WSJ What’s News - WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich Sentenced to 16 Years in Prison

Episode Date: July 19, 2024

P.M. Edition for July 19. Evan Gershkovich, the WSJ reporter wrongfully convicted of espionage, was sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison. Georgi Kantchev discusses the verdict in a secret trial the U.S. has condemned as a sham. And calls grow for President Biden to step aside. Plus, WSJ’s Andrew Restuccia previews what a second Trump presidency, emboldened by allies, could bring. Sabrina Siddiqui hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to Smart Water Alkaline 9.5 plus pH with antioxidant, there's nothing to overthink. So, while you may be performing mental gymnastics over whether the post-work gym crowd is worth it, if you'll be able to find a spot for your yoga mat, or if that spin instructor will make you late for dinner again, don't overthink how you hydrate. Life's full of choices. Smart Water Alkaline is a simple one. Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter wrongfully accused of spying by Russia, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.

And as more Democrats call for President Biden to step aside, the GOP is firmly in former President Donald Trump's control. This was really a moment of triumph for Trump. It was a convention that felt jubilant. Many people felt it was ordained by God in the wake of the assassination attempt just last weekend. Plus, a far-reaching tech outage sparks worldwide travel chaos. It's Friday, July 19th. I'm Sabrina Siddiqui for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. Evan Gershkovich, The Wall Street Journal reporter falsely accused by Russian authorities of spying,

was sentenced to 16 years in a high-security penal colony. Today's verdict came after he was wrongfully convicted in a hurried, secret trial that the U.S. government has condemned as a sham. Gershkovich was afforded few of the protections normally accorded to defendants in the U.S. and other Western countries. Russian authorities have produced no public evidence to support their allegations, which Gershkovich, the Journal, and the U.S Russian authorities have produced no public evidence to support their allegations, which Gershkovich, the Journal, and the U.S. government have vehemently and repeatedly denied. Wall Street Journal reporter Georgi Kanchev has been reporting on the trial and joins us now with more. Georgi, this verdict was not unexpected, is that correct?

Yes, absolutely. It was expected that he'll be found guilty in this trial, which obviously the US and the journal and everyone else is calling a sham trial. But this was what we expected. And in Russia, of course, acquittals are really rare. So that's another reason why we expected this. And it's important to mention that Evan did not admit any guilt in court, including today at the last hearing. This has obviously been an incredibly difficult ordeal for Evan and his family. How was Evan when he appeared in court? Evan was in court today. He was standing in the dock.

He was wearing a dark T-shirt, which was kind of emblazoned with a small image of a frowning face. And he did give a brief wave before being removed from the room. And also when the judge asked him if he understood the sentence, then he responded as well with a nod. And so what happens next? Well, right now we're expecting probably an appeal and we don't know exactly when or if that would happen. But the next step really is that he would be potentially sent to one of Russia's so-called penal colonies. The judge today said that he's sentenced to 16 years in a high security colony. And those are dotted around Russia in many places, usually difficult to reach. We know from testimonies by

various inmates, including American inmates, you know, Paul Whelan, another American being held in Russia. He has reported that it's pretty grim over there. Brittany Griner, of course, the basketball star, detained in Russia in 2022 and then later exchanged. She reported some pretty terrible conditions. So the situation is pretty grim in those colonies, and the prison staff sometimes makes it even harder. What are Russian officials saying? times makes it even harder. What are Russian officials saying? Well, Russian officials have indicated that an exchange is possible between the U.S. and Russia when it comes to Evan and potentially other Americans. President Vladimir Putin himself has indicated he'll be potentially

open to prisoner swap for Evan. Then other Russian officials have also raised the prospect of prisoner exchange, but of course we don't know details of that. What other reactions have we seen so far? Alma Latour, who is our chief executive of Dow Jones and publisher of the Wall Street Journal, and Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Emma Tucker, they both said in the statement that it's a disgraceful sham conviction and Evan is wrongfully detained away from his family and friends. He was prevented from reporting, from doing his job as a journalist. That's what they said in the statement, and they said that they will continue to press for Evan's release

and support his family. And the main message from the journal and from others is that journalism is not a crime and that this must end now. President Biden today also issued a statement. He said that Evan was targeted by the Russian government and that this must end now. President Biden today also issued a statement. He said that Evan was targeted by the Russian government because he's a journalist and because he's an American. And he said that this is a wrongful detention, journalism is not a crime,

and that the US will continue pushing hard for Evan's release and all other Americans wrongfully detained and held hostage abroad. We've seen reactions coming from Europe. German finance minister, for example, said this is against the law, what happened today in court. We've seen Keir Starmer in the UK denouncing it as well. It's been pretty clear, coming from the West at least, the overall tenor of the statements is that this was an unjust ruling

and that Evan must be released immediately. That was The Wall Street Journal's Georgi Kanchov. Coming up, as a unified Republican party coronates former President Donald Trump for a third time, President Biden is facing even more pressure to end his campaign. That's after the break. the break. With Smartwater's pure crisp taste, there's nothing to overthink. So while you may be spiraling over double texting your crush, whether your skincare routine is working because you look the same or is doing nothing because you look the same in whatever the heck red light therapy is. It's definitely not bad. Don't overthink how you hydrate. Life's full of choices. Smart water is a simple one.

Airlines slowly resumed flights this morning after a far-reaching tech outage knocked many operations offline for hours. But air travel was still disrupted as delays and cancellations grew following the outage, which stemmed from an update rolled out by cybersecurity software company CrowdStrike and hit millions of Microsoft Windows users worldwide. U.S. carriers, including United Airlines, Delta Airlines, and American Airlines, said they were resuming flights after halting departures. But they warned of lingering impact as they worked to piece their operations back together and put planes and pilots into place as systems came back online. Around 2,100 U.S. flights have been canceled as of mid-morning today and close to 6,000 globally, according to FlightAware. The tech outage crashed computers

and tablets around the world, leaving many unable to restart. Blue error screens appear to airport gates and check-in kiosks around the world, leaving throngs of travelers waiting as agents wrote out paper tickets. That one update from a single provider could plunge so many companies, from airlines' check-in desks to consultants' conference rooms, into a digital dark age serves as a fresh warning of the world's technological dependence.

U.S. stocks declined after the global technology outage. Shares of CrowdStrike, the company behind the update that led to the outage, tumbled more than 11 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.8 percent, extending its weekly decline to 3.6 percent. The S&P 500 dropped 0.7 percent. And the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 377.49 points, or 0.9 percent. The blue-chip benchmark is the only of the three major indexes that eked out a weekly gain. A week in politics is a very long time indeed. In less than seven days, we had an assassination attempt on a presidential candidate,

former President Donald Trump cementing his control of the GOP, and the list of Democrats calling on President Biden to exit the presidential race growing. We've been reporting all week from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Molly Ball, the Wall Street Journal's senior political correspondent, was among numerous members of the Wall Street Journal staff covering it. Molly, this was former President Trump's third time accepting his party's nomination for president. This time, it does look as though

he has full control of the Republican Party. Absolutely. It was a completely different feeling than that first convention that he had in 2016, where the party was still really resisting him. And there was a rebellion among the delegates. Some of his competitors refused to endorse him. This was really a moment of triumph for Trump. It was a convention that felt jubilant. Many people felt it was ordained by God in the wake of the assassination attempt just last weekend. So it was tightly organized. Good time was had by all. And it was clear that the party is firmly in Trump's grip this time. On the other side, things could not look more different as President Biden faces even more calls to step aside. It's quite a split screen, is it not?

the nomination to some other Democrat. We don't know who or how that might happen. But this pressure has been building for weeks ever since that disastrous first presidential debate. The president has stubbornly resisted all of these calls for him to step aside. But he seems to be starting to feel the pressure. And it's starting to seem inevitable. And that, of course, will lead to a whole nother type of chaos for a party that has already been trailing in the polls to Donald Trump for quite some time. That was The Wall Street Journal's Molly Ball. For Donald Trump and his running mate, the campaign begins tomorrow. Here's Journal National Politics reporter Alex Leary. Tomorrow in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, his newly minted running mate, will appear for the first time together at a campaign rally. Michigan is one of several very key swing states that will decide this

election. They have a lot of expectations for J.D. Vance and what he can do to appeal to key voters in those Midwestern states. And they've got some calculations to make, too. If Biden does drop out and there are increasing signs that that's a possibility, the campaign is going to have to pivot somehow. Whether it's Kamala Harris or someone else, it's a different candidate. They don't have the sitting president who has had some issues with polling and inflation. And so it's a different ballgame and it's going to cause them to have to rejigger their arguments. And so the Trump campaign, while feeling confident, is also looking at some real unknowns that are going to be challenges for them. Amid all the celebrations and fanfare,

the Republican convention made clear what former President Donald Trump's governing style would look like if he returns to the White House. Assertive, adversarial, and unconstrained. Andrew Restuccia, The Wall Street Journal's domestic policy correspondent, is here with more. Andrew, we heard a lot at the Republican convention about how a potential second Trump term would be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reshape the country. What would be at the top of the agenda? The president, his senior advisors, and a lot of conservatives really do think, in part because of the Supreme Court, which the president helped enshrine the conservative majority there,

that he can do some really big things. And that includes deporting millions of immigrants living in the country illegally, imposing a series of really strong tariffs on allies and adversaries alike, and making sweeping changes to the way we've known government for decades, including by firing and limiting protections for civil servants and for rethinking the role of federal agencies. Some Republican officials feel today's party is almost unrecognizable. In terms of policy, what are some of the biggest changes in posture spearheaded by Trump? Isolationism or certainly reluctance to get involved in foreign entanglements is one of the biggest ones. I spoke to former Senator Judd Gregg, who's a Republican but has been pretty

critical of Trump, who said that Trump's party of today, quote, doesn't believe in fiscal discipline. It believes in isolationism. It believes in picking winners and losers in the marketplace. And it doesn't appear to feel that evil in this world should be confronted straight on with force. And they say that that is a real change from Reaganism, which obviously embraced all of those things. That was The Wall Street Journal's Andrew Restuccia. about the issues you faced or heard about. Send a voice memo to WNPOD at wsj.com or leave a voicemail with your name and location at 212-416-4328. We might use it on the show. And that's what's news for this week.

Today's show was produced by Pierre Bien-Aimé and Anthony Bansi. I'm Sabrina Siddiqui. Our AM host this week was Kate Bullivant. Additional support this week from Chip Cutter, Francesca Fontana, and Luke Vargas. Michael LaValle wrote our theme music. Our supervising producers are Michael Cosmitas and Christina Rocha. Aishal Muslim is our development producer. Scott Soloway and Chris Zinsley are our deputy editors.

And Philana Patterson is The Wall Street Journal's head of news audio. Tomorrow, you can look out for our weekly markets wrap-up, What's News in in markets. Then on Sunday, as the Summer Olympics kick off in Paris next week, we'll be answering your questions about the economics of the games in what's news Sunday. We'll be back with our show on Monday morning. Thanks for listening.