Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio blasted President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for their “betrayal” of 13 U.S. soldiers who died during the disastrous 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Vance appeared at a press conference Monday marking three years since the Abbey Gate bombing along with members of the Gold Star families of several of the Marines who were killed, including Marine Sergeant Nicole L. Gee, Marine Corps Corporal Hunter Lopez and Marine Corps Corporal Jared M. Schmitz.
“What an incredible natural resource this country has in patriotic young people ready to give their lives for it. What an incredible betrayal that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have squandered that resource,” Vance said on a conference call that also included Breitbart News and other media.
Vance stressed that many of these families have been particularly troubled by the lack of accountability within the Biden-Harris administration.
What I hear from so many people who stand before me and talk about losing sons and daughters and family members is that they’re not even angry that mistakes were made — and sometimes mistakes do happen, especially in combat zones. What they’re angry about is the lack of accountability.
“They’re angry that they don’t know why we made decisions that would cause these young soldiers to die unnecessarily. They’re angry that we’re not being held accountable,” he added. “Why is nobody being fired? Why is nobody being punished for what happened, and again, for squandering this country’s most precious resource, the lives of people prepared to give their all to public service?”
“The fact that we don’t know, the fact that the Harris administration has stonewalled on every front, the fact that no one has been fired shows that there is a real crisis of leadership in this country,” Vance said.
Vance added that the 2024 presidential election is a chance to “return to some sort of normalcy” and that when mistakes are made, “we have enough respect for the American people and for those who have served in uniform to understand those mistakes so we can better prevent those same mistakes in the future. That’s what’s most broken here.”
Many of the Gold Star family members who spoke on the call focused on the administration’s lack of accountability following the Aug. 26, 2021, deaths of loved ones in Afghanistan.
“I’m so glad and grateful that these families are willing to speak out, because I think it brings home to me how much disingenuousness is at the heart of Kamala Harris’ political claims that she wants to get back to normal,” Vance said. “Harris wants to bring civility back to the Oval Office. She wants to bring common sense back to the Oval Office. It’s not civility or common sense to have 13 Americans die needlessly and not understand why that happened and not have consequences for the people who caused it.”
Vance continued.
What a great country we have. It’s an incredible disgrace to our country that we have 13 amazing young men and women ready to give their lives for this country and we don’t have leaders who can match up to the young men and women who put on the uniform every day. So I want to be a vice president who can respect the sacrifices of those who put on the uniform. [Donald] Trump will be back in the Oval Office, we will get to the truth, and those who ruined this will face some kind of consequences.
He sees this as the “minimum” each family should receive.
