Gold Star fathers Mark Schmitz and Darin Hoover slammed President Joe Biden during a Fox News interview on Monday night for appearing to repeatedly look at his watch while participating in the dignified transfer of the 13 U.S. service members who died in a terrorist attack last week in Kabul.
“In reference to the checking of his watch, that didn’t happen just once,” said Hoover, who lost his son, Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, in the attack. “That happened on every single one that came out of that airplane. It happened on every single one of them. They would release the salute, and he would look down at his watch on every last one – all 13 – he looked down at his watch.”
“As a father, you know, seeing that and the disrespect, and hearing from his former leaders, one of his master sergeants said exactly what you just said, that this was avoidable, that they left them over there,” he continued. “They let them down, we can’t have that. It can’t happen ever again.”
Fox News host Sean Hannity asked Schmitz, who lost his son, Marine Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, what he thought about the watch incident.
“I actually leaned into my son’s mother’s ear in I said I swear to god if he checks his watch one more time and was probably only four times in, I couldn’t look at him anymore after that,” Schmitz said. “Considering especially the time and why we were there, I found it to be the most disrespectful thing I’d ever seen.”
WATCH:
Gold Star fathers Mark Schmitz & Darin Hoover, whose sons died in Kabul last week, on Democrat President Joe Biden checking his watch during the dignified transfer of their son's bodies:
Schmitz: "most disrespectful thing I'd ever seen"
Hoover: "that didn't happen just once" pic.twitter.com/annpJWspto
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) August 31, 2021
The Washington Post reported that a similar incident allegedly happened when Biden met with a family member from a different family that lost a loved one:
Some of the grieving relatives felt a need to interact directly with the president after losing their loved one, including Jiennah McCollum, who married [Marine Corps Lance Cpl.] Rylee McCollum just six months ago and is due to give birth to the couple’s child next month.
“Gigi wanted to look him in the eye and hear him,” McCollum’s sister Roice said in a text message to The Washington Post, using Jiennah’s nickname.
Roice recounted that Jiennah left disappointed. The president, she said, kept checking his watch and bringing up Beau.
“He cannot possibly understand,” Roice told The Washington Post. “My dad and I did not want to speak to him. You cannot kneel on our flag and pretend you care about our troops. You can’t f— up as bad as he did and say you’re sorry. This did not need to happen, and every life is on his hands. The thousands of Afghans who will suffer and be tortured is a direct result of his incompetence.”