State of the Union: Gold Star dad whose son died during U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan arrested for heckling Biden
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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.
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“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.”
The Biden administration faced harsh bipartisan criticism over the U.S. military's chaotic withdrawal from the war in Afghanistan during the president’s first year in office.
