Gold Star mom Cheryl Rex, the mother of Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola, eviscerated President Biden Monday as she gave an emotional dress-down to the commander-in-chief.
The 20-year-old Marine was one of 13 military personnel tragically killed in the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal ordered by Biden in 2021. Rex delivered a fiery speech full of anger, loss, and tears, about the horrific day at the Kabul airport that not only took her son’s life and 12 others but the lives of 169 Afghan civilians.
Her fury was palpable as she vented her outrage over Biden claiming that his son had come home from Iraq in a coffin draped by an American flag just as her son did. That was a blatant lie and the mother knew it, being familiar with the details of Beau Biden’s death.
“When Joe Biden, our elected president, entered the room, when he approached me, his words to me were, ‘My wife Jill and I know how you feel. We lost our son as well and brought him home in a flag-draped coffin,’” Rex recounted. “My heart started beating faster and I started shaking, knowing that their son died from cancer and they were able to be by his side.”
(Video Credit: Forbes Breaking News)
The devastated mother could not wrap her head around Biden pulling such a callous stunt. She recalled “wondering how someone could honestly — sorry — be so heartless to say he knew how I felt a little over 24 hours in learning of my son’s death.”
“After this encounter, I have never had any personal correspondence, nor has my son been honored or his name spoken by this commander-in-chief, or his administration, on what I feel is because of their failures and poor planning to exit our troops from Afghanistan,” Rex claimed, laying the blame for her son’s death directly on Biden.
Cheryl Rex, Dylan Merola’s mom:
Biden was “heartless” when he told her he knows how she felt. Biden has never said her son’s name.
“If they had closed the gate, my son would be alive today.”
(17/xx) pic.twitter.com/HM1zF1MQgP
— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) August 7, 2023
Joe Biden is an absolute disgrace.
— LivePDDave (@LivePDDave1) August 7, 2023
“I laid Dylan to rest witnessing thousands of people from across our country offering their condolences and support, and again, nothing was brought forth from anyone in our current administration. The anger I held inside on how our 13 kids were not being recognized nationally was becoming prominent. How could so many people pay their respects, but nothing at all from the president of the United States on something he had conducted?” she angrily asked.
Beau Biden served in the Delaware Army National Guard. His father has repeatedly pushed the false story that he died in Iraq. He also contends that burn pits in Iraq played a part in his death. The truth is that Beau Biden died at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland in May 2015 from brain cancer.
Another Gold Star mom named Kelly Barnett wept openly during the same Congressional hearing that Rex spoke at which was held by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) She accused the Biden administration of lying to her about the circumstances surrounding the death of her Marine son in Afghanistan in August 2021.
(Video Credit: Forbes Breaking News)
Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover was also one of the 13 service members to perish during the withdrawal after a suicide bomber hit the Kabul airport.
“I’m going to be brave and in [sic] tell you about my kid. He’s an amazing kid. And I want you to know that I am not a victim. We’re not victims. We’re parents to some mighty heroes. I want you to know that,” Barnett proclaimed in the first gathering of all 13 families of the service members lost that day.
Barnett was candid that her son knew something was wrong when he landed for his final deployment. What he witnessed was “chaos, no communication, lack of leadership.”
Her voice broke as she remembered her son telling her that he was supposed to “clean up the airport” because “we can’t leave it dirty for the Taliban.”
“Incompetent, cowards, evil.” Kelly Barnett, Gold Star mother of Marine Corps Staff Sgt Darin Hoover, calls out the lies of Joe Biden, Anthony Blinken, Mark Milley, Lloyd Austin over the deaths of 13 military members in the botched Afghanistan exit.
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) August 7, 2023
“What kind of disrespect? What kind of hatred for our military? What kind of mess? Confusion. Deceit. Lost. Angry. Sad. Heartbroken and disgusted. These are the feelings that the service members felt. And are still feeling. These are the feelings I’m feeling,” she wept.
The distraught mother stated that the families were “told lies” and given “incomplete” and “incorrect” reports. She called the scenario “total disrespect.”
“I was told to my face, he died on impact. That’s not true. The only reason that I know this is because witnesses told me the truth,” Barnett asserted. “I was lied to and basically told to shut up.”
“He lived for a little while… he was giving out his ammo. He tied a tourniquet around his leg. I don’t understand the reasoning of that lie,” the mother stated. “It makes no sense other than the fact that, did they really even do an investigation? Did they talk to witnesses? I don’t know.”
“He told me mom I now know the command cares nothing for us.” -Kelly Barnett, mother of SSgt. Darin Hoover.
An emotional day today for family members of the 13 servicemembers killed in Afghanistan, outside the Kabul airport in 2021. Some spoke today at a field hearing in CA. pic.twitter.com/zT1omCEoBL
— Joe Khalil (@JoeKhalilTV) August 7, 2023
Hoover’s father, Darren Hoover, also spoke. He was enraged and called on President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Mark Milley to resign.
The furious father addressed Biden directly, “Be a grown a** man. Admit to your mistakes. Learn from them so that this doesn’t happen ever, ever again.”
Kelly Barnett/Darin Hoover Gold Star Families. I’m so heartbroken for all of these beautiful families. AND I’m so angry. Angry with our @USMilitary leaders! They sent their children to death because of incompetent leaders. “Be a grown ass man.” Cowards. ❤️
— KWY ❤️ (@RYW1010) August 7, 2023
“You all need to resign immediately. Our sons, daughters have more integrity in their little toes than every one of them combined,” he noted.
Issa opened the meeting with strong words for the Biden administration.
“For almost two years, the Gold Star Families of the fallen in Afghanistan have waited for answers and accountability for the loss of their loved ones – and they have waited long enough,” Issa declared, according to CBS8. “At every turn, they’ve been shut out and ignored by the Biden Administration that prefers to turn the page on its disaster. That stops now.”
“It’s time that the public hears the stories of these heroes and learns of negligence and breakdown of leadership that led to the loss of life that day two years ago,” he proclaimed.
The testimony we heard today from Gold Star Families is just the beginning. To the families who came so far to share their stories: thank you. As a witness to your testimony, I will retell your stories and continue to work until every question you have is answered. pic.twitter.com/CTb5voUiew
— Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) August 7, 2023
The Marines who died that day include Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas; Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Roseville, north of Sacramento; Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City, Utah, who was living in Aliso Viejo; Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio; Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyoming; Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga; Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco; Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Nebraska; Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts; Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Indiana; and Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Missouri.
Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee, and Navy Corpsman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio were also killed in the blast.
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