‘Are You Kidding Me?!’ NewsNation Host Stunned When Freed Hostage’s Brother Says He Only Learned Of Release Through CNN

NewsNation host Elizabeth Vargas was stunned on Friday after the brother and stepson of two Hamas hostages said he found out about their release from CNN instead of the government.

During an appearance on Elizabeth Vargas Reports following the release of his 17-year-old sister Natalie Raanan and stepmom Judith Raanan, Denver man Ben Raanan told Vargas he felt “happiness, joy, and and fear that they’re not okay, but then I see a picture and they look okay.”

He added, “It’s absurd, my sister has been captured for almost two weeks now and still looks like a supermodel.”

After Vargas asked, “How did you get the news? Who called you?” Raanan said, “This happened so quickly. I think CNN called.”

“Are you kidding me?!” the NewsNation host replied, audibly stunned. “Nobody from the government called you? You heard it from the media?”

Raanan explained, “No, I think the government received the news at almost the exact same time that the news did. I shouldn’t say that, perhaps there was a word to some other members of my family, but as the media was trying to parse out if this was really happening, we were trying to parse out the same thing as well. It happened so quickly.”

Later in the interview, Raanan said, “I can’t imagine what their mental health must be right now,” noting, “They are not politicians, they are not soldiers. They were not trained for any of this.”

Raanan then broke down into tears as he said, “We are assuming that there’s going to be a a long road to recovery, and we’re going to be there with them every step of the way.”

Watch above via NewsNation.