

“Marc has a birthday on the 28th of July, so she was trying to convince them to wish him a ‘happy birthday’ on the Senate floor,” Malphine said. In addition to sharing Marc’s story with the representatives, Malphine said Iseman encouraged them to recognize Marc’s birthday this summer. “The next day we met with probably 25 congressman.” “She flew up from Florida, and she arranged all these meetings, and she knew her way around Washington, so we were able to go and get around pretty well,” Malphine said. Iseman, also an alumni of IUP, got in contact with the family via university President Michael Driscoll. The trip to the nation’s capital was organized with the assistance of lobbyist Vicki Iseman, Malphine said. “And, you know, they were all sympathetic about that.” “But as far as the Congress, all the members of Congress said they were going to get in touch with the State Department because it’s their duty, and they felt the sentence way outdoes the crime,” Malphine said. Kelly has repeatedly called on the State Department to recognize Fogel as wrongfully detained, including introducing a resolution for transparency in their investigation.

Fogel in any future negotiations with the Russian government,” Knoedler said. “We will continue to push the Biden administration for Marc Fogel’s safe return to the United States and demand they include Mr. Matt Knoedler, a spokesman for Kelly, said the meeting was “productive.” Malphine said Fetterman seemed surprised at Marc’s plight, and that Kelly has been very kind to the family. Mike Kelly, R-16th, representing the county. “We’re hoping that new legislation in Marc’s name will put a time limit on the State Department in determining wrongful detention status and will also require an explanation of how they came to their conclusion,” Anne said. He was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 14 years in prison.Īnne said the trip may sponsor legislation in Marc’s name. He was detained on a return trip in August 2021 for carrying about one-half ounce of medical marijuana, prescribed for chronic pain. “They just were very interested and sympathetic, and we ran our tails off, but everyone was very, very welcoming.”įogel, an Indiana University of Pennsylvania graduate, had been living and working as a teacher in Russia since 2012. After all, they were working for a guy who was supposed to pay attention to the appearance of a conflict of interest.“I think we had a very fruitful meeting with everybody,” Malphine said.

Still, the fact that Weaver met with Iseman at all in the midst of a busy campaign season suggests that very senior McCain aides did indeed worry about the appearance of her relationship with McCain. McCain simply said he was not "aware" of Weaver's having met with Iseman - "I don’t know anything about it", not that McCain knew for a fact that it did not happen. Weaver added that the brief conversation was only about “her conduct and what she allegedly had told people, which made its way back to us.” He declined to elaborate. Iseman’s involvement in the campaign, it was felt by us, could undermine that effort.” Mr. “Our political messaging during that time period centered around taking on the special interests and placing the nation’s interests before either personal or special interest,” Mr. John Weaver, a former top strategist and now an informal campaign adviser, said in an e-mail message that he arranged the meeting after “a discussion among the campaign leadership” about her. Iseman at Union Station in Washington to ask her to stay away from the senator. Separately, a top McCain aide met with Ms.
