375: Mickey Bergman: Bringing American Hostages Home
The Lincoln Project
The Lincoln Project
4.6 • 9.1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 August 2024
⏱️ 32 minutes
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Summary
Rick speaks with hostage negotiator Mickey Bergman on what it takes to bring wrongly-detained Americans home from Russia and other hostile actors.
Follow Mickey Bergman on X @MickeyBergman and buy his book “In the Shadows: True Stories of High-Stakes Negotiations to Free Americans Captured Abroad” at fine bookstores everywhere.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Your task will not be an easy one. |
| 0:02.3 | Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battlehardt. |
| 0:06.1 | There is not a liberal America and a conservative America. |
| 0:09.9 | There is the United States of America. |
| 0:14.8 | Good night. |
| 0:15.7 | And good luck. |
| 0:16.6 | Hey, folks, it's Rick Wilson, and welcome back to the Lincoln Project podcast. |
| 0:20.3 | I have a fascinating guest today. |
| 0:22.6 | Mickey Bergman has a job that very few people have in this world. |
| 0:26.6 | Mickey Bergman is the CEO of a company called Global Reach, and he is an expert on getting |
| 0:32.6 | hostages back from bad places overseas, getting hostages out of dangerous situations where they may have either |
| 0:39.1 | been put or put themselves. |
| 0:41.9 | And so he's got a terrific new book called In the Shadows, True Stories of High States |
| 0:46.6 | Negotiations to Free Americans Captured Abroad. |
| 0:50.1 | So with that, Mickey, welcome to the podcast. |
| 0:52.7 | Thank you so much for joining us today. And I wanted to jump right in with the question that struck me right off the bat. How did you get into this mission, this business? How did you become a person who specializes in rescuing and retrieving hostages? Well, thank you, Rick, and I'm glad to join you here. So it's funny, it's about 18 years ago. |
| 1:13.6 | I got a random phone call to my office from one Governor Bill Richardson. |
| 1:19.6 | I knew, Bill, yeah. |
| 1:21.6 | Is this Mickey Bergman? |
| 1:23.6 | It's like, yeah, it's Governor Bill Richardson. |
| 1:25.6 | I need to pack your stuff and get yourself to Santa Fe. |
| 1:29.2 | You're coming with me to Haltum. |
... |
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