Step and salute.
Thank you very much. It's so beautiful. Look how nice -- be careful, it could be a little bit slippery. You don't want to slip with these guys. Yeah, that would be it. That wouldn't be good.
Mr. President, is [Inaudible]
No, somebody else, very special, very special.
[Inaudible]
Very fair, very, very fair.
Is it a Russian prisoner?
We're going to announce it tomorrow, but very fair.
Mr. President, why did you not use a government plane to go pick up [Inaudible]
To save the government money.
How much?
A lot. We saved the government a lot of money.
Are you concerned about safety if Russia [Inaudible] the plane?
Mr. President, meet Marc Fogel.
He looks good. [Applause]
[Crosstalk]
-- my 95-year-old mother --
I had to think fast.
It's pretty good, I'm so happy.
It's very difficult to articulate how proud I am of you and how proud I am of what you've done and came back to my country. And it's the most [Inaudible] I love it.
[Inaudible]
I think she's still in shock, but I think sheís probably -- wouldn't do it again because, well, I'm in total awe. And my thanks is for you and your administration and these amazing people that have brought me home. And I just will spend the rest of my life in debt to you and the country. And I'm so excited. It's so good.
Thank you very much.
Welcome home.
Some of our great people.
Thank you, pleasure to meet you, Mike.
I sent you a Christmas card.
And you know what, I got about 10 cards and yours was one of them, right? Oh, yeah, my lawyer snuck them in.
I know, I asked him how they got it in there.
Yes, they said that. Hello.
Congressman, Marc Fogel.
Pleasure to meet you, sir.
Mike, this is your coat, right?
And it is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Squirrel Hill.
Hey, good to see you.
I had a Steeler hat on when I got off the plane, right [Laughter] Yeah, I don't know where it is, but you know, it's great to meet another Pittsburgh --
Your mom came to our house.
She told me that and I just talked to Vicky, and I know she was there, and I mean --
We've been praying for you.
I'm a proud Pittsburgher.
Marc, [Inaudible], good to see you.
You've been an absolute star for me and my family. And again, like I said, for me for me to articulate all this in this particular time after what I've been through. And it's not the three and a and a half years, but the last six days has been --
Why, because you weren't sure of what was going to happen?
I don't know. They came and pulled me out and I just had a mask on, I couldn't see where I was going and they were moving me and there was a point, I think it was today. I can't remember what day it is, but they brought me my clothes.
They look great.
That's fantastic.
Let's get you out of the cold.
I'm not one bit of cold. I came from Russia.
[Inaudible]
And you know what? Of the 10 letters, I got one from you as well. And I had that in a scrapbook I was keeping, and they took that scrapbook from me today and I want it back. I want those journals back and that scrapbook. Your picture is in it and as they were giving me the shakedown, they were looking through it and I have the picture of you and my mom.
Oh, that's great.
And you should have seen these guys, their eyes lit up like -- I said, that's my mother [Laughter]
He's got to sign [Inaudible] be careful.
Pleasure to meet you. [Inaudible]
[Crosstalk]
Oh, thank you.
132. I want to introduce you to [Inaudible] John Ratcliff [Inaudible]
Nice to meet you, sir.
Personally negotiating [Inaudible]
Thank you from the bottom of my heart, every ounce of my energy, I thank you and I will for the rest of my life. Thank you so much. Mr. Waltz [ph], I felt so bad.
Oh, stop it. It's so cold in Russia. [Inaudible] Yeah. Yeah, it's a little cold.
[The group moves inside the White House]
Everybody knows Marc. Heís become a very famous guy. And he's a very happy guy tonight. So, it's just a real honor, an honor to have you at the White House.
I feel like the luckiest man on earth right now. And I want you to know that I am not a hero in this at all. And President Trump is a hero. These men that came from the diplomatic service are heroes. The senators and representatives that passed legislation in my honor to get me home are the heroes. I am in awe of what they all did. My family has been a force. I think my 95-year-old mother is probably the most dynamic 95-year-old on earth right now. And I am so indebted to so many people. I think I remember a Churchill quote that he said -- when the RAF was fighting the Luftwaffe he said that -- never have so many owed so much to so few. And I put myself fortunately and unfortunately into that category. And I said never has one owed so much to so many that this super organism of people that came to my support, and the love that I was given sustained me for three and a half years in a prison, and that had me in hospitals for more than 100 days, I was given more than 400 injections in that time. And 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. And I will forever be indebted to President Trump, to Steve over there. What a dynamic man this guy is.
That's true.
When I met him the energy, the can-do attitude just exudes from his body. And when he smiled at me and introduced me and I got the feel for what has happened -- it's not just me, it's everybody. And Secretary Rubio who met my son a while back, I'm a middle-class schoolteacher, who's now in a dream world.
We're going to show you the Lincoln Bedroom in a little while. It's a very special, special place, appropriate for tonight, very appropriate.
Thank you all. And I love our country and I'm so happy to be back here. And I wish I could articulate it better.
You've done beautifully and he's got a great mother. And when I saw the mother at a rally, she said would you -- if you win, will you get my son out? And I promised -- she's 95 years old, and I said we'll get him out and we got him out pretty quickly.
She told me that, that exact -- that exact word.
I remember she made quite an impression.
And you also did. And I'm in awe of what you've done, and your team.
It's great to have you back. Youíre going to have a great life. Yes.
Mr. President, did you speak directly to President Putin about Marc?
Well, I don't want to say that. I just want to say that I appreciate very much what they did in letting Marc go home. And I appreciate Steve Witkoff, the job he did, and Marco behind the scenes was unbelievable. And so many of these people were unbelievable, they represent him, they're from his area. And we just wanted to get him back home. I had to get him back home because I would have had big trouble with his mother. And we're going to take him for a little tour of the Lincoln Bedroom, which nobody gets to see, and it's very special. You want to see it?
I would love to. And I also should make mention that President Putin was very generous and statesmanlike in granting me a pardon, I mean --.
What were the terms of this deal, Mr. President?
Very fair -- very, very fair, very reasonable, not like deals you've seen over the years. They were very fair, and I think that's going to lead -- and where somebody else is being released tomorrow that you will know of. But we wanted to get this done, very important, and Steve wanted to actually fly over and get Marc and get him home properly because it could be a pretty tough trip.
So, is this the beginning of a deal, sir? Is this the start of --?
I think there's goodwill in terms of the war. You know, a million and a half soldiers, young people have been killed.
I've met many of them.
Yeah, and it's a terrible thing going on. So, we want to get that done. I think this could be the very important element, you could be a big part of it actually, because it could be a big, important part of getting the war over with Ukraine. And we appreciate President Putin's -- what he what he did. He was able to pull it off for you, right? He was able to pull it off, we think. And you're here and you're here. So, it was great. We'll tell you a little bit more about it tomorrow. But I think we've made great progress on the war, also. Getting the war -- I want to get the war ended. That war should not have been. It would have never happened -- if I was president, it would not have happened. And it did happen and now you have all blown up cities and dead people, so many dead people, should have never ever happened. And you could be a big catalyst for just this evening. It's a very important evening for ending that war. And I think they all want to see it ended.
Does that mean you can't help [Inaudible] about Ukraine?
How does it change your perspective on Putin and your attitude [Inaudible]?
I don't want to get into that. I only can say this. We got a man home whose mother and family wanted him desperately, whose state wanted him. He's become a big symbol and it's an honor to have played a small role in that. And I just -- I want to tell you, these people, they all played a role and we got him home. And he's healthy, he looks good actually. To me you look damn good, I'll tell you that.
I think when expectations are low, maybe that helps a little bit.
You go kerplunk, right?
Can you tell us about the conditions in the prison that you were in, sir?
You know, I think I need a little bit of time to sort of digest all of that. There were times when it was extremely trying, there were times when I could manage it. But I think I need some more time to, you know, process it.
It wasn't easy, right? It wasn't easy.
Every second, every minute, every day had a challenge.
But you're in good shape and compare that to what we saw two days ago come home. They were very, very ill. Those people are very ill. They were treated really badly.
Mr. President, your predecessor left you almost $4 billion in unused aid for Ukraine -- to Ukraine. Are you going to use those money? Are you going to send weapons to Ukraine?
Should have had this gentleman out a long time ago. You know, we did it in two and a half weeks. He had four years to do it. He should have had Marc out a lot earlier. It's a shame. It's a shame. Should have never had the war to start off with, should have never had -- that war wouldíve never happened if I was president. But he should have had him back three and a half years ago. So, it was too bad, but he didn't do it, but we did it. Thank you all very much. Thank you very much. Come on, Marc.
Mr. President, are reciprocal tariffs still coming tomorrow or are you waiting until you meet with Modi?
We'll see what happens. We'll see.
Have you spoken with President Xi?