Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, who spent 214 days in Mexican prisons after mistakenly crossing the border with three registered guns, describes beatings at the hands of his jailers and the inner strength he tapped to endure them in an exclusive Fox News interview airing Thursday night.
In the one-hour sit-down with Greta Van Susteren, the 26-year-old veteran of two tours in Afghanistan discussed the abuse he suffered in the Tijuana jail where he was initially held.
“I was actually joyful to take that beating,” Tahmooressi said in the interview, which airs at 7 p.m. ET on Fox News Channel’s “On the Record With Greta Van Susteren.”
When Van Susteren, whose extensive coverage of Tahmooressi’s case included retracing his route on March 31 to show how confusing signage contributed to the mistaken border crossing, asked what he meant, Tahmooressi explained that the inevitability of the abuse and the knowledge he might soon be transferred gave him strength.
“So I was glad as can be to take that beating, I was like, bring it, just bring it on.”
- Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi
“I knew the beating was coming,” he said. “They were telling me stories about the guards, about how, you know, if someone acts up or does something wrong, they get beat. So I already knew it was going to happen to me.
“So I was glad as can be to take that beating, I was like, bring it, just bring it on,” he said.
Tahmooressi was later moved to a safer prison in Tecate, where he remained until a Mexican judge ordered Tahmooressi freed on Friday on humanitarian grounds after he’d spent seven months behind bars. Tahmooressi, who had been living out of his pickup in the San Diego area while he sought treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder when he was arrested, returned to his family in Florida on Saturday.
Tahmooressi family spokesman Jonathan Franks said the judge acted on a recommendation from the PGR, the Mexican Attorney General's Office. In that motion, the prosecutor "essentially withdrew the charges," Franks said. Moments later, the trial judge issued an acquittal in Andrew's case, calling for an "immediate and absolute release."
Although Tahmooressi’s supporters have blasted President Obama for not doing more to get him freed, several politicians, including former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, members of Congress Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.; Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.; Ed Royce, R-Calif.; and Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., were among those who worked to secure his release.
"The totality of diplomacy, the judicial process, the legal strategy and the importance of the American-Mexican relationship resulted in Andrew's release," Richardson said after the announcement. "And now we have this great outcome. Andrew's coming home."
Richardson told Fox News Tahmooressi is seeking privacy and still needs to receive treatment for his PTSD, something that wasn’t available in Mexican prison-- a key argument put forth by defense attorney Fernando Benitez.
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