President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have “never reached out” to the Gold Star families who lost loved ones in the deadly bombing at Abbey Gate three years ago that killed 13 Americans during the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal.
Gold Star families took part in a conference call with Sen. J.D. Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, Trump campaign officials and reporters on Monday afternoon, three years after the attack.
‘You’re fired’: Trump vows to give everyone responsible for ‘Afghanistan disaster’ firing notices on day one
A suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. soldiers, including 11 Marines, one Navy sailor, and one Army soldier, at the Abiy Gate entrance of Hamid Karzai International Airport. Eighteen other U.S. soldiers were wounded. More than 150 civilians were killed in the blast.
Pallbearers carry one of the 13 soldiers killed in the Abbey Gate attack at Kabul airport in April 2021. (Stephen Lamb/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Former President Trump led a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday morning to remember and honor the 13 American service members who fell.
ARLINGTON, VA – AUGUST 26: Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump stands alongside his grandson, Staff Sergeant Bill Barnett (L), of Darin Taylor Hoover, who died in the Abbey Gate bombing, during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on August 26, 2024. Monday marks the third anniversary of the August 26, 2021, suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport that killed 13 U.S. soldiers. (Getty Images)
But neither Biden nor Harris attended or hosted a similar event on Monday to honor fallen soldiers.
“This administration seems to be treating the Afghanistan withdrawal like a plague. They’re trying to distance themselves from the issue as much as possible,” Gold Star father Mark Schmitz said in response to questions from Fox News Digital. “I’m not the least bit surprised that neither of them attended the event.”
“Obviously when the going gets tough, they’re going to run,” Schmitz told Fox News Digital.
“This is another insult to 13 families,” Schmitz told Fox News Digital.
Schmitz added that Trump’s attendance at the event was “genuine.”
Republicans criticize Harris for being ‘last person in the room’ when Biden asked for Afghanistan withdrawal
“I don’t believe this is part of his political campaign in any way, shape or form,” Schmitz said. “He has pledged from the very beginning when we met to always work for us, and he has never let us down.”
Schmitz lost her 20-year-old son, U.S. Marine Corps Corporal Jared Schmitz, that day.
Cheryl Jewels, a Gold Star aunt who attended the Arlington National ceremony on Monday, said it “doesn’t matter” what Biden or Harris say, adding, “It’s not real.”
“He has never reached out to our family,” Juelz said. “Kamala Harris has never reached out to us. Kamala Harris has never reached out to us. [Biden] For a long time now.”
President Trump took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery to mark the third anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing, which killed 13 US troops during the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. (Pool)
“Trump is the only person who has reached out to our family, all 13 families, multiple times,” Juelz Ghee, the aunt of fallen Marine Sergeant Nicole Ghee, told Fox News Digital.
“He’s here today, honoring our children who have served in the military, speaking to all of us, conducting this ceremony, and showing them honor, respect and dignity,” Juelz said. “We need President Trump back in office.”
Juelz said Trump was “the only president who has kept the people who serve this country safe. We support him 100 percent.”
“We will do everything in our power to return him to office so that we can once again keep the men and women who serve our country safe,” Juelz said.
Fox News Digital previously reported that the suicide bomber was a prisoner who was released from Bagram Air Base on August 15, 2021, after the Taliban took control of the base.
Click here to get the FOX News app
The following U.S. soldiers were killed in a suicide bomb attack while carrying out a mass evacuation effort to save Americans and their Afghan allies:
Sergeant Darrin T. Huber, age 31, US Marine from Utah; Corporal Dylan R. Merola, age 20, US Marine from California; Sergeant Johany Rosario Pichardo, age 25, US Marine from Massachusetts; Sergeant Nicole L. Gee, age 23, US Marine from California; Corporal Hunter Lopez, age 22, US Marine from California; Corporal Dagan W. Page, age 23, US Marine from Nebraska; Corporal Humberto A. Sanchez, age 22, US Marine from Indiana; Corporal David L. Espinoza, age 20, US Marine from Texas; and Corporal Jared Schmitz, age 20, US Marine from Missouri. The other three soldiers were Lance Corporal Riley J. McCollum, age 20, a U.S. Marine from Wyoming; U.S. Marine Kareem Nikoui, age 20, from California; Navy corpsman Max Sobiak, age 22, from Ohio; and U.S. Army Sergeant Ryan Knaus, age 23, from Tennessee.
