The parents of a Marine veteran imprisoned in Russia met with President Joe Biden and senior staffers at the White House on Wednesday, a spokesman for the family said.
Trevor Reed has been jailed in Russia since his arrest in 2019 on charges that he assaulted police officers in Moscow who were driving him to a police station after picking him up following a night of heavy drinking at a party. He was convicted in 2020 and sentenced to nine years in prison.
Joey and Paula Reed of Granbury, Texas, traveled to Washington this week to seek an in-person meeting with Biden after a phone conversation earlier this month when the president visited Texas. After the Reeds had stood along the route of Biden's motorcade in Texas in hopes it would stop — it did not — the White House said it would work to schedule a meeting.
The Reeds, who have publicly voiced concern about their son’s health in jail and have also expressed support for the idea of a prisoner swap, stood near the White House on Wednesday with a sign that read: “Free Trevor Reed. Prisoner of Russia Since 2019.”
On Wednesday evening, the couple met in the Oval Office with Biden and some senior administration officials for more than a half hour, according to Jonathan Franks, a spokesman for the Reed family. He declined to discuss specifics of the meeting.
