Photo: Alex Wong / Getty Images News / Getty Images
A Gold Star father was removed from the State of the Union on Thursday (March 7) night after heckling President Joe Biden. Steven Nikoui, who lost his son, Kareem Nikoui, in a bombing near Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul during the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, yelled "Abbey Gate" several times in reference to the terror attack that killed his son and 12 other U.S. service members.
Nikoui was confronted by security and told to stop. When he refused, he was arrested by the U.S. Capitol Police.
"Our officers warned him to stop, and when he did not, the man was removed from the House Galleries," the U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement.
Nikoui was taken into custody without incident and charged with a misdemeanor count of crowding, obstructing, or incommoding.
Nikoui was the guest of Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida. After the incident, Mast called out President Biden for failing to honor those who lost their lives in the terror attack.
"Steve Nikoui, the father of fallen Marine LCpl. Kareem Nikoui, was my guest to #SOTU2024. He was arrested because he cried out to @JoeBiden to remember his son. Joe Biden has never honored those killed at the Abby Gate and still hails the catastrophic withdrawal as a success!" Mast wrote on X.