EXCLUSIVE — A group of California lawmakers on Thursday will honor four of the 13 U.S. service members who lost their lives in the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
Republican Assemblyman Bill Essayli, who spearheaded the effort, plans to honor Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui who, along with his fellow service members, was killed in a blast from a suicide bombing at then-Hamid Karzai International Airport during an evacuation. At least 180 civilians were killed in the attack.
The four service members being honored at the California State Capitol on Thursday were all from the Golden State.
Essayli told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that he was moved by hearing Gold Star father Herman Lopez speak at the 2024 Republican National Convention about his son, Cpl. Hunter Lopez, who also died in the suicide bombing.
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California Assemblyman Bill Essayi (California State Assembly)
“I thought it was so moving, and I asked my staff, ‘Have we done anything in the Capitol for these families?’ And they couldn’t recollect that we had done anything to honor the soldiers,” Essayli said. “I said, ‘We’re coming up on the anniversary here, and I think it’s totally fitting and appropriate. So, why don’t we invite the families and let’s honor them on the floor of the California Capitol.’”
Essayli and his colleagues will present memorial resolutions to each of the Gold Star families. Members from each of the respective districts will then say a few words about each fallen service members.
Gold Star father Steve Nikoui, who lost his son, Kareem, in the bombing and will be in attendance at the ceremony, told Fox News Digital that the last three years have been incredibly difficult. About a year after losing Kareem, his other son committed suicide.
Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui was one of the 13 American service members killed in the August 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul’s airport during the United States’ evacuation from Afghanistan. (Courtesy Nikoui’s family)
“I did the appropriate thing, which normal people would do. I spent the first few years healing,” Nikoui said, choking back tears before turning his anger toward the Biden administration.
“During that time, the administration just continually denied their service, their sacrifice and what happened and denied letting the American people know the truth,” Nikoui said.
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Nikoui heckled President Biden during his State of the Union address in March, repeatedly shouting “Abbey Gate,” a nod to the location of the airport where the suicide bombing on Aug. 26, 2021, took place.
Steve Nikoui shouts as President Biden, not pictured, speaks during the State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol on March 7, 2024. (Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Nikoui was later removed from the House gallery by Capitol Police and arrested on a misdemeanor charge of crowding, obstructing, or incommoding. Brian Schwalb, the Democrat attorney general in Washington, D.C., later dropped the charges.
Nikoui said Biden had an opportunity to bring the country together by honoring the fallen U.S. service members during his State of the Union address but “chose not to do that.”
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“He chose to honor and invoke his son’s name instead. I think that has been the downfall of this administration. And from that, our civilization, our society, our America has paid the consequences … by that withdrawal,” Nikoui said. “We’re hurting real bad.”
Essayli criticized Democrats for never taking the initiative to honor fallen U.S. service members.
In this handout photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, flag-draped transfer cases line the inside of a C-17 Globemaster II on Aug. 29, 2021, prior to a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. (Jason Minto/U.S. Air Force via Getty Images)
“Democrats are very good at pandering and saying they care about veterans. But when it comes down to it and really honoring veterans and helping them, I don’t see any action to back it up. The fact that it’s never come to their mind to do this ceremony and never taking the initiative, I think speaks volumes,” Essayli said, noting that California lawmakers have honored the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group that mocks the Catholic faith.
Essayli said he hopes the ceremony on Thursday will highlight the two choices the American people have in the November election: former President Trump, who he credited with not starting any new wars, and Vice President Harris, who represents the legacy of the Biden administration.
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“There’s conflict all over the world. So, leadership matters and weakness is provocative,” Essayli said. “That would be my message.”