President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien have all contacted Kayla Mueller’s parents in separate phone calls, letting them know that their daughter has not been forgotten. Kayla was one of the Americans captured and tortured by ISIS, and was raped by the terror group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was finally killed during a U.S. raid on Saturday.
President Trump spoke to Kayla Mueller‘s parents — Carl and Marsha Mueller — for nearly 20 minutes by phone on Sunday, answering many of the questions that they had for him regarding the U.S. military operation that resulted in the death of their daughter’s captor and rapist, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to a report by AZcentral.
The report added that O’Brien first delivered some new, heartwarming information to Carl and Marsha, which was that the military mission to take out al-Baghdadi had been named after Kayla.
“It was so touching for us to know that,” said Carl.
Kayla was taken hostage in 2013 while she was in Syria performing humanitarian work. She was then held captive for 18 months, and personally raped by al-Baghdadi, before her death in 2015, after an unsuccessful rescue mission.
On Saturday, al-Baghdadi was chased down by a female Belgian Malinois during a U.S. military raid, before evidently giving up and detonating his suicide vest, killing himself in an explosion.
“[Kayla] wants us to get them — I’ve felt that with all my heart,” said Marsha, who is sure that her daughter would be happy to hear of al-Baghdadi’s ultimate demise.
Carl said that he sat at the dining table and made a list of questions for President Trump, while anticipating his call.
“If you don’t write it down, you forget in the moment,” he said. “It’s very intimidating.”
When the president called on Sunday afternoon, the conversation began with condolences, but soon segued into more details involving Kayla, which Carl and Marsha found comforting, as they found that President Trump actually knew their daughter’s story, and what she — as well as her parents — had endured, according to AZcentral.
“He was very cordial,” said Carl, “it was almost like talking to a friend.”
The report added that Carl told President Trump that he had successfully answered a lot of his and Marsha’s questions. Then, when Kayla’s father paused, the president asked, “Do you have any more?”
There was reportedly one question that President Trump couldn’t answer, which the president promised would be brought up in a meeting on Monday.
The report also noted that some relatives — as well as individuals who worked on the unsuccessful mission to rescue Kayla and other hostages in 2015 — had blamed the Obama administration for not acting quickly enough on giving the mission a green light.
“Now they get a victory,” said Carl. “Naming it after Kayla would make that victory even sweeter.”
On Monday morning, the Muellers received another phone call. This time, it had been from Vice President Mike Pence, who also let them know that Kayla was not forgotten.
“This administration is being proactive, and we are very confident we are going to be be able to get the answers we’ve been wanting for six years,” said Carl. “We have the ear of the White House now — it’s what we needed.”
“I still say Kayla should be here,” said Marsha, “and if Obama had been as decisive as President Trump, maybe she would have been.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo and on Instagram.
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