August 4, 2024 • 10 mins
In this podcast-only version of S640, the panel looks at the recent return of American journalists from Russia. Should the US government have been more transparent in the negotiations, including any deals and promises made? If so, why?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And welcome. This is Studio six forty plus. This is
the podcast only version of Studio six forty for this weekend,
and we want to welcome our panel back. We just
finished and wrapped up the radio version of Studio six forty,
talked about some great topics, had some great discussions. Trump
at NABJ, LAPD, body cam and an use of force incident,
(00:22):
and social media's influence on the election. Now, you were
all asked to submit your own topic topics of interest,
maybe in your demographic or what you might be covering
at your own school. And we came up with three ideas,
and of that the one that was selected Biden bringing
back the US prisoners. What did it cost? And whose
(00:42):
topic is that? I'd be mad? Okayor hey, why did
you bring this up?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I brought this up because Trump and Biden, well especially Trump,
he's been taking a lot of jobs at Biden.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Like, Okay, what did it cost?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
What do we have to give them?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
He claims that during his administration he just got everybody
back for free. It didn't cost my penny, didn't cost
the money, didn't it cost the prisoner swap, didn't cost
them anything. So to that end, I felt like the
government should like be a little bit more transparent of
what was taking place, what was done to get those
(01:15):
prisoners back, just so they could debunk people like Trump
and their views or whatever, because he might try to
start up something that's not even true. So it'd be
nice for the general public to know what actually happened
or what occurred to get those prisoners back.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Do we need to know?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
I do think it might be a little important, only
because I'm thinking of the last time we did a
prisoner swap for the whole Britney Grinder situation, where we
got back Britney Grinder WNBA player and we gave them
some guy who's known as the Merchant of Death, which
I think is you know, I don't know if that's
an equivalent exchange, and I don't know if that.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Was a basketball player for a merchant of death. Yeah, yeah,
but don't you think don't you suppose that? And I
just suppose. I'm sure it's true. There's probably a lot
of national security issues at play here that we probably
shouldn't know about.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Sure. Yeah, Apparently from what I found out, this is
like the biggest prisoner swap since the Cold War.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
That's what the News that said, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
So I think in terms of numbers, yeah, yeah, so
I think it's certainly a defining moment for Biden in
his legacy to be able to do that. I mean,
it's been huge about him and being able to do that.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
So do you think that, you know, Jorge you woul
talk about the government should be more transparent. What is
it you want to know? I mean when you say transparent,
what details do you want to know about that prisoner swap?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Number one is who we swapped for, Like we we
know who we traded for with the basketball player and
the merchant or death. We know that, we know his record,
we know who he is as a person. I feel
like that should be number one one on the list.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And why is that important? Just because like these these
these people could.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Become a threat to the United States, like on a
national level, you should be terrorists that were given away
and we have no idea.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Yeah, so what it was. I believe it was a
hit man. I think the Russian prisoner with a life sentence.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
That's what it was. I think he was of concern
to Germany.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Right and the chance or the German chancellor. You know,
he actually he did it specifically for Biden because he
had asked and that's what I found out, you know,
And I remember Biden, I think in one of the
speeches when he was talking about it, you know, it
was kind of talking about the importance of these allies
and the relationships, and that's why he was able to
do that.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
So, Kendy, you brought up Britney Griner. Why do you
think it was so easy to do that prisoner swamp
and not this one? I'm honestly not sure.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
I think that one got kind of like a bit
more public support because of I don't think people knew
Britney Grinder. But I think, just like other like players
that people know a bit more prominently, just kind of
like got the message out there, and I think that helped,
whereas not that many people, I guess I would say
(04:16):
around my age know who Paul I think his name
is Wlan or we Land the journalists site, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
The Wall Street journalists or no. There was four journalists
in this one, yeah, okay, yeah, four journalists in this swap,
which was that's you were talking about the number of
people being the most I can't remember this many journalists
being released. And the last time I remember that was
Lisa Ling and her sister that were released by North
(04:45):
Korea in the swap because they they came, they flew
into Burbank with Bill Clinton, with former President Bill Clinton.
That was the last prisoner swap I remember. But then
you know, I don't know for or Hey, you were
talking about the transparency part. I just I'm trying to
understand what it exactly? What is it exactly you want
(05:05):
to know? I mean you were talking about the identity
of the people were swapping. Is that it is that
all you want to know.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
It's also like if there was any money involved, Like
do taxpayers have to cover that because we paid them
and an undisclosed amount of money.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I can't I don't think I can't even remember that happening,
money changing hands for that. I mean, there's expenses involved.
There are a lot of expenses involved, and we might
we might be doing, you know, other things like lifting
sanctions or other things that that might have a peripheral impact.
But I don't ever remember a time where we've paid
(05:44):
for a prisoner, well, are paid to something?
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Well, according to Trump and what he's claiming, we have,
so releasing this information would debunt that argument.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
You just talk about him lying all the time.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, so, but what I mean is that transparent transparency
would help in this case and in terms of money,
because they'll be able to debunk that people won't.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Fall for that. Well, let me ask you this, then,
what should the price be for an American citizen.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Someone of Obviously I'm not a negotiator, but the best
I can do here is a student journalist is somebody
who's like equal and how do you measure that? So
it's a journalist for something I don't know, a low
level thief, because to me, it doesn't seem fair that
they get like a dangerous like hit man that could
pretty much like attack us or anybody else really, and
(06:35):
we're getting a journalist or especially they.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Could sell like getting a journalist. We you know, we
gave them an assassin, but we got a journalist.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
And the number one thing too is I'm not comfortable
with I don't know if this has happened in the past,
but I definitely think that there shouldn't be they get five,
we get one kind of deal.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I don't feel like that's fair. I don't know what
do you guys think.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
I mean, I think in general, you know, any American
that's innocent. They shouldn't be able to rot in there
for I think that was several years, five six ers
or something that they were the Americans that we go back,
that we're in there, so you know, it's still good
that we got them.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I just kind of think of it when I think
as sports, it's like if both sides are like it
works out for both sides, then it's not like a
good trade. It should be kind of sort of like
unbalanced a little bit in that kind of way, where
like we got four people, they got one, but sometimes
that one is like, yeah, somewhat equal to.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Like those four that we get. I think in this
particular case for journalists, Russia was particularly interested in that
because that's also a strategy you know that, you know,
international relations, sometimes you hold people illegally so that you
can do this very thing. You get somebody back you want,
and so that's that's kind of a tactic that I
(08:04):
know that's been used and employed before. But you know,
the way I look at it, and it's interesting, in
the Chinese government, they will spare no expense to get
a Chinese national back if a Chinese national has been
kidnapped or has been held against their will or something
like that. I know the Chinese government will do everything
(08:26):
in its power to get that person back, no holds barred.
I mean, they'll send in undercover forces or whatever the
case is. They do that, don't even blink an eye.
But I think it's interesting how the United States, how
we look at it. And in my view, every American
is valuable. I don't care if if they're a piece
of crap or whatever the case is, They're valuable and
(08:47):
we should do everything in our power to get it back.
Because we have not only the best military, but we've
got some of the smartest people. We should be able
to get these people back without a doubt. But I
think international relations just it just takes the front burner,
and it really it kind of I can't even imagine
the negotiating that goes on behind the scenes on this thing.
(09:08):
I mean, you think of Baya Pigs. You guys weren't
even around then, but think of the bay of pigs
in Cuba, and in the stuff we had with the
Kennedy administration and all the back channeling, in the back
room dealing and the phone calls and the secret notes
and all that stuff. It's it was real and it happened,
and I just can't imagine what we have to go
through today to get somebody back. So yeah, I think
(09:30):
it's interesting. What other thoughts you got on it.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
It makes me think, you know, kind of a parallel
to what's going on in the Middle East, and I
know they would you know, to try and get the
Israelis back and then they would release like terrorists to
you know, from from Gaza and things like that, and
so yeah, it reminds me of what we were saying
about kind of you know, equalling like the one you
(10:00):
know for foreign stuff. But that's that's a whole other
level too.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
So then let's just wrap this up because I'm going
to ask you one final question and it's it's a
one word answer. Okay, you're ready for this. If you
were the Secretary of State and the Russian government told
you to pick one person and that's the only person
you could get back Britney Griner or the journalist.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Journalists journalist journalists.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
There we go. We'll leave it at that. Good good
talk and things. Again, guys, appreciate it very much. Thanks,
Thanks
And welcome. This is Studio six forty plus. This is
the podcast only version of Studio six forty for this weekend,
and we want to welcome our panel back. We just
finished and wrapped up the radio version of Studio six forty,
talked about some great topics, had some great discussions. Trump
at NABJ, LAPD, body cam and an use of force incident,
(00:22):
and social media's influence on the election. Now, you were
all asked to submit your own topic topics of interest,
maybe in your demographic or what you might be covering
at your own school. And we came up with three ideas,
and of that the one that was selected Biden bringing
back the US prisoners. What did it cost? And whose
(00:42):
topic is that? I'd be mad? Okayor hey, why did
you bring this up?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I brought this up because Trump and Biden, well especially Trump,
he's been taking a lot of jobs at Biden.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Like, Okay, what did it cost?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
What do we have to give them?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
He claims that during his administration he just got everybody
back for free. It didn't cost my penny, didn't cost
the money, didn't it cost the prisoner swap, didn't cost
them anything. So to that end, I felt like the
government should like be a little bit more transparent of
what was taking place, what was done to get those
(01:15):
prisoners back, just so they could debunk people like Trump
and their views or whatever, because he might try to
start up something that's not even true. So it'd be
nice for the general public to know what actually happened
or what occurred to get those prisoners back.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Do we need to know?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
I do think it might be a little important, only
because I'm thinking of the last time we did a
prisoner swap for the whole Britney Grinder situation, where we
got back Britney Grinder WNBA player and we gave them
some guy who's known as the Merchant of Death, which
I think is you know, I don't know if that's
an equivalent exchange, and I don't know if that.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Was a basketball player for a merchant of death. Yeah, yeah,
but don't you think don't you suppose that? And I
just suppose. I'm sure it's true. There's probably a lot
of national security issues at play here that we probably
shouldn't know about.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Sure. Yeah, Apparently from what I found out, this is
like the biggest prisoner swap since the Cold War.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
That's what the News that said, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
So I think in terms of numbers, yeah, yeah, so
I think it's certainly a defining moment for Biden in
his legacy to be able to do that. I mean,
it's been huge about him and being able to do that.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
So do you think that, you know, Jorge you woul
talk about the government should be more transparent. What is
it you want to know? I mean when you say transparent,
what details do you want to know about that prisoner swap?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Number one is who we swapped for, Like we we
know who we traded for with the basketball player and
the merchant or death. We know that, we know his record,
we know who he is as a person. I feel
like that should be number one one on the list.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And why is that important? Just because like these these
these people could.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Become a threat to the United States, like on a
national level, you should be terrorists that were given away
and we have no idea.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Yeah, so what it was. I believe it was a
hit man. I think the Russian prisoner with a life sentence.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
That's what it was. I think he was of concern
to Germany.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Right and the chance or the German chancellor. You know,
he actually he did it specifically for Biden because he
had asked and that's what I found out, you know,
And I remember Biden, I think in one of the
speeches when he was talking about it, you know, it
was kind of talking about the importance of these allies
and the relationships, and that's why he was able to
do that.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
So, Kendy, you brought up Britney Griner. Why do you
think it was so easy to do that prisoner swamp
and not this one? I'm honestly not sure.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
I think that one got kind of like a bit
more public support because of I don't think people knew
Britney Grinder. But I think, just like other like players
that people know a bit more prominently, just kind of
like got the message out there, and I think that helped,
whereas not that many people, I guess I would say
(04:16):
around my age know who Paul I think his name
is Wlan or we Land the journalists site, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
The Wall Street journalists or no. There was four journalists
in this one, yeah, okay, yeah, four journalists in this swap,
which was that's you were talking about the number of
people being the most I can't remember this many journalists
being released. And the last time I remember that was
Lisa Ling and her sister that were released by North
(04:45):
Korea in the swap because they they came, they flew
into Burbank with Bill Clinton, with former President Bill Clinton.
That was the last prisoner swap I remember. But then
you know, I don't know for or Hey, you were
talking about the transparency part. I just I'm trying to
understand what it exactly? What is it exactly you want
(05:05):
to know? I mean you were talking about the identity
of the people were swapping. Is that it is that
all you want to know.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
It's also like if there was any money involved, Like
do taxpayers have to cover that because we paid them
and an undisclosed amount of money.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I can't I don't think I can't even remember that happening,
money changing hands for that. I mean, there's expenses involved.
There are a lot of expenses involved, and we might
we might be doing, you know, other things like lifting
sanctions or other things that that might have a peripheral impact.
But I don't ever remember a time where we've paid
(05:44):
for a prisoner, well, are paid to something?
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Well, according to Trump and what he's claiming, we have,
so releasing this information would debunt that argument.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
You just talk about him lying all the time.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, so, but what I mean is that transparent transparency
would help in this case and in terms of money,
because they'll be able to debunk that people won't.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Fall for that. Well, let me ask you this, then,
what should the price be for an American citizen.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Someone of Obviously I'm not a negotiator, but the best
I can do here is a student journalist is somebody
who's like equal and how do you measure that? So
it's a journalist for something I don't know, a low
level thief, because to me, it doesn't seem fair that
they get like a dangerous like hit man that could
pretty much like attack us or anybody else really, and
(06:35):
we're getting a journalist or especially they.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Could sell like getting a journalist. We you know, we
gave them an assassin, but we got a journalist.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
And the number one thing too is I'm not comfortable
with I don't know if this has happened in the past,
but I definitely think that there shouldn't be they get five,
we get one kind of deal.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I don't feel like that's fair. I don't know what
do you guys think.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
I mean, I think in general, you know, any American
that's innocent. They shouldn't be able to rot in there
for I think that was several years, five six ers
or something that they were the Americans that we go back,
that we're in there, so you know, it's still good
that we got them.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I just kind of think of it when I think
as sports, it's like if both sides are like it
works out for both sides, then it's not like a
good trade. It should be kind of sort of like
unbalanced a little bit in that kind of way, where
like we got four people, they got one, but sometimes
that one is like, yeah, somewhat equal to.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Like those four that we get. I think in this
particular case for journalists, Russia was particularly interested in that
because that's also a strategy you know that, you know,
international relations, sometimes you hold people illegally so that you
can do this very thing. You get somebody back you want,
and so that's that's kind of a tactic that I
(08:04):
know that's been used and employed before. But you know,
the way I look at it, and it's interesting, in
the Chinese government, they will spare no expense to get
a Chinese national back if a Chinese national has been
kidnapped or has been held against their will or something
like that. I know the Chinese government will do everything
(08:26):
in its power to get that person back, no holds barred.
I mean, they'll send in undercover forces or whatever the
case is. They do that, don't even blink an eye.
But I think it's interesting how the United States, how
we look at it. And in my view, every American
is valuable. I don't care if if they're a piece
of crap or whatever the case is, They're valuable and
(08:47):
we should do everything in our power to get it back.
Because we have not only the best military, but we've
got some of the smartest people. We should be able
to get these people back without a doubt. But I
think international relations just it just takes the front burner,
and it really it kind of I can't even imagine
the negotiating that goes on behind the scenes on this thing.
(09:08):
I mean, you think of Baya Pigs. You guys weren't
even around then, but think of the bay of pigs
in Cuba, and in the stuff we had with the
Kennedy administration and all the back channeling, in the back
room dealing and the phone calls and the secret notes
and all that stuff. It's it was real and it happened,
and I just can't imagine what we have to go
through today to get somebody back. So yeah, I think
(09:30):
it's interesting. What other thoughts you got on it.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
It makes me think, you know, kind of a parallel
to what's going on in the Middle East, and I
know they would you know, to try and get the
Israelis back and then they would release like terrorists to
you know, from from Gaza and things like that, and
so yeah, it reminds me of what we were saying
about kind of you know, equalling like the one you
(10:00):
know for foreign stuff. But that's that's a whole other
level too.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
So then let's just wrap this up because I'm going
to ask you one final question and it's it's a
one word answer. Okay, you're ready for this. If you
were the Secretary of State and the Russian government told
you to pick one person and that's the only person
you could get back Britney Griner or the journalist.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Journalists journalist journalists.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
There we go. We'll leave it at that. Good good
talk and things. Again, guys, appreciate it very much. Thanks,
Thanks
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.