Marc Fogel’s mother recalls how she spoke with Trump on July 13, asking him to bring her son home from Russia
Malphine Fogel, 95, was always resolute she would see her son return to the United States, and even more so after achieving her goal of speaking with then candidate President Donald Trump at his July 13, 2024, Butler Farm Show rally before he was shot.
Her son, Marc Fogel, was detained in August 2021 by Moscow authorities and sentenced to serve 14 years in a Russian labor camp for carrying a small amount of medical marijuana prescribed in the United States for chronic back pain. Malphine Fogel’s Russian attorney told her the crime would have resulted in a sentence of five months of probation for a Russian citizen.
Marc Fogel returned to the United States in February following a bipartisan push where the Department of State declared him “wrongfully detained” in October 2024.
“Marc couldn’t have been more grateful,” Malphine Fogel said. “He was really, really thankful our system worked the way it did.”
Talks to bring Marc Fogel home had been progressing slowly before Malphine Fogel spoke to Trump, according to U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, who was with her at the rally.
Kelly, U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-17th, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and former Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., previously met with five members of the U.S. Department of State, Kelly recalled.
However, he said their bipartisan message wasn’t reaching the right ears. The group met with three State Department employees who were political appointees, which vary with each administration, and two who were career employees within the department. Kelly wanted to speak primarily with career employees, but talks would often begin with a career employee before eventually switching to a political appointee.
“I said, ‘I don’t want to be rude, but we need to talk to career State Department people because you’re not going to be in a position to do what we’re asking. We need to get Marc Fogel home,’” Kelly said.
The series of meetings followed a group phone call between the congressmen and State Department representatives discussing their commitment to bring Fogel home. Kelly said the congressmen were caught off guard at the meeting when they were told only Women's National Basketball Association player Brittney Griner would be included in the upcoming round of negotiations.
Russia detainees Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist, and Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, were also notably released before Marc Fogel.
“I really believe that (Malphine) never gave up, and her family never gave up,” Kelly said. “They were just adamant that Marc was going to come home.”
When the group addressed that they had been under the impression that Marc Fogel was to be included in the negotiations, it was the political appointees who spoke up instead of the state employees, Kelly said. They understood the deal had changed.
“The longer we were in the conversation, the more we realized all this was going to be was a half hour … courtesy meeting with you to tell you nothing has taken place,” Kelly said.
So, Kelly hoped organizing a conversation between Malphine Fogel and Trump at the July 13 rally would hasten a deal.
Malphine Fogel had no guarantee she would get to speak with Trump before he went on, but she wasn’t deterred.
“The longer the day went on, the more unbelievable it became” she said.
Malphine Fogel met Kelly at the rally to wait for Trump after arriving with her two daughters. She and Kelly stood in line together in an air-conditioned tent waiting to speak with Trump before he took the stage to address the crowd.
Kelly kept asking Malphine Fogel if she was feeling well with the heat, but he said she was adamant about speaking to Trump about her son. He made sure Malphine Fogel understood Trump was just a presidential candidate at this point, but she told him Trump is a “family man” and would understand.
Malphine Fogel said Trump seemed surprised to see her — a small 95-year-old woman — among the people waiting to speak with him when he eventually entered the tent. She said Trump questioned why she was there, not knowing who she was yet, but remembered he offered his arm for her to lean on instead of her cane.
Malphine Fogel said she told Trump about Marc’s circumstances being detained in Russia for almost three years at this point. She also discussed who Marc was, explaining his love of history. The Oakmont resident had been teaching history in Russia for about nine years before he was detained and previously taught in international schools in at least five countries. She continually repeated her son’s name to Trump, hoping he’d remember.
Malphine Fogel said Trump told her if he were elected, he would bring him home.
“He was listening to her,” Kelly said, “and the caveat was, ‘If I’m elected, we will bring your son home.’”
Malphine Fogel told Kelly she trusted Trump’s word as they exited the tent into the mid-90s heat and densely packed crowd for their seats in the front row of the VIP section. Kelly, Malphine Fogel and her two daughters sat for the introductory speakers before Trump began speaking on stage shortly after 6 p.m.
The shooting began at 6:11 p.m.
“I really didn’t think they were shots,” said Malphine Fogel, questioning who would be foolish enough to bring firecrackers to a political rally.
“Of course, everything was mayhem then,” she said.
Malphine Fogel said she remembers seeing Kelly’s cufflinks flash as he dove over her when shots were fired. Kelly and a number of others rushed to try to protect her and her daughters as the crowd was shouting “get down.” She said she got down as much as she could for a 95-year-old woman with an injured knee.
Kelly couldn’t help but laugh in a June 18 interview where he recounted the events. He remembered hearing the crowd chanting followed by “Mike, will you please get off me?” from underneath him.
Malphine Fogel recalled seeing blood pour from Trump’s ear as he went down. She was worried for his condition but relieved when he got up.
“I’ll tell you what, though,” Kelly said. “(Trump) gets in office, and the next thing I know, I get the call ... Marc Fogel’s coming home.”
Marc Fogel was released from Russian detention Feb. 11, less than a month after Trump took office. He was exchanged for Russian money launderer Alexander Vinnik, who was arrested in 2017 in a Bitcoin scheme valued at $4 billion.
Kelly said he urges travelers to verify their destinations are safe for Americans and familiarize themselves with foreign laws before traveling.
Malphine Fogel said the experience gave her a new perspective of the United States political system, and she feels more confident in government. She said she never felt brushed off or ignored when talking about her son.
“You feel so far removed from them and read about them in the paper … but my thought was they actually care about their work and try to help,” she said.
She and Marc Fogel were invited to Trump’s State of the Union address on March 4. She said they took a short flight from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C., on United States Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff’s private plane. The stayed for the address, sitting behind first lady Melania Trump, and the reception before returning to Pittsburgh the same night.
“I was amazed at how quickly it had happened after going through year after year after year of people talking with us,” Kelly said.
