russian officials arrested here, whether it s some negotiation around ukraine. that s how they see it. the whole trial is a show trial, as you said. the u.s. government takes hostage issues really seriously. there s a special envoy at the white house on hostage affairs. there s a special envoy at the state department. people are working this, but at the end of the day, the decision is really going to be made by vladimir putin. he s going to decide, what do we want to trade her for? what can we get for her? and i think her fate is up in the air until that happens. yeah. meanwhile, the family of paul whelan, another american held in hostage, has expressed concerns about the treatment the biden administration has given to brittney griner. here s some of what whelan s brother said on cnn. listen to this. i don t think there s anything more valuable to the family of wrongful detainees than to hear from the government. and i think that the frustration to the extent it is out there is dir
topping our political radar. a new statement from president biden demanding the release of a u.s. navy veteran taken hostage in afghanistan two years ago. he was kidnapped in january 2020 in kabul and believed to be in the custody of a taliban-linked network. let s get to phil mattingly. this was the first time president biden himself issued a statement on this. a very forceful statement at that. he was referenced or referenced mark fredericks back in june but very forceful statement that i think comes at a critical moment. obviously, today marks the two-year mark since mark fredericks was kidnapped in afghanistan and the u.s. mostly works behind the scenes as it relates to hostage issues. the state department taking the lead with its team and effort. the department of defense weighed in on this. but the president making very clear on a couple of levels how important it is to bring him home saying in part in a statement, threatening the safety of americans or any
jack keane is standing by, but let s start with rich edson. reporter: good afternoon, dana. president trump considered several state department officials for the job of they give us excellent customer otservice, every time.e. national security adviser, among other positions, but he went our 18 year old was in an accident. with his chief hostage usaa took care of her car rental, negotiator. president trump joined by robert and getting her car towed. all i had to take care of was making sure o brien in los angeles just a short while ago. that my daughter was ok. the president said he worked closely with o brien on the if i met another veteran, and they were with another insurance company, i would tell them, hostage issues. you need to join usaa because they have better rates, said that he was highly regarded and better service. by those he spoke with and has we re the gomez family. we re the rivera family. done a great job on hostage we re the kirby family, and we are usaa members for
process at the senior most levels and certainly his relationship with secretary pompeo will help immensely, but i think he has to put the national security council process in order and i think that s going to be a major job on his part. and a big chunk of this is going to be the question what his relationship with the president looks like obviously he s probably been working with the president on these hostage issues, so the president knows him and has gotten comfortable with him hopefully, and that s critical for a president. you want a president and the national security adviser to be on the same page, you want them to be communicating and you want the process and the decisionmaking to flow from that relationship. you mentioned a really important thing here, juan, not just the relationship with president trump that oh brian has presumably developed and will have but very critically the relationship with pompeo i ve talked to sources who say whoever is in this role, mike