Gold Star families slam Kamala Harris for criticizing Trump’s Arlington visit

2GG8G2W Dover, United States Of America. 29th Aug, 2021. U.S President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III salute during the transfers of the remains of Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee at Dover Air Force Base August 29, 2021 in Dover, Delaware. The remains of 11 Marines, a Navy medic and an Army staff sergeant, killed in Afghanistan were airlifted home. Credit: Planetpix/Alamy Live News

Photo: Alamy

The Gold Star family members of the troops who were killed during the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan three years ago are now speaking out following Vice President Kamala Harris’ statements criticizing President Donald Trump for paying his respects at Arlington National Cemetery.

Harris, who was “the last person in the room” when President Joe Biden green-lit the military withdrawal, was quick to condemn Trump for his visit to the cemetery despite the Gold Star families inviting him to attend the service.

In a statement to X, Harris wrote on Saturday that the president “disrespected sacred ground” in a “political stunt” by filming a video at the gravesite, which she claimed led to an “altercation with cemetery staff.”

Harris further added how she would “always honor the service and sacrifice” of fallen soldiers, and that she would “never politicize them.”

In a series of video messages Trump posted to social media on Saturday, eight Gold Star family members criticized the vice president for being “responsible” for the deaths of their children.

“We invited him to be there,” Mark Schmitz, father of Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, said in one video. “Groundwork was put in place by Congressman Issa’s office to make sure we followed protocol. Why did we want Trump there? It wasn’t to help his political campaign. We wanted a leader. That explains why you and Joe didn’t get a call.”

Schmitz further exposed the “outright lie” behind Harris’ promise to “honor the service and sacrifice” of troops, arguing how his family did not even “so much as get a phone call” from Biden or Harris in the more than three years since his son was killed in Afghanistan.

Jaclyn Schmitz, the mother of Cpl. Schmitz, added in another video that, “Our kids were murdered because of [Harris’] administration,” and that she was “partly to blame.”

In another video, Darren Hoover, the father of Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, said Harris lacked any “empathy and basic understanding” about the Arlington event, and denied reports of Trump staff members assaulting cemetery staff.

“Let me be clear: there was no politics discussed,” Hoover stated. “There was also not an assault, that we observed, take place, or did we hear it. I don’t know where this is coming from, but it’s disgusting and gross.”

He also confirmed that the Gold Star families “invited President Trump,” and were “the ones who asked for the video and the pictures to be taken at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.”

Criticizing Harris for “playing politics” over the incident, Hoover added that the president was “there for us from the very beginning,” while she was “only in this for the power and prestige.”

“You don’t care for our military or the citizens of this country,” said Hoover.

“President Trump and his team were respectful, they listened to our stories and didn’t talk much at all,” Christy Shamblin, the mother-in-law of Sergeant Nicole Gee, said in one video.

“Vice President Harris, I ask you, why won’t you return a call and explain to us how you call my daughter-in-law’s death a success?” she added.

“Your administration killed my son,” said Steve Nikoui, the father of Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui. “You were not at Dover for the dignified transfer. At no time have you reached out to me to offer your condolences to offer ‘thank you’ for Kareem’s sacrifice and service. Not once have you honored him by saying his name.”

Capitol Police arrested Nikoui earlier this year after the Gold Star father criticized Biden during the State of the Union address, particularly the incumbent’s comment that, “America’s safer today than when I took office.”

Nikoui yelled “Abbey Gate,” or the location of his son’s death, and “Second Battalion, First Marines!” before he was taken into custody for his interruption, according to The New York Post.

“It’s been three years since my son was killed in action and myself, my family and other Gold Star families have not seen any support from you or your administration,” said Herman Lopez, the father of Corporal Hunter Lopez.

“How do you sleep at night knowing it was you, this administration, you and Biden, you, being the last one in the room, are responsible for the death of our 13 kids,” said Jim McCollum, the father of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum.

Coral Doolittle, the mother of Cpl. Humberto Sanchez, invited Harris and Biden “to accept a meeting” with herself and the other Gold Star families to explain themselves and their withdrawal.

“I think that as the parents, we deserve an explanation, and we deserve the truth of what happened with our kids that day,” she said.

According to a report from USA Today, President Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery on Aug. 26 to commemorate the three year anniversary of the 2021 Kabul Airport bombing that killed 183 people, including 13 U.S. service members.

President Trump placed three wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider, and then moved to Section 60, an area of the cemetery typically reserved for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Under federal law, visitors are prohibited from taking photo or videos for any “partisan, political, or fundraising purposes” at the cemetery. However, the Gold Star families asked Trump visit them in Section 60, and invited him to take the photos in what was a non-political event.

Neither Biden nor Kamala Harris attended the memorial service at Arlington.

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