00:00It's been a very emotional day at the White House, not just for the staff of the White
00:05House, but for the press corps as well, who feel some real affinity with their journalistic
00:11colleague, of course, Evan Gushkovitz, the Wall Street Journal reporter.
00:16But also, it's been a difficult day to escape that kind of—the feeling of joy and happiness
00:23that's there has really overpowered everything.
00:25It's been a very emotional day.
00:27That then borne out again, once again, on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews just before
00:32midnight local time, when that plane finally touched down on American soil, and those three
00:39U.S. nationals who had been freed in the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War, and they
00:46finally got to step on American soil for the first time.
00:49They were greeted by their families, who have spent most of the day with Joe Biden.
00:54They were speaking to them earlier via phone when the exchange took place from the Oval
00:58Office, and then they got to finally meet their family and touch them and hug them and
01:03kiss them for the first time, in some cases, in over four years.
01:08They were also greeted, the three Americans, by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on the tarmac.
01:14There was some really touching moments between those three prisoners, now finally released,
01:20and the president and vice president.
01:23At one point, Paul Whelan went back for another hug with Joe Biden and even asked for his
01:30pin, and Joe Biden took his American flag pin off of his lapel and put it onto Paul
01:36Whelan's jacket.
01:39That was another touching moment.
01:40Biden and Kamala Harris then approaching the cameras, the press that had gathered there
01:46next to the aircraft to ask some touching questions about how this all came about.
01:53And it has been a long day for all of the families involved, including the president,
01:59who has been overseeing this since the early hours of the morning when he gathered the
02:04family to tell him that the approach was final and things were getting underway.
02:10And then, of course, when the actual prisoner swap happened in the morning, he was there
02:14as well before moving on to other matters of state.
02:17So a long day, but an emotional day and ultimately a very rewarding day, I think, for
02:22everybody involved.
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