Speaking on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report” broadcast on Thursday, White House national security communications adviser John Kirby said about the exclusion of imprisoned American Mark Fogel from a prisoner swap deal with Russia that the US wants Fogel released, saying, “We tried many times throughout this process over many months to include Mr. Fogel. That was the plan, but we couldn’t budge the Russians. This is the deal we could get, this is what we could manage.”
Kirby said, [relevant remarks begin around 3:00] “Yes, Brett, we wanted him to be a part of the deal. Believe me, we tried to include Mr. Vogel in the negotiations many times over this process, over many months. That was the plan, but we couldn’t sway the Russians. This is the deal we were able to get, this is what we managed to do. But that doesn’t mean our interest in Mr. Vogel goes away. In fact, it’s just heightened, and we’re currently in discussions with the Russians about what we can do to bring Mr. Vogel home. We will continue to try. The President said that today, and he means it. We will do everything in our power to bring home every American who is wrongfully detained, or who is wrongfully held overseas, whether they’re being held illegally or not.”
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