Elected Pennsylvania leaders from both parties lauded Tuesday’s release of Oakmont teacher Marc Fogel after nearly four years in Russian captivity — a rare instance of solidarity in an increasingly divided political environment.
“Today is a day of celebration, thankfulness and gratitude knowing our fellow Pennsylvanian will soon be back on American soil with his family,” U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters, said in a prepared statement.
“Marc Fogel’s return home is long overdue,” added U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Braddock, in a post on the social media platform X. “And I know all of Pennsylvania, especially his family, will be welcoming him back with open arms.”
Marc Fogel’s return home is long overdue—and I know all of Pennsylvania, especially his family, will be welcoming him back with open arms.
I want to thank @POTUS and @SteveWitkoff for their efforts in finally bringing Marc home. https://t.co/HPwJPKWP5M
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) February 11, 2025
The White House announced Fogel’s release early Tuesday afternoon.
President Donald Trump and his 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,” National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said in the prepared statement.
Fogel was detained in Russia in August 2021 while carrying a small amount of marijuana, intended to treat chronic back pain, into a Moscow airport. A Russian judge later sentenced Fogel to 14 years in prison. He was sent to a penal colony.
Efforts to release Fogel appeared to intensify after Trump, then campaigning to return to the White House, met with Fogel’s mother, Malphine, on July 13 in Butler County.
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, helped set up that meeting, which took place shortly before a Bethel Park man attempted to assassinate Trump at a campaign rally. Kelly’s district includes the Butler Township home where Malphine Fogel, 95, lives and where Marc Fogel was raised. At the July rally, Kelly said he dove to cover Malphine Fogel when shots rang out.
“I want to thank President Trump for successfully securing Marc’s release and for reuniting the Fogel family,” Kelly wrote Tuesday on X.
Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation in Washington has advocated strongly for Fogel’s release.
In June 2023, several lawmakers, including seven from Pennsylvania, co-sponsored an act to designate Fogel as wrongfully detained.
The wrongfully detained designation enables the State Department and other government agencies to “work collaboratively with colleagues inside and outside the government to develop a strategy to secure their release,” the State Department said online.
On Dec. 27, Fogel received the designation, a move Kelly called “long overdue.”
Former U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, said he was “thrilled” to learn of Fogel’s release.
“I fought alongside Marc’s wife, Jane, and their family for years to make sure Marc wasn’t forgotten about,” Casey said. “I know this long overdue news is a huge relief for the Fogel family.”
U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pittsburgh, who defeated Casey in November and took office last month, said, “I am thrilled that Marc Fogel is finally coming home after years of being wrongfully held in Russia. I have been working with the administration on this since Day One, and I’m grateful to President Trump and Secretary (of State Marco) Rubio for delivering on their commitment to free Marc.”
“For more than three years, Marc and his loved ones have endured unimaginable hardship — separated by an unjust and disproportionate sentence, facing agonizing uncertainty and fighting every day for his freedom,” added U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale. “Today, we celebrate their victory — one that was hard-won, deeply deserved and a reminder of what is possible when people refuse to give up on each other.”
U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Aspinwall, whose congressional district includes Oakmont, said he learned Fogel had been released through a State Department email midday Tuesday — about the same time the White House announced the news publicly.
“My reaction was like a lot of people’s: I was thrilled,” Deluzio said.
In December 2023, Deluzio penned a letter with both of Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators to encourage then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken to include Fogel in any future prisoner swaps with Russia, Deluzio’s staff said Tuesday. Deluzio also wrote editorials, including one published by TribLive last June, advocating for Fogel’s release.
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As recently as last month, Deluzio, Fetterman, McCormick, Reschenthaler and Kelly and other members of the Pennsylvania delegation wrote to the new secretary of State, Rubio, to urge him to take up the fight for Fogel.
“(Fogel) had the support of the delegation in Pennsylvania — both parties,” Deluzio said. “In my two-plus years in the House, I’ve had colleagues who kept up the pressure and the attention to bring Marc home … and I will commend anyone who worked alongside me and others.”
Deluzio did not mention Trump by name. But, when Gov. Josh Shapiro posted to X about an hour after Tuesday’s announcement from the White House, he explicitly thanked the president.
“Thank you to those at the @WhiteHouse who made (Fogel’s) release possible, and to his wife Jane, mom, siblings and kids here in Pennsylvania who never, ever gave up,” Shapiro wrote. “I join (Fogel’s) family, our federal partners and all of his fellow Pennsylvanians in welcoming Marc Fogel home — exactly where he belongs.”
Fetterman also thanked Trump in an X post.
Some contrasted Trump’s success against the work of President Joe Biden.
“Thanks to President Donald J. Trump’s leadership, Marc Fogel has been freed from Russia,” Reschenthaler posted on X. “Marc spent 1,255 days locked away in a Russian penal colony under the Biden Administration. President Trump freed Marc in just 22 days.”
Our prayers have been answered.
Thanks to President Donald J. Trump's leadership, Marc Fogel has been freed from Russia!
Marc spent 1,255 days locked away in a Russian penal colony under the Biden Administration.
President Trump freed Marc in just 22 days. pic.twitter.com/JJQZ1K6X9Y
— Guy Reschenthaler (@GReschenthaler) February 11, 2025
Waltz, the national security adviser, also chalked up Fogel’s release to Trump’s work.
“Since President Trump’s swearing-in, he has successfully secured the release of Americans detained around the world, and President Trump will continue until all Americans being held are returned to the United States,” Waltz said Tuesday.
“By tonight, Marc Fogel will be on American soil and reunited with his family and loved ones thanks to President Trump’s leadership.”