Steve Nikoui, father of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, an Abbey Gate Gold Star family member, speaks at a House Foreign Affairs Committee roundtable, on Capitol Hill, Aug. 29, 2023 in Washington. (Alex Brandon / AP Photo)
Gold Star Father Who Was Arrested at Biden's State of the Union Gets His Charges Dropped
Steve Nikoui, the Gold Star father who was arrested for protesting during President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, will not be prosecuted for his actions that night.
Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb, decided this week not to press charges, Fox News reported late Tuesday.
Florida Republican Rep. Brian Mast had invited Nikoui to attend the address, and Nikoui shouted “Abbey Gate!” during it, interrupting the president.
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U.S. Capitol Police first warned Nikoui and then took him into custody, according to Fox.
“[D]isrupting the Congress and demonstrating in Congressional Buildings is illegal,” the USCP said in a statement that evening.
Abbey Gate referred to the gate into the Hamid Karzai International Airport, where a homicide bomber detonated an explosive belt on Aug. 15, 2021, among a crowd of military personnel and civilians.
Among those killed were 13 American service members, including Nikoui’s son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui of Norco, California.
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The attorney general’s office told Fox that it often doesn’t prosecute cases involving protests like Nikoui’s.
Fox said it learned of the decision by Schwalb, a Democrat, Tuesday evening, then confirmed it with the office of the House speaker.
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California Republican Rep. Darrel Issa told Nikoui of the decision, Fox said.
“Fox News was told that Nikoui was ‘thrilled and humbled,’ and that there were tears when he heard the news,” the report said.
“Other families were also with him when he found out the news,” it added.
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Mast and Issa were both among the House members who had called for the charges against Nikoui to be dropped.
House Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul and Florida Rep. Michael Waltz had also said that Nikoui should not face prosecution.
“Issa and Waltz wrote a letter to USCP Police Chief Tom Manger, imploring him to drop the charges,” Fox noted, though the final decision lay with Schwalb.
Meanwhile, retired Marine Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., who oversaw the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in 2021, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday that he bore the responsibility for the attack.
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“I was the overall commander, and I and I alone bear full military responsibility for what happened at Abbey Gate,” he said at a hearing, according to NBC News.
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George Upper is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Western Journal and was a weekly co-host of "WJ Live," powered by The Western Journal. He is currently a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. A former U.S. Army special operator, teacher and consultant, he is a lifetime member of the NRA and an active volunteer leader in his church. Born in Foxborough, Massachusetts, he has lived most of his life in central North Carolina.
George Upper, is the former editor-in-chief of The Western Journal and is now a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. He currently serves as the connections pastor at Awestruck Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is a former U.S. Army special operator, teacher, manager and consultant. Born in Massachusetts, he graduated from Foxborough High School before joining the Army and spending most of the next three years at Fort Bragg. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in English as well as a Master's in Business Administration, all from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He and his wife life only a short drive from his three children, their spouses and his grandchildren. He is a lifetime member of the NRA and in his spare time he shoots, reads a lot of Lawrence Block and John D. MacDonald, and watches Bruce Campbell movies. He is a fan of individual freedom, Tommy Bahama, fine-point G-2 pens and the Oxford comma.
