Skip to main content

Robert Gilman was on ‘death’s door’ before Russia freed him, advocate says

▶ Watch Video: Democrats pressure Trump administration to rescue 10 other Americans detained in Russia

Robert Gilman, a U.S. Marine veteran who was imprisoned in Russia for over four years, was nearly on “death’s door” before he was released this week, according to a hostage crisis expert who advocated for Gilman’s release.

The 32-year-old is now in Texas, where he faces a long road to recovery, said Kieran Ramsey, chief investigative officer with Global Reach, an organization that worked to free him.

Gilman, a teacher from Massachusetts, was detained in Russia starting in 2022. Concerns over his health came into focus last week when Global Reach’s chief strategy officer, Eric Lebson, said Gilman was being held at a Russian hospital in “dissociative stupor” and being fed through a tube.

“We had to wait ’til almost we were on death’s door with him to be able to spur the right kind of action that got his release,” Ramsey told CBS News on Thursday. “And we’re just thankful he’s back on U.S. soil right now.”

Gilman is being treated at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio where he is “getting the world’s best medical care,” Ramsey said. 

Robert Gilman, left, is seen on a plane after his release from Russia.
Robert Gilman, left, is seen on a plane after his release from Russia.

President Trump/Truth Social

Lebson claimed last week that Russian authorities subjected Gilman to mistreatment, including harassment, forced exercise sessions lasting up to 16 hours and the administration of psychotropic drugs. Lebson also alleged Gilman was pressured to fight in Ukraine.

CBS News has not independently verified those claims. Russian officials have not publicly responded.

A State Department spokesperson told CBS News the Trump administration had raised his case with the Russian government repeatedly, and requested he be released on humanitarian grounds, given Gilman’s health concerns.

“The situation with Robert is far beyond anything we have seen with any other American detained in Russia,” Lebson said. 

The Trump administration previously secured the release of several other Americans held in Russia. Multiple others are still being held in the country. 

“We have 10 others in Russia,” said Ramsey. “We have two designated in Iran. We have one designated in China. Let’s hope that he’s able to bring all of these folks home as soon as possible.”

‘They don’t trust him anymore’: How VA Secretary Doug Collins drew the ire of the White House and Republicans

By CNN
(CNN) — A month after House Republicans failed to pass a veterans health bill, lawmakers are meeting behind closed doors to try to get the legislation back on track. But there’s one key person they haven’t invited to the table: Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins.Collins and his team at the VA have been excluded from recent meetings on Capitol Hill because some senior congressional Republicans and Trump officials blamed him when the planned House vote was abruptly abandoned in July, according to multiple sources who were involved in crafting the legislation.“His relationship with the Hill directly is garbage at this point,” said one person familiar with the dynamics surrounding Collins.“They don’t trust him anymore,” another source familiar with the situation said.The episode underscores how Collins’ standing in the administration has steadily deteriorated over the past several months. A longtime ally of President Donald Trump who previously served in the House before joining Trump’s Cabinet, Collins has confounded those around him with his lackluster engagement on issues like the veterans health bill, spurring widespread speculation over how much longer he’ll remain in the job.Trump is unlikely to fire Collins, at least for now, amid efforts in the White House to minimize upheaval ahead of November’s midterm elections. But Trump officials have increasingly scrutinized Collins’ performance, including tracking his travel and examining the extent of his involvement in key departmental priorities, said the person familiar with the dynamics. Collins’ receding role has prompted speculation he may soon leave the administration of his own accord, the person added.Resurrecting the legislation, called the “Take Care of America’s Veterans Act,” is also considered key to the midterms. The bill would expand benefits for tens of thousands of veterans – a key constituency for many Republicans in Congress – and passage would be viewed as an important legislative win ahead of the November vote.The VA, in an email to CNN, denied that Collins worked against the bill’s passage. VA press secretary Quinn Slaven said: “The Trump administration, Secretary Collins and VA broadly support this bill, and while we believe it could benefit from some amendments, it contains many priorities of the administration.”Slaven added: “Under the leadership of President Trump, Secretary Collins is proud to work every day to make VA benefits better, faster and easier to use than ever before.”The White House did not address Collins’ role in GOP efforts to advance the veterans health bill.In a statement, spokeswoman Olivia Wales said that the VA secretary “is doing a great job and works tirelessly to deliver for our heroic veterans.” Another White House official downplayed the focus on Collins’ travel, contending that Cabinet officials are encouraged to be on the road to “highlight the administration’s accomplishments.”The White House also forwarded a statement of support from GOP Rep. Jack Bergman, who sits on the House Veterans Affairs Committee and insisted that Collins “has been great to work with” and has “taken action when we bring him difficult issues involving Veterans.”The veterans health bill would cut billions of dollars in future disability benefits to some veterans suffering from tinnitus and sleep apnea. The money saved from those cuts would pay for another measure that would allow veterans to receive both their retirement benefits and combat injury-related benefits. Veterans are currently allowed to receive one, but not both, of those benefits.The bill is also aimed at improving access to private sector care, working to cut down wait times for care and providing benefits for the spouses of deceased veterans, even if they re-marry.Democrats oppose the bill, along with some veterans service organizations including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, saying they disagree with the idea of taking away some veterans’ benefits to pay for other benefits.Other veterans’ advocacy groups like The American Legion and Concerned Veterans for America are in favor of the bill, pointing to all the ways they say it would expand benefits for many of the roughly 9 million veterans enrolled with the VA as well as their families.Confusion over CollinsThe House adjourned for summer recess not long after the legislation was pulled from the House floor ahead of a scheduled vote. But sources say House Republicans are continuing discussions about the bill – without input from Collins.The VA secretary had initially indicated to Republican congressional leadership that he supported the measure, but then started to subtly work against it, according to two sources familiar with the interactions.They said he would signal to some lawmakers he wasn’t entirely behind the bill, telling some GOP members he shared their concerns about the legislation. The tension between Collins and the White House and congressional Republicans was first reported by Politico.Some of what the legislation aims to accomplish had been proposed during the Biden administration, through the rulemaking process. But a VA press secretary told the website Government Executive in June that that proposal “would need to undergo significant changes” – further baffling Hill staffers about where Collins stood on the issue.Confusion over Collins’ stance continued into mid-July, sources say, at which point too many House Republicans started to waver in their support. When the bill was pulled, White House officials and Republican House members and staffers grew angry with Collins, the sources said.“I’ve never seen them so mad,” one source said of some House Republicans. “Their anger was off the charts.”Sources say senior Republicans complained to the White House about how Collins and Don Bergin, the VA’s assistant secretary for congressional and legislative affairs, dealt with the bill – and that those Republicans do not view Collins and Bergin as honest brokers moving forward.After Collins’ handling of the legislation that the president and administration have prioritized, one of the sources said: “They can’t decipher or figure out what’s going on in his mind.”In the midst of the fallout, Collins praised Trump on Fox Business. “He is providing the leadership over the country to say ‘Hey we want to put America first. We want to put our veterans first,’” Collins said.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
Read Next Story

Related Stories

Latest News
Trapped and cut off: Palestinian families under settler siege in the West Bank
1 minute ago

Trapped and cut off: Palestinian families under settler siege in the West Bank

Una firma analizó una máquina de votación para el Gobierno de Trump y terminó enfrentando una ola de críticas

Colombia se suma a los países de la región que permiten presencia militar de EE.UU. Pero solo uno pasó a acciones concretas

¿Qué quiere decir Trump cuando afirma que lleva las negociaciones con Irán a un nivel "low-key"?

Night moves: Riding the world’s greatest sleeper trains