Gold Star father Mark Schmitz, whose son Marine Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz was killed in the terror attack at the airport in Kabul last week, slammed President Joe Biden during an interview on Monday for how the president handled himself during a meeting following his son’s death.
“First, I just wanted to say that Jared has exemplified so much that any man could ever strive for and made me so proud to watch him undertake this endeavor of going into the Marine Corp,” Schmitz said of his son. “He completed his boot camp. He went to Jordan, was excited about that. And was constantly looking to do more and was given that opportunity.”
Later, when asked about meeting the president and how the meeting went, Schmitz said that Biden focused more on his own son than he did Schmitz’s son.
“Well, initially, I wasn’t going to meet with him, but then I felt I owed it to my son to at least have some words with him about how I felt and it didn’t go well,” Schmitz told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “He talked a bit more about his own son than he did my son in that didn’t sit well with me.”
WATCH:
Gold Star father Mark Schmitz, whose son Marine Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz was killed in Kabul last week, on meeting Democrat President Joe Biden: "It didn't go well. He talked a bit more about his own son than he did my son and that didn't sit well with me.” pic.twitter.com/dvstBNmHEU
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) August 31, 2021
The Washington Post highlighted details from Schmitz’s meeting with Biden:
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 son Jared. But overnight, sleeping in a nondescript hotel nearby, Schmitz changed his mind. So on that dreary morning he and his ex-wife were approached by Biden after he’d talked to all the other families. But by his own account, Schmitz glared hard at the president, so Biden spent more time looking at his ex-wife, repeatedly invoking his own son, Beau, who died six years ago.
Schmitz did not want to hear about Beau, he wanted to talk about Jared. Eventually, the parents took out a photo to show to Biden. “I said, ‘Don’t you ever forget that name. Don’t you ever forget that face. Don’t you ever forget the names of the other 12,’ ” Schmitz said. “ ‘And take some time to learn their stories.’ ”
Biden did not seem to like that, Schmitz recalled, and he bristled, offering a blunt response: “I do know their stories.”
It was a remarkable moment of two men thrown together by history. One was a president of the United States who prides himself on connecting with just about anyone in a moment of grief, but now coming face-to-face with grief that he himself had a role in creating. The other was a proud Marine father from Missouri, awoken a few nights before at 2:40 a.m. by a military officer at his door with news that nearly made him faint.
The U.S. soldiers that were killed during the terror attack on the Kabul airport are Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City, Utah; Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosariopichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts; Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Sacramento, California; Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, California; Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Nebraska; Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Indiana; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Missouri; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyoming; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, California; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, California; Navy Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio; and Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee.