On Friday, President Joe Biden briefly spoke with reporters before heading off for another weekend vacation in Delaware. Vice President Kamala Harris also had no public events scheduled for the day. Biden and Harris have been notably low-profile recently, with speculation suggesting that Obama may have influenced Biden’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.
Biden climbs on an aircraft that just arrived, and that he is not flying on! Everyone stares in amazement, Nobody knows what to do, so they have to wait until Biden realizes that he got on the wrong plane and come back down!!!!
pic.twitter.com/5ZuBalA5hy— Gavin (@Gavins2cents) August 2, 2024
As Biden made his way to Marine One on the South Lawn, reporters shouted various questions. One inquired about Harris’ choice for Vice President, to which Biden responded, “I’ll let her pick.” Another reporter asked why he had dropped out of the race, but Biden did not address the question. The President became visibly frustrated when asked about Americans still being held in Russia.
The inquiry was made in light of recent news that Russia had agreed to release four high-profile detainees—Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza—as part of a significant multi-country prisoner exchange. These detainees arrived in the U.S. late Thursday.
Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was arrested in March 2023 on espionage charges, which he and his employer denied. Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine detained since 2018, was serving a 16-year sentence for alleged espionage. Biden had previously traded arms dealer Viktor Bout for WNBA player Brittney Griner, leaving Whelan still imprisoned. Alsu Kurmasheva, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist with dual U.S.-Russian citizenship, was detained in October 2023 on charges of failing to register as a “foreign agent.” Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian opposition figure and journalist, was serving a 25-year sentence for treason and spreading “false information” about the Russian military.
When reporters asked Biden about the Americans still detained in Russia, he responded sharply, “You want me to tell you ahead of time so he doesn’t get out?” before walking away.
https://x.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1819384925088281002
