Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT), one of the congressmen responsible for negotiating the release of Alan Gross from Cuba, spoke on Wednesday about his time on the plane as the freed American prisoner was taken home.
“It was wonderful, because his wife was on the plane with us going down in the wee hours of this morning,” the senator told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell.
“Just to see the two of them together, to come back, and watch his reaction when he got on the plane,” he added. “The cheer they let out when it came over the intercom on the plane that we’d crossed into US airspace.”
Mitchell noted that as little as a week ago Leahy had refused to answer her questions about reports that Gross would be freed.
“I knew it was probably gonna come,” he said. “Everyone had been sworn to secrecy.”
The anchor gave the senator a gentle nudge for laying low before the historic thaw between Cuba and the U.S.
“I was someplace last night where they expected you and you didn’t show up,” Mitchell said. “And now I know where you were.”
