Marc Fogel, an American teacher who was released on Tuesday after being detained in Russia since 2021, had tons of praise for President Donald Trump when the pair met in the White House.

The president said that he promised Fogel’s mother, at the infamous Butler, PA rally where he was shot, that he would bring him home and quipped on Tuesday that if he did not keep his promise, “I would have been in trouble with his mother.”

Fogel said that he did not deserve any of the credit and that President Trump and those who worked to get him home were the heroes.

“I feel like the luckiest man on Earth right now. And I want you to know that I am not a hero in this at all. And President Trump is a hero. These men that came from the diplomatic service are heroes. The senators and representatives that passed legislation in my honor to get me home are the heroes. I am in awe of what they all did,” the former detainee said.

“My family has been a force. I think my 95 year old mother is probably the most dynamic 95 year old on Earth right now. And I am so indebted to so many people. I think I remember a Churchill quote that he said when the RAF was fighting to lift off. And he said that never have so many owed so much to so few. And I put myself fortunately and unfortunately into that category,” he said.

“And I said never has one owed so much to so many that this super organism of people that came to my support and the love that I was given sustained me for three and a half years in a prison that had me in hospitals for more than 100 days. I was given more than 400 injections in that time. And knowing I had the support of my fellow Pennsylvanians, my family, my friends, it was so overwhelming that it brought me to my knees and it brought me to tears,” Fogel said.

“But it was my energy. It was my being that kept me going that whole time. And I will forever be indebted to President Trump, to Steve over there,” the teacher said.

“What a dynamic man this guy is. When I met him, the energy, the can-do attitude just exudes from his body. And when he smiled at me and introduced me and I got the feel for what has happened, you know, it’s not just me, it’s everybody. And Secretary Rubio, who met my son a while back. I’m a middle-class schoolteacher who’s now in a dream world,” he said.