In 2016 I sat down with then-U.S. Senator Jeff Flake to talk about the many years he spent working to improve U.S.-Cuba relations. Flake spoke candidly about the opportunities and failures on both sides of the diplomatic relationship, and why the future must look different from the past.

I recorded the entire interview and may at some point post the transcript or audio recording. It was a fascinating discussion – Flake has a truly enlightened perspective on this particular diplomatic issue.

Today I am sharing just an excerpt. In this short, transcribed segment, Flake relates the unbelievable story of a high-stakes prisoner swap that he facilitated on behalf of President Obama on a Cuban airfield. It's something else.

Flake is well known for his impact on U.S.-Cuba relations. Although he is no longer in the Senate, I understand that his work in Cuba is not over. We can be glad about that.

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Sen. Flake: Let's take it back to November of 2014. I was in Havana and wanted to meet with Alan Gross. Alan Gross was a contractor with USAID. He'd been held by the Cubans for five years after being convicted as a spy for delivering electronic equipment and whatnot to the Jewish community in Cuba.

Question: Do you think there was any validity to that claim?

Sen. Flake: I mean, he certainly was running afoul of Cuban law. Whether or not he was a spy, I don't think so – and he claimed not to know that what he was doing was contrary to the law.

But the Cubans had him for five years and his health was declining. So I went and saw him in a military hospital or Cuban prison. And he was at wit's end by that time. He told the Cubans that he wouldn't spend another year in prison.

He was about 60 years old and had lost about a hundred pounds and was losing some teeth. He missed his mother's funeral and family events he wanted to attend. He had just had enough. So I went back to the White House and said, “I know you're probably negotiating for his release...well you may want to hurry.”

They were already working on that [his release]. I got a call from the White House a few weeks later and they said, "would you like to undertake a sensitive mission?" I said, "Hey, that's why I came to the Senate." So they said to be at the Andrews Air Force Base at 5:00 AM on Wednesday, but you can't tell your wife or your staff where you're going.

So I got to the airport with Patrick Leahy, a Democratic Senator who I've been working on this issue with. Congressman Chris Van Hollen was also there. We boarded one of the President's planes and Judy Gross, Alan's wife, was on the plane. We'd been working with her over the years to try to secure her husband's release.

We took off and another plane took off as well – just after us. That plane was to pick up a Cuban national who had been a spy for us and was caught and had spent 20 years in a Cuban prison.

Another plane took off from Miami carrying three Cubans who had been convicted spies in the U.S. courts.

And so all three planes landed at the same time at separate airfields in Havana. We picked up Alan Gross and I met with the Foreign Minister of Cuba for a minute. We went out to the plane and got the signal and 31 minutes after we landed in Cuba, we took off.

We were in the air for about a half an hour and the pilot announced, "We've now entered U.S. airspace" and Alan Gross stood up – and I'll never forget it – he pumped his fists in the air and then breathed in and out deeply for awhile and said, "Now I know I'm free."

It was just the most incredible experience.

As soon as we landed, President Obama and Raul Castro held separate news conferences where they announced that we would now have diplomatic relations and change our policy.