Speaking during the Thursday, June 27 presidential debate hosted by CNN, current President Joe Biden claimed that no soldiers had died under his watch. That is untrue; over a dozen soldiers died, for example, during the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. In response to Biden’s comments, the family of a service member killed in Afghanistan during the withdrawal spoke out.
As a reminder, when America withdrew from Afghanistan in late August, 2021, the first year of the Biden presidency, conditions were extremely chaotic. That was particularly true of the Kabul airport from which America was withdrawing, as a massive throng of in-country Americans and refugees crowded at the entrances. That resulted in a suicide bomber being able to get close to the gate and kill 13 American service members.
Among those killed was Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, who was killed in action on August 26, 2021. His parents spoke out after President Biden, during the debate, claimed that he is the “only president this century, this decade, that doesn’t have any troops dying anywhere in the world.” He also said that “when he [Trump] was president, they were still killing people in Afghanistan. And he didn’t do anything about that,” ignoring the August 26 disaster of his own making.
His father, Darin Hoover, spoke to Fox News Digital after the debate. He said, “I knew Afghanistan was going to come up sooner or later.” He continued, shredding President Biden, “You know, the stumbling, bumbling buffoon that we have in the White House had the audacity to say that under his watch that no military members have died.”
He added, commenting on his reaction to Biden’s remarks, “the rage, the absolute disgust that I got, from hearing him say that–I started yelling back at the TV. Just out of frustration. He’s never acknowledged, not one time, any of our kids. He’s never said their names. Even to this day, I doubt very seriously that he even knows their names.”
Mr. Hoover then noted, commenting on the lackluster response from the White House in response to his son’s death, “All the 13 families get a canned letter. It said the same exact same thing. And it looked like it was a photocopy of all of that. It was basically, we’re sorry that your service member had died, and that’s been it. We’ve had absolutely nothing before, nothing since.”
He also noted that Biden has refused to meet with the families of those killed in action during his Afghanistan disaster, telling Fox News Digital that the president is “a chicken.” He said, “as much as we tried it in the past, when we’ve been going before Congress to try and get a meeting, it’s been denied because he’s a chicken.”
Similarly, Staff Sgt. Hoover’s mother, Kelly Barnett, said: “What I would say to them is shame on you using our children as a pawn. It just makes me sick.” She continued, “It’s sickening, but it goes to the way that we’ve been treated the past three years. It’s three years–we’re going on three years now. And it’s just disrespect after disrespect. This is probably the cherry on top.”
Watch Biden in the debate here:
Speaking to Fox News Digital before the interview with Staff Sgt. Hoover’s parents was published, the White House said, “President Biden cares deeply about our service members, their families, and the immense sacrifices they have made. That’s why the President attended the dignified transfer of the 13 brave service members who lost their lives in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021; as well as, of the three who lost their lives in Jordan earlier this year.” It added, “As he said then and continues to believe now: Our country owes them a great deal of gratitude and a debt that we can never repay, and we will continue to honor their ultimate sacrifice.”
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