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Family Confirms U.S. ISIS Hostage Kayla Mueller Dead; Interview with Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona

Aired February 10, 2015 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Kyung Lah has been in Prescott, Arizona. She talked to a family friend and the Mueller family -- well, needless to say, they've been through hell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He told me that the capture of Kayla had happened just three or four days earlier.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The man he's talking about, Kayla Mueller's father. It had been three to four days since ISIS captured Kayla on August 4, 2014. The threat from ISIS, talk about or release her name and they would execute her.

Her father in a fog of fear and pain happened to hear then Arizona secretary of state Kent Bennett on the radio.

KENT BENNETT, FORMER ARIZONA SECRETARY OF STATE: He was totally desperate and didn't know what to do and turned to me just because I happened to be a few blocks away on the radio as he was driving home.

LAH: Bennett as Arizona's secretary of state carries no international diplomatic pull but he does have friends in power. Bennett immediately connected Mueller's father with Senator John McCain and Representative Paul Gosar on their personal cell and the diplomatic race was on to save Kayla Mueller. The Muellers suffered in excruciating silence speaking to virtually no one about Kayla. Todd Guiler is a longtime family friend.

TODD GUILER, MUELLER FAMILY FRIEND: It's not hard to keep a secret like this when demands of this caliber are being made, when you look across your breakfast table and there's an empty chair sitting there.

LAH: For nine months deafening silence and then last May ISIS sends proof of life confirmation. Two months later in early July, a daring rescue attempt by U.S. forces to save journalist James Foley. It fails but the military finds strands of hair believed to be Mueller's.

Just days later on July 12th, ISIS announces it will kill Kayla in 30 days unless the Muellers pay nearly $7 million in ransom. The 30 days pass and again silence.

No word until this ISIS claim on Friday that Kayla Mueller was killed in this building. The Muellers, still afraid to say the wrong thing remained in their home behind police cars, still suffering alone in a hell few can ever imagine. They released a public statement to ISIS to reach out to them privately and directly.

BENNETT: I think it's kind one of the amazing parts of the story that out of their love for their daughter, they really kind of had to almost bear this alone. I don't know how as a family they have done that.

LAH: Alone no longer Prescott, Arizona now knows and prays.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Kyung Lah now joins us live from Prescott, Arizona. Did the Mueller family hold out hope until the end?

LAH: At least publicly they did. We had been hearing from people within the inner circle that certainly everything they knew about ISIS, everything that they had seen so far was pointing to the fact that their daughter may not have survived. That she may not be alive any longer.

At least publicly before cameras, they haven't spoken before the cameras but sent out spokespeople. They've tried to hold the line that they still had hope, that they wanted to bring Kayla home. That's something that they've been very united about. And it's really hard to comprehend for a lot of people here in this.

What this town saw is a little girl who from the very beginning tried to help people on the playground if they were being bullied, worked in a campaign to stop genocide in Africa and then grew into somebody who really wanted to understand the suffering of the world. And you certainly understand that, Carol, when you read that statement.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Kyung Lah, reporting live from Prescott, Arizona. Thanks so much.

Let's head back to Washington and check in with our justice correspondent, Pamela Brown. Do we know if the Mueller family has been communicating with President Obama lately?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: We have learned from a U.S. official, Carol, that President Obama called the Mueller family last night to send his condolences. And we're also learning some new information about why the family and the U.S. government concluded that Kayla has died.

We've learned that that new information that was sent to the family by ISIS over the weekend was actually pictures that ISIS sent that show that she had died. Of course, that had to be verified. We know that forensics examiners were looking at those pictures over the weekend. The family of course had to ID her and then once they came to the conclusion that the pictures were verified and along with other information, other factors at play, that's when they decided that, yes, they believe that she had died.

And we know from U.S. officials, Carol, that the family is now trying to get her body back. We don't know how. Of course, we know they have an open line into ISIS. The family reached out to ISIS Friday and then, of course, received those pictures. But they are trying to get her body back -- just so sad for the family.

COSTELLO: So ISIS actually sent pictures to the family of Kayla's dead body?

BROWN: We know -- well, what I can tell you is that ISIS sent pictures to the family. Those pictures had to be verified. And after those pictures were verified, they came to the conclusion that she died. So whatever those pictures showed allowed them to reach this conclusion, Carol.

And I'll let you take it from there.

COSTELLO: All right. Pamela Brown, reporting. I'll let you get back to it so you can ferret out some more information for us. Thank you very much.

On the phone now, Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar joins me. Welcome, sir.

REP. PAUL GOSAR (R), ARIZONA (via telephone): Good morning.

COSTELLO: Your thoughts?

GOSAR: Well, it's a sad day. Here's a beautiful girl, young person that gave her life to helping others in (inaudible) -- so a very, very sad day. I hope that everybody will reach out to their respective religions with thoughts and prayers on behalf of Kayla and her family.

COSTELLO: I know she very much became sort of a hero to all of Prescott. There are vigils held in her honor. Holding out hope she might somehow be alive.

GOSAR: You know that with no confirmation coming in the last couple of days until today, you know, that is what our hope was -- praying for a miracle to happen for the Mueller family and for Kayla. It wasn't to be and it's a sad day. You know, we will not rest until we bring those perpetrators to justice. And we have a bill that will actually help do that facilitating a bounty because they kidnapped Kayla and are responsible for her safety and now ultimately her death.

COSTELLO: What bill are you talking about, sir?

GOSAR: This is Bringing Terrorists to Justice Act -- HR-751. Companion bill has been dropped in the senate and a similar bill was passed unanimously in the senate last year. It basically amends the State Department's reward for justice program and allows the scrutiny and ability of up to $5 million to help in perpetration and brought to justice for those that kidnap and kill American citizens.

COSTELLO: Do you think the U.S. government did all it could to rescue Kayla?

GOSAR: Well, I mean we had two assets in this war-torn area. But, you know, the administration tried. We were contacted by the Mueller family in late summer of 2013. We tried to work with Senator McCain who had some contacts because of his vast traveling. But with (inaudible) the generals that were ousted, he had no help from those folks.

We've been trying to reach out to some friends of my family that had some relatives back there to see if they could help but the problem was the way that savagery of ISIS and war-torn aspect of Syria prohibited that as well.

We do know that there was an attempt that they thought they tried to send in a rescue attempt at Raqqa. They missed it. They were moving the captives here, there and everywhere and very indiscriminately and they just missed what they thought was where Kayla had been taken.

So we're not dealing with people that are civil to people that are trying to help others. We're talking to butchers; we're talking to people that's the worst of humanity. It's hard to know all the aspects in which the state department actually went.

COSTELLO: If the family -- I believe is asked for a ransom for Kayla. Should the U.S. government have considered that?

GOSAR: Well, here's your problem. Once you start doing that, then everybody, every American citizen traveling abroad becomes a subject in regard for kidnapping and then the plight of how much money has been captivated in the Boko Haram group. There's liberties and freedoms that we have here in the United States and it's a very hard choice, but there are consequences when we leave around the country. That's why we hold people accountable for the injustices they do to humanity.

But there has to be a consistent policy. It's heartbreaking and heart-wrenching to see the people that attack those only give the very best of humanity for the plight of those people in war-torn areas or suffering debilitating diseases. But it just makes it very, very difficult on behalf of the security of this country and the future of terrorists.

COSTELLO: President Obama will today or tomorrow ask congress for war power. Should Congress grant him that?

GOSAR: I know he's coming to Congress. The problem is I'm very critical in regard to we don't seem to have a cohesive plan. I'm not the only one that wants the President to outline something more constructive than what he's put forward. Bombing alone is not enough. It seems that we have a very weak group of countries.

It's been bolstered by the actions of Jordan. But look at what a decisive leader Jordan has become in this plight to the area. I need to see more in regards to what he's coming with, with an orchestrated plan that's not egregiously and erroneously putting our men and women in harm's way that are fight out in behalf of our armed services and protecting our great country.

COSTELLO: Would you grant the President the authority for limited use of boots on the ground?

GOSAR: Well, I think what we have to do is that's what commander in chief feels it, I want to see that. We've heard from our military experts that this is not going to be something that can be done with just bombing and from air strikes, that we're going to need some cohesive boots on the ground.

We already have boots on the ground. They may be choreographing the flights and bombing raids but we already have people in harm's way. We want to make sure that their safety, as well as those that may become further involved in the conflict, are protected as well. That means required leadership if that's appropriate for the problem at hand.

COSTELLO: All right. Congressman Paul Gosar, thank you so much for joining me. I sure appreciate it.

GOSAR: Thank you. And my thoughts and prayers to the Mueller family. Thank you.

COSTELLO: Thank you, sir. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right. Again, it is with great sadness that I have to report to you that Kayla jean Mueller is dead. That's according to the White House and to her parents. As you know, she was a young humanitarian worker being held by ISIS somewhere. ISIS claimed she was killed by a Jordanian air strike over Syria.

Her parents released a letter that she wrote from captivity. I just want to read you the top of the letter because it's just so sad. It will give you a glimpse of what her captivity was like. She says, "Everyone" -- these are Kayla's words -- "Everyone, if you are receiving this letter, it means I'm still detained but my cell mates have been released. I've asked them to contact you and send you this letter. It's hard to know what to say. Please know that I'm in a safe location completely unharmed, healthy, put on weight in fact. I've been treated with the utmost respect and kindness. I wanted to write you all a well thought out letter but I didn't know if my cellmates would be leaving in the coming days or the coming months restricting my time but primarily I could only write the letter a paragraph at a time.

Just the thought of all of you sends me into a fit of tears. If you could say I have suffered at all throughout this whole experience it is only in knowing how much suffering I have put all of you through. I will never ask you to forgive me as I do not deserve forgiveness. I remember mom always telling me that all in all in the end the only one you really have is God."

So that's part of a letter that Kayla Mueller wrote to her parents while being held captive by ISIS. It's just a tragic story.

I want to head to Amman, Jordan and Jomana Karadsheh to find out what sort of reaction there is to Kayla Mueller's death there. Take it away -- Jomana.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Carol, we have not been able to reach the Jordanian government for comment so far. But since those allegations came out by ISIS on Friday saying that -- claiming that Kayla Mueller was killed in a Jordanian air strike in Syria, the Jordanian government, the Jordanian military has insisted on their position saying that this was lies, a PR stunt by ISIS and also saying that the story did not add up. Saying these are allegations and that there was no proof that Jordanian fighter jet had carried out this air strike and how would they know.

So lots of questions we've heard from Jordanian officials and nothing yet so far on this confirmation that's coming out and of course we still do not know how Kayla Mueller lost her life. It's something that we have yet to hear.

But the Jordanians for their part feel that ISIS has been going after this country and has been trying to undermine their effort in this fight against ISIS that we have seen Jordan really ramp up over the last few days.

And, Carol, you would expect a lot of sympathy here in Jordan for the family of Kayla Mueller. This is a country that just a week ago heard the news of its own hostage being killed brutally by ISIS when that video of the Jordanian pilot burned alive came out and shocked this nation. They're still grieving. So you would expect a lot of sympathy from his family and people here and, of course, for someone like Kayla Mueller, a humanitarian worker and aid worker, someone who risked their live and ultimately lost their life in an attempt to help those most in need in Syria -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jomana Karadsheh, thanks so much.

I want to head back to Washington and Michelle Kosinski. We just found out a little bit from Pamela Brown how the family came to know that their daughter was dead. They received some sort of pictures of perhaps her body. It's just terrible.

How did the President find out?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: the White House isn't saying at this point. We have other questions too, of course. First of all, how do we know that ISIS murdered her? Was she murdered by ISIS? Did she die in some other way? What was the time frame? Do we believe that this happened recently?

So what the White House is saying now including as regards the President's call to the family, in fact the White House isn't even confirming that that was yesterday. They are saying they're going to handle these questions in the briefing later on today. But until then we don't expect much more detail from the White House.

What we heard from the National Security Council though, the President's team of security advisers is that they put out a statement saying that they acknowledge that the family had received a private message and said once this information was authenticated by the intelligence community, they -- assuming they mean intelligence community -- concluded that Kayla was deceased.

So it's interesting when you look at the progression of how we came to know this. The White House has said that for days now the intelligence community was working on this trying to corroborate or disprove the statement that had originally come from ISIS. But it took until now and it took a private communication between ISIS and the family for the intelligence community to know this and for the President to be informed. So I think that says a lot about how difficult it is to get any kind of intelligence out of this area, out of ISIS, out of Syria. We know that they can intercept communications at times. We know that they have some contacts. This is another example of how scant and hard to come by that information can be -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Michelle Kosinski reporting live from the White House.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The White House and the Mueller family now telling us that Kayla Mueller is dead. She's the young American woman who was being held captive by ISIS in Syria. ISIS claimed she was killed by a Jordanian air strike. There is no proof of that but both the White House and the Mueller family say they do have proof that Kayla Mueller has died.

Let's head out to the White House now. I believe, Michelle, that the President and the Mueller family talked?

KOSINSKI: Right. And the White House isn't giving out a lot of detail. I mean keep in mind we still don't know the manner of death. Was Kayla Mueller indeed murdered by ISIS and when did this happen? We know that they gave a deadline to the family about a month ago. But do we believe this happened more recently?

We expect to hear more from the White House at the daily briefing today at 12:30. But in the meantime, the White House is now talking about this phone call but they're not confirming that it happened just yesterday. What the National Security Council is saying is that the President has spoken with Kayla's parents. He offered his condolences and prayers and commended Kayla's commitment to helping others in need. He committed that we will relentlessly pursue the terrorists responsible for Kayla's captivity and death and underscored that his team stands ready to help the family in the difficult weeks and months ahead -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It's just so sad. Ok, Michelle Kosinski, I know you're gathering more information. Thanks so much. Michelle Kosinski, live from the White House.

And just as I close out my show, I just want to read you another part of this letter that Kayla wrote to her father on her birthday while she was being held captive by ISIS.

She says, "The thought of your pain is the source of my own, simultaneously, the hope of our reunion is the source of my strength. Please be patient. Give your pain to God. I know you would want me to remain strong. That's exactly what I am doing. Do not fear for me. Continue to pray as I will. By God's will we'll be together soon. All my everything, Kayla."

But sadly as we know today, Kayla Mueller will not make it home -- the White House and the Mueller family both confirming that Kayla Mueller has died.

Much more to come throughout the hours on CNN.

Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. The next hour of NEWSROOM after a break.

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