OAN’s Abril Elfi
6:10 PM – Wednesday, March 20, 2024
SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/charges-dropped-against-gold-star-father-who-heckled-biden/; republished below in full, unedited, for informational, educational, & research purposes:
Charges against the Gold Star father, who was arrested after harassing President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address, have been dropped.
“A Gold Star Family is the immediate family member(s) of a fallen service member who died while serving in a time of conflict,” according to hopeforthewarriors.org.
Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D-D.C.) withdrew charges against the Gold Star father, who was detained after heckling President Biden during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Republican lawmakers confirmed.
Representative Brian Mast (R-Fla.) told Fox News on Tuesday night that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) assisted in getting the charges against Steven Nikoui, 51, dropped for protesting during Biden’s speech. He was protesting in response to an earlier pleading from Representative Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).
“Though he interrupted the event, what Mr. Nikoui voiced out loud was a cry for the acknowledgment of the loss endured by the families of the 13 who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country,” Issa wrote in a letter to Capitol Police chief Thomas Manger on Tuesday.
Nikoui was taken into custody by U.S. Capitol Police after he yelled “Abby Gate!” and “Second Battalion, First Marines!” during Biden’s speech.
At a Capitol Hill hearing on the withdrawal from Afghanistan on Tuesday, he informed reporters that he remained charged despite calls from Mast, Issa, and Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) to have the case dismissed.
On August 26th, 2021, an ISIS suicide bomber outside Hamid Karzai International Airport killed 13 U.S. service members, including Nikoui’s son, Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui.
According to Fox News, the District of Columbia Attorney General’s office defended its decision not to prosecute Nikoui by citing instances of previous protesters who were not charged.
Although Nikoui claims he had no intention of interrupting Biden, he grew irritated when the president only brought up the death of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, rather than his son or the other twelve U.S. service members who perished in the Abbey Gate explosion.
“I’ve waited three years, I paid $3,000, and I’ve traveled 3,000 miles to finally hear my son’s name in the State of the Union,” he told DailyMail.com. “That trip to the State of the Union—wwhat a kick in my ass.”
Nikoui had been charged with “crowding, obstructing, [and] incommoding Congress,” which is a misdemeanor that typically results in release after paying a $50 fine.
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