American Hostage Families Back Tulsi Gabbard For DNI Post

The parents of former ISIS and al Qaeda hostages, and a former al Qaeda hostage, are backing President Donald Trump’s selection of Tulsi Gabbard to be his next Director of National Intelligence (DNI), writing in a letter first obtained by the Washington Reporter that “American hostage families know that Tulsi Gabbard has always been on our side.”

The letter’s signatories are Carl and Marsha Mueller, the parents of Kayla Mueller, an aid worker who was taken hostage by ISIS and who was murdered by terrorists almost ten years ago, and Theo Padnos and his parents, Nancy Curtis and Michael Padnos. Theo was held hostage by al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate for almost two years.

The group, which knows all too well the barbarism of ISIS and al Qaeda, wants the Senate to quickly confirm Gabbard. “Given the threat that has lately surfaced in New Orleans, we feel that the sooner the senate confirms Tulsi Gabbard the better, as the nation needs leadership that will keep Americans safe,” they wrote.

The letter from the Mueller and Pados families is a boon to Gabbard, who has rolled out major backing — including a recent open letter of support signed by over 1,100 veterans. Gabbard, herself an Iraq War veteran who has spent over two decades in the Army and Army Reserves, has also been rolling out support from the senators she will need to confirm her.

Gabbard’s time in the Middle East, the Mullers and Padnoses believe, “has given her an understanding of this phenomenon which other policy makers simply do not have. She has been compassionate towards terrorism’s victims. She has been a fierce advocate for bringing its practitioners to justice.”