The 95-year-old mother of an American teacher imprisoned in Russia for the past three years said Donald Trump promised to bring her son home just moments before the former president was shot at during his Pennsylvania rally over the weekend.
Malphine Fogel, the 95-year-old mother of Marc Fogel, spoke with Trump before he took to the podium at the rally in Butler where she was a VIP guest.
“I told him about my son Marc,” she told The Post in a phone interview Wednesday. “I explained that my son was in a Russian jail for the same crime Brittany Griner committed.”
Marc Fogel, 65, — who taught history at the Anglo-American School in Moscow for nearly a decade — was arrested by Russian authorities in August 2021 for trying to enter the country with about half an ounce of medical marijuana he had been prescribed in the US for chronic pain.
He was sentenced to a shocking 14 years in prison the following June.
“[Griner] was in jail for 10 months before President Biden got her out. My son has been in for three years, and I haven’t heard from the president or anyone in Washington,” his devastated mom said.
The educator and married dad of two is not on the list of “wrongfully detained” Americans in Russia. Although his wife previously spoke with Biden, the administration has not publically pushed for his release like the professional basketball player who was freed in a prisoner exchange.
Biden’s Republican challenger, however, gave the nonagenarian his word on freeing her son.
“Mr. Trump said, ‘If I get in, I will get him out’ and gave me a thumbs up,” Malphine said. “He was very cordial and sincere.”
She added that her son has been in the hospital for his bad back and he has been getting injections, but she is worried he is not getting proper care.
“Marc needs to be defined as unlawfully detained,” she said, adding that she hopes Trump, 78, mentions him while he campaigns for president.
The grandmother also shared the emotional rollercoaster that the rally became — from getting the opportunity to chat with the former president about her son one minute to watching a bullet graze his ear and another kill an attendee the next.
“It still hasn’t registered. One minute I’m standing backstage talking to Mr. Trump asking him to help my son and minutes later I’m sitting right in front and hear the gunshots and see the blood coming from his ear before I was pushed to the ground,” she told The Post.
Malphine, who voted for Trump twice, said she heard the shots and saw an attendee go down in a moment that reminded her of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
“I knew it was serious,” she said. “Someone standing 20 feet in front of me was shot. I knew it wasn’t good.
“Later, I thought it was very disheartening, and it reminded me of President Kennedy. I still remember that shooting vividly,” the 95-year-old said.
“I said to myself didn’t we learn anything?”