By the end of 2024, Paul Whelan will mark six years in Russian Prison. One month before that, is the November Presidential Election. Experts familiar with the negotiations say, there could be a window of opportunity to free Whelan, shortly after the election.

‘I think the door will open again to do the negotiations,’ said Mickey Bergman, Vice President of the Richardson Center for Global Engagement. ‘I just wish we didn’t have to wait, because for us, it’s a few more months. For the prisoners, every day is a day that they might die.’

Bergman has worked on negotiations to free Americans held overseas for the last decade, including those in Russia. He worked alongside former Ambassador to the UN and former democratic New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Bergman now directs Global Reach for the Richardson Center for Global Engagement. He believes recent arrests of U.S. citizens could be a response to failed efforts to release Paul Whelan.

‘The case of Russia is fascinating. They took Paul Whelan, they wanted to do a certain deal. We refused to negotiate, so they took Trevor Reed. We still refused to negotiate, they took Brittney Griner,’ Bergman said.

Whelan was arrested in December 2018. He was visiting Russia for a friend’s wedding when he suddenly disappeared. Three days later, Russia’s government announced his arrest on espionage charges.

‘We’ve made clear to the Russians our expectation that we will learn more about the charges, come to understand what it is he’s been accused of and if the detention is not appropriate we will demand his immediate return,’ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at the time.

Whelan was a corporate security executive and former Marine. He was given a bad conduct discharge in 2008 after he was convicted on charges that include using fake documents and attempting to steal thousands of dollars while on duty in Iraq. He had been visiting Russia since at least 2007 and had spent more than a decade cultivating friends and contacts in the country. His family insisted Whelan was in Russia for tourism when he was arrested.

‘My brother is not a spy,’ Whelan’s brother David said shortly after his arrest. ‘Paul’s background is in law enforcement. He has military experience, he’s in corporate security.’

Experts believe his arrest was the Kremlin’s response to the U.S. imprisonment of a Russian citizen. Maria Butina pleaded guilty in 2018 to a U.S. federal charge of conspiracy to act as a foreign agent. Butina had provided information to Russia’s government on key U.S. political figures.

‘My reputation is ruined, both here in the United States and abroad,’ Butina told a federal judge before she was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

There were some discussions that Butina could be swapped for Whelan but that effort never gained momentum.

‘At the current stage, there is no talk about any sort of exchange,’ Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in January 2019.

Butina was released in 2019, after serving most of her sentence. She now serves in Russia’s parliament, the State Duma. She was sanctioned in 2022 by the U.S. Treasury over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. By then, Whelan had served two years of his 16-year prison sentence.

‘There were four opportunities to bring him home, and that didn’t happen,’ Bergman said.

Negotiators first began working on a prisoner swap including Russian Drug Smuggler Konstantin Yaroshenko. Bergman details the negotiations in his new book, In the Shadows, where the Russians requested dental care for Yaroshenko, in exchange for medical care for Whelan.

‘We started with baby steps,’ Bergman said about negotiations with Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov. ‘He said, ‘basically, it’s not tit for tat, but we believe in reciprocity. If you can arrange Konstantin Yaroshenko for dental care, I’m sure that Paul Whelan will get his medical exam that you’re asking for.’’

When the COVID-19 pandemic escalated, Bergman and his team worked with Russian negotiators to advance the reciprocity discussions.

‘Antonov, without actually saying it… suggested that if we’re able to secure the release of Konstantin Yaroshenko on humanitarian ground, they will reciprocate and Paul Whelan will return home,’ Bergman said.

Bergman took the offer to the White House, believing the offer was a good one, but the Trump Administration turned down the deal.

‘It’s complicated. I believe Donald Trump really wanted to bring Paul Whelan home, as he still does. He talks about him and the rest of the Americans that are being held, but he didn’t want to give anything in return,’ Bergman said.

Around two years later Yaroshenko’s name would be on the negotiating table once again, in exchange for a different U.S. prisoner.

‘When we do our work, none of the deals that we bring together are fair or just, and they get criticized a lot,’ Bergman said.

Trevor Reed was arrested in 2019, after he was accused of assaulting a Russian police officer. Bergman says Russia requested a two-for-two prisoner swap. Whelan and Reed would head back to the U.S. in exchange for Yaroshenko and a Russian arms dealer, known as the Merchant of Death, Viktor Bout. The U.S. was hesitant to make a deal including Bout, who had been convicted by a U.S. federal grand jury in 2011 of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens.

‘We have to take into account that our counterparts in Russia might be playing us as well,’ Bergman said.

As President Biden prepared to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the 2021 Helsinki summit, Bergman and Richardson suggested the White House bring up a possible prisoner swap.

‘I said the families of the detained Americans came up and we discussed it,’ President Biden said following the meeting. ‘I am not going to walk away on that issue.’

Bergman says no official proposals were ever put forward after the summit. Only half of the deal would be executed nearly a year later. Reed returned to the U.S. and Yaroshenko was sent back to Russia. He now serves as part of Putin’s Prison Oversight Chamber.

‘When we went to negotiate over Trevor Reed and Paul Whelan, it was end of February and the beginning of the war in Ukraine,’ Bergman said. ‘We actually didn’t know that Brittney Griner was already taken.’

Just days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Phoenix Mercury player Brittney Griner was traveling to Russia to play for the country’s premier league during the WNBA off-season. As she was going through customs, officials found cannabis oil in her luggage. She was arrested on smuggling charges for carrying the substance, which is illegal in Russia.

‘We are not arguing that Brittney took it here as a medicine. We are still saying that she involuntarily brought it here because she was in a rush,’ Griner attorney Alexander Boykov said after a court hearing in July 2022.

Negotiators would discuss another two-for-two swap including Griner and Whelan in exchange for Bout and a Russian Money launderer. U.S. officials say the Russians decided against releasing Whelan. Griner would be freed in exchange for Bout.

‘This was not a choice of which American to bring home. Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s,’ President Joe Biden said in December 2022 after Griner’s release.

Bout returned to Russia and now serves as a member of a regional legislature. He maintains his U.S. imprisonment, like Griner’s in Russia, was unjust.

‘The same outrage was in Russia when I was sentenced to 25 years. Many people would say ‘for what?” Bout told ESPN in September 2023.

Wall Street Journal Reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested nearly four months after Griner’s release. He was detained while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains and is accused of spying.

‘The Russians are very, very specific. Evan Gershkovich is a reporter. There’s another reporter from Radio Free Europe, also, who has been picked up and is being held in Russia.’

Prague-based editor Alsu Kurmasheva was arrested in October of 2023 after she traveled to see her elderly mother. She faces multiple charges including not self-reporting as a foreign agent.

‘The Russians don’t view them as political prisoners. They view them as something else,’ Bergman said.

The cases of Gershkovich and Whelan have received the most coverage, but an unknown number of Americans are detained in Russian prisons.

Less-known cases include American school teacher Marc Fogel and musician Travis Leake, who were arrested separately on drug charges. Ksenia Khavana is a dual national and was arrested on treason charges when she returned to Russia to visit her family.

Last month, U.S. Army soldier Gordon Black was arrested on charges of criminal misconduct, after a woman reported a complaint. A Russian court says he will be detained until at least July 2.

Bergman says Putin likely won’t make a deal to release any of the detainees, until after the U.S. election.

‘President Putin doesn’t have any interest in making a deal that might make President Biden look good,’ Bergman said. ‘You might call me an optimist, but I believe that after November, no matter what the election results are in this country, there will be a period of opportunity to negotiate.’

While the U.S. and others can work with negotiators to call for the release of Americans overseas, the government cannot state to an overseas court that a citizen is guilty or innocent. U.S. Government officials also cannot provide legal advice or representation. The State Department currently has Russia at a level 4 travel advisory and urges Americans not to go there, partly due to the singling out of U.S. citizens for detention.

British Prime Minister Rish Sunak apologized Friday after he left D-Day commemorations in Normandy, France, early and went on TV for an interview.

The move sparked backlash at home and appeared to be yet another setback for Sunak’s Conservative Party, which is down in opinion polls against Keir Starmer’s Labour Party. 

‘On reflection, it was a mistake not to stay longer, and I’ve apologized for that, but I also don’t think it’s right to be political in the midst of D-Day commemorations,’ Sunak told reporters. ‘The focus should rightly be on the veterans.’

Starmer remained in Normandy for the duration of events that commemorated the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, which Britain’s King Charles and President Biden attended. The Labour leader was seen talking to several world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Sunak spoke at a British-led event but delegated other duties to ministers, including Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who was pictured with Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

His decision to leave the event early was reportedly made weeks in advance, before the general election was called, according to the BBC. But his campaign failed to consider the optics of the U.K. leader ditching D-Day commemorations to go on TV and criticize the opposition.

A Conservative politician who asked not to be identified told Reuters, ‘I can’t explain it and I won’t.’ 

The lawmaker said it could become the ‘Gillian Duffy moment’ — a reference to 2010 when Gordon Brown, who was then prime minister, apologized for being caught on tape calling a voter ‘a bigoted woman’, a moment seen as a turning point in a campaign he lost.

Others pounced on Sunak in the British press. ‘He should have stayed. As the PM of our country he should have been there to represent the country and to show our gratitude to those who fell,’ said former British army commander in Afghanistan Richard Kemp in comments to the Mirror, a tabloid newspaper. 

Labour spokesman Jonathan Ashworth said the ‘disrespect’ Sunak showed was ‘shocking.’ 

‘I think it reveals something unbecoming about both his judgment and his character, And I think people today will be asking, what type of person thinks it’s more important to rush away from an event like this, to go and do an interview to try and score political points to save his own skin than truly honor the fallen,’ Ashworth told Sky News. 

Nigel Farage, a lead campaigner for Brexit and leader of the Reform UK party, who will stand in the election, said Sunak’s actions were ‘an insult’ to America. 

‘He doesn’t really care about our history. He doesn’t really care, frankly, about our culture. He cares about staying in Number 10,’ Farage said in a video posted on social media. 

‘This man is not patriotic. Doesn’t believe in the country, its people, its history, or frankly, even its culture. If you’re a patriotic voter, don’t vote for Rishi Sunak,’ Farage said, adding that he was in Normandy ‘in a personal capacity because I wanted to be there. I care.’ 

The Conservative party is polling about 20 points behind Labour in opinion polls. 

Earlier this month, the Conservatives suffered historic losses in local elections, losing about half. Labour picked up seats and won most of the key mayoral races up for grabs, including in London.

The center-left party showed strength in areas that voted for Brexit in 2016 and in places where former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson prevailed over Labour in the 2019 general election.

In the interview with ITV on Thursday, Sunak warned Labour would raise taxes if elected by about 2,000 pounds, or $2,500, per household if they win the election. Labour leaders have denied the accusation and  

Former President Trump touted the success of a San Francisco fundraiser Thursday evening as a major shift in support and a ‘great testament’ to his accomplishments after raising $12 million and landing the endorsement of a top Silicon Valley venture capitalist.

Trump told Fox News Digital that tech leaders who hosted the fundraiser, David Sacks and Chamath Paliphapitiya — two high-profile figures in Silicon Valley and co-hosts of the ‘All In’ podcast — are ‘very unhappy’ with President Biden.

‘These are brilliant guys — AI guys — these are the guys that are doing all the things you read about,’ Trump told Fox News Digital. ‘These are just a brilliant group of people. And they can’t relate to Biden because he is a stupid person — and I have a high IQ.’ 

‘They don’t like dealing with an IQ that’s like, you know, 1/3 of theirs, because it is a difficult thing when someone has an IQ of 180, it is difficult to deal with a man with an IQ of 70 — or maybe lower,’ Trump said, slamming his opponent. ‘Biden is a very low IQ individual.’ 

Trump told Fox News Digital that Sacks’ ‘strong’ endorsement ‘is a great testament to what I’ve accomplished.’ 

‘David Sacks — the king of that world — David Sacks and the group that we were with are the most respected people in San Francisco from both a business and high tech standpoint,’ Trump told Fox News Digital. ‘They love our country and they understand what’s happening into the future with technology better than any group, anywhere in the world.’ 

‘One of the primary reasons for the endorsement was the four years that we had in office, which was the best four years ever for high tech, which will play an increasingly important role in the future of our country, especially as it relates to AI and all of the other new and brilliant technologies coming right at this moment,’ Trump said. ‘It is a very exciting time and it is a great honor to have the most brilliant minds supporting, by far, the most brilliant leader.’

Sacks endorsed Trump Thursday night. 

‘My reasons rest on four main issues that I think are vital to American prosperity, security and stability — issues where the Biden administration has veered badly off course and where I believe President Trump can lead us back,’ Sacks said Thursday. 

Tickets at the sold-out event ranged from $50,000 per person to get in the door all the way up to $500,000 per couple for special access as part of the host committee. The event was sold out. The event was held at Sacks’ multimillion-dollar home in the tony Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco.

Trump said the fundraiser was attended by ‘the most powerful group of industrial intellects from the heart of San Francisco.’ 

‘They liked the job I did, number one, and now, don’t forget, I wasn’t a politician when I started, so it is hard get support when you aren’t a politician,’ Trump told Fox News Digital. ‘But for four years, they did better than they’ve ever done — they had less regulation, and they are a group that cannot stand regulation because it hinders their path to growth.’ 

Meanwhile, Trump described driving through traditionally blue San Francisco. 

‘When Secret Service took us through the middle of San Francisco, there were thousands of people waving,’ Trump told Fox News Digital. ‘We’re talking the heart of San Francisco — people were screaming on the streets with love. It was a very nice thing to see.’

Trump added: ‘I was really surprised. There wasn’t one bad thing or one bad shout… We got a lot of love yesterday. The meeting was amazing.’ 

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

President Biden on Friday repeatedly referenced an ‘instinct’ to ‘walk away’ from democracy during a speech in Normandy about the heroics of the Army Rangers who scaled Pointe du Hoc more than 80 years ago on D-Day. 

‘We talk about democracy, American democracy. We often talk about the ideals of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. What we don’t talk about is how hard it is, how many ways we’re asked to walk away, how many instincts there are to walk away,’ Biden said. ‘The most natural instinct is to walk away.’ 

Biden, who at 81 is running for re-election this fall, has previously faced pressure from some in politics to step aside and let another Democrat pursue the nomination. 

He also used his speech Friday to take a swipe at Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

‘Because of them, the war turned,’ Biden said about the Army Rangers who climbed the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc. ‘They stood against Hitler’s aggression. Does anyone doubt that they would want America to stand up against Putin’s aggression here in Europe today?’ 

‘They stormed the beaches alongside their allies. Does anyone believe these Rangers would want America to go it alone today?’ he continued.  

‘They fought to vanquish a hateful ideology in the 30s and 40s. Does anyone doubt they wouldn’t move heaven and earth to vanquish hateful ideologies of today?’ Biden also said. ‘These Rangers put mission and country above themselves. Does anyone believe they would exact any less from every American today? 

Biden concluded his speech by saying ‘They’re not asking us to scale these cliffs, but they’re asking us to stay true to what America stands for… they’re asking us to do our job to protect freedom of our time, to defend democracy, to stand up to aggression abroad and at home, to be part of something bigger than ourselves. 

President Biden’s Cabinet members circled the wagons in response to an alarming Wall Street Journal article portraying Biden as mentally ‘slipping.’ 

The piece, which ran Tuesday, included examples of gaffes and instances of low energy during private meetings. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was direct, telling Fox News Digital, ‘The article was BS.’

‘The president is utterly on his game,’ she added. ‘He is the wisest, most knowledgeable person in the room. He asks the toughest questions and has the keenest insights on the complex questions brought to him. He is sharp, thoughtful and wise.’

Fox News Digital contacted every member of the cabinet and many were quick to respond for this article.

Earlier this year, a report from Biden’s own Department of Justice’s special counsel called him an ‘elderly man with a poor memory’ at the end of an investigation into his mishandling of classified documents dating back to his Senate tenure, which ultimately saved him from having charges brought against him by Special Counsel Robert Hur.

At 81, Biden is the oldest sitting president, and his critics say his age has caught up with him cognitively. If he is re-elected in November, he will be 86 when his second term ends.

Biden has been prone to gaffes going back to when he was vice president, but the frequency and nature of his verbal missteps in recent years appear to be more significant. 

In May, Biden seemed to have a break with reality when he confused the timing of the COVID pandemic by a factor of years when he said, ‘And when I was vice president, things were kind of bad during the pandemic, and, what happened was Barack said to me: ‘Go to Detroit — and help fix it.’’ The pandemic happened years after Biden’s time as vice president.

The president has, on several occasions, referenced dead people as being alive. In 2022, at a White House event, Biden called out former Rep. Jackie Walorski during a speech, ‘Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie?’ Walorski had died in a car crash the previous month.

At a campaign rally in February, Biden told the audience, ‘Right after I was elected, I went to a G7 meeting in southern England. And I sat down and said, ‘America is back!’ and Mitterand from Germany — I mean France — looked at me and said, ‘How long you back for?” Mitterand was president from 1981 to 1995 and died in 1996.

In 2021, Biden claimed he had spoken with the late German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who had died in 2017, while recalling past conversations during fundraising events.  

Late Tuesday night, The Wall Street Journal published a report detailing instances in which the president has demonstrated a lack of clarity in private meetings with staff and members of Congress.

Many of those who work most closely with the president are coming forward to say The Wall Street Journal got it all wrong.

Officials at the highest levels of government echoed Granholm’s sentiment, like Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

‘I’ve worked for President Biden for 22 years,’ Blinken told Fox News Digital. ‘Now as then — in strategy discussions and in meetings with foreign leaders — his depth of knowledge, fluency with policy and politics and ability to cut to the chase and argue his case are exceptional. He’s invariably one step ahead of us.’

Attorney General Merrick Garland vouched for the president’s mental acuity on domestic issues.

‘I have complete confidence in the president,’ Garland said. ‘As a member of the president’s Cabinet and the National Security Council, I have consistently seen firsthand his ability to navigate issues of extraordinary complexity that are of the utmost importance to our national security.

‘I have also seen him tackle domestic policy issues, clearly and decisively guiding us through complicated questions to reach results that benefit the American people.’

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also objected to the assertion that the president is in a state of mental decline, telling Fox News Digital in a statement, ‘Both in Washington and in meetings with world leaders around the globe — including during strenuous negotiations with President Xi — I’ve always seen President Biden to be extremely well-informed, in command of the facts and very effective in advancing American interests.’

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas pushed back on the narrative, too. 

‘I strongly disagree with the characterization in the story,’ Mayorkas said. ‘I come fully prepared for my meetings with President Biden, knowing his questions will be detail-oriented, probing and exacting. In our exchanges, the president always draws upon our prior conversations and past events in analyzing the issues and reaching his conclusions.’ 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin concurred with Mayorka’s assessment, saying, ‘As someone who has watched President Biden make tough national security decisions and seen his commitment to keeping our troops safe, I have nothing but total confidence in our commander-in-chief.’

Gina Raimondo, the former Rhode Island governor and current commerce secretary, came out in full support of her boss, saying, ‘I’ve spent countless hours with President Biden, discussing everything from our strategic competition with China to the technical aspects of the CHIPS for America program, and in every conversation he’s been sharp, focused and insightful. I could not disagree more with the false portrayal of the president in that article. There is nobody I’d rather have leading our country today.’

Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough also came to Biden’s defense.

‘President Biden is not only as sharp and incisive as ever, he’s holding VA accountable every day — he’s holding me accountable every day — to deliver for veterans,’ McDonough said, ‘That article is completely inconsistent with the man I’ve been serving for 12 years.’ 

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement, ‘I have been in dozens of personal and larger meetings with President Biden, and I always note that his ability to simultaneously handle difficult issues is astounding.

‘President Biden has always had a depth of understanding of policies at every level and always remembers to bring the policies back to how they are helping the American people.’

It is not surprising that President Biden’s most senior advisers are countering the narrative that the president’s mental acuity may be waning. But the talk of his decline started well before the Wall Street Journal article. Former President Trump and his supporters have sustained a long attack on Biden’s cognitive state. Trump has referred to his opponent as ‘Sleepy Joe’ since 2019.

Those attacks may have been effective in shaping public opinion. According to a Pew Research poll released in late April, just 21% of respondents are extremely or very confident in Biden’s mental fitness to act as president, with 16% somewhat confident and 62% having little or no confidence.