PA FEDERAL LAWMAKERS URGING STATE DEPARTMENT TO CLASSIFY MARC FOGEL AS WRONGLY DETAINED

Many federal lawmakers from Pennsylvania are urging the U.S. State Department to classify Marc Fogel as wrongfully detained in Russia.  Senators Bob Casey and John Fetterman, along with a number of the state’s Congressional representatives, have signed a letter encouraging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to make the designation in an effort to bring Fogel back home.  The international teacher and Butler County native was arrested at an airport in Moscow in 2021 after he was found with a small amount of prescribed medical marijuana.  Admiral John Kirby, a national security coordinator, says the White House attempted to get Fogel included in an international prisoner swap earlier this month, but the Russians were unreceptive.