Russia plague death on the agenda for a Trump–Putin call | Elizabeth Vargas Reports Full Show

All right, so tonight, 3,000 miles away from that Siberian anti-plague lab, so on the other end of Russia, a US Air Force veteran and rock musician is sitting in a remote penal colony waiting to be released.

55-year-old American Michael Travis Leake has spent more than 1,000 days in Russian custody.

His family says he was wrongfully detained in 2023 on bogus drug charges after living in that country for six years.

Today, his mother, Glenda Garcia, held vigil outside the White House grounds.

It's part of her ongoing push to have the U.S. government designate her son as wrongfully detained.

Now, that's a simple phrase, but it's one that, if officially issued, would release the floodgates of State Department diplomacy and bring the full force of the U.S. government to bear on potential negotiations to free leak.

We're going to speak with Glenda in a minute, but...

Before his arrest at his Moscow apartment, Leak was the front man in a rock band, taught English.

He was even once interviewed by the late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain.

But Russian authorities accused Leak and his ex-girlfriend of dealing drugs.

And a year later, they sentenced Leak to 13 years at that penal colony where he's been ever since.

It's the same camp, by the way, where Putin's fiercest critic, now deceased opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was also once held.

Leak and his supporters say that the Russian allegations are cut from whole cloth, that they're making a public plea to President Trump.

In fact, here's Leak in a recorded phone call speaking from that forced labor camp.

My government so far has done absolutely nothing to help me.

I'm sorry I'm not a journalist.

I'm sorry I'm not a basketball player.

I'm sorry I'm not somebody that's important.

But you know what? What I'm not is a drug dealer.

No reason for me to be here.

Mr.

President, this is a tragedy.

Please bring me home.

All right, so tonight, 3,000 miles away from that Siberian anti-plague lab, so on the other end of Russia, a US Air Force veteran and rock musician is sitting in a remote penal colony waiting to be released.

55-year-old American Michael Travis Leake has spent more than 1,000 days in Russian custody.

His family says he was wrongfully detained in 2023 on bogus drug charges after living in that country for six years.

Today, his mother, Glenda Garcia, held vigil outside the White House grounds.

It's part of her ongoing push to have the U.S. government designate her son as wrongfully detained.

Now, that's a simple phrase, but it's one that, if officially issued, would release the floodgates of State Department diplomacy and bring the full force of the U.S. government to bear on potential negotiations to free leak.

We're going to speak with Glenda in a minute, but...

Before his arrest at his Moscow apartment, Leak was the front man in a rock band, taught English.

He was even once interviewed by the late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain.

But Russian authorities accused Leak and his ex-girlfriend of dealing drugs.

And a year later, they sentenced Leak to 13 years at that penal colony where he's been ever since.

It's the same camp, by the way, where Putin's fiercest critic, now deceased opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was also once held.

Leak and his supporters say that the Russian allegations are cut from whole cloth, that they're making a public plea to President Trump.

In fact, here's Leak in a recorded phone call speaking from that forced labor camp.

My government so far has done absolutely nothing to help me.

I'm sorry I'm not a journalist.

I'm sorry I'm not a basketball player.

I'm sorry I'm not somebody that's important.

But you know what? What I'm not is a drug dealer.

No reason for me to be here.

Mr.

President, this is a tragedy.

Please bring me home.