News/Commentary

Hey Kamala, THIS IS WHAT JOY LOOKS LIKE! Grateful freed American Marc Fogel celebrates at White House

February 12, 2025 | | Print Article

President Donald Trump on Tuesday secured the release of an American man who’d been falsely imprisoned in Russia since the early days of the Biden administration, only for the media it ignore the release.

In August of 2021, schoolteacher Marc Fogel was jailed after being caught with medical marijuana. A year later in June of 2022, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

The Biden administration then waited until late 2024 to finally classify him as wrongfully detained. Moreover, the administration excluded him from two prisoner swaps, including the famous prisoner swap involving women’s basketball player Brittney Griner.

Flash forward to July 13th, 2024, the day then-presidential candidate Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Moments before he took the stage, he spoke with Fogel’s mother.

“Linking arms with Trump, Malphine Fogel recounted her son’s ordeal, how she was struggling to get the Biden administration to prioritize his case and her fears for his health,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

“Flashing a thumbs-up before a camera, Trump promised to ‘get him out,’ then invited her onto the VIP section of the stage to watch him speak,” the Journal’s reporting continues.

He meant it.

Flash forward a couple more months to February of 2025, when now-President Trump deployed his special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, to Russia to negotiate a successful deal for Fogel’s release.

The deal went through on Tuesday when Witkoff picked an ecstatic Fogel up from Russia and brought him back to the United States, after which he was taken to the White House for a meeting with Trump.

During his meeting with Trump, Fogel called the president and those who’d worked to secure his release heroes.

“I feel like the luckiest man on Earth right now,” he began. “President Trump is a hero,” he said. “These men that came from the diplomatic service are heroes. The senators and representatives that passed legislation in my honor – they got me home – they are heroes.”

“I am in awe of what they all did,” he added.

Listen:

(Video Credit: CNN)

“Knowing I had the support of my fellow Pennsylvanians, my family, my friends, it was so overwhelming that it brought me to my knees, and it brought me to tears, but it was it was my energy, it was my being that kept me going that whole time,” he later said about his time behind bars.

“And I will forever be indebted to President Trump,” he added.

Fogel’s family also thanked Trump in a statement.

“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,” they said. “Thanks to the unwavering leadership of President Trump, Marc will soon be back on American soil, free where he belongs. This has been the darkest and most painful period of our lives, but today, we begin to heal.”

Speaking later with Fox News, Fogel’s mother, Malphine, vowed that her son would be “sore from hugs” after returning home.

“Trump promised and I can’t thank him enough, and Secretary Rubio, also, and anyone else who had a hand in this,” she said. “I’m sure there were a few who got the ball rolling but I particularly want to thank President Trump.”

Trump’s deal securing Fogel’s release also inspired praise from at least one Democrat: Sen. John Fetterman.

Look:

What’s unclear is whether the Trump administration gave up anything in return for Fogel. When pressed by reporters about this, the president said only that “not much” was given up, according to Fox News.

He added that it was a “very fair” deal with Russia and that he’d reveal more about the deal come Wednesday. Furthermore, his special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, told CNN that another American is set to be released from custody overseas on that same day.

Meanwhile, MSNBC mostly ignored Fogel’s release, presumably because it reveals the hero in Trump:

Vivek Saxena
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