Family members of five of the 13 service members who were killed in the 2021 Kabul Airport bombing said they were “shocked” that Kamal Harris was “playing politics” with their children.
Appearing on Tuesday’s episode of Steve Bannon‘s show War Room onRumble, five Gold Star family members told host Matt Boyle about their disappointment with the controversy surrounding Trump’s attendance at the memorial service, and by President Joe Biden‘s handling of the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal.
“It shows she [Harris] believes our service members are disposable, and that’s exactly the feeling that we’ve got from the White House,” said Christy Shamblin, mother-in-law of Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23.
The comments come after Trump faced criticism over his attendance at the memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery last week. The U.S. Army alleged Trump’s campaign team “abruptly pushed aside” a cemetery staff member, and said it violated federal law by shooting a campaign advert at the cemetery.
Arlington Cemetery in Washington D.C., August 26, 2024. Family members of five of the 13 service members who were killed in the 2021 Kabul Airport bombing said they were “shocked” that Kamala Harris was “playing politics” with their children.
Kevin Carter/Getty Images
Here is a timeline of how the controversy has unfolded since:
- Trump attended the memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, August 26. He released a campaign video later that night using footage from the service.
- Reports circulate the following day of an altercation between Trump campaign staff and a cemetery staff member.
- On Wednesday, families of two of the 13 slain soldiers released a letter supporting Trump, stating he attended the service at their invitation.
- On Thursday, the U.S. Army publicly rebuked Trump’s campaign for “unfairly targeting” the cemetery staff member, saying she was doing her job by telling them not to shoot video footage at the grave sites.
- On Saturday afternoon, Harris posted on X that Trump had used the memorial service as a “political stunt.”
- On Saturday night, Trump began releasing individual videos from Gold Star family members, supporting him.
- On Sunday, Trump released a joint statement from family members of seven of the 13 service members, condemning Harris’s X post, and her and Biden’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal.
- On Tuesday, five family members did a panel interview on War Room.
Shamblin said Harris and Biden were invited to the memorial service but never showed up.
“I was shocked when I saw her [Harris’s] post,” Shamblin said. “We did invite them to Arlington that day and we never had any response, just as we’ve never heard any response from any of our attempts at communications to President Biden and Vice President Harris.”
“Having her post that on social media has made us the target of a lot of hate right now, and it’s shocking.”
Coral Doolittle, mother of Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, said Biden mistook her for somebody else at the dignified transfer of the 13 service members at Dover Air Force Base in 2021.
“He [Biden] got close to me, and he called me Ms. Lopez. So obviously Mrs. Lopez was sitting in the next couch besides me, and she screamed, ‘She is Miss Sanchez!'” Doolittle said.
“And after they let him know that he was wrong, he went, a few minutes later, to meet Alisha Lopez, and he called her Ms. Sanchez… I would say it was the worst moment of our lives.”
Kelly Barnett, mother of Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, said she was the one who reached out to the Trump team, and expressly asked him to pose for a photograph by her son’s grave.
“I don’t feel bad for it because it was a beautiful day. President Trump has been a source of peace and a shoulder to lean on, and a listening ear to us from the beginning,” Barnett said.
Steve Nikoui, father of Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, said Harris was being hypocritical by accusing Trump of politicizing the memorial service.
“The one that’s claiming that we [the Gold Star families] are playing politics, or that he [Trump] is playing politics, it’s actually her that’s playing politics,” Nikoui said.
In their appearance on War Room, the family members did not address the controversy relating to Trump’s use of Arlington video footage in his TikTok campaign video, which the Army said was illegal.
Nikoui said neither he, nor any of the other family members saw the altercation between Trump’s campaign staff and the cemetery staff member, and that he was “questioning whether it even happened.”
However, Trump’s campaign staff confirmed to Newsweek last week that it did happen. The Army said the campaign staff “abruptly pushed” their staff member, while the campaign said they were “physically blocked” by her.
Newsweek has contacted the campaigns of Trump and Harris for comment.
