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Tags: Kayla Mueller | Family | Obama | Donation | Foundation

Kayla Mueller's Family: Obama Broke Promise to Donate to Foundation

Kayla Mueller's Family: Obama Broke Promise to Donate to Foundation

Kayla Mueller. (AP Images)

By    |   Friday, 26 August 2016 10:21 AM EDT

The family of Kayla Mueller, a woman held hostage by ISIS who was killed while in captivity, said President Barack Obama never fulfilled his promise to donate to a foundation in Kayla Mueller's name.

"I'm still waiting on that donation, Mr. President," Kayla's father, Carl Mueller, said during an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."

Marsha Mueller, Kayla's mother, said, "He asked what he could do for you," referring to Carl Mueller, who told Obama he could donate to the Kayla's Hands foundation.

Carl Mueller recalled that Obama said, "You won't know, it'll be an anonymous donation, but I will."

A White House official confirmed to ABC News that the president had not made a donation, but still intends to do so. "The president will continue to support the goals of the organization in different ways, including by making a donation, as pledged to the Mueller family."

Mueller's parents said Obama and his administration failed their daughter.

ISIS kidnapped Kayla in Syria in August 2013, after she accompanied a friend to a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders. Over the July 4, 2014 weekend, a Special Forces unit attempted to free the hostages, but found that they had been moved days before.

Jordanian airstrikes killed her in early 2015.

A fellow captive said Kayla defended her Christian faith when one terrorist said that she had converted to Islam. "I would not have had the guts to say that," Danish photographer Daniel Rye said, according to ABC News.

The Muellers said in the ABC interview that when donors volunteered money for ISIS's $6.2 million ransom, a White House official refused their request for a letter saying the donors would not be prosecuted.

In June 2015, Obama said it was "totally unacceptable" for his administration to threaten hostage families with prosecution. He said then that he told the Muellers, "There have been times when our government, regardless of good intentions, has let them down."

Also in June 2015, the Justice Department released a statement saying it had never prosecuted those who raised ransom money to send to terror groups. "The department does not intend to add to families' pain in such cases by suggesting that they could face criminal prosecution," the statement said.

In the ABC interview, the Muellers said Obama refused to meet with them twice, and only did after two other hostages, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, were murdered by ISIS.

Carl Mueller said in the ABC News report, "We were told many, many times, ‘We're doing everything we can, everything we can." And they weren't."

ABC News showed a video that ISIS made of Kayla in captivity that made its way to the FBI, who sent it to her parents on Aug. 30, 2013.

The widow of a deceased Islamic State leader was charged in February in federal court with conspiracy in Mueller's death, the U.S. Justice Department said.

© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


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The family of Kayla Mueller, a woman held hostage by ISIS who was killed while in captivity, said President Barack Obama never fulfilled his promise to donate to a foundation in Kayla Mueller's name.
Kayla Mueller, Family, Obama, Donation, Foundation
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2016-21-26
Friday, 26 August 2016 10:21 AM
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