as an independent i am willing to work with anyone to get things done. her decision complicates democrats plans for the future and their hopes of holding control in 2024. my stand today is about joining the many americans who don t believe that any political party fits them perfectly. te i ll talk to democratic senator jon tester of montana who understands the challenges of being a democrat in a red state. plus, freed from russia. ei welcome home, brittney. basketball star brittney griner is free from russia in a prisoner exchange for a convicted arms dealer known as b the merchant of death.nt it was a dangerous concession of vladimir putin and will set a dangerous precedent going forward. rw is the u.s. putting more lives at risk with this deal? i ll talk to former u.s. attorney preet bharara who put the russian arms dealer viktor bout behind bars. and liability. after his hand-picked candidate lost the georgia run-off donaldp trump is increasingly becoming a liab
negotiating for the release of paul whelan in russia. the biden administration made serious efforts to bring him home, along with basketball star brittney griner. but it didn t work out. we are still negotiating for paul whelan s release. there was a very serious, specific proposal made to the russians to try to get both of them out together. and it just didn t land anywhere. didn t go anywhere with the russians. and then, as we progressed through the summer and into the fall, again, the conversations ongoing with the russians, it was clear, martha, that they were treating paul very separately, very distinctly because of the sham espionage charges they leveled against him and it came to an end with the bout for griner deal. meanwhile, we are learning more about brittney griner s flight back home. last week, one of the diplomats who led the prisoner exchange
snow in northern california heads east, the central part of the u.s. and the south are facing a multi day severe threat. congress is facing a looming government shutdown deadline as lawmakers try to seal a deal on a spending plan by friday. republicans and democrats are still clashing over the spending priorities and what those numbers are going to look like including on social programs and the need to raise the government s borrowing limit next year. president biden and president zelenskyy spoke yesterday on the phone. that conversation coming as biden, the other g7 leaders and zelenskyy will have a lirtal meeting this morning as the recent round of russian air strikes have damaged critical infrastructure in ukraine leaving many without power and heat as winter is setting in. this morning brittney griner is at a military facility in texas after ten months of russian imprisonment. we have learned the basketball star will spend some time there before she returns home. her agent to
0 assets have been seized, she undid a pink untitled to $100 a year. that was it? that was it. does she worry still? perhaps. but he has declined all interview requests, including ours. i know that when i tried to contact her, she did not want to speak because she was still frightened. as for the delhi, it went to his brother, but last we checked, they had yet to perfect the recipe for the creamiest chocolate cake around, that cake to die for, that killer cake. that is all for this edition of dateline, i m craig melvin. thank you for watching. thank you for watching this sunday, leaving the party. arizona senator kyrsten sinema says she is leaving the democratic party and registering as an independent i am willing to work with anyone to get things done. her decision complicates democrats plans for the future and their hopes of holding control in 2024. my stand today is about joining the many americans who don t believe that any political party fits them perfectly.