Biden, on veterans trip to Fort Worth, won’t meet parents of Trevor Reed, Marine jailed in Russia

The White House declined a request from the family of former Marine Trevor Reed, who is in prison in Russia, to meet with President Joe Biden when he visits Fort Worth on Tuesday to highlight his veterans agenda.

Reed’s parents want to urge him personally to intensify efforts to win their son’s release, and because they can’t get on Biden’s schedule, they’ll demonstrate outside the site of his visit instead, a spokesman said Monday.

“It’s devastating,” Paula Reed, Trevor’s mother, said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. “We thought that this would be the perfect opportunity for us to see him and be able to talk to him for just a quick few minutes, and they couldn’t get that done. So we’re pretty disappointed.”

Joey Reed, Trevor’s father, said their plan to demonstrate outside the site of Biden’s visit Tuesday is “an act of desperation.” He has protested before, including outside the White House, to apply public pressure on officials.

“The president, like all presidents, is heavily insulated by a staff, and we just think that, if he saw us standing there, that he might say ‘Pull over, is that Trevor Reed’s family?’ and talk to us,” Joey Reed said. “And if he doesn’t, at least he might just see the signs, and then we might get the meeting later. But we’re grabbing at straws. Our son is seriously ill, and we need the president to bring him home.”

A chorus of Texans, including elected officials in both parties, have urged Biden to pressure Russia to release Reed and, more recently, WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner, a Houston native detained last month at a Moscow airport.

Reed’s family says he is fighting a worsening and largely untreated case of tuberculosis contracted during his imprisonment. U.S. officials have long said the charges against him are trumped up and, before Russia invaded Ukraine, said Russia may be holding him and other Americans as potential bargaining chips for a future trade with, for instance, Russian spies.

The Reeds said they were able to speak with Trevor over the phone on Friday and Monday, after they went without hearing from him for months because Russian authorities prevented him from calling home.

“We were glad to get it. It was a surprise, but then, at the same time, it was not a good thing because we got to hear exactly how sick he is and what poor condition he’s in physically,” Paula Reed said. “It was great to hear from him, but then it kind of wasn’t. It was more sad because he is not doing very well at all.”

Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who played for Baylor University and is now a Phoenix Mercury player, was playing in a Russian league during the WNBA offseason, as she has done for the last seven seasons. Russian authorities say hashish oil was found in her luggage at a Moscow airport.

“US citizens are not political pawns,” U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, tweeted over the weekend. Griner’s detention, he said, “follows a pattern of Russia wrongly detaining & imprisoning US citizens, including Trevor Reed. Brittney, Trevor, and other Americans must be safely returned.”

Joey Reed said they would like to speak with Griner’s family so they get “the whole story [of] what they’re up against.” Jonathan Franks, a spokesman for the Reeds, said he reached out to Griner’s agent expressing the Reed family’s willingness to speak with Griner’s family.

“Our hearts go out to Brittney’s family and loved ones. No one should have to go through this, and we understand it more than most people will,” Taylor Reed, Trevor’s sister, said.

Reed was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2020 for allegedly assaulting a police officer. The prosecution claimed that there was evidence a squad car swerved while he was being taken to a police station while intoxicated. But no surveillance footage supported that claim.

And now Reed’s health has been deteriorating.

“Again, there’s just a myriad of problems that we’re dealing with just to try and keep him alive,” Joey Reed told reporters in February.

Trevor Reed was arrested in Moscow in August 2019 after a drunken altercation at a party and is serving a nine-year prison term on assault charges the U.S. ambassador to Russia has lambasted as “absurd.”

U.S. officials have said both Reed and Paul Whelan, another former Marine imprisoned in Russia, are serving time for trumped-up charges, most likely pretexts for holding them as bargaining chips in hopes of trading for the release of Russian spies.

Trevor Reed was diagnosed with COVID-19 in May of last year, and he went on a hunger strike in November to protest his detention and the violation of his rights. According to his parents, Reed has complained of trouble breathing and pain in his chest off and on since his COVID-19 diagnosis.

The family’s worries grew with the Russian aggression against Ukraine and concerns that the conflict would make U.S. efforts to free Reed even more complicated.

Paula Reed said that Biden’s remarks at the time about diplomatic difficulties with Russia were “like the exclamation point on it for me to see that and just know that it’s going to be that much more difficult to get Trevor home.”

In response to the U.S. Embassy’s announcement that Reed could have tuberculosis, Rep. Michael McCaul of Austin, the senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the treatment Reed has received “shameful” and “unacceptable.”

“The false charges against Trevor Reed and Paul Whelan must be dropped so they can return home to the U.S. and to his family. Now,” he said in a tweet.

The Reeds say they’re thankful for the efforts the U.S. Embassy in Moscow has made to advocate for Trevor but that they still want to see more urgency from the Biden administration in pushing for Trevor’s release.

State Department officials insist they’re on the case every day.

State Department principal deputy press spokeswoman Jalina Porter told The Associated Press last week that the administration’s top priority is the “safety and security of all Americans,” including Reed and corporate security executive Paul Whelan, a Michigan man also jailed in Russia.

“This is something that the secretary works on day in and day out,” Porter said.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee also is pushing for action, saying in a weekend news conference that Griner “was a guest in Russia … and I will be demanding her release,” Lee said.

Texas Republican U.S. Rep. August Pfluger of San Angelo, whose district includes Granbury, has repeatedly called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end Reed’s imprisonment. Pfluger tweeted in February that he remains “extremely concerned about the health and safety of my constituent, Texan Marine Veteran Trevor Reed. He has been wrongfully detained in Russia for over 900 days.”

Michigan Democratic U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens tweeted a plea for the release of all Americans wrongly imprisoned by Russian officials. “Paul Whelan. Trevor Reed. And now, Brittney Griner. I stand ready to work with the administration to bring home all Americans who are unjustly detained in Russia,” Stevens posted Tuesday on Twitter.

Former television talk show host Montel Williams, who long has advocated for Reed’s release, is now adding Griner to his cause, tweeting on Tuesday, “I am highly skeptical of the allegations against @brittneygriner and so should we all be. My team has been helping #TrevorReed, a Marine wrongfully detained in Russia and we stand ready to help Ms. Griner.”

Griner was arrested last month at a Moscow airport after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges.

The Russian Customs Service said Saturday that the cartridges were identified as containing oil derived from cannabis, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Griner played in Russia for the last seven years in the winter, earning over $1 million per season — more than quadruple her WNBA salary. She last played for her Russian team UMMC Ekaterinburg on Jan. 29 before the league took a two-week break in early February.

More than a dozen WNBA players were playing in Russia and Ukraine this winter, including league MVP Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley of the champion Chicago Sky. The WNBA confirmed Saturday that all players besides Griner had left both countries.

The 31-year-old Griner has won two Olympic gold medals with the U.S., a WNBA championship with the Mercury and a national championship at Baylor. She is a seven-time All-Star.

“Brittney Griner has the WNBA’s full support and our main priority is her swift and safe return to the United States,” the league said in a statement.

This article contains material from The Associated Press.