well it was an emotional scene at Joint Base Andrews just before midnight last night as three American citizens finally returned to us soil after being detained in Russia among them was New Jersey native and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich who spent 491 days in Russian detention falsely accused and convicted of Espionage by Russian authorities the two other Americans released were retired Marine Paul Whelan and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva the three Americans were greeted by President Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris when they stepped off the plane this moment thanks in large part to the continued cries from family members urging us officials to bring their loved ones home and it culminated In This Moment last night a joyful reunion between Evan and his parents their release was the result of a massive prisoner exchange involving Russia the United States and five other countries and a total of 24 adults and two kids exchanged by some accounts the largest swap in history between these countries and watching from home were two of evans's closest friends who've remained steadfast in their support of him over the last 16 months Michael Van Italy and Jeremy Burke and they join me now Jeremy Michael so great to have you both on the show tonight uh Jeremy I want to start with you just describe the moment last night when you saw Evan step off the plane greet his family lift her mom off her feet what was that moment like yeah I was smiling from ear to ear I think Elation was the emotion that uh we felt the most um and also some tears I mean it's been quite an emotional year 16 months leading up to that moment but just you know seeing him get off the flight embrace the vice president and then lift his mom like literally sweep his mom off his feet was an fantastic moment and I'll relive that for the rest of my life Michael I see you smiling what was it like for you it was so amazing it was uh just the most incredible moment I was uh with friends watching together and we were all cheering and and clapping and crying um it was just so amazing to to see to see him on American soil um and and you know see him hugging the vice president and and president and his his family just just amazing there was just a steadfastness in his presence that I saw that I thought was remarkable um Jeremy as I understand it you haven't yet spoken to him but you have been in touch with the family what are you hearing from them yeah they are super thrilled and I think they're just sort of managing everything right now um you know us as a group of friends myself and Mike and everyone else are really letting uh Evan take the lead and his family Take the Lead um but I had the chance to have a brief text exchange with the sister Danielle last night um and they're over the moon they're thrilled as you could imagine that they have she has her little brother Evan's parents have their son back home safe on us soil um so we're giving them the day to sort of recuperate catch up with each other and then you know we cannot wait to see him Michael what will you do what will you say when you do see Evan just give him a huge hug and I I don't know I I just want to tell him how much I love him and and how happy I am that he's home um and and yeah that's that's pretty much it I I just um can't wait to to see him and and be in his presence again and and just you know put this all behind us Jeremy are you reading into what you've seen so far from Evan I mean you've communicated with him throughout you've come on on our show uh to talk about those Communications and how he has remained strong through this process um do you have a sense of how he's doing right now even just from watching his body language yeah he's he's incredible I mean there's only so much you can into it from watching someone through you know a live feed but look like as soon as he got off the plane he kind of did this to the vice president which is so Evan um you know we saw him walk over to the press and he was chitchatting up a storm which is his favorite activity I would say it's his passion of life to the point where it looked like his parents had to pull him away to get into the car and go to the hotel so look he looked great uh we can't wait to see him and you know he'll have enough words uh for both of us so I will let him do the lead and let him do the talking but uh he looked awesome and it was thrilling thrilling thrilling to see that Michael uh we saw some sound probably the only sound I think that that he's offered yet uh to a reporter from the tarmac already talking about some of the other political prisoners that he sat alongside um just given obviously we're speculating here but given what you know about him and the fact that that's some of the first things that he came off the plane talking about do you anticipate this becoming a a point of advocacy for him moving forward yeah yeah absolutely and I was just about to mention that in relation to sort of how well he's done and um sort of what you said about him him being composed uh we don't want to assume too much about his his uh state but I think it's a great sign that he's he's basically already talking about uh a story talking about reporting um again about Russia about um you know these political prisoners that uh he wants to um share their story uh you know what he was saying is that they uh that no one knows about them no one's talking about them and we should be talking about them so um yeah and then the the tidbit in the Wall Street Journal article about him uh asking Putin for an interview uh I think is also um incredibly Evan and and just shows how passionate he is about his work and and how you know seems like he is excited to get right back to it yeah we're going to talk to H Wall Street ass Wall Street Journal assistant editor Paul Beckett uh after this conversation we're going to bring that up but Jeremy just as a journalist yourself um have you communicated with Evan throughout this process about how this is perhaps going to change his journalism is he going to be able to cover Russia in any meaningful way anymore that seems highly doubtful has this changed him has this changed his journalistic approach yeah look I mean we've had a lot of conversations about that and I think you know his his access to the country is certainly going to be different moving forward um you know however even Beyond his career aspiration or my own career aspirations like we're just really happy to have him home and we're we're really taking it one step at a time uh you know that being said I think it was certainly amazing and speaks to who he is and his character that the first thing he told the Press when he got off the flight was what about the other uh political prisoners in Russia right um and I think that's something that taking Evans lead as a group of friends that we can now turn our Focus to because you know they don't have the backing of of the Wall Street Journal the Dow Jones um you know this groundwell public support um but we want to help provide that and that's going to be you know part of our mission moving forward how proud are you of your friend right now Michael incredibly proud I and I and in awe really I think um that's the feeling I've I've heard from a lot of uh a lot of us friends of his just um what what an incredible yeah just just so proud of him and so um in a well you both have been steadfast champions for his return so congratulations to both of you on this moment I'm sure it's a relief Jeremy Burke Michael Van Itallie thank you both so much thank you thank you [Music]