George Glezmann walked into Kabul in December 2022 with a valid visa and a camera. By nightfall he was on a floor with a gun at his temple, accused of being CIA, listening to what his interrogator said was the sound of his own gallows being built. He stayed there 835 days. For months the Taliban denied holding him. For a full year no one from his own government spoke to him. And on the last day of the Biden administration, two other Americans in the same safe house went home while he was left behind. Within two months of President Trump taking office, he was on an unmarked Airbus out of Kabul, and not a dollar changed hands. Jenny Beth Martin hears the whole story from the man who lived it and from the counterterrorism veteran who fought for his release from inside the meetings that failed him.
Guests: George Glezmann, Delta Air Lines aircraft mechanic, held by the Taliban in Afghanistan for 835 days; and George Taylor, retired military and federal law enforcement counterterrorism officer, Glezmann's colleague in Delta's corporate security group, who worked alongside Glezmann's wife for his release.
In this episode:
• How a Delta Air Lines mechanic with a valid visa was seized on his first afternoon in Kabul
• Two years in an underground cell: lights on twenty-four hours a day, cameras on every move, mock executions
• The Taliban denied holding him for months; his wife did not know if he was alive
• A year passed before anyone from the U.S. government spoke to him, and that caller would not pass a message to his wife
• January 2025: two other Americans go home on the last day of the Biden administration, and he is left behind
• The Jake Sullivan phone call his wife received: we were not able to liberate your husband, good luck
• Secretary Marco Rubio's warning to the Taliban, seen from a captive's television in Kabul
• Freed within two months of President Trump taking office, with no money paid, by special envoy Adam Boehler's team
• George Taylor on the White House meetings: no one was in charge, and a promise to retrieve his body if he did not survive
• Taylor's account: forty million dollars a month flowing to the Taliban while it held American citizens
• Georgia's senators graded: the fifteen-minute meetings and the resolution that came too late
• Why the Taliban told him his government was weak, and why it matters who we elect
Tell your senators and representative that no American gets left behind: 202-224-3121.
The Jenny Beth Show airs live Monday through Friday at 1:00 PM ET. Hosted by Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party movement and Chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action.
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00:00 — Cold open: 835 days a Taliban hostage
02:07 — George Glezmann: aviator, photographer, 135 countries
04:07 — Into Afghanistan with a valid visa, December 2022
05:41 — Seized on his first afternoon in Kabul
09:25 — The engineer: accused of being CIA, a gun at his temple
11:19 — The underground cell and the sound of the gallows
12:24 — A year before anyone from the U.S. government called
14:24 — The Taliban denied holding him; cold water and laser sights
16:24 — Everyone freed except the Americans
19:01 — January 2025: two Americans go home, he stays
21:55 — The Jake Sullivan call: good luck
23:03 — Secretary Rubio's warning, seen from Kabul
24:23 — An escape attempt and half a chocolate bar
26:14 — The unmarked Airbus and Adam Boehler
31:05 — George Taylor: no one was in charge
34:08 — Georgia's senators graded an F
36:43 — Home within two months, not a dollar paid
39:04 — Forty million dollars a month to the Taliban
40:20 — The hostages America never saw
42:50 — Watching CNN from captivity
45:28 — October 7 and the release that never came
46:45 — The Doha call and the forty million dollar question
51:08 — A new White House, and a Starbucks in Canton, Georgia
53:03 — You cannot have an autopen president
55:56 — It matters who we elect
56:48 — We'll retrieve his body
59:00 — Reunited at Andrews
01:01:02 — Terrorists are paying attention to how we vote
01:02:53 — The fifteen-minute meetings
01:06:34 — A mechanic who knows his planes
01:08:48 — Closing: standing in solidarity
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