Charges were dropped against a Gold Star father, Steve Nikoui, arrested for heckling President Joe Biden during his State of the Union speech on March 7, and Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., told Newsmax on Thursday, "Mr. Nikoui, he just couldn't take it any longer.
"President Biden is up and at the State of the Union talking about how crime is down and how the border is the fault of Republicans and many others and not saying a word about the importance of our troops and the sacrifices that are being made."
Nikoui, who attended the State of the Union as a guest of Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., faced arrest by Capitol Police for repeatedly shouting "Abbey Gate" and "Second Battalion, First Marines!" at President Biden during the speech.
"He [Nikoui] said afterward with some contrition, 'I don't know what took over me, but I just couldn't take it any longer. That my son, the Afghanistan debacle, and the military efforts overseas are just being ignored by this president,' " Meuser said.
Nikoui is the father of Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, one of 13 U.S. Marines who died in the Abbey Gate bombing during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, as reported by National Review.
"So, he stood up, and he said his name was going to be heard on this House floor. The president is going to hear my son Kareem's name and his whole battalion," Meuser told "American Agenda."
"I mean, that was a horrible day, 170 largely innocent Afghanis as well as 13 troops, so you know, and the capital [police] in the end, they dropped the charges, but it was a rush to judgment," to begin with, he added.
The Democrat attorney general in Washington, D.C., Brian Schwalb, has opted not to pursue charges against Nikoui.
National Review also noted that several Gold Star families attended the Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Tuesday. The hearing, which examined the failures of the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan, featured testimony from former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and retired U.S. Central Command Gen. Frank McKenzie.
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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