A Hostage Release and the 2024 Election

Hello everyone and welcome back to another week of Politics Explained. I hope everyone is having a great start to August and having fun enjoying all the summer festivities! If you’re new here, we post concise, non-partisan blogs every week to provide a source of unbiased news on US politics. This week, there is breaking news on a hostage swap between the US, Russia, and several other countries. Also, there is much more news on the presidential election. With lots to talk about, let’s dive right in.

Starting with the hostage swap involving the US and Russia, there were 24 total prisoners exchanged through the deal. Four US citizens who were wrongfully imprisoned in Russia have been released, including journalist Evan Gershkovich and Marine veteran Paul Whelan, and the prisoners are on their way home today (Thursday). President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris are set to meet the freed Americans at Joint Base Andrews tonight. The deal included 5 Germans and 7 Russian citizens held in Russia and 8 other Russian citizens who were being held in prisons in the US, Poland, Norway, Germany, and Slovenia. The exchange took place in Turkey, with 3 of the Americans heading to DC, and the 4th heading to his family in Germany. 

In Kamala Harris’s first week since announcing her campaign for President, she has raised over $200 Million. Harris has also been endorsed* by numerous people including: Former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, President Biden, Former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Elizabeth Warren. Some other big news is that within the next few days Vice President Harris will choose her running mate for the 2024 Election. This will be a very important moment and voters will get to see who Harris will be running with. Also this week, Former President Donald Trump appeared before the National Association of Black Journalists in an interview that turned hostile relatively fast. During the interview, Trump claimed Harris was not Black, which is a false claim. This caused significant uproar in both parties, but especially in the Republican Party, as many Republicans were uncomfortable with making the race about Harris’s ethnicity instead of focusing on the policies of the Biden/Harris Administration. 

*Definition of the Week (Endorsed): A political endorsement is a public declaration of one's personal or group's support of a candidate for elected office.