by WorldTribune Staff, February 12, 2025 Real World News
On the day before a flurry of White House phone calls and international diplomacy heralded the possible conclusion of the Russia-Ukraine war, the return of an American hostage from Moscow recalled an exchange in Butler, Pennsylvania minutes before an historic assassination attempt on July 13, 2024.
President Donald Trump welcomed Marc Fogel to the White House on Tuesday as the history teacher returned to the U.S. after being detained in Russia for three and a half years.
Fogel’s emotional return was seen in a video that Trump posted late Tuesday night on Truth Social.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, left Russia with Fogel and brought him to the White House.
“You look good,” Trump told Fogel upon first seeing the former hostage. The two men spoke as lawmakers and officials congratulated Witkoff.
Meanwhile, two social media posts by the president relayed details of the riveting major news of the day that was mostly overlooked by much of the media:
DJT: I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects. We both reflected on the Great History of our Nations, and the fact that we fought so successfully together in World War II, remembering, that Russia lost tens of millions of people, and we, likewise, lost so many! We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together. But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine. President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, “COMMON SENSE.” We both believe very strongly in it. We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations. We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now. I have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful. Millions of people have died in a War that would not have happened if I were President, but it did happen, so it must end. No more lives should be lost! I want to thank President Putin for his time and effort with respect to this call, and for the release, yesterday, of Marc Fogel, a wonderful man that I personally greeted last night at the White House. I believe this effort will lead to a successful conclusion, hopefully soon!
DJT: I just spoke to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. The conversation went very well. He, like President Putin, wants to make PEACE. We discussed a variety of topics having to do with the War, but mostly, the meeting that is being set up on Friday in Munich, where Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the Delegation. I am hopeful that the results of that meeting will be positive. It is time to stop this ridiculous War, where there
Said Marc Fogel: “I want you to know, I am not a hero in this at all. President Trump is a hero. These men that came from the diplomatic service are heroes. The senators and representative that passed legislation in my honor to get me home are the heroes. I am in awe of what they all did.”
Fogel’s 95-year-old mother Malphine can certainly be added to that list of heroes.
Marc Fogel, a white male teacher from Pennsylvania, apparently did not check the right boxes for the Biden-Harris administration to prioritize his return. On the other hand, the Biden-Harris team quickly secured the release from Russia of black lesbian WNBA player Brittney Griner.
Frustrated by the Biden-Harris team’s lack of response to her pleas, Malphine Fogel in July of last year turned to then-GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.
She met with Trump prior to his July 13, 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Minutes later, Trump survived an assassination attempt.
“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. 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 Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Malphine “was only feet away from the rostrum when shots rang out, with a single bullet grazing Trump’s ear. The candidate was tackled and a congressman shielded Fogel from incoming fire,” the report said.
Fogel was arrested in August 2021 in Russia for flying into Moscow with 0.6 ounces (17 grams) of medically prescribed marijuana.
The 63-year-old, who worked at the elite Anglo-American School in Moscow, was one in a string of Americans arrested as Vladimir Putin turned to invade Ukraine.
“At first Russia seemed to view him as a catch of considerable value: His past students included the adolescent children of William Burns, Biden’s Central Intelligence Agency director; and Michael McFaul, ambassador to Moscow during the Obama administration. He was given 14 years, one of the longest drug sentences in Russia’s post-Soviet history,” the Journal’s report said.
Six after Fogel was detained, the same Russian customs unit at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport arrested Griner and charged her with possession of marijuana products, under the same statute in the Russian criminal code.
The Biden administration quickly designated Griner “wrongfully detained” and within 10 months of her arrest exchanged her for convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout.
Other Americans listed by the Biden-Harris administration as wrongfully detained were traded for Russian prisoners.
“It’s just so unfair, it’s too much to take,” Fogel said in a tearful phone call on speaker phone with his family in the hours after an Aug. 1 prisoner exchange.
The Biden-Harris regime did not officially declare Fogel wrongfully detained until December 2024.
McFaul said: “I’ve never gotten a clear answer,” on why the wrongfully detained designation was not made earlier.
Griner appeared in front of a mural in Washington, D.C., featuring other Americans deemed wrongfully detained in Russia, Iran, and China.
The Journal noted: “Fogel was absent, so some of his former students and local artists painted their own portraits, displayed around Malphine’s home. Another made a documentary, ‘Did You Forget Marc Fogel?’ ”
Fogel’s family, the Journal report noted, “sent pleas directly to Jill Biden—a fellow educator—via a university president who’d known her, but they went unanswered. Jane Fogel spoke with national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who pledged to call for her husband’s ‘humanitarian release.’ Russia was unmoved by the request. Months slipped into years.”
In one of the few letters Fogel managed to send home from Russia, he wrote: “Teachers are at least as important as b-ballers.”
To the current president, that is no doubt true.
Malphine Fogel said: “I would like to thank [President Trump] profusely. He promised me he would get him out — and he kept his promise, and I can’t thank him enough.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement on Tuesday: “Promises made, promises kept. President Trump promised the Fogel family he would bring Marc home, and today, Marc is on his way. After three and a half years of detention in Russia, Marc is finally free. Marc’s release is also a reminder that other American citizens are still detained in Russia. President Trump is committed to bringing all of them home.”
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Fateful days: War-ending diplomacy; Mom lobbied Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania added by Editor Two on
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