The family of former US Marine Trevor Reed blasted Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz this week, calling the lawmaker an “embarrassment to the state” over his purported lack of action to secure Reed’s release from a Russian prison.
“He didn’t do anything,” Reed’s father Joey told The Dallas Morning News. “He’s an embarrassment to the state of Texas, let me just say that. I don’t care what or who runs against him, I will work for their campaign to defeat that son of a bitch.”
Trevor Reed was released April 27 as part of a prisoner swap after serving nearly 1,000 days behind bars. He had been charged with assaulting two Moscow cops who were driving him to a police station after apprehending him at a party where he allegedly became blackout drunk. Reed’s family and supporters claimed the charges were trumped-up to allow the Kremlin to hold their son as a bargaining chip.
Following their son’s return, Reed’s parents praised President Biden, White House officials and members of Congress from both parties who assisted in the release.
Joey Reed told the Dallas Morning News that he and his wife had reached out to Cruz’s office several times since Trevor’s arrest. During one phone call, they claimed, one of the senator’s staffers told them Cruz would be unable to offer public help.
“Because Senator Cruz is such an enemy of Putin, he’s afraid that if he says anything, it will hurt your son,’” the staffer reportedly said.
“We said, ‘Are you serious?’ ‘Well, yeah.’ ‘Okay. Thanks a lot.’ So he’s never said another word,” Joey Reed recounted.
Following Trevor Reed’s release, Cruz posted on Twitter that he was “relieved” the former Marine was freed and reunited with his family.
“It is imperative that Russia release the other Americans who they continue to wrongfully detain,” the senator added.
Cruz also reportedly called the Reed family to congratulate them, but his message was not well-received.
“And I told him right on the phone, I said, ‘Where have you been for the last two-and-a-half years?’” Joey Reed recounted. “I hit him point-blank: ‘We are not appreciative.’ He said, ‘Well, anything I can do,’ and I said, ‘We needed your help two and a half years ago, not now.’”
In a statement to the Morning News, Cruz said his office had been “repeatedly advised by Administration officials that my taking a public role in this specific case would be counterproductive, and that because of my role fighting to stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, leaders in Russia may well have linked the two issues.”
“That would have endangered Trevor and delayed his release,” the Republican added.
Cruz went on to say that he “would have eagerly” called for Reed’s release publicly, but ultimately “believed that the best way for me to help was to vigorously press the Administration behind the scenes and work through the State Department to bring Trevor home as soon as possible.”
The senator added that he was “very sorry that Trevor’s family interpreted this as not prioritizing his release.”
Cruz’s office did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for additional comment.
Reed’s parents said they were unaware of any major effort made by Cruz behind the scenes to secure their son’s release.
In contrast to Cruz, Joey Reed lauded the work by another Texas Republican — Rep. Michael McCaul, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee — describing him as a “giant, loud, outspoken critic of Putin and Nord Stream 2, and he’s been a giant, public voice for our son.”
“We’ve been so thankful, and we believe that the public voice is what made the difference in our son’s case, not the traditional go behind the scenes and just check up on people,” he added.
