House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) blocked GOP representatives from reading on the House floor the names of the 13 United States troops who were killed in a terrorist attack in Kabul, Afghanistan last week.
“How badly do Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats want to cover up this Afghanistan debacle? They just blocked Members of Congress from reading the names of the service members who sacrificed their lives in Afghanistan last week,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) tweeted on Tuesday. “Don’t you think our military deserves better?”
Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), who was wounded during combat in Afghanistan, told The Floridian that Pelosi refused to recognize a Republican-only “moment of silence” for the fallen service members.
“We gaveled in, had a prayer, said the Pledge of Allegiance, took a moment of silence with pretty much all Republican veterans, then asked to be recognized to read names and bring up Afghanistan legislation,” Mast told the outlet. “They did not acknowledge us, and just closed the House down.”
Another Florida Republican and combat veteran, Rep. Greg Steube, blasted House Democrats for ignoring the veterans on the House floor.
“House Democrats just refused to recognize Republican veterans on the House Floor to read the names of our fallen service members in Afghanistan,” Rep. Steube wrote on Twitter. “That’s how far our nation has fallen.”
President Joe Biden was also criticized this week for appearing to check his watch during the dignified transfer of 11 Marines, two soldiers and one Navy Corpsman who were killed in Kabul last Thursday.
“Some of the Gold Star families have criticized the president’s conduct at the dignified transfer,” Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich said to White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday. “There was a father of one Marine who said the president shouldn’t be checking his watch every time a flag draped transport case came by the plane. And a sister of another Marine said that it felt like a fake and scripted apology.”
“Was the president looking at his watch and does he have a message for those people who felt that they were offended?” Heinrich asked.
Psaki refused to answer whether or not the president was checking his watch, responding, “Well, I would say his message to all of the family members, who were there, those who were not even in attendance, is that he is grateful to their sons and daughters, the sacrifice that they made to the country.”
“That he knows firsthand what it’s like to lose a child and the fact no one can tell you anything, or say anything, that there’s no words that are going to fill that hole that is left by that,” she continued.
“He’s not and I’m not going to speak to the private conversations, of course, they have the right to convey whatever they would like,” Psaki added. “But I will tell you, from spending a lot of time with him over the last couple of days, that he was deeply impacted by these family members who he met, just two days ago. That he talks about them frequently in meetings and the incredible service of their sons and daughters. That is not going to change their suffering, but I wanted to convey that still.”
