Most everyone thought that with the current political climate it was the worst possible time for bringing North Texan Trevor Reed home -- but it turned out to be the best time.
- Most everyone thought that with the current political climate it was the worst possible time for bringing North Texan Trevor Reed home -- but it turned out to be the best time.it seemed an improbable time to hope for the release of Reed
How the war - and the breakdown in U.S.-Russian relations - affected the deal isn't clear. U.S. officials stressed that the negotiations for Reed's release were narrow in scope, focused squarely on the prisoners and not on Russia's war and not reflective of any broader diplomatic engagement. But while the timing of the deal was startling, it's also clear that the groundwork for it had been laid before the conflict had begun.
"They didn't say: 'Oh, we agree with you, that's a great deal. That's a good point,'" Paula Reed said in a February interview with The Associated Press."They didn't say anything like that. They just said: 'We hear you. Thank you very much.'"As Biden traveled to Texas to support veterans, the Reeds stood along the motorcade route in hopes of getting meaningful face-time with the president.
Hovering in the background as well was Reed's health. In March, Reed told his parents that he'd been coughing up blood several times a day, had pain in his lung and a broken rib. Last year, he contracted COVID-19. Even on Wednesday, his parents were taken aback by how thin their son looked during video footage of the transfer. They said they expected that he'd need medical care before resuming his daily life in Texas.
The Whelan family said in a statement that it was happy about Reed's release but troubled that their loved one wasn't part of it.
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