now, to a rare glimpse of american paul whelan who was detained at a prison camp inside russia. this comes from state-run russian media. whelan has been held there for more than four years, serve ago 16-year sentence on a charge the u.s. government deems valid. his brother david says this footage is the first time he has seen what paul really looks like going back to june 2020. in the video, whelan speaks briefly to a reporter. you understand when i say that i can t do an interview, which means i can t answer any questions. that s pretty much all he said. cnn s kylie atwood joins me now from the state department. kylie, does the state department have a view as to why russia released this video now, given it was shot three or four months ago? no, and that s the main question here, jim. state department spokesperson saying that they have no comment on the timing of this video.
that they had actually seen what paul whelan looks like. i want to read you a quote from david whelan telling cnn, quote, i wish i could see paul under better circumstances, but it was good to see him again and to see the fight remains in his eyes. it s good to know paul remains unbowed. of course we re taking all of this with a hefty grain of salt, but we should also, you know, try and consider the fact that this happens. this comes out as u.s. officials are clearly still working behind the scenes to try and get paul whelan and of course evan gershkovich, who s wrongfully detained in russia out of prison. both of them wrongfully detained but we haven t seen any substantiative movement on either of those cases in recent months, jim. and as you said, it s a propaganda video, so we have to take with a grain of salt some of the things we see in it. kylie atwood in the state department, thank you so much. now to a cnn exclusive, we are learning that a smuggler with ties to isis helped
for a battle with the white house after president biden revealed the drugs that he wants to negotiate medicare prices on. we re going to have the details just ahead. and the fbi is working to track more than a dozen uzbek nationals who crossed the southern border by an isis-linked smuggler. and russian state media releases rare footage of wrongfully detained paul whee whelan, you re watching cnn newsws central, we ll be right back. whelan, you re watching c news central, we ll be right back. whelan, you re watching c news central, we ll be right back. wheewhelan, you re watchinn news central, we be right back. whelan, you re watchg cnn news central, we ll be right back. woman: why did we choose safelite? we were ading our suv when. crack! safelite came right to us, and we could see exactly when they d arrive with a replacement we could trust.