Headline Roundup • September 1st, 2021
After Meeting With Him, Gold Star Families Criticize Biden's Conduct
Summary from the AllSides News Team
President Joe Biden fielded criticism this week from some of the families of the 13 U.S. service members killed in the Kabul suicide bombing last Thursday. Biden met with some of the families Sunday at Dover Air Force Base and spoke with each privately; after the meetings, Biden and First Lady Jill Biden attended the final dignified transfer of the bodies of the 13. The family of Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz accused Biden of discussing his son Beau Biden more than their own during their meeting, as did the mother of Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, who also accused Biden of rolling his eyes during their meeting. The family of Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover declined to meet with Biden; Hoover's father said they didn't want Biden "anywhere near us." Members of the three families also accused Biden of glancing at his watch multiple times during the dignified transfer.
Many major right-rated outlets have focused significantly on Biden's meetings with the Gold Star families and their criticism of his conduct. The families' criticism received much less attention from left- and center-rated media, though some did offer in-depth reports and interviews with the families.
Featured Coverage of this Story

(Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
President Biden made his way on Sunday around a quiet room at Dover Air Force Base, a chamber filled with couches and chairs, with dignitaries and grieving families huddling together as the president came to speak to them privately, one family at a time.
Mark Schmitz had told a military officer the night before that he wasn’t much interested in speaking to a president he did not vote for, one whose execution of the Afghan pullout he disdains — and one he now blames for the death of his 20-year-old...

AFP via Getty Images
Family members of the US Marines killed in last week’s suicide terror attack at the Kabul airport are slamming President Biden for his behavior at the dignified transfer ceremony over the weekend — with one Gold Star father accusing the commander-in-chief of doing “the most disrespectful thing I’ve ever seen” by repeatedly looking at his watch during the ceremony.
Darin Hoover, the father of Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Biden checked his watch every single time a flag-draped coffin was removed from the hold of the Air Force C-17...

(Photo by Sgt. Isaiah Campbell / U.S. Marine Corps via Getty Images)
The family of a Marine who died in the Aug. 26 terror bombing in Kabul is blaming the Biden administration for the attack.
President Joe Biden met with the family of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum on Sunday, The Washington Post reported. The length of the meeting, only a few minutes, showed a “total disregard to the loss of our Marine,” McCollum’s sister Roice said.
Rylee McCollum, a 20-year old from Wyoming, was one of 13 American soldiers killed by an ISIS-K suicide bomber outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in...
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