Trevor Reed back in the US as new details are revealed from prisoner exchange with Russia
Former Marine Trevor Reed is back in the United States after spending nearly three years as a prisoner in Russia. He returned is part of a prisoner exchange between the two countries.
“I will confirm that he’s landed back in the United States, but not where,” Jonathan Franks, a spokesman for Reed’s family, said in a statement to NBC News on Thursday just before 6 a.m. ET.
NBC News has confirmed that Reed landed at Kelly Field Airport in San Antonio at 12:33 a.m. CT on Thursday. His family also said he was in isolation on the trip home out of concern he has tuberculosis.
“Today, our prayers have been answered and Trevor is safely on his way back to the United States,” the Reed family said Wednesday in a statement.
Rep. August Pfluger of Texas posted photos of him with Reed after he touched down in the U.S.
“This is the moment we have all been praying for. WELCOME HOME, Trevor Reed!” Pfluger wrote.
“It’s going to really hit us when we get to put our arms around him and hug him,” Reed’s mother, Paula, told reporters about his return.
Reed was sentenced to nine years in prison after he was accused of assaulting a pair of officers following a night of drinking. However, his family has always said he didn’t do it, and they met with President Biden last month in the hopes of getting him to help secure his release.
The White House says Reed has health issues that are now being addressed.
“He looks terrible to us. As his parents, we know he does not look well,” Paula told reporters.
“He was walking strange and it looked like they had to help him get up into the airplane,” his father, Joey, said.
In exchange for Reed’s release, the U.S. returned convicted Russian drug trafficker Konstantin Yaroshenko, who had been serving a 20-year prison sentence.
In June 2021, Reed’s parents had discussed they were open to the possibility of a prisoner exchange.
“We don’t care how he comes home,” Joey told TODAY last year. “If they want to exchange Trevor for some criminals that were low-level criminals or whatever ... ”
“We’re fine with that,” Paula added. “We want our son home.”
Reed’s return to American soil has added new scrutiny to other citizens who are being held in Russia, including the WNBA’s Brittney Griner, who was arrested in February after officials said they found hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow.
Paul Whelan is another former Marine who is currently in a Russian prison, serving a 16-year sentence for being a spy, an accusation he denies.
“Why was I left behind?” he said in a statement reacting to Reed’s release, provided by his family. “The world knows this charge was fabricated. Why hasn’t more been done to secure my release?”
