One week ago on Wednesday 27th April, Trevor Reed – an innocent American citizen and former US sam o'reilly Marine who had been wrongfully imprisoned in Russia for 985 days – was freed. Trevor was released in a prisoner swap deal between the United States and Russia.
Trevor is now back home in the United States getting the medical attention he needs and surrounded by his loving family – his father, Joey – his mother, Paula – and his sister, Taylor. We have interviewed Trevor’s parents twice on Pod john krasinski Hostage Diplomacy and we are very happy for them. We are also truly grateful for the efforts of President Biden, the US State Department, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Roger Carstens and his team, the Richardson Center as well as everyone else involved in securing Trevor’s release.
With all that being said – the US government should have done better. They left a man behind. They left fellow American and former US Marine, Paul Whelan behind. We have interviewed the Whelan family twice as well. Last Wednesday was a day of mixed-emotions for Paul Whelan and his family when they found out that Trevor was being released and Paul was being left behind.
On this episode, we are joined once again by Paul Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth Whelan. She tells us what Trevor’s release and Paul being left behind was like for her, for Paul and for the rest of the Whelan family. Elizabeth also talks to us about potentially changing her approach to campaigning, Brittney Griner and what President Biden, the State Department, journalists and the public can do to free Paul Whelan.
After our interview with Elizabeth, you’ll also hear voice messages from the loved ones of other Americans held hostage or wrongfully imprisoned overseas specifically Majd Kamalmaz held in Syria, Tomeu Vadell held in Venezuela, Kai Li held in China, Paul Rusesabagina held in Rwanda and Jamshid Sharmahd held in Iran. They tell us their thoughts on Trevor’s release and talk about what President Biden now needs to do to bring their loved ones home too.
Chapter Markers
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:48 Trevor Reed’s release
00:05:22 What last Wednesday was like for the Whelan family
00:07:24 Paul Whelan’s response to Trevor’s release
00:11:43 Deteriorating health reason for freeing Trevor
00:16:02 Do families have to be the loudest voice in the room?
00:23:01 Potential prisoner swap for Paul Whelan
00:24:28 Brittney Griner
00:26:06 House resolution passed calling for Paul’s release
00:27:45 What must President Biden do to bring Paul Whelan home?
00:28:48 What should the US State Department be doing better?
00:35:34 Richardson Center
00:40:11 Lack of le journal de montréal funding in Levinson Act
00:44:15 What can journalists do to help?
00:45:34 What can the public do to help?
00:47:15 Thank you to the hostage community for reaching out to Elizabeth
00:49:04 Messages from families of other American hostages/wrongful detainees
We’ve been campaigning with families of hostages to free their loved ones for 6 years. We noticed that most of these families struggled to get the media attention they needed so we decided to be the change we wanted to see and created Pod Hostage Diplomacy.
Pod Hostage Diplomacy gives these families a platform to tell their stories at length. Everything we do for the families, we do for free. We do it out of a sense of duty.
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