being wrongfully detained. over the last nine months, y all have been so privy to one of the darkest moments of my life, and so today, i m just standing here overwhelmed with emotions, but the most important emotion that i have right now is just sincere gratitude for president biden and his entire administration. it s just a happy day for me and my family, so, i m going to smile right now. thank you. well, brittney griner s return is a happy there. there is another side of this story that can t be ignored. american paul whelan is still in russian custody. he has been there for four years now. he s serving a 16-year sentence. he s accused of espionage, something the united states has always denied. this morning and throughout the day, the white house has repeatedly made clear, they have been working to secure whelan s release, but this time, it was not possible. the deal that we got with ms.
the white house this morning. over the last nine months you all have been so privy to one of the darkest moments of my life, and so today i m just standing here overwhelmed with emotions, but the most important emotion that i have right now is just sincere gratitude. while griner s release is no doubt cause for celebration, griner s wife and president biden both acknowledged the other wrongfully detained americans still being held in russia. the administration insists they did everything they could to try and also secure the release of former american marine paul whelan who s currently serving a 16-year prison sentence on trumped-up espionage charges, charges he vehemently denies. cnn spoke exclusively on the phone to whelan from the russian prison about griner s release. i m greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release. i don t understand why i m still sitting here. our coverage starts today with cnn s alex marquardt on
family, and my thoughts and prayers are with them today. they have to have such mixed emotions today. we ll keep negotiating good faith for paul s release that. i say that to the family, i guarantee you. i urge russia to do the same to ensure paul s health and humane treatment are maintained until we can bring him home. the last nine months you all have been so privy to one of the darkest moments of my life. so today i m just standing here overwhelmed we motions, but the most important emotion that i have right now is sincere gratitude for president biden and his entire administration. it s a happy day for me and my family, so i m going to smile right now. thank you. again, we are here at the top of the hour obviously with joyous news, willie. morning joe has also learned this morning that the negotiation was hammered out in
now, a former nasa astronaut, the first woman of color to travel to space on the space shuttle endeavor. she s the author of flying where the wind goes, moments of my life. also joining us leland melvin, former astronaut and author of chasing grace. i m honored to be with you on this historic day. dr. jamison, tell me what s going through your mind right now as you are watching the preparations for this liftoff. i m actually very excited about what s happening. as i look at the preparations, i think about the amount of work that had to be done to actually get there and what people will experience. at the same time, i m thinking about how we digest this as a society. is the digestion, one, do we think of this as access to space over a long period of time? that people, lots of people get
ago. for me to have mr. spock in my studio is one of the great moments of my life. i m flattered. does that strike you as weird after all this time do you have to, every single day of your life, have people asking you if you re logical? yeah. what else do people say? they ask me to do the neck pinch, so they can knock out somebody they don t like. or they get beamed out johnny quinn could have used that, i would have just beamed out of there. only three seasons of the tv show ever made. yeah, 66, 67 and 68.