Gold Star family members of some of the 13 U.S. service members killed during the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan nearly two years ago spoke at a public forum in California on Monday, with one father calling on President Joe Biden and members of his cabinet to resign. Similarly, a mother accused a colonel of giving her false information after her son was killed.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) organized the public forum at the Escondido City Hall at 11:00 a.m. local time, where family members offered emotional testimony following the tragic deaths of their sons and daughters at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, in what officials say was a suicide bombing.
Darin Hoover, father of fallen Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City, Utah, called on Biden to resign at the end of his remarks, drawing loud applause from those in attendance.
Darin Hoover, father of fallen Marine Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, Jr., tells Biden over the botched Afghanistan withdrawal:
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 7, 2023
"Do what our son did — be a grown ass man. Admit to your mistakes ... resign immediately." pic.twitter.com/cgTi7TDlwe
“I’m calling out Secretary Blinken, Secretary Austin, General Milley, General McKenzie, Lt. Col. Whitehead — who could not give the order to the snipers to take out the bomber before he detonated his vest — and ultimately, the president,” he said at the forum, which was broadcast by Fox News.
“Do what our son did: Be a grown-ass man,” Hoover challenged them. “Admit your mistakes. Learn from them so that this doesn’t happen ever, ever again. You all need to resign immediately. Our sons and daughters have more integrity in their little toes than every one of them combined.”
The mother of fallen Marine Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, Cheryl Rex, wore her son’s dog tags and spoke with a shaky voice as she recounted a briefing from a colonel and judge advocate general (JAG) in January 2022, where she said she realized “everything, even the way my son died is being covered up.”
"I knew then I was being targeted and shut down publicly by media outlets."
— NewsBusters (@newsbusters) August 7, 2023
Cheryl Rex, Mother of Dylan Merola – an American hero who lost his life in the Afghanistan withdrawal, calls out the media and the Biden admin for covering up the failures of this deadly exit pic.twitter.com/GdJDvEh1Vp
Rex explained:
I was being given false information. While this colonel was describing Dylan’s wounds, he was describing the report as intended towards a right-handed person. My son’s personal trait was that he was left-handed, so when I questioned, ‘How could my son obtain wounds on the opposite of his body that he was illustrating?’ he could not respond, leading the conversation to the JAG to change the subject.
She added they showed her drone footage in which they claimed there was a “three-minute unexplainable lapse,” Rex said.
The Gold Star mother also recounted her interaction with Biden during the dignified transfer of her son’s body, where she claims he implied his own son died in combat.
Cheryl Rex describes Biden's callous attempt to lump his son Beau's death from cancer with the pain of losing her son Dylan Merola in the Afghanistan withdrawal suicide bombing.
— Media Research Center (@theMRC) August 7, 2023
"How could someone be so heartless to say he knew how I felt." pic.twitter.com/0pTYHn5BlB
“When he approached me, his words were, ‘My wife, Jill, and I know how you feel. We lost our son as well and brought him home in a flag-draped coffin,’” Rex recounted.
As she pointed out, Biden’s late son Beau, former attorney general of Delaware, died of cancer.
Alicia Lopez, mother of fallen Marine Cpl. Hunter Lopez, reads the names of the 13 U.S. servicemembers killed in Biden's botched Afghanistan withdrawal.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 7, 2023
NEVER FORGET THESE HEROES:
Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover
Sgt. Nicole Gee
Sgt. Johanny Pichardo
Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss
Cpl.… pic.twitter.com/jhFoz8hEr9
The first to speak was Alicia Lopez, mother of fallen Marine Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, California. Lopez read the names of the U.S. Service members killed by the suicide bomber:
Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Sacramento, California.
Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee.
Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Nebraska.
Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Indiana.
Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, California.
Navy Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, California.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, California.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Missouri.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyoming.
“I ask that our children are honored, those injured, and those that made it home from [Hamid Karzai International Airport], that they be honored by speaking the truth,” she said.
Last month, Biden denied any mistakes in the withdrawal, Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong noted.
