Gold Star Dad Arrested After Heckling Biden Over Son's Death In Botched Afghanistan Withdrawal
President Biden was momentarily distracted from delivery of his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, as the father of a Marine killed during the mishandled withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan yelled from the gallery at the top of his lungs, imploring the audience to remember the bloody bombing that took his son's life.
As Biden was at a part of the speech where he was daring to claim that Americans are "safer today than when he took office," 51-year-old Steven Nikoui bellowed "REMEMBER ABBEY GATE! US MARINES!" He was referring to a gate outside Karzai International Airport where a suicide bomber killed 11 Marines, a Navy corpsman and an Army soldier on August 26, 2021 as the airport was mobbed by people trying to flee the country. Among the dead: Nikoui's son, Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui, a 22-year-old Californian.
In a 2022 interview with Fox News, Nikoui condemned "the carelessness of this administration" and said Biden "hasn't taken any accountability." He also called for the resignation of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley. His wife, Shana Chappell, said, "For some reason, [administration officials and generals] want to put the blame on everyone but themselves, but it is actually their fault all of this happened."
President Biden was heckled by a Gold Star father during his #SOTU address
— Mona Salama (@ByMonaSalama) March 8, 2024
Steve Nikoui, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui — 1 of the 13 U.S. service members who was killed during Biden's botched Afghan exit on August 2021 — yelled "Abbey Gate, Abbey Gate. United… pic.twitter.com/XyeqMwnd3n
After shouting at Biden, Nikoui was cooperative as US Capitol Police officers asked him to leave and escorted him from the chamber. He was handcuffed and arrested on a misdemeanor District of Columbia charge. "Disrupting the Congress and demonstrating in Congressional buildings is illegal," said Capitol Police in a statement. "This is a routine charge on Capitol Hill. People who illegally demonstrate/disrupt Congress typically are released after they pay a $50 fine, so the misdemeanor charge is resolved without going to court.”
Nikoui was at the address as a guest of Republican Florida Rep. Brian Mast, whose two legs and a finger were amputated after he stepped on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan's Kandahar Valley as he served as a US Army bomb technician supporting a team of Army Rangers.
It's not clear if he knew of Nikoui's intention to disrupt Biden's speech. Earlier in the day, Mast tweeted a photo of himself with Nikoui and wrote, "Joe Biden may try to turn the page on Afghanistan after his incompetence cost American lives, but NOT ON MY WATCH."
Steve Nikoui, the father of fallen Marine LCpl. Kareem Nikoui, was my guest to #SOTU2024.
— Rep. Brian Mast (@RepBrianMast) March 8, 2024
He was arrested because he cried out to @JoeBiden to remember his son.
Joe Biden has never honored those killed at the Abby Gate and still hails the catastrophic withdrawal as a success! pic.twitter.com/m8Y0sUPLY6