Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s son Sam — who made it out of Egypt last week after being barred from leaving the country — said in his first television interview Tuesday that his detainment was a “de facto detention.” 
 
 Sam LaHood, the director of the Egyptian program for the NGO International Republican Institute, and 42 other NGO employees are facing criminal charges of using illegally obtained funds to sow unrest in Egypt. The travel ban against LaHood and six other Americans was lifted last week, and the group returned to the U.S. on Thursday. Bail was about $300,000 per person. 
 
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 CNN’s Soledad O’Brien asked LaHood if it was correct to say he was “held hostage” in Egypt. 
 
 “That’s the analogy that our attorney used,” LaHood said. “I mean, he felt like to some degree it was — he equated it to a hostage situation and we were prevented from leaving the country. It was a de facto detention in the sense that we were prevented from being able to leave the country of Egypt.” 
 
 LaHood said he anticipates the trial against him and his fellow NGO workers “to go on for some time” in Egypt. 
 
 “We’re working with our lawyers to try to figure out what’s next for myself and my other American colleagues,” LaHood said. “But as I said, we’re hopeful that this issue is going to be resolved within Egypt and there will be a positive outcome for our Egyptian colleagues as well. The trial is expected to go on for some time. And we’re hopeful for a positive resolution or that the case will be dismissed.” 
 
 As for what his detention says about post-Mubarak Egypt, LaHood said making that kind of assessment would be a “little bit above my pay grade.” 
 
 “From our experience in working in places that are like Egypt, that are going through a transition like this, oftentimes these transitions are uneven,” he said. “There’s bumps in the road. In our case, what we’re seeing here is, as I said, former elements of the Mubarak government that are pushing their own agenda that we think is inconsistent with the transition that’s going on in Egypt right now, the democratic transition that’s going on.” ||||| Sam LaHood: Former elements of Mubarak government inconsistent with democratic transition 
 
 Recently released, Sam LaHood explains to CNN’s Soledad O’Brien what he was charged with in Egypt and discusses the detention of himself and his coworkers. 
 
 LaHood says, “It was a de facto detention in the sense that we were prevented from being able to leave the country of Egypt.” 
 
 Asked about his thoughts on post-Mubarak Egypt, LaHood responds, “From our experience in working in places that are like Egypt, they’re going through a transition like this, oftentimes these transitions are uneven and there’s bumps in the road. In our case, what we’re seeing here is, as I said, former elements of the Mubarak government that are pushing their own agenda that we think is inconsistent with the transition that’s going on in Egypt right now, the democratic transition that’s going on.” 
 
 Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien airs week mornings from 7-9am ET on CNN.
– Sam LaHood today discussed his "de facto detention" in Egypt, in his first TV interview since returning to the US Thursday, Politico reports. LaHood, who had been barred from leaving Egypt along with 42 other NGO employees, says their attorney compared the circumstances "to a hostage situation." The employees still face criminal charges in Egypt, and LaHood tells CNN he expects the trial against them "to go on for some time" in that country. "We’re working with our lawyers to try to figure out what’s next for myself and my other American colleagues," says LaHood, son of the US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "But as I said, we’re hopeful that this issue is going to be resolved within Egypt and there will be a positive outcome for our Egyptian colleagues as well." LaHood wouldn't comment on what his detention might say about the post-Mubarak Egypt, but he did note that transitions like the one Egypt is undergoing are often "uneven. There's bumps in the road."