A Gold Star father is not letting Vice President Kamala Harris off the hook for the death of his son during the botched Afghanistan exit three years later now that Joe Biden is stepping down.
Steven Nikoui’s son Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, was killed by a suicide bomber, along with 12 other soldiers, during the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
He told DailyMail.com Monday that although ‘another year has gone by,’ Gold Star families and members of Congress have been the only ones ‘who continue to fight and question the actions of the Biden/Harris administration.’
Nikoui says he feels a sense of ‘victory’ because Joe Biden will not run again, but doesn’t believe Harris will bring any more closure to the Gold Star families.
Harris who ‘was not nominated by the people’ has ‘assumed responsibility for the evacuation when she said she was the last one in the room,’ he went on.
The vice president confirmed she was the ‘last person in the room’ during the Afghanistan exit when asked by CNN’s Dana Bash in an August 2021 interview.
Speaker Mike Jonson shared a clip of that interview on X Monday, calling the 13 troops ‘heroic.’
Gold Star father Steve Nikoui was removed from President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech for shouting about his son’s death in Afghanistan. He said he was ‘blessed and humbled’ after charges were dropped against him following his arrest for heckling
The families spoke exclusively with DailyMail.com at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
‘We honor their memory and will never forget their sacrifice,’ the speaker wrote.
Their kids were among the 13 Americans and some 170 Afghans who died days later when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive in August 2021. To date, not a single Biden administration official has taken responsibility for the loss of life.
Former President Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to pay tribute to the Americans killed.
The former president laid a series of wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then paid a private visit to section 60, the area of the cemetery where those killed in Afghanistan are buried.
He was joined by family members of some of the U.S. soldiers who were killed in a bombing at Abbey Gate.
Trump was also was accompanied by two Marines who were injured in attack: Cpl. Kelsee Lainhart, who was paralyzed in the attack and now uses a wheelchair, and Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who lost his right arm and left leg.
Harris put out a statement Monday honoring the service members killed in addition to over 100 ‘innocent Afghans.’
‘Thirteen American heroes were taken from us on that day,’ she said in a statement that also listed the names of each of those Americans lost.
‘Today and everyday, I mourn and honor them. My prayers are with their families and loved ones. My heart breaks for their pain and their loss,’ she continued.
But when DailyMail.com spoke with the families of the 13 service members who were killed during the botched Afghanistan withdrawal in-person at the Republican National Convention last month, they said the Biden administration has still ignored their pleas to meet.
The Gold Star families recently spoke exclusively with DailyMail.com at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, minutes before Trump’s arrival to the arena on night two of the convention.
Darin Hoover, who lost his son Taylor Hoover, a 31-year-old Marine Corps staff sergeant in the attack, said he wants to ensure ‘what happened to our kids never happens again’ by getting Trump reelected.
‘Sure, war is hell and we’re going to lose some,’ he continued, ‘but not in the manner that our kids were lost.’
‘I’m here because Trump speaks for me, he speaks for my morals, my beliefs. He speaks truth,’ Taylor’s sister Coral Doolittle told DailyMail.com.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, Calif. – one of 13 service members who were killed during the disastrous 2021 exit from Afghanistan
Herman Lopez said ‘Joe Biden has dropped the ball’ and there is no longer ‘trust’ in his administration
‘We are here to support Trump because we need a change. We need somebody that cares for veterans, our military, our military families…and we know that he’s gonna do it for us,’ added Kelly Barnett, Taylor’s mother.
‘I’m supporting Trump because in the last three years and my son has been gone, we have tried to reach out to him President Joe Biden and he’s yet to even return our calls or asked us to meet with us,’ Alicia Lopez, mother of Marine Cpl. Hunter Lopez, disclosed.
She said in the ‘almost three years that we’ve lost our children,’ President Trump has been the ‘only one who has come to us and asked us how we’re feeling and asked us how we’re doing.’
Her husband Herman Lopez said ‘Joe Biden has dropped the ball’ and there is no longer ‘trust’ in his administration.
‘We need a leader that we can have confidence in,’ he continued.
Christy Shamblin, mother-in-law of 23-year-old Sgt. Nicole Gee, told DailyMail.com that she’s supporting Trump because he supports ‘our veterans and armed service members.’
‘The current administration has turned their back on them,’ but not Trump, she said who wouldn’t let the Taliban harm ‘one hair on one head of a U.S. service member.’
Their kids were among the 13 Americans and some 170 Afghans who died days later when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive in August 2021
Trump wouldn’t let the Taliban harm ‘one hair on one head of a U.S. service member’
Cheryl Jules added: ‘As soon as Trump left it all went to hell and our kids are dead because of that’
Cheryl Juels, aunt of Gee, added: ‘As soon as Trump left it all went to hell and our kids are dead because of that.’
‘He’s a strong leader…our enemies don’t fear us, they’re all working together and it’s only a matter of time until we end up in a third world war.’
She added that ‘it didn’t matter’ to [Biden] when their childrens’ caskets were coming off the military plane.
Biden came under heavy criticism after video of him checking his watch at the dignified transfer ceremony for the slain military service members from Afghanistan in Dover, Delaware.
When asked by DailyMail.com about Biden’s terrible gaffe during the debate that ‘no service members have died’ under his watch, Shamblin said he ‘disregards’ the military.
‘Our enemies don’t fear us, they’re all working together and it’s only a matter of time until we end up in a third world war’
‘It didn’t surprise us at all, it’s just more lie that he just says out there,’ Jules stated.
She called it ‘disgusting’ that the Biden administration left its Afghanistan allies and partners behind during the withdrawal.
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