Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) discussed the return of Princeton University graduate student Xiyue Wang today after Wang's imprisonment at the hands of the Iranian government.
Smith was on the set of Fox News Channel in New York with anchor Ed Henry to discuss Wang's release.
Smith, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, worked with Wang's wife, Hua Qu, pressed the State Department to keep working to bring Wang home. Smith had appealed directly to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to help in Wang's case.
Smith met with Wang’s wife at his Hamilton office. Smith also spoke at a Princeton University rally for Wang in May 11, 2018, and later held meetings in Washington DC on Wang’s case.
At a congressional hearing on May 23, 2019, Smith directly asked U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to help secure Wang’s release. Click here or on CSPAN video link above. He also sent Pompeo a letter in May 2018.
Smith thanked all who helped secure Wang’s release, including President Trump, Secretary Pompeo, Brian Hook and Robert O’Brien at the State Dept., the Swiss government and others who advocated tirelessly on Wang’ s behalf.
Fox News reported that Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, accompanied the Iranian scientist to Switzerland to make the exchange and will return with Wang, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The swap took place in Zurich and Hook and Wang are now en route to Landstuhl in Germany where Wang will be examined by doctors, the official said. Hook is expected to return to the U.S. from Germany alone, as Wang is expected to be evaluated for several days.
In his opening remarks at the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday night, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien announced that Wang will be coming home from a U.S. military hospital in Germany in the “next day or two.”
