FORT WORTH, Texas — President Joe Biden arrived in Fort Worth on Tuesday afternoon to promote health care for veterans exposed to toxic fumes. But he will snub the parents of one local veteran – former Marine Trevor Reed, who’s languishing in a Russian prison on charges that U.S. officials call bogus.
Before leaving the White House, the president announced an immediate ban on oil and gas imports from Russia to step up pressure over the Ukraine war.
Increasingly desperate since the invasion, Reed’s parents, from nearby Granbury, resorted to parking outside his event with a huge sign, hoping to draw Biden’s attention since their request for a meeting was rejected. Reed’s father called it “an act of desperation.”
“We weren’t able to make it happen on this trip,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said shortly before landing in Fort Worth. “We are working toward setting up a meeting with his family. The president is looking forward to doing that.”
She emphasized that Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, has met with the Reeds. That was in mid-December, before Russian President Vladimir Putin staged troops for the invasion and then attacked.
Air Force One landed at about 2:20 p.m. Central time. On the tarmac, Biden chatted with Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley.
Earlier, Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas called on Biden to relent and meet with the Reeds.
“Trevor Reed has been held in a Russian prison with little to no access to badly needed health care or communication with his family, and his situation is only going to get worse given the political climate in Russia,” Cornyn said Tuesday. “This administration must do more to free Americans held hostage in Russia.”
At the White House, Biden acknowledged that the embargo on Russian oil will impact world markets and cause further economic pain in the United States, on top of a 75-cent spike in gasoline prices since the invasion. But he said, “Americans have rallied to support the Ukrainian people and made it clear we will not be part of subsidizing Putin’s war. ... This is a time when we have to do our part.”
Biden also refuted assertions from Texas Republicans and others that his policies have choked the U.S. oil and gas industry and made the country more reliant on Russian energy. He noted that U.S. production during his first year as president topped the level during former President Donald Trump’s first year.
“We’re approaching record levels of oil and gas production in the United States,” Biden said. “It’s simply not true that my administration or policies are holding back domestic energy production.”
In Fort Worth, Biden headed to a VA hospital for a tour with Veterans Secretary Denis McDonough. They planned to speak with veterans and caregivers about health effects from exposure to “burn pits” used to incinerate hazardous materials in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The issue is personal. The president's son Beau Biden died died of brain cancer and, as he recounted during last week's State of the Union address, had lived near a burn pit during his tour in Iraq.
He conceded that the link remains unproved but said, “I’m committed to find out everything we can. ... They come home — many of the world’s fittest and best trained warriors in the world — never the same: headaches, numbness, dizziness, a cancer that would put them in a flag-draped coffin.”
Three area members of Congress flew with Biden to Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, and met with him en route, according to Psaki: Democrats Colin Allred of Dallas and Marc Veasey of Fort Worth, whose district includes the VA hospital, and Republican Jake Ellzey of Midlothian, a former Navy pilot.
They followed Biden down the stairs from Air Force One.
Asked on the tarmac about gas prices, Biden responded, “They’re going to go up.” As to what he can do about that, he added, “Can’t do much right now. ... Russia is responsible.”
After chatting with the mayor, Maj. Gen. Bryan Radliff, commander of the 10th Air Force and others, the president circled back to put an arm around Ellzey, who arrived in Congress only last summer in a special election to replace Ron Wright, who died in office.
“Texas is home to the second largest population of veterans in the United States, many of whom rely upon the VA for services and benefits. Nearly 55% of veterans in Texas served in the era when burn pits were used,” Psaki said, explaining the choice of Texas for the visit.
Biden edged past Trump in Tarrant County but fell short statewide.
Near the airport, his motorcade passed a small group of protesters with signs such as “Decertify the fraud” and “Texas for Trump.” Another small group outside the VA planted large and small “Let’s Go Brandon” signs – a euphemism for anti-Biden vulgarity coined when a TV reporter misheard the chants of a NASCAR crowd. Other signs asserted that “Trump won” and “Democrats are Communists.”
After the VA tour, Biden was to speak about the “sacred obligation” to care for veterans at the nearby Tarrant County Resource Connection. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins and state Rep. Chris Turner of Arlington, chair of the Democrats’ caucus in the Texas House, were seen there chatting beforehand.
The Reeds have sought a meeting with Biden since he took office over 13 months ago, as they had with Trump.
This visit raised their hopes of Oval Office-level attention.
Trevor Reed was arrested in Moscow in August 2019 after a drunken altercation at a party. Authorities claimed he assaulted police during the drive to the station, and that he made the squad car swerve and endangered officers’ lives. But surveillance footage showed nothing amiss, and the U.S. ambassador to Russia called the allegations “absurd.”
U.S. officials have maintained that Russia is holding Reed and Paul Whelan, another former Marine imprisoned on dubious charges, as bargaining chips to exchange for spies at some point.
“We just think that if he saw us standing there that he might say, ‘Pull over, is that Trevor Reed’s family?’” Joey Reed told The Dallas Morning News on Monday after learning the White House had turned down their request for a meeting. “At least he might just see the signs. ... We’re grabbing at straws. Our son is seriously ill, and we need the president to bring him home.”
Reed recently developed tuberculosis — the result of filthy conditions and, perhaps, jailers exposing him on purpose to sick inmates. His parents say he’s been coughing up blood, deprived of medical attention and denied regular contact with U.S. diplomats. He did speak with his parents Friday and Monday, after going months without being allowed to call home.
The headaches mounted this week with news that WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist from Houston, was detained on drug charges at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport. Authorities say they found hashish oil in her luggage, and she could face a decade or more in prison.
Griner played for Baylor University and is now a Phoenix Mercury. She was playing in a Russian league during the WNBA offseason, as she has done for the last seven seasons.
Psaki said she couldn’t discuss the case because Griner’s family has not signed a privacy waiver.
“US citizens are not political pawns,” Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, tweeted over the weekend. Griner’s detention, he said, “follows a pattern of Russia wrongly detaining and imprisoning US citizens, including Trevor Reed.”
Before Biden landed, Tarrant County GOP Chairman Rick Barnes accused him of creating an “extreme mess” for veterans and others, citing rising gas prices and ongoing security issues at the Southern border, and said he owes veterans “an apology for the manner in which he handled our departure from Afghanistan” last summer.
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(Political writer Jeffers reported from Fort Worth. Washington Bureau Chief Todd J. Gillman reported from Washington.)
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