Kristen Welker, host of NBC's Sunday political interview show “Meet the Press,” falsely claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris met with the families of 13 Gold Star recipients who were killed in action during the tragic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
Welcker commented: She interviewed Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas).harshly criticized the Biden-Harris administration's treatment of the families.
Cotton noted that Democratic presidential candidate Harris has yet to meet with relatives of the 13 military members killed when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device at the entrance to Kabul airport during a chaotic evacuation on Aug. 26, 2021.
The explosion killed 183 people and injured at least 150, including U.S. and Afghan military personnel, as well as Afghan civilians who were trying to escape on a U.S. military plane.
The Arkansas senator contrasted Ms Harris with Mr Trump, who was invited by family members to join him at Arlington National Cemetery on the third anniversary of his death.
When Trump attended a wreath-laying ceremony in Arlington and was photographed smiling and giving a thumbs up just feet from the gravestones of fallen soldiers, Harris and other Democrats accused him of using sacred grounds for campaigning, which is prohibited by federal law.
When Welker brought up the Democrats' argument, Cotton fired back, saying, “They (Gold Star families) wanted President Trump to be there.”
“They wanted to take a photo. You know who the family invited? Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Cotton said, adding, “Where were they? Joe Biden was sitting on the beach. Kamala Harris was sitting in her mansion in Washington, D.C.”
Cotton said Harris was “four miles, 10 minutes away.”
“She could have gone to the cemetery and honored the sacrifice of those young men and women, but she didn't,” Cotton said.
“She has never spoken to or met with them.”
Welker then defended Harris, telling Cotton, “Well, they met with Mr. Harris during the dignified transfer and Mr. Harris was there during the dignified transfer.”
Fact checkers pointed out that Harris did not attend a ceremony to transfer with dignity the fallen soldiers at RAF Dover on August 29, 2021, three days after the Abbey Gate attack.
The ceremony was attended by President Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and First Lady Jill Biden.
NBC News acknowledged Welker's error, writing in a post by X, “This morning's broadcast incorrectly reported that both President Biden and Vice President Harris attended the dignified transfer of 13 American troops killed during the withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
“Biden was in attendance, but Harris was not,” NBC News wrote on its official “Meet the Press” account.
Following the 2021 ceremony, Gold Star families expressed particular outrage at Biden, who was photographed looking down at his watch during the ceremony.
Jen Psaki, who served as White House press secretary at the time and eventually left the administration to become a talk show host for the left-leaning MSNBC, falsely claimed in a book published earlier this year that Biden never looked at the clock.
Psaki said those accusing Biden of looking at his watch were spreading “misinformation” and that his photo was being used to “make him look like an insensitive person who only cares about how much time has passed.”
However, photographs and firsthand accounts of the incident are contradictory.
