HAVANA -- Sen. Patrick Leahy met with Cuban President Raul Castro Thursday, but the Vermont Democrat was unable to convince the Cuban leader to release jailed U.S. contractor Alan Gross currently serving a 15 year sentence in Havana for smuggling in illegal communications equipment and attempting to set up an Internet network that could escape government detection.

"I told him I had a plane and could take Gross out with me," Leahy told CBS News by phone after what he said was a "very active give and take" with Castro.