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Gold Star Father Whose Son Died During Afghanistan Withdrawal Arrested After Biden’s Speech

A gold star father whose son was killed during the Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021 was arrested after heckling Biden.

During Biden’s State of the Union address, Steve Nikoui shouted, “Abbey Gate! Second Battalion, First Marines.”

Abbey Gate is outside  Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, where Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui and 12 other troops were killed back in August 2021.

After Nikoui finished his protest, Capitol Police arrested him.

Here’s what The New York Post reported:

The heckler who shouted at President Biden during his State of the Union address Thursday night was identified as the father of a fallen Marine — and later arrested over the disruption.

“America’s safer today than when I took office,” Biden, 81, was in the middle of saying before he was interrupted from the chamber’s balcony.

“Abbey Gate!” Steve Nikoui yelled down at the president. “Second Battalion, First Marines!”

Capitol Police escorted Nikoui, 51, out of the chamber at around 10:15 p.m. and took him into custody.

incommoding Congress, a misdemeanor that typically results in the offender’s release after paying a $50 fine.

Per Yahoo News:

A man who heckled President Biden during his State of the Union address on Thursday night was removed by Capitol Police officers and arrested, the U.S. Capitol Police confirmed in a statement to Yahoo News.

The heckler was identified as 51-year-old Steven Nikoui, whose son, U.S. Marine Kareem Nikoui, was among 13 U.S. service members and 170 civilians who were killed in an attack by a suicide bomber at Abbey Gate outside Hamid Karzai International Airport as American troops were withdrawing from Kabul, Afghanistan in 2021.

Steven Nikoui was heard yelling “Abbey Gate!” before he was led out of the gallery by police. He was later seen in handcuffs.

“Tonight at approximately 10:15 p.m., a man disrupted the State of the Union Address by yelling,” the U.S. Capitol Police said in an emailed statement. “Our officers warned him to stop and when he did not, the man was removed from the House Galleries and was arrested for D.C. Code § 22–1307 – Crowding, Obstructing, or Incommoding. Disrupting the Congress and demonstrating in the Congressional Buildings is illegal.”

There’s good news, however, that Rep. Brian Mast helped free Nikoui.


 

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