Families urge Trump to seek Americans’ release

Families urge Trump to seek Americans’ release | Daily Tribune

For Trump, who has cast himself as a dealmaker who brings Americans home, securing the release of two ailing US prisoners would offer a gain from a summit expected to be short on outcomes amid tensions over trade, Iran and Taiwan.

For Beijing, a humanitarian release of two Americans would be a low-cost gesture that could buy goodwill with a mercurial US president at a sensitive moment in the relationship.

“With President Trump meeting President Xi, our two families are writing letters — we’re asking, ‘Can you please ask for the release of our loved ones?,’” said Tim Hunt, Dawn Michelle’s older brother.

“Hopefully, we can get those letters delivered and read.”

Hunt said his sister is an artistic “brainiac,” a highly intelligent person, and former flight attendant with a degree in fashion design who loved entering sweepstakes with her mother.

Hunt said Dawn Michelle was lured into an international “prize” trip by scammers who, once she was in China, gifted her purses and a new suitcase containing hidden drugs that she unwittingly agreed to carry on a flight out of the country.

Nelson Wells Jr. traveled the world, climbed mountains and explored Japan’s peaks, sharing the views with his father. Wells was arrested after agreeing to carry another person’s suitcase while returning from a trip to China, his family said. The individual vanished once security at the airport discovered narcotics hidden in the bag.

“I enjoyed serving my country,” said Wells’ father, Nelson Wells Sr., a US Army veteran whose wife also worked for the Department of Defense for 28 years. “Now I just want my country to serve me.”

A spokesperson for the US State Department said it is providing the pair with consular assistance and that officials are advocating for the health and welfare of the two citizens but declined to provide details, citing privacy considerations.

A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the two are serving sentences for serious drug-related crimes and that the government is handling their cases according to the rule of law while ensuring their health and legitimate rights are protected.