Donald Trump national security team brings home Russian hostage Marc Fogel

Tuesday night was a jubilant night for the Trump administration's national security/hostage negotiating teams. President Trump promised Marc Fogel's 95-year-old mother that he'd get her son home if he got elected. Thanks to behind-the-scenes negotiations by Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Fogel is back on U.S. soil this morning.

The Hill is reporting "The Trump administration announced Tuesday it has negotiated the release of Marc Fogel, an American schoolteacher who has been detained in Russia on drug charges since his arrest in 2021. National security adviser Mike Waltz said in a statement Tuesday that special envoy Steve Witkoff was leaving Russian airspace with Fogel after negotiating an exchange with Russia, though he did not provide any details on whether the U.S. or an ally had released someone in return."

It's appalling that the Biden administration was too weak to get him out in 4 years. Fogel was taken into custody on August 15, 2021, the day Kabul, Afghanistan fell "after he allegedly attempted to enter Russia with 17 grams of medical marijuana, a violation of Russian law. He was sentenced to 14 years in a Russian penal colony."

Sen. Fetterman reacts

Marc Fogel at the White House

Fogel was left out of the prisoner swap that took place in Turkey last year that involved the U.S., Turkey, Germany, Russia, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Belarus. It was the largest exchange of detainees since the Cold War, with journalist Evan Gershkovich among those released.

Fogel’s sister, Anne, said in an interview at the time that his omission felt like they had been “stabbed in the back.” The State Department said in a statement in December 2024 that it “tried” to include Fogel in the August deal.

Fogel’s wife, Jane, and sons, Ethan and Sam, expressed gratitude Tuesday in a statement reported by The New York Times. "We are beyond grateful, relieved, and overwhelmed that after more than three years of detention, our father, husband, and son, Marc Fogel, is finally coming home,” the statement read.

Welcome home, Marc.

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