Steve Nikoui – the Gold Star father and State of the Union guest of Representative Brian Mast (R-FL) – appeared on Fox News's “Hannity” to discuss the details of his display at the event as well as his detention and arrest.
Steve Nikoui was the father of Marine Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui.
Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui was one of the 13 U.S. servicemembers who died amidst the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Alongside losing his son in the Marines, Mr. Nikoui lost another family member to suicide just weeks before the one-year anniversary of LCpl. Nikoui’s death.
Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) joined Mr. Nikoui as well. Nikoui thanked Rep. Issa and the “Four Horsemen” fighting for Gold-Star families: Representatives Brian Mast, Cory Mills (R-FL), and Mike Waltz (R-FL).
“Well, thank you for having me, Sean. And I want to thank the man next to me, Congressman Issa. He’s part of a group that has helped us, the other Gold Star parents since June, when we didn’t know if we had any chance. He’s part of four congressmen that we affectionately call the Four Horsemen which is Issa, Waltz, Mast, Mills, all led by Chairman [Michael] McCaul,” said Mr. Nikoui. “We wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for them.”
Furthermore, Nikoui clarified what he said exactly during his outburst at the State of the Union after initial reports said that he yelled “Remember Abbey Gate” as well as his son’s name.
“I want to be clear, because I think there’s some misunderstanding what I said. I said ‘Do you remember Abbey Gate?’ And when I did that I was praying and because I was looking at this spectacle that I was seeing below me and I was listening to him and I was praying, hoping that maybe at some point prior to this that he had mentioned Afghanistan, our kids, because all of the Gold Star parents were thinking that that might be a possibility and it wasn’t happening.
Nikoui continued, “And then as soon as he said something about kids and then something about being safe, I don’t even know what I did. I didn’t even do that. I just jumped up and said, ‘Do you remember Abbey Gate?’ It was like the Lord convicted me, the Holy Spirit got in me. And when I did it, I paused, I was like, ‘Oh, what did I do?’ And then right after that, I said, United States Marines, Kareem M. Nikoui, Second Battalion, First Marines, because I’ve been waiting for three years for this man to say my son’s name into this chamber, and he never did. But on this day, his name was said.”
Rep. Issa mentioned that a letter is being formulated to clear Mr. Nikoui of any wrongdoing, citing the precedent of others who have shouted or interrupted the State of the Union in the past.
