ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
The last time we spoke with the family of Austin Tice, it had been a decade since the freelance journalist went missing in Syria. Here's what his mother, Debra, told my colleague Mary Louise Kelly two years ago.
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DEBRA TICE: He is in Syria. That is a certainty. And he is - he's definitely being held with a government-related entity.
MARY LOUISE KELLY: So some kind of group or entity...
D TICE: Definitely related - right.
KELLY: ...With ties to the government of Bashar al-Assad.
D TICE: Yeah.
SHAPIRO: Well, now the government of Bashar al-Assad has fallen. And so as people flood out of Syrian prisons, Austin Tice's family hopes their loved one will be among them. Two of his siblings are with us now. Jacob Tice and Abigail Edaburn, good to have you both here.
JACOB TICE: Thanks so much for having us.
ABIGAIL EDABURN: Yes. Thank you.
J TICE: It's a pleasure to be here.
SHAPIRO: Things are moving so quickly. What is the latest information you have?
J TICE: Well, the latest information that we have is that Austin is alive. He is in Syria, and we are advocating, as we have been doing these last couple of days, that anyone who can help bring him home, who can help get him back to his family do whatever they can to make that happen.
SHAPIRO: That information that he is alive and in Syria is what your mother said at a press conference on Friday, and then over the weekend, President Biden said, we believe he's alive. We think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that yet - and said the U.S. doesn't know where he is. I'm sure you don't want to jump to premature conclusions, but if he is alive and the government has fallen, do you now believe it's just a short matter of time until you see him again?
EDABURN: You know, we're certainly hopeful of that. And like you're saying, with so many changes and also seeing so many other families get reunited with people that have been in captivity so long, it definitely increases our hope that that's also going to happen for Austin.
SHAPIRO: It's been reported that there is now a manhunt in Syria for him, that it is all hands on deck, that the U.S. special envoy for hostages went to Syria himself, according to The Washington Post. Do you know what this manhunt looks like?
J TICE: You know, we're not on the ground there, and at the end of the day, we're not foreign policy experts. We're not Middle East policy experts. We are just a family wanting our brother to come home. So we are extremely grateful for all of the effort that seems to be being put into the search for Austin right now, and we are so hopeful that those efforts will bear fruit and that Austin will come home soon.
SHAPIRO: I mean, what's it like for you to imagine at this moment, Americans and others literally spread out all across Syria looking for your brother? Like, I don't know if they're going cell to cell or what. But...
EDABURN: Yeah. I mean, it's absolutely amazing. And we have so many people that have truly dedicated their lives these past 12 years to helping Austin. And for them just to drop everything, show up there, do whatever they can, I mean, it's incredible. And yeah, hopefully they find him.
SHAPIRO: It has been 12 years. He has not been seen even on video since 2012, when there was footage of him being blindfolded, dragged up a hill by a bunch of armed men. Do you imagine what he looks like today, what his voice sounds like, how much he's changed?
J TICE: I am excited to see him. What that looks like is hard to think about. It's hard to imagine. One of the things that gives me hope, that keeps that light on in my heart, is that Austin has always been able to forge relationships in every context in which he's operated. I know that he is compelling as a man. He is so friendly and outgoing, and I can only imagine that that has served him well over these 12 years.
SHAPIRO: Abigail, do you think about hearing his voice for the first time in 12 years?
EDABURN: Oh, of course, I do. And, I mean, my No. 1 thing that I'm excited for is for him to meet my kids. He's met one, my oldest daughter, but I'm just, like - and they obviously know they have this uncle, and they've heard all the stories about him. And so to see that happen is, like, just the No. 1 thing that I'm excited for.
SHAPIRO: How old are your younger kids?
EDABURN: So I have 15, 8 and 5. So the 15-year-old - he was kidnapped when she was 3. So he'll basically get to re-meet her as a young woman as well.
SHAPIRO: What has your practice been for getting through these 12 long years? How have you kept your equilibrium during stretches where there has been no news of his whereabouts at all for years at a time?
J TICE: You don't do it years at a time. I would say that you do it every day, and each day is taken as its own day. And any day could be the day that Austin comes home, and every day should be the day that Austin comes home. So I think thinking about it in terms of a daily proposition rather than a proposition of months or years or now a decade and more, that can become very heavy to meditate on, on a daily basis, whereas the thought that today, Austin could come home, that has hope in it. That has power in it.
SHAPIRO: I know you've been saying today Austin could come home for 12 years. But saying it today feels different after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. What have just the last couple days been like for you as everything in Syria has changed so quickly and dramatically?
EDABURN: I mean, these past few days have been incredibly intense, and it does feel so different than how it's felt in the past. It feels like anything is possible, like, because no one saw this coming, so no one knows what could happen next. And so we're just hoping that what happens next is what we've been wanting for the past 12 years. But it does feel like a very unique opportunity.
J TICE: It's also incredible for us. This is the first time that our entire family has gathered in D.C.
SHAPIRO: 'Cause you're spread out all over the place - Jacob, you live in Washington state. Abigail, you live in London, but you've all been in D.C. for a little while now?
J TICE: Yes, as a part of a trip that we began planning in July to come and do our advocacy for Austin.
SHAPIRO: So it's sheer coincidence that you were all here when the Assad regime fell?
J TICE: That's right.
SHAPIRO: Wow.
J TICE: That's right.
EDABURN: Yeah, it's absolutely incredible that we were all here together when this happened. I mean, it could not have been planned because no one saw it coming, but it's been so good to all be together while this has been happening.
SHAPIRO: And so, were you just all, like, gathered around the TV together saying, what on Earth is happening?
EDABURN: Exactly right. We were all gathered in one tiny hotel room, basically the whole entire night.
J TICE: Saturday night, we had organized a little event to say thank you to everyone who had helped us, you know, over the course of the prior week, while we had been visiting the State Department, talking to the National Security Council. We'd have so much support here in D.C., and we had gathered with them. And just kind of gradually, the room shifted as it became increasingly obvious that this unique and singular moment in Syrian history was going to happen while we were here.
SHAPIRO: Your family has had a lot of Christmases without Austin, and the holiday is two weeks away. So how are you planning on spending it?
EDABURN: I mean, if Austin's here, we're all going to be together - absolutely no doubt in that.
SHAPIRO: Have you decided where?
EDABURN: I'm going to guess that it'll be Mom and Dad's house in Houston. Yeah.
SHAPIRO: (Laughter).
J TICE: Yeah, I don't know if there will be - if there's been a lot of discussion about that, but that would be the default choice.
EDABURN: Yes.
SHAPIRO: And are you allowing yourself to think about if this is yet another Christmas without him?
EDABURN: I think we'll just take it day by day, and hopefully that's not the case.
SHAPIRO: Abigail Edaburn and Jacob Tice, two of the siblings of Austin Tice, an American journalist who has been held in Syria for 12 years now, thank you for coming into the studio today.
EDABURN: Thank you so much. We really appreciate it.
J TICE: Yeah. Thanks for having us. This has been so meaningful to us as we seek support in bringing Austin home.
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