THE BIG SWAP: Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, only recently convicted of espionage in Russia, has been returned to the United States as part of a complex prisoner swap involving seven countries and 16 prisoners traded for eight Russians, including a hit man sentenced to life in prison in Germany for assassinating a Chechen separatist.

  US leaders in a diplomatic feat convinced other countries to release prisoners in trade for Americans.

  Returned to the US as well were Paul Whelan, a former Marine held in Russia for six years after going there to attend a wedding, and Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, sentenced to six and a half years in a Russian penal colony for “spreading false information” about the Russian Army.

  They were met upon their arrival last night at Joint Base Andrews by President Biden and Vice President Harris who hugged each of them and talked to them as they came off the plane separately. Biden took off his own flag pin and pinned it on Whelan.

  Included in the deal were seven Russian dissidents and human rights advocates suddenly whisked to a new homeland.

  The deal is reported to have hinged on the release of Vadim Krasikov, 58, a reputed professional killer. He’s the one the Russians most wanted back. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made a special concession to President Biden to let Krasikov go.

  Also released from Slovenia were a Russian man and woman trained to be spies in another country while acting as a normal couple. Think of the television series, “The Americans.” 

  Among others, the US released Roman Seleznev, a Russian hacker arrested in the United States and sentenced to 14 years in prison after pleading guilty in a $50 million cyberfraud ring.

  Always the reporter, Gershkovich is said to have signed his release papers in Russia with a request for an interview with Vladimir Putin.

DISSENTING VOICES: Political dissent is illegal in Russia but not in the US. Former President Donald Trump immediately trashed the prisoner swap in his social media saying “We never make good deals, at anything, but especially hostage swaps. Our ‘negotiators’ are always an embarrassment to us!” 

  Paul Whelan was arrested during the Trump administration and Trump did not get him freed.

  Running mate JD Vance said the prisoners are coming home “because bad guys all over the world recognize Donald Trump’s about to be back in office, so they’re cleaning house” and that “I think it’s a testament to Donald Trump’s strength.”

THE COCONUT TREE: The Kamala Harris presidential campaign raised $310 million in July, more than double the haul for Donald Trump.

REVENGE SERVED:  Although Iran had originally said a senior Hamas leader was killed with a rocket fired into the room where he was staying in Tehran, the NY Times now reports that the assassination was carried out with a remote control bomb planted in the heavily guarded building as long as two months before the arrival of Ismail Haniyeh. 

  Although Israel has not publicly taken credit, it was an operation with their signature on it. The Times says they briefed the US on it afterwards.

  Israel says Haniyeh was one of the primary plotters of the October 7^th massacre. He was in Tehran for the inauguration of the country’s new president and had stayed in that building before. The hit team pushed the button when they had confirmation Haniyeh was in his room. The explosion caused the partial collapse of an exterior wall on the building, also killing Haniyeh’s bodyguard. 

FIVE RINGS: Gymnast Simone Biles at age 27 became the oldest gymnast to win the gold medal in the all-around competition and just the third woman in history to win multiple golds in the event. She won the gold back in 2016.

  US swimmer Katie Ledecky became the most decorated female Olympian with a silver in the 4x-200 women’s freestyle relay. It’s her 13th Olympic medal.

  The gender issue in women’s sports erupted yesterday after Italian boxer Angela Carini abruptly withdrew from her Olympic match against Algeria’s Imane Khelif after taking a solid punch in the nose. Carini said she had never felt a punch like that before.

  Khelif had been disqualified from the 2023 International Boxing Association’s World Championships because she did not meet their gender requirements. The Olympics allowed her in the ring.

  Khelif’s next opponent is Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori, who said she doesn’t care about the controversy and, “If she or he is a man, it will be a bigger victory for me if I win.”

CHANNEL CHANGE: CBS News announced that John Dickerson, the network’s political editor, and Maurice DuBois, a local news anchor for at WCBS, will be the new anchors on the Evening News in an effort to revamp the broadcast.

  The two will replace Norah O’Donnell, who moves on to other things after the election. Both CBS and ABC have failed with previous attempts to have co-anchors.

  Bill Owens, who runs “60 Minutes,” will also take on the #3 Evening News to have the broadcast “tap into the the DNA of ‘60 Minutes.’”

THE SPIN RACK: In a big win for the NFL, a federal judge threw out the $4.7 billion verdict against the National Football League for colluding to raise prices for its Sunday Ticket television package. The judge disqualified expert testimony used by the jury to determine damages, leading to dismissal of the whole verdict. — The Department of Transportation implemented a new rule requiring airlines to sit families together for free. Some airlines charge a fee to guarantee parents and children sit next to each other.  

BELOW THE FOLD: Belgian triathlete Jolien Vermeylen climbed out of the polluted River Seine after completing her swim and said, “I felt and saw things that we shouldn’t think about too much.” She said she ingested a lot of water during her event and that, “It doesn’t taste like Coca-Cola or Sprite, of course.” 

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