After enduring three years in a Russian penal colony, American schoolteacher Marc Fogel was welcomed at the White House tonight by President Donald Trump, following his return to freedom in the United States. “I feel like the luckiest man on earth right now,” Fogel said alongside Trump. “I want you to know that I am not a hero in this at all and President Trump is a hero. These men that came from the diplomatic service are heroes. The senators and representatives that passed legislation in my honor to get me home are heroes. I am in awe of what they all did.” Fogel called his 95-year-old mother, Malphine, who has relentlessly fought for his release, “the most dynamic 95-year-old on earth right now.” After his meeting with Trump, he is expected to go to Texas for medical evaluation and rehabilitation. Fogel, 63, was given a 14-year prison sentence for possessing medical marijuana in 2021. An employee of the Anglo-American School of Moscow, Fogel spent 27 years teaching overseas, and was planning to retire the year he was arrested. An American doctor prescribed the marijuana after Fogel had surgeries on his back, shoulder, and knee. The State Department designated Fogel as “wrongfully detained” in December. “Never has one owed so much to so many,” Fogel said, with his own take on a Winston Churchill quote. “Knowing I had the support of my fellow Pennsylvanians, my family, my friends, it was so overwhelming that it brought me to my knees and it brought me to tears.” Fogel said he appreciates Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who negotiated his release. Marc Fogel literally kissed the ground upon returning to the U.S. after three years of being wrongfully imprisoned in Russia. pic.twitter.com/8srBFK0Iq0 — Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) February 12, 2025 “I’m a middle-class schoolteacher who is now in a dream world,” Fogel said, to which Trump quipped: “We’re going to show you the Lincoln bedroom. It’s a special place.” “I love our country,” Fogel added, choking up. “I am so happy to be back here.” Trump spoke about his meeting with Malphine at his July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he told her he would do everything he could to free her son. “When I saw the mother at a rally, she said, ‘If you win, will you get my son out?’ And I promised—she’s 95-years-old—and I said, ‘We’ll get him out,’ and we got him out pretty quickly. She made quite an impression.” Malphine told The Daily Wire at the time that Trump promised three times to get him home. “When I met President Trump, he told me to take his arm because he could see I struggle with walking after I broke my kneecap,” Malphine said. “I just kept telling him he needs to remember Marc’s name.” The White House shared a picture of Fogel stepping off the aircraft with a giant smile on his face, draped in an American flag, as he arrived in the U.S. after three years. MARC FOGEL IS BACK!!! ?? PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT!!! ?? pic.twitter.com/ZMceoU0OfA — The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 12, 2025 “The fact that Marc Fogel is coming home and was prioritized by his country and will be meeting with President Trump tonight means so much to his family,” Free Marc Fogel spokesperson Vicki Iseman told The Daily Wire. Fogel is reportedly in overall good health upon his return. U.S. envoy for hostages Adam Boehler posted a photo of Fogel on a jet on his way home kissing a drinking glass and holding his American passport. Real time photo of Marc@Fogel@coming home. ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ ⁦@SteveWitkoff⁩ ⁦@StateSPEHA⁩ pic.twitter.com/FIAm8fwZtL — Adam Boehler (@aboehler) February 11, 2025 Fogel is the 10th American hostage to return home since Trump took office 22 days ago, including 7 Venezuelans, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. On Fox News, Boehler said there are about 6,000 Americans detained in foreign jails, though not all of them are wrongfully imprisoned. “Marc has taught American diplomats’ children for decades and made major contributions to this country,” Iseman said. “He did not deserve to be detained for three years and coming back with his head held high is something that he does deserve.” The Fogel family was first alerted to his release on Thursday when they were informed Fogel was moved from the Rybinsk penal colony to SIZO in the Yaroslavl region. The Daily Wire previously reported on Fogel sinking into a depression after being left out of an August prisoner swap deal with Russia. “I cannot believe this,” Marc Fogel said on a call to his family, a recording of which was obtained by The Daily Wire. “I just don’t even want to get out of bed. I am shocked and sickened and out of breath and energy.” Fogel told his family he felt “like a second-class citizen” as the Biden administration prioritized the release of high-profile prisoners like WNBA player Brittney Griner and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, the latter of whom was included in the August swamp. Marc Fogel, an American teacher imprisoned in Russia for the last three years, said he "feels like" his "soul is dead" after he was excluded from last week's prisoner swap. We obtained a recording of his call with his family, reacting to the news that he won't be going home: pic.twitter.com/3JHlbJHHXN — Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) August 6, 2024 “I think that teachers have just been shat upon,” Fogel said. “It’s hard to have any faith.” Fogel had strong allies in his corner, including Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), who advocated for Fogel’s release. “I am thrilled that Marc Fogel is finally coming home after years of being wrongfully held in Russia,” Senator McCormick said in a statement. “I have been working on this since meeting Marc’s mother at the Butler rally in July, and I’m grateful to President Trump and Secretary Rubio for delivering on their commitment to free Marc.” Rubio called Fogel’s return an example of “promises made, promises kept.” “After three and a half years of detention in Russia, Marc is finally free,” Rubio said in a statement. “Marc’s release is also a reminder that other American citizens are still detained in Russia. President Trump is committed to bringing all of them home.”

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'Pounding the establishment'

In the early days of the Second Trump Administration, it appeared that ABC World News Tonight had taken time to reflect and reconsider their ways, toning things down from their wild subservience to Joe Biden. Well, the time for reflection has ended. And based on the network’s hysterical coverage of all things DOGE and Elon Musk, it appears that they’re back to their old ways. Anchor David Muir has reverted to long, overwrought introductions that may as well be a brief of the upcoming report. In this case, the report was mostly correspondent Rachel Scott trying (but failing) to gotcha Musk on corruption and conflicts of interest. Absent actual corruption, Scott resorted to nasty yet familiar framing: BILLIONAIRE BAD (click “expand” to view transcript)! RACHEL SCOTT: Musk, the world’s richest man, with billions of dollars in federal contracts, has been given enormous power. His Department of Government Efficiency already accessing at least 15 agencies.  Mr. Musk, The White House says that you will identify and excuse yourself from any conflicts of interest that you may have. Does that mean that you are in effect policing yourself? What are the checks and balances that are in place to ensure there's accountability and transparency? ELON MUSK: Well, we actually are trying to be as transparent as possible. In fact, our actions-- we post our actions to the DOGE handle on X and to the DOGE website. So all of our actions are maximally transparent. In fact, I don't think there's been -- I don't know of a case where an organization's been more transparent than the DOGE organization. So -- the kind of things we're doing are, I think, are very simple and basic. These are not individual judgment decisions. These are about simply having simple checks and balances in the system itself to ensure taxpayer money is spent well. So it’s got nothing to do with, say, a contract with some company of mine, At all. SCOTT: But if there is a conflict of interest, when it comes to you yourself, for instance, you've received billions of dollars in federal contracts when it comes to the Pentagon, for instance, which I know the president has directed you to look into.  MUSK: Yeah. SCOTT: Are you policing yourself in that? Is there any sort of accountability, check and balance in place that would provide any transparency for the American people? The whole point of this frame is to establish Musk as the problem rather than a part of the solution. This is why both “billionaire” and “power” are uttered in the same paragraph. This is also why Scott peppered Musk with questions about potential conflict questions. Musk addressed those concerns and explained the rationale behind the cuts and why it is so important to arrest our national debt. Before closing out her interview with another nasty frame, Scott maliciously characterized Musk’s quick corrections to flawed communication as spreading “misinformation”: SCOTT: As Musk's team tears through government agencies, Musk today acknowledging he has sometimes posted misinformation about their findings. MUSK: Well, first of all, some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected, so, nobody's going to bat 1,000. I mean, any- we will make mistakes, but we'll act quickly to correct any mistakes. Expect more such Musk-deranged hysteria as DOGE continues to spread across the whole of government. Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on ABC World News Tonight on Tuesday, February 11th, 2025: DAVID MUIR: We turn now to that remarkable scene at The White House just a short time ago. Elon Musk standing in the Oval Office. President Trump sitting behind the Resolute Desk and it was Elon Musk who held court for more than half an hour. How Musk describes what it is the Trump White House is doing, defending his access to at least 15 government agencies and counting. Elon Musk was asked if he's being transparent, if he's policing himself, and if there's a conflict of interest, given Musk's own company has contracts with the Pentagon. Our Rachel Scott asking many of the questions. RACHEL SCOTT: Tonight, an extraordinary scene playing out in the Oval Office. President Trump sitting at the Resolute Desk, and standing next to him, Elon Musk and his young son. Holding court for roughly a half an hour. REPORTER: Your detractors, Mr. Musk… ELON MUSK: My de- what? REPORTER: …including a lot of Democrats… MUSK: I have detractors? REPORTER: You do, sir. MUSK: I don't believe it. REPORTER: …say that you're orchestrating a hostile takeover of government, and doing it in a nontransparent way. What's your response to that criticism? MUSK: Well, first of all, you couldn't ask for a stronger mandate from the public. The public voted -- we have a majority of the public vote- voting for President Trump. We won the House, we won the Senate. The people voted for major government reform. And a lot of times, you know, people, they don't get what they voted for, but in this presidency, they are going to get what they voted for, and that's what democracy is all about. SCOTT: Musk, the world’s richest man, with billions of dollars in federal contracts, has been given enormous power. His Department of Government Efficiency already accessing at least 15 agencies.  RACHEL SCOTT: Mr. Musk, The White House says that you will identify and excuse yourself from any conflicts of interest that you may have. Does that mean that you are in effect policing yourself? What are the checks and balances that are in place to ensure there's accountability and transparency? ELON MUSK: Well, we actually are trying to be as transparent as possible. In fact, our actions-- we post our actions to the DOGE handle on X and to the DOGE website. So all of our actions are maximally transparent. In fact, I don't think there's been -- I don't know of a case where an organization's been more transparent than the DOGE organization. So -- the kind of things we're doing are, I think, are very simple and basic. These are not individual judgment decisions. These are about simply having simple checks and balances in the system itself to ensure taxpayer money is spent well. So it’s got nothing to do with, say, a contract with some company of mine, At all. SCOTT: But if there is a conflict of interest, when it comes to you yourself, for instance, you've received billions of dollars in federal contracts when it comes to the Pentagon, for instance, which I know the president has directed you to look into.  MUSK: Yeah. SCOTT: Are you policing yourself in that? Is there any sort of accountability, check and balance in place that would provide any transparency for the American people? MUSK: Well, all of our actions are fully public. So, if you see anything, you say, like, wait a second, hey, Elon, that seems like maybe that's, you know, there's a conflict there, It’s not like people are going to be shy about saying that. They’ll say it immediately. SCOTT: Including you, yourself? MUSK: Yes. Transparency is what builds trust. Not simply somebody asserting trust. Not somebody saying they're trustworthy, but transparency, so you can see everything that's going on. And you can see, am I doing something that benefits one of my companies or not? It's totally obvious. DONALD TRUMP: And if we thought that, we would not let him do that segment, or look in that area. If we thought there was a lack of transparency or a conflict of interest. SCOTT: But I followed up.  You have received billions of dollars in contracts from the Pentagon, and the president's directing you to look into the Department of Defense- is that a conflict of interest? MUSK: Which we definitely need to do and are going to do, at the president's request. SCOTT: Does that present a conflict of interest for you? MUSK: No, because you have to look at the individual contract and say- first of all, I'm not the one, you know, filing the contract. It's people at SpaceX. SCOTT: Musk and Trump have complained several of their plans are stalled in the courts, raising concerns the administration may defy a judge's orders. Today, the president told me that won't happen.  If a judge does block one of your policies, part of your agenda, will you abide by that ruling? Will you comply with that order? TRUMP: Well, I'll always abide by the courts and then I’ll have to appeal it. But then, what he's done is, he’s slowed down the momentum. SCOTT: As Musk's team tears through government agencies, Musk today acknowledging he has sometimes posted misinformation about their findings. MUSK: Well, first of all, some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected, so, nobody's going to bat 1,000. I mean, any- we will make mistakes, but we'll act quickly to correct any mistakes. SCOTT: And David, there in the Oval Office, it was clear just how powerful Elon Musk is in this White House. And tonight, we're learning he's about to be even more powerful. The president signing an executive order that directs all federal agencies to work with Musk and his team to cut staffing and limit hiring. It also gives Musk the broad authority to decide which positions in this federal workforce should or should not MUIR: All right. Rachel Scott right there in the briefing room tonight. Rachel, thank you.  

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