Families of the 13 U.S. service members killed during a suicide bombing in Kabul have blasted Joe Biden’s “disrespectful,” “fake,” and “scripted,” behavior at the dignified transfer ceremony held at Dover Air Force Base on Sunday.
Family members of late Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, including Jiennah Crayton, his pregnant wife, and Cheyenne McCollum, his sister, described their meeting with Joe Biden as hollow and lacking meaning.
“I was able to stand about 15 seconds of his fake, scripted apology and I had to walk away,” said Cheyenne McCollum during an interview with Fox News.
She added that Biden would not look her or her brother’s widow in the eyes. Biden reportedly spent their entire conversation talking about his late son, Beau Biden, rather than Lance Cpl. McCollum or the other service members who were killed in the brutal ISIS-K attack last week.
Beau Biden, who served during the Iraq War, died of cancer in 2015.
Mark Schmitz, who lost his 20-year-old son Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz in the bombing, said that he challenged Biden to learn the names and the stories of his son and the other service members killed.
“I said: ‘Don’t you ever forget that name. Don’t you ever forget that face. Don’t you ever forget the names of the other 12,'” Schmitz said to The Post. “‘And take some time to learn their stories.'”
Schmitz noted that Biden angrily replied, “I do know their stories!” But, according to Schmitz, Biden talked more about his own son than Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz.
Shana Chappell, the mother of 20-year-old U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, posted details about her meeting with Biden on Facebook which the platform later removed.
Like the other families stated, Chappell also said that Biden continually talked about his own son instead of hers. She claims she told Biden that “this isn’t about you so don’t make it about you.” Biden then rolled his eyes at her before walking away and throwing his hands in the air, according to Chappell.
Darin Hoover, father of Marine Staff Sgt. Darin Hoover Jr., decided not to speak with Biden because of the disrespect the he showed as the caskets were offloaded from the plane during the dignified transfer ceremony. Hoover cited during an interview with Fox News that Biden showed disrespect by repeatedly checking his watch throughout the ceremony.
“That didn’t happen just once,” said Hoover. “It happened on every single one that came out of that airplane. It happened on every single one of them. They would release the salute, and he would look down at his watch on every last one.”
Both Schmitz and Chappell backed Hoover’s allegations.
The last plane of U.S. troops left Afghanistan on Tuesday morning, signaling the end of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.
It has never been more clear than now that neither Joe Biden, nor his administration, have the ability to give the proper honor and respect to our fallen heroes who trusted the Biden administration with their lives and ended up making the ultimate sacrifice during the deadly U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
