(LibertySons.org) – Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) invited the father of a fallen soldier to join him at the 2024 State of the Union Address. The man, distraught over President Joe Biden’s refusal to honor losses that resulted from the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, took the opportunity to heckle the US leader. Capitol Police took the man into custody and charged him with crowding, obstructing, or incommoding Congress.
The New York Post reports that Biden delivered his speech on March 7. He claimed the United States had become a safer place during his term, prompting grieving father Steve Nikoui to scream, “Abbey Gate!” loudly enough to disrupt the president’s words. Nikoui lost his son to a suicide bomber in August 2021 after the Biden administration ordered troops to withdraw from their posts at the military base in Afghanistan. The young man, Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, was the victim of a suicide bombing near Kabul’s international airport. He was one of thirteen service members who died in the explosion.
Nikoui has been vocal about his frustrations since his son’s death, writes The New York Times. The angry father places direct blame on Biden for the incident, claiming the president “turned his back on” the young Marine. Capitol Police reportedly asked him to stop heckling, but he persisted despite their warnings, leading to his removal from the congressional chamber. He faced a misdemeanor count of illegally demonstrating or disrupting Congress, a charge that typically resolves with the payment of a $50 fine.
The US Marines shared on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that the effort to evacuate people in Kabul, Afghanistan, dubbed Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, led to the deaths of 11 Marines, an Army staff sergeant, and a Navy hospitalman. Biden vowed to retaliate — but people like Nikoui saw the move as too little, too late.
Rep. Mast also posted on X, claiming that Capitol Police denied his guest the right to petition the government over his grievances.
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