QUESTION: Also joining me right now off the top is President Trump’s special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, who helped negotiate the release of Marc Fogel, and I should note he is also with the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. And it’s great to have you both joining us. Obviously this is such an exciting moment for Marc Fogel’s family, for his mother, I know. And Adam, you posted that photo of him on the plane back home earlier today that everyone saw, really the first seen of him outside of Russia that we have seen. Can you just walk us through how this happened and how quickly this came together?
We’re trying to get Adam Boehler back on the line, as you can hear there. What they’re doing right now is they are at Joint Base Andrews. They are waiting on the plane that is carrying Marc Fogel to land back. It is a plane, I should note, that belongs to Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, who has been such a big part of dealing with the Middle East and then was meeting with the king of Jordan here in Washington just earlier this week, and then we heard word that he was in Russia. There was questions over why, and then it was announced by Trump’s National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, earlier today, who said that Marc Fogel was indeed going to be coming home after this negotiation.
Such an exciting moment for his family, who was very upset when Marc Fogel was not included in the last release by Russia, the prisoner swap that happened when Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter, came home. And Adam, I think you’re back on the phone with me. The question I had for you in this moment was just walk us through how this happened and how quickly this came together.
MR BOEHLER: Well, it was a major effort on behalf of Secretary Rubio – here with me – with Steve Witkoff and others, and it came together very quickly, but that’s because the President leaned in.
QUESTION: Secretary Rubio, can you just —
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah.
QUESTION: — your thoughts on this and what we know about Marc Fogel’s doing, how his health is right now?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, we’ll find out soon enough. From all the reports, he’s doing fine, he’s doing well. Obviously he’s been in prison for three years. That’s never good for anyone, but he seems to be in good health, and we’ll learn more here in a second. Sorry about all of the (inaudible) —
MR BOEHLER: Yeah, our technology – our technology’s not that great, sorry, but yeah.
SECRETARY RUBIO: But to just add to what Adam said, we – this is a great team. Obviously Steve Witkoff is phenomenal, and Adam and his shop and what they do. But – and the President. Look, let’s be fair and frank here: I mean, the President’s made it a priority to bring home Americans, and I think this is the 10th American who’s come home since the President took office, and it’s always a happy moment when something like this happens. It’s great for the family. We’re excited to be a part of it.
QUESTION: Yeah. It’s such an exciting moment for his family. I know his mom is on the verge of turning 96 and she was talking about having that conversation with him earlier today.
We’ve seen these swaps before. We heard Mike Waltz, the National Security Advisor, call it an exchange today. Did the U.S. or an ally release someone in exchange for Marc Fogel?
MR BOEHLER: Well, what happened here is there was consideration one way or other for nonviolent criminal, and so the United States gave some consideration, although it wasn’t linked one way or the other. And so at the end of the day what we wanted to do here is look at a step forward, and I think you see Russia making a step for the President, for President Trump, based on his focus on hostages.
QUESTION: So tell me what you mean by that in terms of whether there was a direct exchange for this, or is it an agreement to have a conversation about releasing other people from either the U.S. or other nations?
MR BOEHLER: For us, it was the start. This was a unilateral decision. It means for us we make and give thoughts to other people that are nonviolent from a Russia perspective, and so it means the President’s open to things now because this was a first step one way or the other.
QUESTION: Okay. So it’s signaling a conversation for something to happen but not an actual one-for-one exchange as we’ve seen play out on the tarmac in situations before. Do I have that right?
MR BOEHLER: Yeah, that’s correct. You won’t see an exchange go on right now. I think you will see the President give consideration if there are some nonviolent people or maybe there’s no issues one way or the other, but you will not see a one-for-one thing happening at the same time.
QUESTION: And Secretary Rubio, can you walk us through what was the behind the decision to have Steve Witkoff, who we’ve seen playing a critical role in a lot of these foreign policy moments, go directly to Russia instead of a third-party country? What should that – what should that tell us?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, he went to pick up Marc Fogel. I mean, that’s where he was. So he went there to get him and bring him back, and we’re grateful for his willingness to do it on his own airplane, on his own dime. It’s a great service to this country. And he look, he’s very talented. I mean, he’s a very talented man, very savvy in business, and – but he went over there to pick him up and bring him back. And we’re grateful to him for his willingness to do it. He’s a great asset to the team.
And I just go back, look, the President has made it a priority. He’s been in office now for three weeks. He’s made it a priority to bring back as many Americans who are overseas and detained, we’ve seen that focus, and I think is a very positive thing. And look, I think it’s good as well for our ability to communicate with Russia. I mean, we’d like to see this war in Ukraine come to an end, a fair end, a fair peace, a just peace, an enduring peace. But obviously it’s always good to see these things. They’re not linked, but I do think it’s a good sign that they’re willing to be cooperative in this way. And obviously it’s a small step forward, they’re not exactly linked together, but anytime an American’s coming home we should be excited about it, and we certainly are.
QUESTION: Yeah, this is the first time we’ve seen a senior U.S. official that we know of that has has gone to Russia since 2021, I believe, since before Russia invaded Ukraine. So Secretary Rubio, in your role, what does this mean? And what does this signal about what could be next for negotiating and end to that war, which obviously President Trump has talked about at length?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, there’s – even as we speak there are multiple people involved. The Vice President, the Treasury Secretary are in Europe. I’ll be there later this week. Secretary Hegseth’s in Europe now, so we’ll be talking to our European allies. We’ll be talking to the Ukrainians. I’ll be meeting with them later this week. So will the Vice President. I think the Secretary, Treasury Secretary Bessent’s going to be meeting with them as well.
So there’s a lot to engage here. This is a difficult conflict. It’s a complicated conflict, and it’s not just about bringing an end to it. The President’s made clear he wants to bring an end to it because there’s a lot of people dying and a lot of destruction, but it’s about a fair one, one in which Ukraine remains a country that’s sovereign and independent and we can bring an end to this very costly and destructive conflict. It’s a long way to go between here and there. It’s not going to be easy.
And again, I don’t want to claim that what’s happening here tonight is in any way the first step towards that, but I do think it’s a good sign that the Russians were willing to do something in this regard, and hopefully we can build on that in the days to come.
QUESTION: What do you think made them willing to do this?
SECRETARY RUBIO: President Trump. I think that they want to have a relationship with him, and I think they want – they understand that this is a president that comes from a position of strength, not a position of weakness, who’s made his feelings pretty clear, especially over the last few weeks. So I think it’s not a coincidence that we’re seeing things happen under President Trump that were not possible under the previous administration. So like I said, look, there’s a lot of hard work ahead to bring an end to that conflict and deal with all the other things going on in the world, which are very complicated. But tonight is a happy occasion, certainly for the Fogel family and for so many who loved him who were so worried about him for so long.
MR BOEHLER: And I just want to note this is a unique circumstance, as Secretary Rubio is saying. This is a unilateral move. It follows unilateral moves by Venezuela, other countries. We have another American coming in tomorrow, and so this is – the President has made this a top priority, and he’s got the A team on it. He’s got Steve Witkoff on it. He’s got Marco on it. He’s got Waltz on it. We’re waiting for Waltz to join us right now, and the three of us will be there to welcome him in the snow. We drove out because nothing’s more important than Americans and bringing our Americans home, and we’ll never forget them.
QUESTION: Who is the next American that’s coming home?
MR BOEHLER: Well, that’s going to be a surprise for tomorrow.
QUESTION: So the – is it from Russia?
MR BOEHLER: I can’t comment on where it’s from, but you’ll have patience. You’ll see tomorrow. You need other things for the viewers tomorrow, too.
QUESTION: Okay, so we’ll be waiting to see – I mean, obviously we’re hearing from – we heard from Marc Fogel’s mom this morning, who said she got a call from him when he was in an airport, telling her that he was coming home, an exciting moment. Secretary Rubio, how directly involved was – obviously this is a decision that President Putin makes. How directly involved was he in this in terms of getting this across the finish line?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I think we all know enough about Russia and to know that nothing happens there of this magnitude without President Putin being involved and having some role to play in that regard. So – and I won’t comment on all the details of it other than to say that – we don’t want to endanger the opportunity to communicate with them in the future, but I think that – I think it’s fair to say that it wouldn’t have happened without him okaying it.
QUESTION: You did mention – there is a lot of movement this week happening between this happening right now and this announcement that we heard from you all at the White House today, to Secretary – Treasury Secretary Bessent is going to Ukraine, as Trump confirmed today. Vice President Vance is going to be meeting with him. You said you’re going to be meeting with him, Mr. Secretary. How do you feel about the timeline of when this war could come to an end given this? Should it be sooner than maybe some people expected?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, I don’t think anybody – I don’t think anybody can assign a time or date to it. These are complicated – this is a conflict that’s been going on for two years now. Obviously there’s a lot of complexities to it, so I would hate to assign a timeline. We want to see it end as soon as possible. We don’t just want to see it end. We want to see it end in a way that’s sustainable, meaning that we’re not going to be back here in two years with a new war and in a way that the Ukrainians retain their sovereignty and their national integrity. And so I think – but I wouldn’t assign a timeline to it. It’s a priority. The President campaigned on ending this war in a fair and just way, and obviously we’re going to have a lot of work to do. I hope it happens as soon as possible, but I can’t give you a time frame on it.
QUESTION: You sound optimistic, though.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I mean, I’m optimistic. We’re going to work really hard. At the end of the day, you’ve got some really complicated situations here. We’re dealing with some pretty tough people. The Ukrainians have sacrificed a lot. The Russians and Putin have already committed a lot to this as well. It’s not going to be easy to stop it, but I’m optimistic that we’re going to work harder than any administration’s ever worked to bring an end to this. The President’s made it a priority. He campaigned on it and – but it’s not going to be easy. There’s a lot of work (inaudible).
QUESTION: Yeah. Adam Boehler, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, you’re both at Joint Base Andrews waiting on Marc Foley to come home and just – Marc Fogel to come home and just seeing what this moment means, of course, in terms of his return for his family. I know that they are very happy tonight. Thank you for taking the time to hop on the phone with us.
MR BOEHLER: Thanks a lot.
