Just minutes before President Trump escaped an assassin’s bullet at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., he held a brief backstage meeting with a 95-year-old local woman whose son, Marc Fogel, had spent three years in a Russian jail. 

Linking arms with Trump, Malphine Fogel recounted her son’s ordeal, how she was struggling to get the Biden administration to prioritize his case and her fears for his health. Flashing a thumbs-up before a camera, Trump promised to “get him out,” then invited her onto the VIP section of the stage to watch him speak.

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