Russian captive’s father blasts Ted Cruz in advert endorsing Colin Allred

Join the We the Texans e-newsletter to obtain twice-monthly updates on our year-long initiative devoted to boosting civic engagement and chronicling how democracy is skilled in Texas.

WASHINGTON — Two years in the past, Joey Reed excoriated U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz for not doing extra to assist free his son Trevor, who was being held captive in Russia. Now his son is free, and Joey Reed is working to assist kick Cruz out of workplace.

Reed introduced his help for Democrat U.S. Rep. Colin Allred — who’s operating towards Cruz — in an advert launched Thursday morning.

“When my son Trevor Reed was detained by the Russian police, he was given nine years. We were frantic. We tried to stay focused and not just break down every day crying,” Joey Reed stated within the advert. “The first politician we called was Ted Cruz. They basically said, ‘Oh we’re not going to be able to help you.’ Ted Cruz didn’t lift a finger for us when everybody else in the state did.”

Trevor Reed, a Marine veteran from Granbury, was arrested in Russia in 2019 on expenses of assaulting a police officer throughout a visit to go to his Russian girlfriend in Moscow. He and the U.S. authorities denied the costs. He was incarcerated for almost three years of his nine-year jail sentence till he was freed in a prisoner swap in April 2022.

Cruz’s workplace didn’t dispute Joey Reed’s account on the time. He beforehand stated he didn’t get entangled within the rescue effort as a result of he was fearful his involvement may make issues worse.

“We were 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,” Cruz’s workplace stated in an announcement to The Dallas Morning Information in 2022.

Cruz had jousted with Russian President Vladimir Putin as one of many largest opponents within the Senate to Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The infrastructure challenge would have delivered pure fuel on to Germany from Russia. Members of each events within the Senate opposed the pure fuel pipeline for solidifying Western European reliance on Russian pure fuel and for bringing Russian infrastructure into NATO territory. The pipeline was a serious precedence for each Putin and the German authorities, however was by no means introduced on line as a result of conflict in Ukraine.

Cruz instructed the newspaper on the time that he “would have eagerly taken a public role loudly calling for Trevor’s release, but I 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.”

Cruz has additionally advocated for different prisoner releases, together with Houston freelance journalist Austin Tice, who was captured in Syria in 2012, and WNBA participant Brittney Griner, who was detained in Russia in 2022. Griner, a Houston native, was launched later that 12 months as a part of a prisoner swap.

The Reeds weren’t impressed with Cruz’s justification. McCaul, the highest Republican on the Home Overseas Affairs Committee, and Cornyn, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, have additionally been loudly antagonistic towards the Russian authorities. Each overtly pushed the administration for Trevor Reed’s launch.

“He didn’t do anything,” Joey Reed stated of Cruz to The Dallas Morning Information in 2022. “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.”

Joey Reed, who’s a retired marine like his son, advocated with each President Joe Biden’s and former President Donald Trump’s administrations to free Trevor. He labored with Texas lawmakers in each events, together with Sen. John Cornyn and Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, August Pfluger, R-San Angelo, Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, and Allred.

Joey Reed voted for Biden in 2020, however he praised members of each events for serving to free his son.

“The thing I like about Colin is he listens, he can relate to almost everyone. He’s willing to reach across the aisle,” Joey Reed stated within the advert. “Our elected officials, they’re accountable not only for their actions but for their inactions. Ted Cruz is not here for Texas. Ted Cruz is here for Ted Cruz.”

Allred is pouring cash into digital and televised promoting to amplify his identify throughout the state. Allred is operating uphill in his problem towards Cruz, with Cruz having fun with near-universal identify recognition and benefiting from Trump main the Republican ticket. Allred, in the meantime, has needed to make himself acquainted outdoors of his Dallas dwelling base within the state’s largest markets.