Austin Tice’s family says he is alive and well, but they are deeply frustrated after meeting with Biden administration

CNN

By Michael Conte and Alex Marquardt, CNN

Washington (CNN) — The family of Austin Tice, a freelance journalist held in Syria since 2012, said they have new confirmation that he remains alive and well.

In a news conference, the family also expressed deep frustration with the Biden administration for telling them in a meeting Friday that it is waiting to see how the rapidly unfolding events in Syria resolve before being able to do more to try to free Tice.

“He is being cared for, and he is well,” said Austin’s mother Debra Tice at a news conference at the National Press Club, citing what she called a “significant source that has already been vetted all over our government.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre would not comment on the source referred to by the Tice family.

“I don’t have anything to share about conversation on this particular matter,” said Jean-Pierre at a press briefing at the White House.

A source familiar with what the Biden administration knows says there is no change in the administration’s assessment of Austin Tice, and they have no new information.

Bill McCarren, director of the Press Freedom Center at the National Press Club, emphatically insisted the Biden administration is “lying” about what they know about Tice.

In August, the State Department marked 12 years since Tice was taken, saying: “We know the Syrian government has held Austin, and we have repeatedly offered to find a way to bring him home.”

Members of the Biden administration in the past have said they believe Tice is alive but have not been definitive in an assessment.

The Syrian government has not acknowledged that they are holding Tice nor offered any proof of life. Despite no longer having diplomatic relations, in the past few years, the US government has engaged with Syrian officials on the issue of Tice, including a visit to Damascus by the State Department’s top official for hostage affairs, Roger Carstens.

Tice’s case is complicated by the rapid advances made by Syrian rebel forces across the country over the past two weeks, taking key cities and potentially endangering dictator Bashar Assad’s regime. The changing dynamics in Syria could both open up new opportunities for Tice’s potential release or complicate it.

Austin’s brother, Jacob Tice, said that he asked White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan for a commitment that the US would talk directly to Assad about freeing Austin, but that Sullivan would not give the family such a commitment.

“I found that to be a striking response, given what we have heard from the president himself about the ceaseless efforts he has encouraged his administration to take in order to free Austin,” Jacob Tice said.

A National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement that Sullivan did meet with the family, adding that “Sullivan has regularly met with the families of wrongfully detained Americans, and the Biden-Harris Administration continues to work to bring these Americans home to their families.”

Debra Tice slammed the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leading the latest rebel offensive, calling them “terrorists” who are “tearing up Aleppo.”

“When I think about war, I never have a happy moment. I don’t really understand what’s happening in Syria,” said Debra Tice, who later acknowledged that “it’s possible this could (mean) Austin’s release.”

Austin’s sister, Meagan Tice, said that she was told the Biden administration is “waiting to see how all of these pieces play out over the next week before we can do anything definitive,” referring to the recent rebel offensive.

“Our larger question was, how can we use this disruption to leverage something for Austin during this time?” she said. “And unfortunately they didn’t have much answer to that at all.”

The now-43-year-old Tice traveled as a freelance journalist to Syria in the summer of 2012 to report on the war there. He was detained at a checkpoint near Damascus on August 14, 2012, just three days after his 31st birthday.

Austin’s father, Marc Tice, said that the family met with the State Department on Thursday, but that the meeting was not productive.

“There were complaints and finger-pointing about who is preventing things from happening and who’s responsible for doing what,” Marc Tice said.

Debra Tice also praised President-elect Donald Trump for his interest in her son’s case during his first term, calling it an “obsession” of Trump’s.

“When Donald Trump was elected, that was the first thing on my mind, was to remind him of how much he loved Austin and how much he wanted (him) home,” she said.

Austin’s younger sister, Naomi Tice, became emotional recounting “how different our lives are from what I think we had kind of planned and hoped and dreamed for” since Austin was imprisoned.

“He went there with this passion and conviction and I would love to see that our government has the same passion and conviction to bring him home,” she said.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler and Samantha Waldenberg contributed to this report.

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