Joe Biden marks ‘painful anniversary’ of Evan Gershkovich’s arrest in Russia, saying: ‘we’ll never stop working to bring you home’ – live

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom in Moscow in October 2023.

LIVE – Updated at 15:07

US president condemns continued detention of Wall Street Journal writer.

15:07

During an Oval Office meeting with Olaf Scholz last month, Joe Biden proposed to the German chancellor that he authorize the release of a Russian hitman serving life in prison for murder, in hopes of coaxing Vladimir Putin to release three high-profile prisoners.

These included Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, ex-Marine Paul Whelan and prominent Russian dissident Alexei Navalny.

But as the Journal reports, the proposal went nowhere because Navalny died in an Arctic penal colony a week later. Now, it’s not clear what Putin wants in order to secure the release of the detained Americans.

Here’s more on the story, from the Journal:

It was the most shocking of a series of setbacks in secret prisoner talks between Washington and Moscow that have now bedeviled two U.S. presidencies.

America once had only one prisoner it considered wrongfully jailed in Russia, the 54-year-old Whelan. But through nearly six years of intense and combative negotiations, Putin has run up the score, stockpiling his prisons with Americans to swap for the very few Russians abroad he cares to bring back.

Both Presidents Biden and Trump found themselves facing the crude asymmetry between the U.S. and Russia, whose leader of a quarter-century can order foreigners plucked from their hotel rooms and sentenced to decades on spurious charges.

Putin, whom Biden called “a butcher,” hasn’t been a normal negotiating partner. After news of Navalny’s sudden death interrupted an annual lunch among chiefs of the leading Western security agencies, several attendees immediately wondered if the Russian ruler had ordered a hit. Weeks later, the U.S. hasn’t offered a public assessment of how he died, while Russia has cited only “natural causes.”

At the same time, America has been an easy mark, polarized by its culture wars and susceptible to the power of celebrity-driven campaigns that leveled a degree of pressure on the White House never felt by the Kremlin.

Biden condemns Evan Gershkovich’s ‘wrongful detention’ in Russia on anniversary of arrest

14:41

Joe Biden has joined in on calling for Russia to release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested one year ago today.

“Today we mark a painful anniversary: one year of American journalist Evan Gershkovich’s wrongful detention in Russia,” the president said in a statement.

Here’s more:

Journalism is not a crime, and Evan went to Russia to do his job as a reporter — risking his safety to shine the light of truth on Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine. Shortly after his wholly unjust and illegal detention, he drafted a letter to his family from prison, writing: “I am not losing hope.”

As I have told Evan’s parents, I will never give up hope either. We will continue working every day to secure his release. We will continue to denounce and impose costs for Russia’s appalling attempts to use Americans as bargaining chips. And we will continue to stand strong against all those who seek to attack the press or target journalists — the pillars of free society. To Evan, to Paul Whelan, and to all Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad: We are with you. And we will never stop working to bring you home.

14:33

To remind readers of Russia’s continued detention of their reporter Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal has left their front page today largely blank:

And sent users of their mobile app a push alert to where his journalism should be:

Congressional leaders demand Russia release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich

14:17

In a rare joint statement, the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives have condemned Russia’s detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and called for his release.

“Evan Gershkovich, an American citizen and reporter for The Wall Street Journal, has now spent a year wrongfully detained by Putin’s government. We continue to condemn his baseless arrest, fabricated charges, and unjust imprisonment,” reads the statement from Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson, Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries.

They continue:

Forty-five years ago, Evan’s parents, Ella and Mikhail Gershkovich, found refuge in the United States after fleeing the Soviet Union. Today, Putin is restoring Soviet-style control through repression at home and aggression abroad.

On the anniversary of Evan Gershkovich’s captivity, we reaffirm the importance of his work. Journalism is not a crime, and reporters are not bargaining chips. The Kremlin’s attempts to silence Evan and intimidate other Western reporters will not impede the pursuit of truth.

We repeat our call for the Russian government to release Evan, Paul Whelan, and others it has wrongfully detained without further delay.

13:57

Where Joe Biden goes, pro-Palestine protesters follow.

This has been increasingly the case after the Biden administration gave its (perhaps waning) support to Israel following its invasion of Gaza. During his fundraiser at New York’s Radio City Music Hall last night, Biden was interrupted five times by protesters, while more gathered outside:

Biden claimed many Republican lawmakers aren’t with Trump, argued old age brings ‘wisdom’

13:35

Sitting next to his former boss Barack Obama and Democratic predecessor Bill Clinton, Joe Biden talked about lots last night in a conversation moderated by comedian Stephen Colbert.

That included politically perilous topics such as his advanced age. At 81, he is the oldest president to have ever served, and polls indicate that voters are concerned about his fitness for the job.

Reverting to the carefree tone he took when discussing the subject at his State of the Union address earlier this month, Biden said, “one thing age does bring is a little bit of wisdom. And I know I don’t look much over forty, I know that.”

He also floated the theory that many Republicans don’t actually want to support the policies that his rival Donald Trump plans to put before them. “The thing that disturbs me most is I don’t know what it is that my predecessor has on these guys. Why they’re not stepping up more like Liz Cheney and others because, I know, I know that they don’t like a lot of what’s going on,” Biden said, accusing Trump of wanting to cut Social Security and tighten abortion access nationwide.

“This last guy that I ran against, and am running against again this time … his ideas are from the 18th, 19th century,” he said.

Biden needles Trump, faces protesters at New York fundraiser that netted campaign more than $26m

13:06

Good morning, US politics blog reader. Joe Biden went to New York City yesterday on a mission: raise a massive amount of money for his presidential campaign in a city that’s long been fertile territory for Democrats. The president accomplished his mission last night at Radio City Music Hall, bringing in what his campaign said was more than $26m in a moderated conversation alongside Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, where Biden said Donald Trump’s ideas “are from the 18th, 19th century”. The president aims to continue raking it in today, spending the morning holding another fundraiser in the city, before flying back to Washington DC. But as has happened repeatedly in recent months, Biden was interrupted during the event by protesters opposed to his support for Israel. Despite the fact that the Biden administration allowed passage earlier this week of a UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and one of his top allies in Congress has broken with its government, the disruptions were a sign that he may have a ways to go in winning back voters disaffected over his policy towards what America considers its top Middle East ally.

Here’s what else we are watching today:

Today marks the one-year anniversary of Russia’s detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. In a statement, Biden decried his “wholly unjust and illegal detention”.

Trump announced he would make a speech about “Biden’s Border Bloodbath” next Tuesday in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where a man in the US illegally has been accused of murder, MLive reports.

Congress is out, meaning no progress is expected on thorny issues such as border security legislation, or aid to Israel and Ukraine.