(New York Post) The Gold Star father arrested for heckling President Biden at the State of the Union said he still has not had the charges against him dropped — but he’s not standing down from calling out the president for being “100%” at fault for his son’s death.
Steve Nikoui, 51 — who was escorted out of the annual presidential speech after yelling down from the rafters, “Abbey Gate!,” “Second Battalion, First Marines!” — has heard “nothing” from Capitol Police since he was removed from the chamber of the US House of Representatives last week, he told the Daily Mail.
Nikoui — whose son, Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, was killed during Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 — had been a guest of Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) at the speech.
He has said he did not intend to interrupt Biden’s address, but became frustrated after the president mentioned slain Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was allegedly killed by an “illegal” immigrant.
Nikoui said it was “devastating” that the president mentioned Riley but has still not spoken about the 13 US service members killed by a suicide bomber while trying to process evacuees at Hamid Karzai International Airport in August 2021, Nikoui told the 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,” he said.
“That trip to the State of the Union — what a kick in my ass.”
He said he and other Gold Star families who sat through the address just want accountability from the Biden administration for its rushed withdrawal from Afghanistan — and for the president to mention their children’s names.
“Joe Biden, personally, is the reason for that fiasco,” he said. “100%.”
Describing the moment he decided to interrupt the speech, Nikoui said he had been “praying, hoping” that the president might finally mention his son and the others killed in action in Afghanistan.
“And then as soon as he said something about kids and then something about being safe — I don’t even know what I did … I just jumped up and I said, ‘Do you remember Abbey Gate?’” Nikoui told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Monday, referring to the location of the suicide bombing at the airport.
“It was like the Lord convicted me,” he said.
“The Holy Spirit got in me, and when I did it, I paused, I was like, ‘Oh, what did I do?’”
