Rantz: Trump admin. secured release of wrongfully detained Washington veteran
May 20, 2025, 10:51 AM

Joseph St Clair was wrongfully detained in Venezuela by the Maduro regime. Thanks to pressure from the Trump administration, Joseph is on his way home. (Pictures of Joseph and his father Scott provided by the St Clair family.)
(Pictures of Joseph and his father Scott provided by the St Clair family.)
Joseph St. Clair, a United States Air Force veteran wrongfully detained by the Maduro regime in Venezuela, is on his way home after the Trump administration intervened, “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH confirmed.
“Our prayers have been answered, and we鈥檙e incredibly grateful to President Trump, Ric Grenell, Adam Boehler, and the entire SPEHA Team,” Scott and Patti St. Clair, Joseph鈥檚 parents, told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. “At the same time, we will never stop fighting for and with the families of those Americans who remain wrongfully detained in Venezuela.”
Details of the negotiations are still unknown. But Joseph is now U.S.-bound.
“We’re getting some traction,” Scott St. Clair told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH last week. “The main message is, and I believe this鈥擯resident Trump is committed to bringing all American hostages home no matter what.”
Trump, Ambassador Ric Grenell, Adam Boehler, Dr. Sebastian Gorka, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, and family consultant Jon Frank have been working for weeks to secure Joseph’s release.
How Joseph St. Clair was ‘abducted’ by Maduro regime
Scott St. Clair, who lives in Hansville, Wash., told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH that his son first went missing in November 2024, when Joseph was living in Colombia seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
鈥淲e learned that Joe, who was working in Colombia, decided to take a trip near the border with one of his friends to visit a family member, and got too close to the border and got abducted. They saw his military credentials, and all of this really only coming from the captives that were brought back,鈥 Scott St. Clair previously explained to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.
It wasn鈥檛 until February when Scott St. Clair said he received a call from the consulate in Colombia informing him that the Maduro regime in Venezuela had abducted his son. Since then, Joseph’s family has been working to bring attention to the abduction in order to put pressure on the Maduro regime for release.
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