Marjorie Taylor Greene blasted for delaying Trevor Reed's release from Russia: 'How do you justify that?'
On The Lead With Jake Tapper Monday, Tapper aired a portion of his interview with Trevor Reed that did not air in Sunday night’s special. Reed is the former Marine who was released from a Russian prison late last month as part of a prisoner swap, after being jailed for 985 days. Last year, legislation in the House pushing for his release was delayed due to Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and some of her GOP colleagues, which Reed spoke about.
“I’m gonna go to every single one of their campaigns and thank them personally about that,” Reed said. “Thank them for hurting your ability to get out of prison?” Tapper asked. “Yeah,” Reed said, “thank them for voting against a bill that was only about getting American political prisoners out of Russia. How do you justify that?”
Reed speculated that the Russians responsible for his imprisonment approved of what Greene and the others had done.
“That’s embarrassing to me that anyone who represents the United States would vote against something like that,” Reed said. “I’m sure that the Russians love that. I’m sure that they’re all big fans of all of those congressmen.”
Reed is now advocating for the release of other Americans being held in Russia, and had a warning for any legislator who might think of doing the same as Greene.
“I better not ever see that happen again to any other Americans,” Reed said, “because I promise that I will be at every single campaign that that person runs for the rest of their life to tell everyone that they did that.”
Video Transcript
- It's outrageous to think that there would anybody that we elected or put in these positions that would not be--
- Marjorie Taylor Greene is not our representative.
KYLIE MAR: On "The Lead" with Jake Tapper Monday, a portion of Tapper's interview with Trevor Reed and his family aired, in which they voiced displeasure with Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. Reed, a former Marine, returned to the US last month following a prisoner swap, after spending 985 days in a Russian prison. Legislation pushing for Reed's release was delayed last year due to Greene and other House Republicans.
TREVOR REED: I'm going to go to every single one of their campaigns and thank them personally about that. So--
JAKE TAPPER: Thank them for hurting your ability to get out of prison?
TREVOR REED: Yeah. Thank them for voting against a bill that was only about getting American political prisoners out of Russia. How do you-- how do you justify that?
KYLIE MAR: While Reed was clearly upset by Green's actions, he knows there are people who approve of the choice Greene and her colleagues made.
TREVOR REED: That's embarrassing to me that anyone who represents the United States would vote against something like that. I'm sure that the Russians loved that. I'm sure that they're all big fans of all of those congressmen.
KYLIE MAR: Reed is now advocating for the release of other Americans held in Russia, and promised retribution for anyone in Congress who does the same as Greene.
TREVOR REED: I better not ever see that happen again to any other Americans, because I promised that I will be at every single campaign that that person runs for the rest of their life to tell everyone that they did that.