Aug 11, 2026

Correction: In this segment, we misstated the year Major General Qasem Soleimani was killed. We should have said 2020, as the on-screen graphic indicated. We regret the error. The News Hour has confirmed the Washington Post's reporting on extraordinary, secret security measures taken to protect President Trump. The president switched planes not once, but twice while leaving last month's NATO summit in Turkey. A transfer from the legacy Air Force One to a smaller aircraft, by way of a catering truck, had not been known until now. Nick Schifrin reports....

Geoff Bennett:

Now, how unusual is it for the Secret Service to turn Air Force One and its passengers, to include White House staff, the traveling press, into a decoy?

Nick Schifrin:

As far as we know, the decoy fact of that question, it has only happened once before. In 2000, President Bill Clinton landed in Islamabad, you see there, in an unmarked plane after Air Force One had landed and a body double who looked like Clinton got off of Air Force One.

Geoff, though, if you go beyond decoys, to include feints or secret trips like George W. Bush's to Iraq, see the Secret Service has taken steps like that before. As for questions today of the vulnerability of those people who did fly on Air Force One without President Trump, Matranga said the bottom line is, the Secret Service had to make a trade-off....

Nick Schifrin:

Russia released Gilman on humanitarian grounds. The 32-year-old is a former Marine who went to Russia to teach English. He was first arrested in 2022 for allegedly hitting a Russian police officer and was sentenced to 4.5 years, but his sentence was extended to a decade.

His family and advocates, including those you spoke to last night, said his health was badly deteriorating. He was nonresponsive, unable to interact or eat, essentially catatonic. Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts even accused Russia of torturing him.

But, today, he was released after 1,666 days of detention. You see him there on the left with his mother right next to him on an American plane. Gilman's on his way now to a U.S. military hospital in Texas, where he will be assessed and treated.

Global Reach says that he cannot talk -- cannot walk, rather, but was speaking,. And the president actually, who spoke to him today, said he even asked for a cheeseburger on the phone.

The Trump administration says that there was no prisoner swap, nor -- quote -- "any other concessions" given to Russia. But I did talk to U.S. officials today about one other aspect. They said that shortly before his release, he was declared wrongfully detained. That is something, of course, that you heard from last night the family and advocates were complaining that that hadn't happened.

Une libération humanitaire La Russie a libéré Robert Gilman, un ancien marine américain détenu depuis 2022, dont l’état de santé était jugé extrêmement préoccupant. Selon Kirill Dmitriev, émissaire spécial du président Vladimir Poutine, l’intéressé a été relâché « pour des raisons humanitaires » et se trouvait mardi à bord d’un avion américain à destination de Washington. Le sénateur du…

Aug 10, 2026 

The family of a U.S. Marine veteran imprisoned in Russia says his health is deteriorating and he may be on the brink of death. Robert Gilman was arrested in Russia in 2022 for allegedly hitting a Russian police officer. He was sentenced to four and a half years in prison, but that sentence has since been extended to a decade. Stephanie Sy spoke with Kieran Ramsey, Gilman’s advocate in the U.S....

Stephanie Sy:

Do we know what put him in this state? Does he have an actual diagnosis?

Kieran Ramsey:

Well, the tragedy of this whole story starts with the fact that, over 1,600 days ago, he started his detention in Russia, his wrongful detention in Russia.

In fact, he was never even supposed to visit Russia. He had false charges leveled against him, and then his experience, if not mistreatment, out-and-out torture while in a Russian prison for four years. And we have heard reports, continuous reports, over the years of not only harsh physical abuse, but mental abuse, to include ridiculous disinformation campaigns saying that Russians were en route to Boston to assault his father and that his family and his country had totally forgotten about him.

That mental pressure, plus the physical abuse he suffered, is likely what contributed to his current medical jeopardy right now....

Stephanie Sy:

You have been investigating these cases for a number of years, Kieran.

As you said, Mr. Gilman's sentence has gone beyond 4.5 years at this point and has been extended to a decade, which is controversial in itself. How would you characterize this case? What makes it stand out?

Kieran Ramsey:

So, Mr. Gilman is actually the third Marine that we have seen targeted by the Russians in recent years, if you look back at Trevor Reed and Paul Whelan.

But the treatment that he has suffered at the hands of the Russian prison guards has been far worse than anything else we have seen before. And the troubling aspect of all of this is that right now, as we sit here, we're not sure that Mr. Gilman's going to make it.

14. What does it take to make them laugh, and what does their laugh sound like?

I’ll do Maggie for this one. She’s a snorter and she laughs so easy. So full of joy.

37. How would they spend a lazy day when they have nothing specific to do?