this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening there is significant movement to report tonight in the effort to bring home americans brittney griner and paul whelan, both separately imprisoned in russia. late today, secretary of state antony blinken acknowledging there was a substantial proposal on the table to facilitate their release. griner, the wnba star detained since february, who has pleaded guilty to illegally possessing vape cartridges with cannabis oil whelan, a marine corps veteran, serving a 16-year sentence after being convicted of spying in 2020. both, the u.s. says, are wrongfully imprisoned blinken says the next step, a call with his russian counterpar sergey lavrov. believed to be on the table, a prisoner swap that could prove to be a bitter pill for the biden administration which has been under fire in its efforts to gain freedom for the americans. all this unfolding as griner told her story today inside a russian courtroom. andrea mitchell now
weeks leading up to the january 6th riot to try to undo his election loss to joe biden. specifically the officials say investigators want to know what he was telling his aides an lawyers about the efforts to have trump presidential electors sent in from battle ground states that biden won. and about urging vice president pence to recognize those slates when congress met for the official vote count on january 6th the officials also say investigators back in april obtained telephone records of senior white house aides, including mar meadows, the chief of staff. those developments were first reported by the washington post. the fact that those records were obtained at least three months ago is a sign that investigators are moving more aggressively than was first thought. some democrats have said the justice department is moving too slowly compare to the pace of the house january 6th committee hearings what we know now is they have a broad and far ranging investigation, including of mr
they could be swapped for that comes as griner testifies in her drug trial in moscow describing her arrest and what she says a language interpreter failed to do. also tonight, the fed announcing another aggressive interest rate hike, aimed at taming soaring inflation. what the fed chairman said today about whether the u.s. is already in recession. on the heels of our nbc news exclusive with attorney general merrick garland in which he vowed to pursue anyone responsible for january 6th, we re learning the doj is probing donald trump s actions as part of its criminal investigation. the questions they re asking president biden testing negative for covid, leaving isolation after six days how he s feeling. just in, the major reversal by senator joe manchin, weeks after he appeared to dash the democrats agenda. the breakthrough deal just announced the record breaking heat in the pacific northwest. and remembering one of the most beloved big brothers in sitcom history.
gabe gutierrez has that story. reporter: over the past decade, as mass shootings have been on the rise, leading gun manufacturers raked in more than $1 billion from the sale of ar-15 style rifles according to a house overnight committee investigation out today. gun manufacturers use dangerou marketing tactics to sell assault weapons to the public. reporter: marty daniel is the ceo of daniel defense, the company that makes the weapon the uvalde shooter used. these acts are committed by murderers. the murderers are responsible. reporter: the committee says daniel defense s revenue from ar-15 style rifles tripled from $40 million in 2019 to more than $120 million in 2021. i believe that these murders are loca problems that have to be solved locally. reporter: the earnings for another
does this mean the former president is actually under investigation and how soon might we hear about charges, if any? reporter: no, it doesn t mean that the justice department has opened a criminal investigation of donald trump it does mean, though, they are looking at his actions as part of the efforts to salvage his election, and these officials say any charges are still a long way off. all right, pete thank you. president biden emerged from covid isolation after testing negative less than a week after he was diagnosed, and he s back in the oval office with word of a new deal struck with a key democrat peter alexander is at the white house. peter, the president s doctor says hi symptoms are almost gone. reporter: yeah, lester you re right president biden himself says he s feeling great. he is back to work in person after isolating in the residence and recovering from what his own doctor described as a mild case of covid. the president at 79 was at a greater ris due to his age