Gold Star Father, Who Was Arrested at State of the Union, Speaks Out: 'The Circus ... It Just Got to Me'
A Gold Star father who was removed and arrested during Thursday’s State of the Union address explained in great detail the process that led to his shouting at President Joe Biden during a Monday interview.
Steve Nikoui lost his son U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui the summer of 2021 when the brave soldier died alongside a dozen other American service men and women during Biden’s disastrous and disorganized exit from Afghanistan.
Kareem Nikoui and the others died during a suicide attack at the Abbey Gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
In a matter of just days, two decades of fighting the Taliban were wiped out when the fundamentalist Islamic group seized back control of the country.
The only difference between the Taliban’s second stint leading Afghanistan from its first was that in 2021, the group was armed with countless pieces of military equipment that Biden’s Pentagon ordered to be left behind.
Nikoui is still mourning the loss of his son and was invited to the State of the Union as a special guest of Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida.
Nikoui shouted during the speech, was removed and later jailed, according to WBPF-TV.
Mast told the station he was “infuriated” to see his guest removed by security.
In an interview that was published Monday by The Daily Wire, Nikoui shared his thoughts on the speech and his arrest.
“It was an awkward dynamic,” Nikoui said of attending the speech. “I wanted to go, but I also didn’t want to go. And when I was there, seeing the theatrics, the circus … it just got to me.”
One Biden claim set him off, he told the outlet, and he just started crying.
He recalled Biden stated, “America is safer today than when I took office,” which led him to say to himself, “Do you remember that my kid was not safe?”
BIDEN: “America is safer today than when I took office!”
Biden gets immediately heckled from the gallery afterwards.#SOTU pic.twitter.com/3BGGNguO6c
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 8, 2024
Nikoui then heckled Biden, saying, “Do you remember Abbey Gate? U.S. Marines?” And he has no regrets about it.
He said he first became enraged during last year’s annual address from Biden when the president did not mention the names of those killed during the withdrawal but instead spoke of his late son Beau Biden.
“I remember I watched for like 56 minutes,” the emotional father told the Wire. “And then finally [Biden] brings up Afghanistan. But he never said my kid’s name, you know? I didn’t even need him to say he made a mistake or take blame.”
Nikoui explained that he believes if Biden would have followed the exit strategy laid out by former President Donald Trump, his son would be alive today.
But he maintained that despite his anger, he is a man of faith and has forgiven the man he holds responsible for the tragedy that broke his family.
“Even if Biden is the man who I believe killed my kid, for lack of a better phrase, my religion commands me that I have to forgive him,” Nikoui said.
He also told the Wire he stands by his decision to speak up.
“I don’t think I disrespected anyone,” the emotional father said. “I don’t think I dishonored my son.”
The U.S. Capitol Police shared the following statement on Friday with WBPF:
“Last night at approximately 10:15 p.m., a man disrupted the State of the Union Address by yelling. Our officers warned him to stop and when he did not, the man was removed from the House Galleries and was arrested for D.C. Code § 22–1307 – Crowding, Obstructing, or Incommoding.
“Disrupting the Congress and demonstrating in the Congressional Buildings is illegal. The man has been identified as 51-year old Steven K. Nikoui.”
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