After protesting outside White House, North Texas parents of former U.S. Marine held in Russia met with President Biden
WASHINGTON (CBSDFW.COM) - President Joe Biden met with the North Texas parents of a former U.S. Marine who's been held in Russia since 2019.
A spokesman for the couple, Jonathan Franks, tweeted the President "was incredibly gracious."
No other details about the meeting have been released.
The meeting early Wednesday evening came hours after Paula and Joey Reed of Granbury protested outside the White House.
They're hoping this will lead to the release of their son Trevor from Russia where he's been held for about three years.
During President Biden's visit to Fort Worth three weeks ago, he saw the Reeds stand outside where he was set to speak, and he called them to say his staff would set up a meeting.
Earlier Wednesday, Paula Reed said in an interview, "We wanted to be here to bring attention to Trevor's case to let them know we did not forget. We're waiting for the meeting the President promised us."
When asked by reporters in the afternoon if he would meet with the Reeds, President Biden said, "I'm going to see if I get to see them. They're good people. We're trying to work that out."
Trevor Reed was sentenced to nine years in prison back in July of 2020 after being convicted of assaulting two Russian police officers when they accused him of being drunk.
His father Joey said there was plenty of evidence showing their son is innocent.
Mr. Reed said Trevor's health is deteriorating and that their son told Russian authorities that after transferring him from one facility to another. "When they brought him back to his prison, he told them I need to go back, I'm still hurting. I'm sick and they put him in solitary confinement where he's been for the last seven months."
He said they hope the United States and Russia will agree to swap prisoners. "These Russians that have been in our prisons for a very long time, and we think they need to what President Obama did, what President Trump did and trade to bring these Americans home."
The Reeds said they're worried the Russians will file other false charges against their son.
They said they're also concerned because on Monday morning, their son began his second hunger strike.
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