China’s Cheng Fei.

The vault requires Biles to do a round-off onto the vault, then a half-twist onto the table before doing two full twists. It entered the Code after she made it part of her routine at the 2018 world championships.

“I’m embarrassed to do floor and vault after something like that,” U.S. men’s gymnast Yul Moldauer said in 2018. “You see Simone do that and she’s smiling the whole time. How does she do that?”

Biles II (vault version)

This may be the most dazzling, most daring one of them all.

The Yurchenko double pike had never been completed by a woman in competition, and few men have even tried. She began tinkering with it in 2021, but it’s in the last year that it has morphed into perhaps the most show-stopping thing done in the sport.

The vault asks Biles to do a round-off back handspring onto the table, then two backward flips in pike position with her hands essentially clasped to her knees. She does it with so much power, she can sometimes overcook it. At the U.S. Olympic trials last month, it drew a standing ovation.

“No, it’s not normal,” longtime coach Laurent Landi said after she drilled it at the 2023 U.S. Championships. “She’s not normal.”

Biles I (balance beam version)

For all of her explosive tumbling, Biles is a wonder on balance beam, too, where she can make doing intricate moves on a four-inch-wide piece of wood seem almost casual.

The same year she debuted the triple-double on floor, she added a double-twisting, double-tucked dismount off the beam. She stuck it at the 2019 world championships, though she has since taken it out of her repetoire.

What does the new uneven bars skill look like?

The skill Biles submitted requires her to do a forward circle around the lower bar before turning a handstand into a 540-degree pirouette. USA Gymnastics teased the move on X ahead of the Games. She didn’t attempt it during the team or all-around competitions but still won gold in both.
…

COLUMBIA, Missouri — The Biden administration has doled out more than $2 billion in direct payments for Black and other minority farmers discriminated against by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the president announced Wednesday.

More than 23,000 farmers were approved for payments ranging from $10,000 to $500,000, according to the USDA. Another 20,000 who planned to start a farm but did not receive a USDA loan received between $3,500 and $6,000.

Most payments went to farmers in Mississippi and Alabama.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters that the aid “is not compensation for anyone’s loss or the pain endured, but it is an acknowledgment by the department.”

The USDA has a long history of refusing to process loans from Black farmers, approving smaller loans compared to white farmers, and in some cases foreclosing quicker than usual when Black farmers who obtained loans ran into problems.

National Black Farmers Association Founder and President John Boyd Jr. said the aid is helpful. But, he said, it’s not enough.

“It’s like putting a bandage on somebody that needs open-heart surgery,” Boyd said. “We want our land, and I want to be very, very clear about that.”

Boyd is still fighting a federal lawsuit for 120% debt relief for Black farmers that was approved by Congress in 2021. Five billion dollars for the program was included in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package.

But the money never came. White farmers in several states filed lawsuits arguing their exclusion was a violation of their constitutional rights, which prompted judges to halt the program shortly after its passage.

Faced with the likelihood of a lengthy court battle that would delay payments to farmers, Congress amended the law and offered financial help to a broader group of farmers. A new law allocated $3.1 billion to help farmers struggling with USDA-backed loans and $2.2 billion to pay farmers who the agency discriminated against.

Wardell Carter, who is Black, said no one in his farming family got so much as access to a loan application since Carter’s father bought 34.4 hectares of Mississippi land in 1939. He said USDA loan officers would slam the door in his face. If Black farmers persisted, Carter said officers would have police come to their homes.

Without a loan, Carter’s family could not afford a tractor and instead used a horse and mule for years. And without proper equipment, the family could farm at most 16.2 hectares of their property — cutting profits.

When they finally received a bank loan to buy a tractor, Carter said the interest rate was 100%.

Boyd said he’s watched as his loan applications were torn up and thrown in the trash, been called racial epithets, and was told to leave in the middle of loan meetings so the officer could speak to white farmers.

“We face blatant, in-your-face, real discrimination,” Boyd said. “And I did personally. The county person who was making farm loans spat tobacco juice on me during a loan session.”

At 65, Carter said he’s too old to farm his land. But he said if he receives money through the USDA program, he will use it to get his property in shape so his nephew can begin farming on it again. Carter said he and his family want to pitch in to buy his nephew a tractor, too. 
…

The COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to administer the SAT exam to high school students worldwide. In response, US colleges and universities that required the exam for admissions made the test optional. Now, with the pandemic in the rearview mirror, a trend is growing in higher education to again require the SAT. VOA’s Robin Guess has the story.
…

…

…

Washington — Representative Jim McGovern, the most recent U.S. lawmaker to be put under Chinese sanctions, says he will wear the sanctions “as a badge of honor,” calling on the Chinese government to end its oppressive actions in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong in a statement emailed to VOA from the representative’s media office Friday.

“These absurd sanctions against me only serve to highlight how PRC leaders are afraid of free and open debate. They seek to punish and silence those who disagree with them. But the world is watching what they do, and people who care about human rights will not be silent,” he said in the statement.

China placed McGovern under sanctions Wednesday for frequently “interfering in China’s internal affairs.” In his politics, McGovern has taken on the Tibetan cause, sponsoring a bill advocating for a peaceful resolution of the China-Tibet dispute that President Joe Biden signed into law on July 12.

China views Tibet as an “inseparable part of China since ancient times,” despite supporters of the Tibetan Government in Exile and the Dalai Lama saying that Tibet has historically been independent. Chinese state-sponsored media Xinhua said McGovern’s Tibet-China Dispute Act “grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs,” violates international law and distorts historical facts to suppress China and encourage Tibetan separatist movements.

Framed as a response to McGovern’s efforts to undermine Chinese territorial sovereignty, the sanctions freeze the representative’s Chinese assets, prohibit organizations or individuals in China from engaging with him, and ban him and his family from entering Chinese territory, according to a publication from Xinhua.

McGovern, who represents the state of Massachusetts in the House of Representatives, has no assets or business dealings in China.

McGovern’s Tibet-China Dispute Act, gives the State Department increased authority to counter Chinese disinformation about Tibet and promotes the resumption of talks between Chinese leaders and the Dalai Lama. No such talks have occurred since 2010.

China stands accused of large-scale human rights abuses in Tibet, which the congressman hoped to alleviate with this legislation.

In a statement released on June 12 when the bill passed the House, McGovern said, “The People’s Republic of China has systematically denied Tibetans the right to self-determination and continues to deliberately erase Tibetan religion, culture and language.

“The ongoing oppression of the Tibetan people is a grave tragedy, and our bill provides further tools that empower both America and the international community to stand up for justice and peace,” he said.

Among the signees of the statement were House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, Senator Todd Young, McGovern and Senator Jeff Merkley.

China has sanctioned other U.S. representatives for their involvement in an issue that threatens Chinese territorial homogeneity. Over the last year, China has sanctioned Representative McCaul and former Representative Mike Gallagher over their support for Taiwan.
…

Paris — The United States was eliminated from the Olympic men’s soccer tournament on Friday after a 4-0 loss to Morocco in the quarterfinals.

Soufiane Rahimi, Ilias Akhomach, Achraf Hakimi and Mehdi Maouhoub scored the goals at Parc des Princes that ended U.S. hopes of a medal at the Paris Games.

Morocco, which enjoyed fervent support in the French capital, will play the winner of Japan vs. Spain in the semifinals in Marseille on Monday.

The U.S. qualified for the quarterfinals of the Olympics for the first time since Sydney 2000 but was outclassed by a polished Morocco team that had already beaten Argentina in the group stage.

Rahimi scored a penalty in the 29th minute and Akhomach doubled the lead in the 63rd.

Hakimi rolled in the third after a solo run in the 70th.

Maouhoub, a substitute, finished off the rout with a penalty in second-half stoppage time.

In front of a packed crowd at the home of Paris Saint-Germain, Morocco dominated the chances in the first half, but needed a penalty to find a breakthrough after Nathan Harriel fouled Rahimi in the box.

Despite protests from the American players, referee Yael Falcón Pérez pointed to the spot and Rahimi fired low to the left and beyond the dive of Patrick Schulte.

Miles Robinson had a golden chance to level the game in the 59th when collecting a knockdown from about six yards out, but shot wide.

That miss proved even more costly when Morocco extended its lead four minutes later through Akhomach, who slotted past Schulte from close range after Abde Ezzalzouli’s cross.

Hakimi, who plays his club soccer for PSG, added a third shortly after — carrying the ball to the edge of the box before firing into the bottom right hand corner.

Morocco made it 4-0 in stoppage time when Harriel handled in the box and, after a VAR review, a second penalty was awarded and Maouhoub converted.
…

New York ranks fourth in the nation for human trafficking cases, according to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center. And authorities say the numbers have grown with the recent increase in undocumented migrants in the city. VOA’s Aunshuman Apte spoke with a woman who lived through the experience and now advocates for trafficking victims.
…

Washington — U.S. job growth slowed more than expected in July, while the unemployment rate increased to 4.3%, which could heighten fears that the labor market is deteriorating and potentially making the economy vulnerable to a recession. 

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 114,000 jobs last month after rising by a downwardly revised 179,000 in June, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its closely watched employment report on Friday. 

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls advancing by 175,000 jobs after a previously reported 206,000 gain in June. Estimates ranged from 70,000 to 225,000. 

Hurricane Beryl, which knocked out power in Texas and slammed parts of Louisiana during the payrolls survey week, likely contributed to the below-expectations payrolls gain. 

The labor market is slowing, driven by low hiring, rather than layoffs, as the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes in 2022 and 2023 dampen demand. Government data this week showed hires dropped to a four-year low in June. 

Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% last month after climbing 0.3% in June. In the 12 months through July, wages increased 3.6%. That was the smallest year-on-year gain since May 2021 and followed a 3.8% advance in June. 

Though wage growth remains above the 3%-3.5% range seen as consistent with the Fed’s 2% inflation target, it extended the run of inflation-friendly data. The employment report sealed the case for a September rate cut from the U.S. central bank. 

The rise in the unemployment rate from 4.1% in June marked the fourth straight monthly increase. That could escalate fears over the durability of the economic expansion. 

 
…

BANGKOK — Shares in Europe and Asia tumbled Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index slumping 5.8% as investors panicked over signs of weakness in the U.S. economy.

Bracing for a highly anticipated employment report coming on Friday, the future for the S&P 500 was down 1.3%, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 0.9%.

The declines followed a retreat on Wall Street after weak manufacturing data raised worries the Federal Reserve may have waited too long to cut interest rates, raising risks of a recession. After the U.S. central bank held steady at a meeting this week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said a cut could come in September.

“The short-lived satisfaction of Fed Chief Powell communicating decent odds of a September rate cut has turned sour as investors are now panicking that the central bank isn’t trimming soon enough,” José Torres, a senior economist at Interactive Brokers, said in a report.

A nearly 19% decline in Intel’s shares in aftermarket trading deepened the gloom. The chipmaker said it was cutting 15% of its massive workforce — about 15,000 jobs — to better compete with more successful rivals like Nvidia and AMD.

In early European trading, Germany’s DAX shed 1.5% to 17,806.65, while the CAC 40 slipped 1% to 7,298.81. In London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.6% to 8,233.49.

Japan’s market retreated to where it was trading in January before it surged to an all-time high last month of over 42,000. The Nikkei 225 lost 2,216.63 points Friday to 35,909.70, with banks’, technology-related and manufacturers’ shares hit by heavy selling.

The Nikkei has lost 6.2% in the past three months.

Japanese shares were pummeled after the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday, to 0.25% from 0.1%. That pushed the value of the Japanese yen higher against the U.S. dollar, potentially hurting overseas earnings of major manufacturers and deflating a boom in tourism.

The dollar fell to 148.77 yen early Friday from 149.37 yen late Thursday. It had recently traded above 160 yen. The euro rose to $1.0820 from $1.0789.

Elsewhere in Asia on Friday, Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 2.1% to 16,945.51, while the Shanghai Composite index saw a more modest loss, of 0.9% to 2,905.34.

Chinese shares have extended losses this week as investors registered disappointment with the government’s latest efforts to spur growth through various piecemeal measures, instead of hoped-for infusions of broader stimulus.

The Kospi in Seoul dropped 3.7% to 2,676.19 and Taiwan’s Taiex sank 4.4%. Both markets tend to be hit hard by weakness in technology shares.

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics dropped 4.2% while another maker of computer chips and other components, SK Hynix, dropped 10.4%. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest chip maker, lost 5.9%.

Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX gave up 2.1% to 7,943.20 and the Sensex in India was down 1.1%. Bangkok’s SET fell 0.7%.

It has been a nerve wracking week for markets even as central banks in Japan, the United States and England acted much as had been expected. Japan raised its benchmark, the Fed stood pat, and the Bank of England lowered its key rate by 0.25%, to 5%, its first cut in more than four years.

Commodity prices have also had a rough ride, with oil prices surging after the killings of leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah that fueled fears conflict in the Middle East might escalate into a wider war. But prices fell back Thursday and were only marginally higher early Friday.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil gained 12 cents to $76.43 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, was up 12 cents at $79.64 per barrel.

The price of gold, a traditional refuge for investors in uncertain times, has surged to over $2,500 an ounce.

Meanwhile, other commodities sank on concerns that weakness in the U.S. and other major economies will hurt demand. The price of nickel dropped 2.4%, aluminum dropped 1% and copper traded in New York dropped 2.3%.

Worry is mounting that the Fed has kept its main interest rate at a two-decade high for too long in its zeal to stifle inflation by making it more costly to borrow. A rate cut could take months to a year to filter through the economy.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 sank 1.4% after a report from the Institute for Supply Management showed U.S. manufacturing activity is still shrinking. The Dow fell 1.2%, and the Nasdaq composite dropped 2.3%. The small stocks in the Russell 2000 index dropped 3%.

Other reports Thursday showed the number of U.S. workers applying for jobless benefits hit its highest level in about a year and that productivity for U.S. workers improved in the spring. The data are likely to relieve pressure on inflation and give the Fed more leeway to cut rates.

Employment growth does appear to be slowing more than expected, Philip Marey, senior U.S. strategist for Rabobank, said in a commentary.

“This suggests that the Fed’s strategy to bring better balance between labor demand and supply through restrictive interest rates is working, but of course the risk is that employment growth is brought to a halt and the economy slides into a recession.”
…

Three Americans unjustly detained in Russia stepped foot on U.S. soil again late Thursday. Waiting for them, President Joe Biden and their loved ones. VOA’s Jessica Jerreat reports.
…

…

washington — The realignment of the United States armed forces in Japan, announced on the heels of the latest U.S.-Japan security talks, will focus on developing warfighting capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region, former U.S. military officials and experts say.

During a meeting of the Japan-U.S. Security Consultative Committee in Tokyo on Sunday, the two nations agreed to upgrade the command and control of the U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ), converting the current USFJ structure into a joint force headquarters.

The new headquarters will be given “expanded missions and operational responsibilities,” according to a statement released after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with their Japanese counterparts, Yoko Kamikawa and Minoru Kihara.

Jerry Martinez, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant general who served as the USFJ commander from 2016 to 2019, said this move is “a gigantic step forward” for the United States, Japan and the alliance at large.

“This action signals the high regard in which both countries view the alliance, as well as the need to ensure Japan is always ready to withstand any threats in the region,” Martinez told VOA Korean via email on Wednesday.

“It sends a strong signal to potential threats that Japan as a whole is trained, prepared and operationally ready to meet any challenges,” he said.

Harry Harris, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea during the Trump administration, told VOA Korean in an email on Tuesday that the USFJ headquarters will take on more operational command responsibilities.

“It greatly expands the heretofore limited role of the existing USFJ,” said Harris, who was also commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command from 2015 to 2018.

“USFJ was not responsible for joint war planning,” he said, adding that the move to set up a new headquarters recognizes “the importance in Japan of effective joint planning between the U.S. and Japan.”

The reconstitution of American forces stationed in Japan, scheduled for March 2025, is widely seen as the most substantial transformation since its establishment in 1957.

“This will be the most significant change to U.S. Forces Japan since its creation and one of the strongest improvements in our military ties with Japan in 70 years,” Austin said in a press conference Sunday in Tokyo.

According to experts in Washington, the changes are aimed at giving USFJ an actual warfighting command, which has, up to now, been largely assumed by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, headquartered in Hawaii.

“It was more of a command that focused on kind of day-to-day management of resources in Japan,” Robert Peters, research fellow for nuclear deterrence and missile defense at the Heritage Foundation, told VOA Korean by phone on Wednesday.

“USFJ is going to have more responsibilities and more capabilities, so they’re going to be able to make their own decisions when a war breaks out,” he said.

Peters, who served as a special adviser in the Office of the Secretary of Defense during the Obama administration, said the new USFJ will be “more relevant to the warfighting.”

James Przystup, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Japan Chair, told VOA Korean via email on Tuesday that the focus of the new joint command will be the closer operational integration of U.S. military assets, which encompass elements of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force.

“USFJ as it stands today serves an administrative function,” Przystup said. “Establishing a joint force headquarters provides for the closer operational integration of U.S. forces deployed in Japan.”

According to the joint statement of the Security Consultative Committee on Sunday, the new U.S. joint force headquarters will serve as a counterpart to Japan’s Joint Operations Command, facilitating deeper interoperability and cooperation on joint bilateral operations.

The USFJ’s cooperation with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) is expected to take a form different from the Combined Forces Command in South Korea, a joint warfighting headquarters consisting of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and the South Korean military.

Retired U.S. Army General Robert Abrams, who served as the commander of the USFK from 2018 to 2021, told VOA Korean in an email on Wednesday that the USFJ and JSDF are completely separate.

“There is no mention of the newly converted USFJ headquarters becoming a combined command or implying that this USFJ headquarters would have operational control of Japanese Self-Defense Forces,” Abrams said. “Japan’s minister of defense made clear that there was no plan to put JSDF under U.S. command.”

Przystup said the new USFJ Joint Forces Command, along with Japan’s own Joint Operations Command, will facilitate closer U.S.-Japan defense cooperation in dealing with security challenges posed by China as well as North Korea, “in particular with respect to operational integration of Japan’s counterstrike capability within the alliance, thus enhancing alliance-based deterrence.”

While Austin stressed during the Sunday press conference that “our decision to move in this direction is not based upon any threat from China,” the U.S. and Japan made it clear that China’s external stance and military actions pose a serious concern.

In response to an inquiry from VOA Korean, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said Tuesday that China is not a threat to global stability and peace.

“The so-called ‘China threat theory’ is groundless and should not be used as an excuse for military expansion,” Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said in a written statement via email. “U.S.-Japan relations should not target other countries, harm their interests or undermine regional peace and stability.”
…

Americans Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva, Evan Gershkovich, and others are freed from Russian prisons in a deal involving 16 political prisoners exchanged for eight individuals requested by the Kremlin. With Liam Scott and Cristina Caicedo Smit, Jessica Jerreat reports. Patsy Widakuswara contributed. Cameras: Martin Bubenik, Krystof Maixner, Hoshang Fahim.
…

washington — The historic prisoner swap with Russia that freed U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich and 15 other Westerners was the fruit of painstaking, secret talks — and one crucial phone call from President Joe Biden an hour before he dropped his reelection bid.

Biden welcomed the families of the three U.S. citizens and one U.S. resident to the White House on Thursday, just as the release was taking place in Ankara.

After placing an emotional phone call to their loved ones from the Oval Office, they appeared with the president in front of journalists.

Asked what he’d told the newly liberated Americans, Biden answered: “I said, ‘Welcome almost home.’ ”

But the smiles hid the pain of waiting during long months of feverish negotiations.

The White House had worked desperately — and largely out of public view — to free Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reporter Alsu Kurmasheva and U.S. green card holder Vladimir Kara-Murza, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kurmasheva is a Prague-based editor on the Tatar-Bashkir Service of VOA sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

This meant high-level talks with Russia at a time when East-West relations are in open conflict over the Ukraine war.

But it also meant, say U.S. officials, leaning hard on European allies reluctant to give in to Moscow’s demands for getting back a string of Russian citizens imprisoned in the West for serious crimes.

In the end, Biden secured the key piece of the puzzle on July 21 — the very day that the 81-year-old Democrat stunned the world by announcing that he would no longer stand in November’s election.

Holed up in his Delaware beach home with COVID-19, he was about to release his shock statement. Yet before that, he had one more bit of work on the prisoner deal to do.

“I’m not making this up — literally an hour before he released that statement, he was on the phone with his Slovenian counterpart, urging them to make the final arrangements and to get this deal over the finish line,” a senior U.S. official told reporters.

Slovenia later freed two of the Russians, who had been convicted by a court of spying.

But no one knew for certain that the deal would go through until the very end.

In a sign of the strain on negotiators and families alike, Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan choked up on the White House podium as he welcomed what he called a “good day.”

“We held our breath and crossed our fingers until just a couple of hours ago,” he said.

The process leading to Thursday’s news began all the way back in 2018 when Whelan was arrested and Donald Trump was U.S. president.

Not only was Whelan not freed, but then Gershkovich was arrested while reporting in Yekaterinburg in March 2023. Suddenly, “these efforts were obviously made more complicated,” Sullivan said.

In what critics describe as state-sponsored hostage-taking, Moscow’s biggest condition was the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian jailed in Germany for assassinating a former Chechen rebel commander in Berlin in 2019.

Germany balked at giving up a hitman who had carried out such a brazen murder on its soil.

To persuade Berlin, Sullivan said, “required extensive diplomatic engagement with our German counterparts, starting at the top with the president.”

Then in February this year, the tense diplomatic to-and-fro took another dark turn when Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny — who Sullivan revealed Thursday had also been on the U.S. wish list for release — died in a Russian prison.

“The team felt like the wind had been taken out of our sails,” the senior U.S. official added.

By coincidence, Gershkovich’s mother and father were meeting with Sullivan at the White House that same day. It’s “going to be a little bit more of a rocky path,” he told them.

The breakthrough came during Oval Office talks between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Biden in April.

“Chancellor Scholz responded to the president saying, ‘For you, I will do this,’ ” added the U.S. official.

Biden on Thursday thanked Scholz, praising the “bold and brave” decisions by allies.

And once the deal was outlined, a careful choreography ensued.

Russia fast-tracked a trial for Gershkovich, which ended with him receiving a 16-year jail sentence — but which behind the scenes indicated that Russia was preparing for the swap.

Finally, the White House ceremony on Thursday brought this diplomatic and intensely personal journey to a head.

Noting that it was the 13th birthday of Kurmasheva’s daughter, Miriam Butorin, Biden asked the assembled family members and journalists to sing “Happy Birthday” — perhaps the happiest possible.
…

…