The family of an American murdered by the Islamic State group after being taken hostage and a former American hostage and his family are urging the Senate to quickly confirm Tulsi Gabbard as President-elect Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence.

Gabbard received the support Wednesday in a letter signed by Carl and Marsha Mueller, whose daughter Kayla Mueller, a human rights activist, was taken hostage by the Islamic State group in Syria in 2013 and murdered two years later.

Theo Padnos, an American journalist held hostage by an al-Qaida-linked group in Syria for two years before being released in 2014, and his parents, Nancy Curtis and Michael Padnos, also signed.

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