It's not common lately to get a unanimous vote on the U.S. House floor, but that's exactly what happened in a 422-0 vote earlier this month to support a resolution that called for the immediate release of Evan Gershkovich, an American reporter for the Wall Street Journal who is imprisoned in Russia.
Fogel's family had hoped he would be included in the prisoner swap that released WNBA star Brittney Griner, but that didn't happen. "We don't have the Wall Street Journal behind us and we don't have the NBA behind us — but we're going to fight the good fight," Anne Fogel said.Last month, Marc Fogel's sister and 94-year-old mother took matters into their own hands, meeting with any lawmaker that would sit down with them on Capitol Hill.
A few weeks later, Marc Fogel's son and nephew also met with lawmakers, including Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines of Montana, where Fogel's sister, son and other relatives live. "Marc was Michael McFaul's son's teacher and just thought the world of him. So these are very important personal connections, there's a Montana connection," Daines said."And we've got to keep this in the forefront of our State Department's minds and get us release."