Trump Administration Negotiated The Release Of Marc Fogel
The Trump administration has secured the release of American teacher Marc Fogel, marking the end of a grueling four-year ordeal in a Russian penal colony. Fogel, 63, had been sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2021 for possessing medical marijuana, a prescription he received from a U.S. doctor to manage chronic pain from multiple surgeries.
A veteran educator with nearly three decades of experience teaching abroad, Fogel had been working at the Anglo-American School of Moscow at the time of his arrest. His case quickly became emblematic of the Kremlin’s increasingly aggressive approach to detaining American citizens—often holding them as leverage in diplomatic negotiations.
The breakthrough in Fogel’s release came through the diplomatic efforts of Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East. The New York Times reported that Fogel was flown out of Russia on Witkoff’s private jet, though details of what the United States offered in exchange remain unclear.
The Fogel family was first alerted to his release last Thursday when they received word that he had been moved from the Rybinsk penal colony to a detention center in the Yaroslavl region. The long-awaited moment came after years of relentless advocacy from Fogel’s loved ones and key political figures who refused to let his case be forgotten.
Marco Rubio just said that improving U.S.-Russia relations will be impossible unless Russian authorities release Marc Fogel, an American schoolteacher who has been imprisoned in Russia for over three years.
I've been covering Fogel's case for months. It is a sad one. pic.twitter.com/szP45AtmyD
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) January 15, 2025
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz emphasized the broader significance of the negotiation, stating, “President Trump, Steve Witkoff, and the president’s advisers negotiated an exchange that serves as a show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine.”
Among Fogel’s most determined advocates was his 95-year-old mother, Malphine, who met with Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. She recounted how the president assured her he would work to bring her son home if re-elected. That promise took on even greater weight after the shocking events of that day—Fogel, standing just 25 feet from Trump, witnessed the attempted assassination firsthand as gunfire erupted at the event.
“President Trump made a commitment to his mother, and he did what he said he would do,” said Vicki Iseman, spokesperson for Free Marc Fogel. “He knew that telling a 95-year-old woman that he would bring her son home if elected was a promise he could not break, and he did not.”
Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) was another key figure in the fight for Fogel’s freedom. During Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s confirmation hearing, McCormick pressed the issue, stating that if Russia was unwilling to release Fogel as a goodwill gesture, the chances of improving U.S.-Russia relations would be “impossible.” Rubio himself had met with Fogel’s family and asserted that Fogel’s arrest was likely part of a broader Russian strategy—detaining Americans on any charge possible to use them as bargaining chips in future negotiations.
According to Iseman, cases like Fogel’s rarely make it to trial in Russia, with most dismissed early in the legal process. His prolonged detention, therefore, was an anomaly—one that underscored the political nature of his imprisonment.