An American reporter for The Wall Street
Journal is waking up in detention
in Russia on charges of espionage.
Evan Gershkovich is a 31 year
old correspondent based in Moscow.
He was arrested yesterday
and accused
of trying to steal state secrets
about a Russian military factory.
Accusations that we should take
with a grain of salt
considering where they're coming from.
In a statement,
the Journal said it
vehemently denies
the allegations from the FSB
and seeks
the immediate release of our trusted
and dedicated reporter.
Russia has not arrested
a reporter on charges like this
since the Cold War in 1986.
That's the last time
that an American journalist
was detained
by Russia
simply for doing their job
on charges of espionage.
Few people really know
what is going to be going through right
now, possibly.
One of them, though, is Trevor Reed.
He was released
last April in a prisoner swap
after he was detained in Russia
for 985 days.
Reed is a former Marine.
He had been sentenced to nine years
in prison in July.
2020 for apparent Lee
and allegedly
endangering the life and health
of Russian police officers
in an altercation.
Those are charges,
we should note, that
he has steadfastly denied.
I spoke to Trevor
Reed last night about the arrest
of Evan Miscovich
What goes through your
mind when you hear that another American,
this time
a journalist
arrested on espionage charges
has been detained in Russia
Well, first of all, immediately,
you know, comes to me as is being another
wrongful detention
of an American in Russia.
Obviously, those charges sound
extremely fishy.
Charging a journalist with espionage
And I think that also kind of signals
the escalation
that the Russians are taking by taking
a journalist
and wrongfully detaining them and
and basically taking them hostage.
You have an experience
that so few people have
because to a degree,
you know what he's going through.
Can you just remind us,
what were your first few hours
in detention like?
What do you imagine that he's
going through right now?
The first few hours
when you're
wrongfully detained
or extremely confusing,
you're in a state of shock.
You're also in a state of denial
or you're thinking that
there's no possible way
that this is happening to me.
Maybe it's just a nightmare.
Or maybe I'm going to wake up
and this didn't happen.
And unfortunately for me, that
that kind of, you know, just
surreal feeling lasted for four,
basically the whole
almost three years that I was detained.
Yeah.
And when he was
whenever he was formally arrested,
his own attorney
wasn't even allowed in the courtroom.
You obviously dealt up
close and personal
with the Russian judicial system.
I guess we'll call it.
How do you fear that
he's going to be treated by them?
There's there's no
there's no
question that
the Russian judicial system is a joke.
It's a facade.
They violate all of their own rules,
regulations, laws there.
And there's no type of accountability
for Russian officials
who who break those laws.
They can basically do anything
that they want.
And unfortunately,
they will do whatever they want.
Some members of Congress
have said they think he
they basically
just outright
called this a hostage situation.
Do you agree with that?
Yeah, absolutely.
I think that it's
the wrongful
detention is equivalent
to taking a hostage.
They've clearly done this
for political purposes
to gain
some kind of leverage over
the United States or make
make an example out of them
to make a point.
Maybe it's like a revenge thing
after you were released
you gave an interview
with my colleague, Jake Tapper
and you talked about
essentially the way you were treated that
the Russian government
isn't just operating from the top down,
you said.
Speaking of them, quote,
They have absolutely
no value of human life.
You said that apathy permeates
every level of Russian government.
Everyone who works
that government
has absolutely no empathy
for other humans.
Do you worry that
that treatment, the way that they treated
you, has only gotten worse,
the way that they're
treating Americans now
Absolutely.
I think that
as Russia becomes more desperate due
to sanctions,
their war in Ukraine failings,
you know, political pressure
from the United States
has think that the more desperate
they get, the more brutal
and kind of episodic they're going to
to be regarding,
you know, our citizens there.
What does it say to you
about the state of us?
Russia relations at this point?
I think that this is a perfect example,
that our relations
have hit an all time low
Russia hasn't taken
a journalist
and accuses them of espionage
since the Cold War.
And taking a journalist,
that kind of
puts it into perspective for you,
how desperate the Russians have become.
I think
you know, the next step
after taking our journalists hostage
there is basically diplomats.
This is the next level.
And it says something about
how far they're willing to go
and how much
they just basically don't care
about their image
in the international theater.
Given you lived through this,
what's your advice to to his family,
his friends at this point,
his colleagues, as they're watching this
I would tell them that
they need to prepare themselves for,
you know, a long fight
and they need to start taking steps
immediately.
To prepare them for that fight.
And I would also tell them to be
cautiously optimistic.
You know,
my family put in
an enormous amount of effort
and time in order to get me out.
And that paid off.
The Biden administration, President Biden
agreed to do a prisoner exchange
and that got me out.
And that was pretty much
because of what my parents
had done there.
Yeah, your parents
I mean, I was at the White House
the day your parents came out.
It was pouring rain
and they stood up
in front of the White House
because they wanted
a meeting with President Biden
to be able to raise you
to raise your detention.
What do you
what do you think
President Biden should do in this moment?
What do you want to see from the
US government here?
I want to see some definite action.
You know, they're going to have to
to make some type of agreement
to get them out.
I don't know if that's going to involve
a prisoner exchange.
Obviously,
there's there's a lot of different things
that go into those negotiations.
But I think that
it's our government's
duty to do whatever it takes
to get innocent Americans out.
And also on that note.
I want to thank you,
because it's actually a year
since you asked President Biden
if he would meet with my parents
at the White House.
Will you be with Lee parents, Mr.
President,
while they're here in Washington?
They say the meeting
I'm going to see if I can get to see them
They're good.
They're good people.
I haven't. We're trying to work that out.
My mom will get really angry with me
if I don't don't mention
that and say thank you from all of us.
Well, your parents are amazing.
And that was what any reporter should do,
anything to help
I'm just glad he survived.
And he
I noticed the first thing
when I looked at the interview
running on the air,
I said he looks healthy now.
He's so thin.
When he returned
yeah, well, he lost a lot of weight.
And I mean, his perspective,
you know, we did that interview with Jake.
He talked about how bad the diet
was, things,
small things from
just everyday life in Russian prison
and also talking
about how he just thinks there's
a complete apathy
and lack of regard for human life
in Russia,
saying it's not just with Putin, it's
the entire government.
Just a remarkable moment
so I'm really glad that Trevor Reid
sat down with us
and mentally healthy as well.
We're glad that he's doing
whatever to whatever it is going through.
Nice and really now and just powerful.
Reporter question for the president.
Yeah. Good job.