House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. are hosting a Gold Medal ceremony for the 13 U.S. service members killed at Abbey Gate during the Afghanistan withdrawal.
Johnson is expected to posthumously present the Gold Medal, Congress’ highest honor, to the 13 fallen Americans who were killed during the August 2021 ISIS-K suicide bombing at the Kabul Airport.
He opened the ceremony on Tuesday by naming the fallen and apologizing to their families.
The 13 U.S. service members killed at Abbey Gate were: Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, Navy Petty Officer Third Class Maxton W. Soviak, and Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss.
A display showing fallen American military members is displayed for a news conference by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
“Our nation owes a profound debt of gratitude to these service members and those here today who were with them in Kabul. We also owe them something deeper, and that is an apology to the families who are here. I know many of you have yet to hear these words, so I will say them. We are sorry,” Johnson said in opening remarks. “The United States government should have done everything to protect our troops. Those fallen and wounded at Abbey gate deserved our best efforts, and the families who have been left to pick up the pieces continue to deserve transparency and appreciation and recognition to you and the families who are not here. I can promise you this you are not alone in shouldering the burdens from that day. And although we can never fully measure your loss, we can and we must memorialize the ultimate sacrifice that was paid.”
The attack also left roughly 170 Afghans dead. Tuesday’s ceremony comes two days after Rep. Mike McCaul, the Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released a scathing 350-page report that took a fine-toothed comb to the military’s 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal and highlighted areas of serious mismanagement.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, speaks about his panel’s Afghanistan report at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. He is joined by Republican lawmakers and families of the military members who were killed during the evacuation. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The Republican-led report opens by harkening back to President Biden’s urgency to withdraw from the Vietnam War as a senator in the 1970s. That, along with the Afghanistan withdrawal, demonstrates a “pattern of callous foreign policy positions and readiness to abandon strategic partners,” according to the report.
The report also disputed Biden’s assertion that his hands were tied to the Doha agreement former President Trump had made with the Taliban establishing a deadline for U.S. withdrawal for the summer of 2021, and it revealed how state officials had no plan for getting Americans and allies out while there were still troops there to protect them.
On the three-year anniversary of the attack, Trump joined the families of the slain 13 U.S. service members at Arlington National Cemetery.
Biden and Vice President Harris were absent, and though they released statements that day, did not publicly name the 13 fallen.
Donald Trump stands alongside Misty Fuoco, whose sister Sgt. Nicole Gee died in Abbey Gate Bombing, at a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Aug. 26, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Harris later accused Trump of playing politics with the visit, but in a series of short videos, eight families said they had invited Trump, and bitterly blasted the Biden-Harris administration over the pullout that left 13 U.S. service members dead three years ago.
The vice president criticized Trump’s team for taking photographs and videos at a wreath-laying ceremony event. The Army said that an Arlington National Cemetery official was “abruptly pushed aside” while making sure that Trump’s team was “made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.”
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The Gold Star families who lost loved ones in the botched Afghanistan withdrawal blasted Harris over her attack on Trump’s visit paying respect to the fallen.
Fox News’ Morgan Phillips, Nicholas Kalman and Andrea Vacchiano contributed to this report. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
