Trevor Reed's Mom Reacts to Finding Out Her Son Has Been Released by Russia

Trevor Reed's mother's reaction to her son being released by Russia was shared live on air by CNN's Brianna Keilar on Wednesday.

Russia and the United States carried out a prisoner exchange on Wednesday, trading Reed, a Marine veteran jailed in Moscow, for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot serving a 20-year federal prison sentence in Connecticut for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the U.S.

Keilar was reporting the development on CNN when she revealed an incoming message from Reed's mother, Paula Reed, with her first thoughts about her son's return home.

"They've been hopeful, but they'd also been so incredibly worried because they were concerned that with this elevation, this war with Ukraine and the elevation of Trevor's case that it could be good in some regard and it might be it might be bad in others," Keilar told viewers.

"I'm actually texting with his mother right now," Keilar revealed. "Let me see. It's still gonna be some time before they will be able to see him, she's telling me right now. She says 'obviously, we are elated.' I can't even imagine. I'm sure that's an understatement too."

Paula Reed and her husband, Joey Reed, later phoned CNN, telling Keilar they were told the news by the U.S. State Department and got a call from President Joe Biden a short time later.

"As soon as Trevor was released, we were actually on the phone with Trevor when the president called," Joey Reed said, adding that Biden was "totally gracious and wonderful and kind and said he looked forward to seeing us in the White House again."

Their son seemed "a little overwhelmed," Reed's father said. "They had moved into a Moscow prison this week. We didn't know that...and then they flew him from there to Turkey and then Trevor quickly told us that the American plane pulled up next to the Russian plane and they walked both prisoners across at the same time like you see in the movies."

Reed was arrested in the summer of 2019 after Russian authorities alleged that he assaulted police officers who were driving him to a police station after a night out. He was sentenced to nine years in prison, but his family has maintained his innocence and said his case was unjustly motivated by U.S-Russia relations.

Reed's parents recently told Newsweek that they feared they would never see their son again due to worsening relations between the countries amid the war in Ukraine. They met with the president after demonstrating outside the White House late last month and urged him to act before their son died behind bars.

"Trevor, a former U.S. Marine, is free from Russian detention," Biden said in a statement on Wednesday. "I heard in the voices of Trevor's parents how much they've worried about his health and missed his presence. And I was delighted to be able to share with them the good news about Trevor's freedom."

Biden added: "The negotiations that allowed us to bring Trevor home required difficult decisions that I do not take lightly. His safe return is a testament to the priority my Administration places on bringing home Americans held hostage and wrongfully detained abroad. We won't stop until Paul Whelan and others join Trevor in the loving arms of family and friends."

Whelan, a corporate security executive and former U.S. Marine, is being held in Russia after being convicted on espionage-related charges after what he called a "sham trial."

Other Americans known to be held by Russia include WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was detained at a Moscow airport in February when a search of her luggage allegedly revealed multiple cannabis oil vape cartridges.

Update 4/27/22, 9 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.