A “relieved” Gold Star father who was hauled away during President Joe Biden’s State of the Union shared an update on his charge with thanks to particular House members.
(Video: Fox News)
Nearly two-and-a-half years after the botched withdrawal of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Steve Nikoui, the father of the late Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, one of 13 American service members who lost their lives to a suicide bomber, watched as the commander-in-chief failed yet again to memorialize those lost under his watch.
He told the Daily Mail, “I’ve waited three years, I paid $3,000 and I’ve traveled 3,000 miles to finally hear my son’s name in the State of the Union,” and, “That trip to the State of the Union — what a kick in my ass.”
Nikoui had been led away in handcuffs and charged with a misdemeanor of crowding, obstructing, or incommoding Congress for shouting his son’s name during the SOTU after asking “Do you remember Abbey Gate?”
After those charges were dropped earlier in the week, the Gold Star father joined “Hannity” alongside California Rep. Darrell Issa to thank the Republican members of Congress who stood up for him.
“I am really relieved. It was a lot of pressure. I was scared, but I was ready to do whatever I had to do, you know, for my actions,” Nikoui told the host. “I want to thank Congressman Issa who from that night said, ‘I’m not gonna leave you alone…We’re gonna take care of you.'”
“And he did it,” said the father before showering equal praise on Florida Republican Reps. Mike Waltz, Cory Mills and Brian Mast, to whom he had been a guest at the State of the Union.
Issa noted how in the “past there have been interruptions that quite frankly were more deliberate and with less justification and they were not charged. That’s something that [California] Congressman Ken Calvert, and Mike Waltz, and Brian Mast and all of us kept making the point of — finally writing official letters and pushing hard with the sergeant at arms and with the help of the sergeant at arms we were able to convince the D.C. attorney general that this was inappropriate and that ultimately, the House was not interrupted in any significant or unusual way.”
Issa had initially posted to X after the news broke, “He did nothing wrong. And this is the right decision.”
BREAKING: All charges against Gold Star parent Steve Nikoui have been dropped.
He did nothing wrong. And this is the right decision.
— Rep. Darrell Issa (@repdarrellissa) March 20, 2024
Along with 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Nikoui, Sgt. Johanny Rosairo Pichardo, 25; Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23; Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31; Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22; Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23; Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22; Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20; Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20; Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20; Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20; Navy Corpsman Maxton W. Soviak, 22 and Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, were killed on Aug. 26, 2021, when a bomb detonated near the Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport taking the lives of nearly 200 Afghan civilians as well.
The elder Nikoui went on to join some of the Gold Star families at a roundtable with former Joint Chiefs Chairman Ret. Gen. Mark Milley earlier in the week and told Fox News’s Sean Hannity that the military leader from the time of the withdrawal seemed “empathetic and understanding” as he looked parents “in the eyes as we were able to tell him some pretty disheartening information about our families.”
“And he was committed to helping us get the facts and the answers that we need,” added the father who pledged to hold Milley accountable.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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