The father of a Gold Star who was arrested earlier this month for shouting at President Biden during his State of the Union address told Fox News on Tuesday that the charges have not been dropped.
Steve Nikoi said he wasn’t “very” surprised the Biden administration didn’t intervene on his behalf after the March 7 incident.
“The charges have not been dropped,” Nikoui told Fox News outside a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the president’s disorderly withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
U.S. Capitol Police told Fox News on Tuesday that the charges against Nikoy are being handled by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, who reports directly to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Mark Milley and former Centcom commander face off in Congress over Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal
Steve Nikoy speaks with FOX News Channel’s Congressional Correspondent Aisha Husney outside a hearing on U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan on Tuesday. (Fox News)
Mr. Nikoi, 51, is the father of a U.S. Marine who died during a failed evacuation in 2021.
Nikoui was removed from the House gallery after he stood up during Biden’s State of the Union address and began repeatedly shouting “monastery gates.”
The jeer was in reference to the attack on the monastery gate of Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai International Airport during the withdrawal of troops.
Gold Star Father Steve Nikoy arrested after heckling Biden at SOTU address
Nikoi shouted during President Biden’s March 7 State of the Union address. (Shaun Hsu/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The surprise attack killed 13 U.S. military personnel and injured at least 170 civilians. Among them was Nikoui’s son, a Marine Corporal. Kareem Nikoi.
Nikoi ran into a security guard during his verbal abuse and demanded that he stop. He refused and kept shouting.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul called for the charges against Nikoui to be dropped.
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He was removed from the House gallery and arrested by Capitol Police on misdemeanor charges of crowding, obstruction and failure to lodge.
Fox News’ Aisha Husney, Chad Pergram and Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report.
