beloved sister kathy and brother john can attest, she never forgot where she came from or who she was. president obama, president and secretary clinton, vice president al gore, members of congress, cabinet members, past and present. today, we honor a truly proud american who made all of us prouder to be americans. i also want to welcome distinguished guest and dignitaries who have traveled from around the world to celebrate a daughter of the czech republic who knew, who knew what it meant to endure war and flee persecution. with her friend, when he died, i
modems ago, making it clear that while he is very glad that trevor reed is now able to return home to his family, that this was a complicated and not easy decision. he says the negotiations that allowed us to bring trevor home required difficult decision that we do not take lightly. obviously, looming over all of this is the ongoing conflict in ukraine and russia and this war and u.s. officials are now making clear that this comes as, of course, we heard u.s. officials saying recently, they would like to see the russian military weaken. now, u.s. officials are saying that what happened with trevor reed and his release, that is not going to change the u.s. posture when it comes to the war if you crane. john. mj, thanks so much. let s get some important perspective from the former russian chief of operations and cnn correspondent, mathew chance. for your years of experience of covering putin, for this to
this morning, a very key bridge that connects the southwestern part of ukrain to the rest of the country was struck for a second time. it was hit yesterday. it was hit again this morning after repair work had already started there. that is concerning because the ukrainians, it is very close to moldova, the only other route by road for ukrainians to living up is through moldova. the ukrainians are worried what happens it could explain into moldova, though, president zelenskyy says if the russian troops stations there were to attack ukraine, he says his country is ready. john. scott mcclain, grateful for that reporting. let s get perspective from attorney general ben hodges. grateful for your time. before we break down the battlefield, let s hawk u talk about what we heard from president putin. we have these tools. we are not afraid to use them. do you take that bravado or is
reporter: john, in the escalating war of words, comments like that do not do much to help bring down the temperature. putin there didn t specify what kind of tools he is talking about. he also didn t specify what kind of threat he might be retaliating against either. clearly, the russian president does not appreciate foreign weapons are making their way into ukraine. russians said many times, those are legitimate targets once they get on ukrainian soil. they are legitimate in response to sanctions. the eu is calling this decision to shut off the gas pipes to poland and bulgaria blackmail. moscow says, it s just policy. the eu says both countries are being supplied by other countries, poland, in fact, says it won t need russian gas at all by the fall. but let s keep in mind 40% of europe s gas comes from russia. the russians are warning poland, for instance, because the
house now to cnn s mj, what do we know about this swap? reporter: john, this ends a three-year ordeal for trevor reed and his family. this is the former u.s. marine who had been sentenced to nine years in prison in russia for an alleged altercation with russian police. his family has been desperately lobbying anyone that would listen, including the u.s. government and president biden, himself. and they had grown increasingly alarmed in recent months. they said they were concerned about health concerns. he may be recovering from having covid a while back. now while it is a joyful moment, obviously, for trevor reed s family, it did come with a cost. it was a part of a prisoner swap with a man who had been convicted of cocaine trafficking charges the and president biden saying in a statement just