The world is celebrating after Marc Fogel's years-long detention in the Russian prison system came to a close this week, with President Donald Trump securing his release. No one is more elated over the freeing of Fogel, 63, than his mother, 95-year-old Malphine Fogel, who has intensely advocated for her son's release. Marc Fogel, an American teacher who taught history in Moscow, was serving a 14-year sentence after being found in possession of prescribed medicinal marijuana — a harsh rebuke that stunned his family.

Malphine Fogel told CBN News Thursday that her faith in God sustained her throughout the horrific ordeal, especially as uncertainty abounded. "Sometimes, there's nowhere to go except on your knees," she said. "We just prayed on regular intervals. We just put our faith in God — we really did. And it worked." Fogel reflected on the "shock" she experienced when her son was initially arrested nearly four years ago. Despite Russia's troubling history, she said she still found the entire ordeal "outlandish" and surprising.

"It seemed that it would just blow over," she said. "I never expected that it would go as far as it did. I just thought they would check all the facts and know that he was not a drug dealer with six or seven grams of marijuana, but they didn't see it that way, I guess."

Fogel said the Biden administration, which presided over most of her son's detention, didn't push hard enough, in her view. "I can't say that I ever felt they were really trying very hard to get him out," she said. "And I could be wrong about that, but that was the feeling I got." One of the most remarkable parts of Fogel's story centers on the now-infamous Butler campaign rally, where President Donald Trump was shot in the ear. Fogel was at that event and met with Trump before gunshots rang out.