Return to Transcripts main page

Quest Means Business

Historic Prisoner Swap Between The West And Russia; Biden Praises Germany For Role In Freeing Prisoners; Hezbollah Chief: Israel Crossed Red Lines; Kamala Harris Speaks After Prisoner Swap; Simone Biles Wins All- Around Gold In Women's Gymnastics; Tech Giants Report Mixed Results. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired August 01, 2024 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[16:00:26]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: The gavel is being -- have been struck. The market has closed. We are well off the lows of the day. The Dow

Jones having down, was off over 700 points at one point. Now, it has rallied back. We will get to the reasons why, all to do with interest rates

and whether the Fed has left it too long.

But the breaking news to bring you at this hour: President Putin, moments ago, greeting Russian prisoners that have been released as a result of an

historic prisoner swap with Germany, Slovenia, and the United States. It is the biggest prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War. President Putin

there on the tarmac in Moscow.

On the other side, the Americans, Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan among 24 detainees freed, a massive feat of diplomacy involving at least seven

nations and years of negotiations.

Live from New York on Thursday, it is August the first, I'm Richard Quest. I mean business.

Good evening.

The nightmare is over for those wrongfully in imprisoned in and by Russia, Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan are amongst the three US citizens who have

been freed in a massive prisoner swap with Moscow. It is the biggest exchange between Russia and the West since the Cold War.

According to state media in Russia, which has released video of them heading to Turkey. These are the pictures, there is Whelan, heading to the

plane that was going to take them to Turkey, to Istanbul for the exchange.

In all, seven countries were involved, including the United States and Russia, obviously, but included prisoners from Germany. President Biden

says the deal proves why alliances are so important.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The deal that made this possible was a feat of diplomacy and friendship -- friendship.

Multiple countries helped get this done. They joined a difficult, complex negotiation at my request. For anyone who questions whether allies matter,

they do. They matter.

Today is a powerful example of why it is vital that friends in this world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Now, the details of course, 24 detainees in total were released in the deal. There were eight Russian citizens serving time overseas that were

freed. Most of them were criminal for cybercrimes, spying and fraud. You see the names there, however, Vadim Krasikov is a former FSB Secret Service

colonel or Secret Security colonel who had been serving a life sentence for murder in Germany.

In a few hours, moments ago, in the last hour, we saw Vladimir Putin, there he is, greeting those prisoners in Moscow, getting off the plane and being

embraced by the Russian president, particularly his former bodyguard, who is believed to be one of the main reasons that this deal was put forward by

President Putin, who went ahead with it.

On the other side for the West, Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan are the three US citizens released by Russia. A permanent US resident, Vladimir

Kara-Murza was also freed. Multiple German citizens are going home as part of the deal and Russia agreed to release several of its own dissidents.

By the way, those German -- those freed, they will be arriving shortly in Germany.

Matthew Chance has spent years reporting from Russia. He was in the courtroom during the appeal last year for Evan Gershkovich. Matthew is with

me now from London.

So I guess, I mean, it is obviously extraordinary that this was put together and kept relatively quiet. Why now do you think?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's a good question, and I guess, the short answer is that now is when this deal,

which was very complex and took months, if not years to negotiate came together.

I expect there is a political timing as well. We've got US elections on the horizon as you well know. There is going to be a change of US president,

whoever wins and I don't think either the White House or the Kremlin wanted to take the risk of those delicate negotiations sort of falling apart the

last minute under any president.

[16:05:10]

And so, they took the opportunity, did the deal, and got their citizens back home.

QUEST: Now, there is -- somebody is sort of saying that the real one in all of this was this Vadim Krasikov, 58-year-olds. He was supposed to be one of

the top ones that they really wanted back.

CHANCE: Yes, I mean, look, Vadim Krasikov is an FSB colonel, the successor organization to the KGB. He is also basically a hitman.

He carried out the killing in Berlin in a park in the German capital. He killed a Chechen dissident and he has been called a patriot by Vladimir

Putin.

But of course, the Germans were very reluctant to free someone who in their country had been convicted of murder. There was political pressure on them

domestically not to exchange him at the behest of the Americans.

And so, a deal had to be done. The right formula, the right mix of people had to be brought together to allow the Germans and to encourage the

Russians -- sorry, encourage the Germans to play ball as it were and hand him over.

QUEST: So where does this leave relations? I read one commentator who said, look, actually it doesn't improve relations one jot, because there were

reasons that both sides, as you just said, Matthew, in your first answer, there were reasons that both sides wanted this done, but it doesn't

necessarily signify a thawing.

CHANCE: No, it would be nice to think that it does signify a thawing, wouldn't it and that this prisoner swap may result in negotiations on other

issues as well, like an end to the war in Ukraine, for example. But the chances are, I mean, I think that my view is that this is a vindication of

Vladimir Putin's strategy of taking bargaining chips, innocent people, accusing them of serious crimes, using them as leverage to get concessions

from the United States and others in the West.

We may well see more of this kind of action in Russia in the future. Who knows?

QUEST: Matthew Chance, I am grateful to you, sir. Thank you.

Now, President Biden said he owes a great sense of gratitude to the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in particular. The US president said Germany was

initially reluctant to agree to the deal. As Matthew said, Germany had to release the convicted hitman and murderer, Vadim Krasikov. Well, Chancellor

Scholz told President Biden for you, I will do this.

Kayla Tausche is at the White House.

I mean, that is a very strong message if you, will of comity and alliance, "For you, I will do this," something that Germans did not really want to

do.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It is something that the Germans were incredibly reluctant to do as you mentioned Richard and

President Biden acknowledged when I asked him today after his remarks flanked by those two families, those three families, I asked him whether

Germany asked for anything in exchange for its participation.

It did get 13 of his own prisoners back from Russia, but I asked if Scholz asked him for anything, in particular and he said simply nothing.

During his prepared remarks, he said in no uncertain terms that the release of these prisoners is a powerful example of why it is so vital to have

friends in this world.

It was a veiled overture to former President Donald Trump, who has said, not only that, he would be able to free Evan Gershkovich, but also that you

don't necessarily need those allies and that America needs to invest in itself first -- Richard.

QUEST: Now, the interesting thing, so, let's do a bit of politics here if we may.

Kayla, you have JD Vance saying that all this happened because the Russians are frightened or feared Donald Trump, who would be back in the White

House. You've got Joe Biden basically saying only Donald Trump wasn't able to do it and you're going to have Harris on the tarmac when the plane gets

back.

I mean, this reeks of politics as well as being a great day in a sense for those involved.

TAUSCHE: And the White House trolling Vance slightly when asked about those comments, Richard.

Jake Sullivan, the National Security adviser, said simply, I don't follow.

And the White House has sought to be very clear about a role that they see Vice President Harris having played in securing this deal, pointing out

that she did have two specific bilateral engagements when she was traveling to Munich earlier this year for the Munich security conference, which she

has participated in for each of the last three years.

But this year of particular consequence, as she discussed this prisoner swap with Chancellor Scholz directly when she was with him in Munich and

engaging with the leadership of Slovenia and encouraged them to release a Russian prisoner as part of this deal.

[16:10:12]

So the desire to highlight the role of Vice President Harris, even while also giving credit to President Biden for clinching in this deal, I think

is notable and having her on that tarmac, of course, will be a powerful image in and of itself as she tries to show the world that she can take the

United States into the future as the next generation of leaders for the Democratic Party.

QUEST: You couldn't make it up, Kayla, you could not make it up, a prisoner swap mirage at the moment of such political tensions.

Thank you -- between the conventions -- thank you very much. I am grateful to you.

Now, if you want to understand the breadth of the machinations on the diplomatic front, so let's at the planes involved.

Now, first of all, you had planes taking off from Germany, Slovenia, Oslo Washington, Warsaw, and Moscow amongst many other places. And here you see

those planes on the ground, on the tarmac in Istanbul.

Youve got the plane from Russia on the far left; Poland, Germany, Oslo, Slovenia, Dulles, and then a second one that's not there.

A staggering amount of diplomatic -- my guess is, even where they all parked had to be discussed and negotiated, the complex negotiations.

John Tefft is a former US Ambassador to Russia and Ukraine.

How difficult to all these deals?

JOHN TEFFT, FORMER US AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA AND UKRAINE: I think these are extraordinarily difficult, Richard, and thanks for having me on today.

I think this particular deal has been one of the most complex, not just because of all of the numbers, but I think because of the way the thing was

negotiated.

We knew back in, I think in march, if I remember right, that there was stories coming out that showed that Alexey Navalny was apparently one of

the people being discussed as part of a trade. Sadly, he died then in the prison camp up in the Arctic and that fell apart, but it was clear and

Putin has said as much at the time that all of this really depended on getting Krasikov, the assassin, the KGB assassin, the FSB assassin out of

Berlin and the issue at least, in my mind, has always been working this out to get the Germans to agree to include him and part of the deal today,

obviously, they got a lot of other German citizens as well as a very prominent dissident in Ilya Yashin out of Russia.

QUEST: So give me a flavor of how this happens. I mean, you know, as an ambassador or as a -- you start to hear about the talks. Who does the

talks? How do they interlock between each other? What do they actually do?

TEFFT: Well, I think each case of this is probably done differently or individually. I know we have a special negotiator to deal with these people

who had been improperly imprisoned. But I know that my colleagues in the foreign service, as well as others in the US government and the

intelligence community and elsewhere working enormously long hours on these issues.

And as we praise the president and the vice president and other senior officials here, I think it is important that the American people know that

these things don't just happen hours and hours. Frustration and patience are required to get this done and there is a lot of loyal civil servants

out there who -- and foreign service officers who have been a part of this.

QUEST: It is also part of a long history, isn't it, of cold walls?

TEFFT: Definitely.

QUEST: I mean, in the old days -- not old days -- you and I remember, people cross bridges between the East and the West in Berlin, and East and

West Germany and that sort of thing, but it is still extraordinary that these things happen and unrelated to that, at the end of the day, we are

talking here about a group of people from Russia who we say as were political prisoners or such, or at least politically motivated, and group

of people who were convicted by juries in western courts.

TEFFT: That's right. You know, you mentioned, you and I both can remember going back to the 80s to the Reagan administration when the Reagan

administration was able to get that Natan Sharansky out of the prison camps, out of the gulag and the trade was for intelligence officers back

then.

In many ways, this is not new, although when you have that 24 people in one big trade, it has obviously reached the level now that we haven't seen

before.

The other part of course is that some of these people, you have to conclude that were arrested by the Russians simply to become bargaining chips, to

have some collateral sort of leverage to be able to negotiate to get these intelligence officers.

QUEST: Is it a -- I just wanted to hit you on that because is it as naked as that, that you know, that they literally round them up because they

believe there is a bargain to be done in the future and actually there is no real concrete evidence versus on the other side, on the West and

admittedly, I am putting a Western point of view that there is a bucket load, a boatload of evidence that goes before prosecutors go before juries

or are we just as bad?

[16:15:25]

TEFFT: No, we are not just as bad.

The people that we have arrested are almost all as I think you've mentioned earlier, criminals who are caught doing espionage.

I remember when I was ambassador in Moscow back in 2014 to 2017, the Russians raised at every single meeting the Secretary of State John Kerry

had with Foreign Minister Lavrov, they raised Viktor Boot, the famous arms dealer who was traded for Brittney Griner.

There was another fellow who was later traded who was -- who flew airplanes with drugs in West Africa. I can't remember his name off the top of my

head, but it was clear that the policy goes way back to then.

At the time, there was great resistance in our law enforcement and judicial community to releasing these guys who had been imprisoned, and I understood

that, but at the same time, the only way you're going to get people like Brittney Griner or the people who were released today out of the system,

the Russian system, is to go ahead and do it.

This seems to me, it always seemed to me as one of those really hard parts of foreign policy. There is no easy answers. There is no black and white.

There is --

QUEST: Moral hazard.

TEFFT: -- everything --

QUEST: John, moral hazard, that's the argument you're looking for, isn't it?

TEFFT: That's it.

QUEST: That's the one that we always go back to, moral hazard, that this merely perpetuates.

TEFFT: Well, but what are we going to do? I don't know of any political leader who would just say, I am sorry, we just have to leave these people

in jail there.

I think in the world we live in today, Richard, it would be extremely hard politically to do something like that.

QUEST: Yes, yes. I am grateful to you, sir. Strong discussion and strong debate. Thank you, sir. Very grateful.

TEFFT: Okay.

QUEST: The ambassador.

TEFFT: Bye-bye.

QUEST: Now, as you and I continue tonight, the leader of Hezbollah says multiple groups could be involved in retaliation against Israel after

militants, multiple militants have been killed in Beirut in Tehran. We will have the details for you.

It's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:20:10]

QUEST: The leader of Hezbollah says Israel has crossed red lines by killing one of its top commanders, Fouad Shukur, which took place in Beirut. It

follows a series of assassinations that have roiled the region.

So Hassan Nasrallah says, a response is inevitable and it will not be symbolic. He is also suggesting it could be coordinated with other groups

in the region, like Yemen's Houthis and Hamas.

And we are also learning new details about the killing of Hamas' political leader that took place in Tehran, you'll remember. A source tells us that

an explosive device was planted months ago in a guest house that he was known to use.

On that assassination, Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement. Of course, Ayatollah Khamenei has also threatened retaliation

for what he describes as the killing of a guest who was a guest in our city.

Clarissa Ward is in Tel Aviv.

As we would, you know, Clarissa, as we were writing this introduction and going through the facts, it just became clear A: How many people Israel has

said to have assassinated in one shape or form, over the last year, top leaders, and B: How perilously dangerous this is now getting.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly on the former front, there have been a number of assassinations in Iran, on

Iranian soil that have been attributed to Israel without them taking credit for it, but none perhaps with quite the extraordinary revelation that we've

heard today as you mentioned, that that explosive device was planted months ago in this room, in this guest house run by the IRGC.

This this obviously deeply embarrassing for the Iranians, raises real questions about infiltrators, about operational security and also this

second assassination of this leading Hezbollah commander that Nasrallah was responding to in his speech after Fouad Shukur's funeral earlier today,

again, raising real questions.

This was somebody who lived in the shadows, not like Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader, Shukur lived in the shadows. How on earth were the Israelis

able to locate him? What does that say again about potential leaks coming from within Hezbollah.

So no surprise that you're seeing a very fiery tone from Nasrallah, essentially vowing that there will be some kind of a response. Although I

will say, heightened alert here, yes, but still life going on more or less as usual in Israel -- Richard.

QUEST: Now, but this idea of a coordinated response, whether it be Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran -- everybody all piling on -- could Israel have, I

mean, forgive the crudity of the analogy, could it have bitten off more than it could chew?

WARD: Well, that would be the argument that many analysts and many in the region would say that Israel is allowing itself to be worn down by trying

to get too involved in too many fights on too many fronts at the same time, all the while continuing with its purported goal of trying to completely

dismantle Hamas within Gaza.

Another way of looking get it, Richard possibly is that Israel is trying to deflect attention away from Gaza, to change the conversation, and to try to

create hit the impression that this is Israel and its allies potentially in the form of the US battling against this broader axis of resistance.

Now, I think it is pretty clear that the US really does not want to be drawn in to a broader conflict, but unless cooler heads prevail, there is a

very real danger that we could be getting to that point.

I will say that while Nasrallah's speech was fiery today, he also left himself quite a lot of wiggle room, particularly with regards to the timing

of this expected retaliation, not necessarily indicating that it would be imminent.

QUEST: Clarissa, I am grateful in Tel Aviv. It is late at night. Thank you.

QUEST: Wall Street sell off today. I do need to bring this to your attention before we take a short break. The Dow narrowly avoided its worst

day of the year, still it was off nearly 500 points and the losses are steeper on the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ, which really bore the brunt.

The reason of course, the investors over worried the Fed has waited too long to cut interest rates. And as a result of that, that the economy will

slow further and farther and faster than they had ever intended.

Here is the front page of today's "Wall Street Journal," you can see Evan Gershkovich is free. We spoke to "The Journal's" assistant editor about

this release coming up next.

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:28:49]

QUEST: Hello, I am Richard Quest. Together, we will have a lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I will show you again some more details about the Dow has

given up all the gains of the week and we will explain why and the scenes on the Turkish tarmac today echoing famous prisoner swaps from the 20th

Century. We will explore the Cold War history, only after I've updated you with the news, well, you know what comes next, because this is CNN, and on

this network, the news always comes first.

Simone Biles does it again, the most decorated American gymnast has just been a bit more decorated and won the women's individual all-around

gymnastics final at the Paris Olympics. It is a second gold in that event. The first was in 2016 in Rio.

A British teenager charged with carrying out a deadly stabbing attack in Southport in England has made his first court appearance on Thursday. We

are going to immediately just break away from that, take you to Houston, here is the vice president.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- and green card holder, Vladimir who were unjustly held in Russia will soon be reunited

with their loved ones and their families have shown incredible courage in the face of atrocious and devastating circumstances. Russian authorities

arrested, convicted them, sham trials, and sentenced them to long prison terms. This has been an appalling perversion of justice.

[16:30:22]

Over many years, President Biden and I and our team have engaged in complex diplomatic negotiations to bring these wrongfully detained Americans home.

We never stopped fighting for their release. And today, in spite of all of their suffering, it gives me great comfort to know that their horrible

ordeal is finally over.

This exchange also includes the release of Russian political prisoners, including those who worked with Alexei Navalny. Earlier today, I spoke with

the Alexei's widow, Yulia, to discuss the significance of their release, and as I told her this being an additional time for previous conversations

with her, the United States stands with all of those who are fighting for freedom in Russia.

As we celebrate today's news, we must also keep front of mind that there are other Americans that are unjustly being held in places around the world

and we will never stop fighting for their release. As vice president it has been my honor to work alongside our president, Joe Biden, to bring home

more than 70 Americans in the last three and a half years.

And we will never waiver in our commitment to bring home every American who has been wrongfully detained or held hostage. That is my solemn commitment

to my fellow American which I will always honor.

Thank you, all.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Madame Vice President, will you be meeting Evan and Paul when they return?

QUEST: The vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris, of course presidential candidates and presumptive nominee.

Jim is with me, Jim Sciutto, listening there. I think maybe either the engines were out or the wrong microphone was there, but we were able to

hear sufficiently.

Let's talk, first of all, with those who have been released and she's on her way back up to JBA, where she'll meet them.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF SECURITY ANALYST: It's going to be a big moment to see them land back on American soil after an ordeal that extended months,

years in the case of Paul Whelan here, an ordeal for those Americans held there, but also for their families. I've been in touch with the families

for some time, spoken with them on the air, off the air. And it is the worst place to be, right, in that you don't know when you're getting out.

It's not like you're serving a set term and it's bad enough already to be in a Russian prison wrongly detained, often on manufactured charges, it is

particularly bad not to know when you're going to be released, but also what hangs over this, Richard, throughout is a fear that they might not

survive prison, right? And that is not an undue fear given that Alexei Navalny did not survive a Russian penal colony.

He died there, that and as we saw that picture there, Vladimir Kara-Murza, he was twice poisoned by Russia and his wife Evgenia, who I spoke to last

month, was concerned that he might not survived prison. So the relief here is enormous. A sense of freedom, but also of potentially lives saved.

QUEST: Now, on those -- the vice president mentioned those that have not been --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

QUEST: That are still there. Marc Fogel is one of them at the moment, and he is detained at the moment on various charges. His family has basically

come out today and expressed -- forgive me, I just looked down at my phone. Do forgive me. He says they're completely heartbroken and outraged he was

not included for the second time in three, as I assume they're talking about the Griner release.

The Fogel family has seen the same administration refuse to designate markers wrongfully detained under the lemmings. Well, they've done that

today.

SCIUTTO: They have.

QUEST: The U.S. secretary of state now has designated him as wrongly detained, which means a diplomatic process can begin.

SCIUTTO: That's right.

QUEST: But it does show this isn't -- sorry, go ahead, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, listen. If you or I were in the same position, I can imagine us saying the very same thing, right? What are you going to do when your

loved one is left behind? And we should be frank, the Whelan family said much the same in previous deals when you go back, for instance, to the

Griner release, or Trevor Reed, that he was not freed during those agreements either.

The fact is none of these deals are ever perfect. I am certain the administration, and Jake Sullivan said as much from the podium, wanted to

get everyone out at once.

[16:35:02]

It's not always possible, right? We don't know what the price was from the Russian side. And frankly, we don't know if Russia put Marc Fogel's name on

the table. We just don't know. It is natural frustration. But there is a positive move there that you noted, Richard, which is that the U.S. is now

designating Vogel as wrongfully detained.

QUEST: Right.

SCIUTTO: Which is -- which they might very well have believed prior to that designation, but it has diplomatic significance because it unleashes other

measures that you will take to attempt to gain his release.

QUEST: Jim, thank you. Good to have you on. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Thank you.

QUEST: Now, members of the "Wall Street Journal" rejoiced obviously and clearly as Evan Gershkovich was released from Russian custody.

OK, CNN, we spoke to the paper's assistant editor about their reaction just a short while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL BECKETT, ASSISTANT EDITOR, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: I have been in touch with his sister, Danielle. She just said by texts that they were just

on the moon. They're waiting for Evan to land at Andrews Air Force Base in a few hours and over here at "The Journal" we're just joy, relief, smiles

and tears all at the same time, and not just us, you know. Unbelievable to think what is going through their minds and the minds of the other families

that are being reunited today.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: I -- to be candid, I don't think I can even get my head around what everyone must be feeling at

this moment in time. The complicated nature of this deal, I think there were so many kind of fits and starts, OK, maybe there's progress, maybe

everything is fallen apart over the course of the last year. When did you know that this was going to get done?

BECKETT: When he put his feet on the tarmac in Ankara. You know, we held off publishing anything until we knew that Evan was out of Russian custody

and we determined that moment to be when he was off that plane, so anything could have gone wrong up to that moment.

I'd say last couple of weeks we've been getting more positive indications, but we just had to have to faith. We've been, you know, we'd seen deals

scrapped in the past. We've seen proposed deals fall part. So just huge relief when this is the one that got done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: All right. Now, the prisoner exchange that we've seen today, it's sort of fact and fiction, of course, coming together and reminiscent of the

Cold War's dramatic moments. 1962 the trade between KGB and the CIA, for example, the movie "Bridge of Spies."

Passing on bridges and then greeting. But over the years politicians in both parties have been involved in these deals. The Iranian hostage crisis

ended in 1981 with the return of more than 50 Americans. In 2014, the trade of Taliban captives for the U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. Remember that

one? Again, it was a classic prisoner exchange, but it took place in front of the cameras.

And this just two years ago, the basketball player Brittney Griner for a major Russian arms dealer, and they crossed on the tarmac, one heading to

one aircraft, the other heading -- they don't actually shake hands themselves, but there is an absolute exchange that takes place.

Beth Sanner is with me, a national security analyst.

And, you know, look, delighted for the events of today. Absolutely delighted. But it is -- it is facts and fiction coming together in such a

fashion.

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: As a former intel person, you know, this is the best of the best for any intelligence officer if you're

lucky enough to have been involved in freeing American hostages. What a good feeling. But, you know, usually it takes a long, long time, a hard

slog, and this one took two years to negotiate and was involved not just the CIA, but also Roger Carson and his team at State Department and many,

many others.

QUEST: Can I just say? You just pause us in. We've got a full statement now from the Gershkovich family who've waited 491 days for Evan's release. It's

hard to describe. They can't wait to give him a big hug. Excuse me. We are grateful to President Biden, Secretary Blinken, Sullivan, Chancellor

Scholz, and every U.S. and foreign government official. Our families felt so much love and support.

[16:40:02]

We especially thank Evan's colleagues that have taken care of Evan and our entire family since the beginning.

You say these negotiations are so difficult. What is the -- what is the difficulty? Because at some point they must talk to each other, whether

it's through Switzerland or whatever. At some point, Russia, U.S., and everything, they must all talk to each other and say, well, we want this,

you give us that.

SANNER: Exactly. And I think that, you know, CIA Director Bill Burns is such a perfect person to be at the head of CIA now to be conducting such

negotiations. And he was personally involved in talking with, you know, many of the Russians that he knew when he was ambassador there. And he

speaks their language. And so there were intense negotiations here where they laid things on the table and, as I said, you know, over the two years

there's been a lot of ups and downs.

You know, this got close right before Alexei Navalny was, you know, killed, died in prison and, you know, so, and then it fell apart for a while. So

what makes this one really complex I think and different is the number of countries involved. You know, seven, all told, countries involved. All of

that (INAUDIBLE) trying to figure out what does each country want, and then the fact that also political prisoners were involved, not just spies and

detainees.

QUEST: So from Putin's point of view, what does he get from this? All right, so he gets rid of troublesome prisoners that the West can no longer

hit him over the head with, you know, your political, his own political prisoners who are dissidents. He gets rid of Whelan and thorns in the side.

He gets back a murderer and various other thugs and crooks. What does he get?

SANNER: Well, he gets the number one person that he wanted, which was an FSB colonel. When you look at this group of people that he got, these are

not, you know, dissidents or, you know, political people or anything like that. These people are intelligence officers or assets. They are people who

worked for the Russian intelligence service and security services in one way shape or form.

He gets that back and he tells those people I'm with you and I will have your back and in exchange, he's expecting those people to have his. And I

wouldn't underestimate this point that you were making before about these dissidents being kind of really sources of inspiration inside of Russia for

people who oppose Putin. Now those people are overseas. They just don't have that kind of rallying effect anymore.

And so I think it's a twofer for him and the timing was right. He got back the guy from Germany, that FSB colonel, that he wanted.

QUEST: From the -- let's just talk about the German, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Olaf Scholz says to Biden, for you I will do this. Clear reference

to something he did not want to do. He had to release somebody who had been convicted in the German judicial system, which I think we can all agree is

free and fair, a murderer who had been properly convicted. But Scholz obviously had to sign the necessary papers to let him go.

SANNER: Exactly. And I think that Scholz got some sweeteners here, too. It wasn't just a freebie that a favor for Biden. I think that President Biden

was the only person who probably could hope for Olaf Scholz but the Germans got a guy who was just convicted and sentenced to death in Belarus. And the

other thing they got reportedly is that they were the ones who insisted on the political prisoners being released.

QUEST: Right.

SANNER: This allows him to convey to the German people yes, I released this convicted murderer, but I also did this as a moral thing. You know, this

values centered thing by getting these political prisoners free.

QUEST: Beth, there's a million and one questions that I've got for you, but they'll have to wait for another occasion. I'm grateful for your help

tonight. Thank you.

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Simone Biles made Olympic history today. The stunning win of gold in the women's gymnastics, individual all-around competition.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:47:03]

QUEST: Now I'm told that there's -- there it is. Yes. You saw there. Look at that, is that light or is that lightning? You couldn't have lightning

like that, could you? It's a lot of lightning if there is. I don't know. Maybe somebody will look and tell me if the weather forecasters thought

thunderstorms in Paris now. But it certainly La Tour Eiffel, as you can see, we are in Paris and Simone Biles was already the most decorated

American gymnast ever.

She's not slowing down, she's now won the all all-around gold at the Paris Olympics. It's her ninth medal, her second time winning gold in this event.

She came back to take the top spot after briefly falling to third for a shaky uneven bars routine.

Coy wire in Paris.

Let's just clarify. Is it lightning or is it just the lights?

COY WIRE, CNN WORLD SPORT: I don't know if this is Zeus, the god of lightning, or if this Simone Biles lighting up the Parisian skies. She's

just incredible, Richard. The redemption tour, what she calls it, is rolling on. She captured that historic gold in the all-around competition.

The sixth gold of her career, more than any American gymnast ever. You can hang this one in the Louvre, Richard.

Simone regaining, as you mentioned, that all-around title. She won in Rio in 2016. So that means she did something that no one else has ever done.

She's the first woman to win an individual Olympic gymnastics event twice in nonconsecutive games. She's 27 years old. This was the first ever

Olympic final also where there were two former all-around champs battling it out along with her teammate, Suni Lee.

Suni took the bronze. It was Rebecca Andrade of Brazil taking this silver. And I have to comment, Richard, Andrade, she was clapping and cheering on

Biles while she was competing. Incredible sportsmanship. But afterwards there was a really cool moment, Richard. Simone started rocking this big

diamond encrusted chain of a goat, something like you would wear, right, Patrick, on a Friday night, right, Richard, on a Friday night.

She has five moves named after her because nobody else will do them. The greatest of all time. And she has the chain to prove it. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIMONE BILES, MOST DECORATED AMERICAN GYMNAST: My goat necklace is just kind of an ode because the people love it and then some people hate it. So

it's like the best of both worlds, and I was like, OK, if it goes well, we'll wear the goat necklace. I know people will go crazy over it, but at

the end of the day it is crazy that I am in the conversation of greatest of all athletes because I just still think I'm Simone Biles from Spring,

Texas, that loves to flip.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Or Zeus-mone Biles, Richard. Here in Paris alone now has two gold medals won but she's still not done. She can win three more in the vault,

beam, and floor finals, which are still to come. We have the uneven bars final as well. I was just missed out on qualifying for that, but yes, it's

real clearly coming down now. Glad I have a little bit of roof over this. They want to mess up my hair, but it is an awesome scene here in Paris with

some incredible sporting excellence on display.

[16:50:05]

QUEST: I'll pay good money to see rain falling off that hair.

Listen, do we know if before the end of the game, see if can find a cheap, tacky goat knockoff.

WIRE: Oh, you got it. You got it. And it will be all you. Your promise you'll wear it on the show, though?

QUEST: It's a promise, with a baguette and a bad egg.

WIRE: There you go.

QUEST: (Speaking in foreign language)

WIRE: Thank you.

QUEST: Coy. Do you think he's going to find it?

In a moment, market sold off and two giants have just reported. I'll have that for you. What a horrible day on the market.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Before I love you and leave you tonight, U.S. markets, I do need to show you where we've ended today. The Dow closed off nearly 500 points

down. The Nasdaq fared even worse, down more than 2 percent. Investors are nervous that the Fed is waiting too long to cut rates. We'll get U.S. job

data tomorrow.

Two to ring you in particular, tech giants. We have Amazon which missed on revenue and its current quarter sales forecast was just disappointing. The

stocks off 4 percent. Meanwhile, Intel shares 13 percent, trends have proven more challenging than expected. And it's reducing its headcount by

15 percent. Apple, on the other hand, beat on sales and on profits.

Clare Duffy is with me.

Very difficult to make sense of, you know, you've got this doing -- I mean, there doesn't seem to be a common -- a commonality other than the rotation

out of tech into value.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes. Richard, I think that's part of it. I think the other thing that we're seeing with this tech earnings season

tonight and the last few days is I think we're on the downhill slide of this AI hype cycle where expectations were just a bit too high coming into

this tech earnings season. And tech companies and investors are having to grapple with the fact that the tens of billions of dollars that these

companies are pouring into AI infrastructure isn't going to show up in terms of revenue gains for a number of years.

You have somebody like Amazon who's investing heavily in this area and get, as you said, revenue missed. It's got disappointing expectations for

current quarter sales and operating income. And its core business, the North America retail business is slipping because of discounted retailers

like Temu and Shein.

QUEST: Right.

DUFFY: You have Intel that's investing heavily in AI, and yet because of that it's weighing on its margins and it's having to cut staff.

[16:55:00]

Apple I think is slightly different picture, but Apple also announced a quarterly dividend this quarter, which is one of the things these companies

do when they want to keep investors happy in a challenging environment.

QUEST: Right.

DUFFY: So I think these companies are starting to face tougher questions about these major AI investments.

QUEST: Yes, but I take your point, but even if we start getting cuts in interest rates next week or, sorry, next month, in September, nobody is

really questioning that AI is the future and is going to be serious. I mean, we're talking about when and how much, aren't we?

DUFFY: I think yes, we're talking about when and how much, but we're starting to look at much longer timelines, timelines like 10 or 15 years

before we might start to see some of the return on investment here. And you have had some analysts asking questions about whether we will actually see

significant revenue gains rather than just sort of cutting expenses thanks to AI.

QUEST: I'm grateful. Thank you very much. Clare Duffy joining me in New York.

We'll take a "Profitable Moment" after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Tonight's profitable moment, we've tried to bring to you tonight the difficulty of prisoner exchanges, but let's be clear on one point. There is

no moral equivalency between those that have been released by, if you will, the West, Germany, Poland, Slovenia and the U.S., and those released by

Russia.

Those from Russia were either trumped up charges or draconian sentences based on little evidence in courts of law where there was absolutely no

rule of law on trumped up charges very often in relating to drugs that have been planted. Those convicted in the West have been through the proper rule

of law, courts, prosecutions, juries, and sentencing. All fully, of course, in the public glare.

Now, I'm not saying that just because obviously I'm sitting in the west and former lawyer and et cetera, et cetera. No. Because it's the facts. The

reality is there is no equivalency between the two. But you don't make peace with your friends. You make peace with your enemies, and I think

Henry Kissinger famously said.

And so deals have to be done and people have to sit with people they would rather not, and do deals that they would rather not do. And the results of

course is today's tremendous freedom from -- just coming back home. And yes, the folks and the crooks getting back to Russia. That's the way it is.

And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable. I'll be

with you tomorrow.

END