Charges dropped against Gold Star dad arrested after heckling Biden at State of the Union
Charges against the Gold Star father arrested after heckling President Biden during his State of the Union address were dropped Tuesday by Washington, DC’s Democratic attorney general, Republican lawmakers have confirmed.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) helped ensure the charges against Steve Nikoui for demonstrating during Biden’s speech were dropped, Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) told Fox News Tuesday night, following an earlier entreaty by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).
“Though he interrupted the event, what Mr. Nikoui voiced out loud was a cry for the acknowledgment of the loss endured by the families of the 13 who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country,” Issa wrote in a letter to Capitol Police chief Thomas Manger on Tuesday.
A spokesman for Issa told The Post that the congressman was able to inform the Gold Star dad of the good news.
Nikoui, 51, was taken into custody by Capitol Police after he yelled, “Abbey Gate!” and “Second Battalion, First Marines!” down at Biden, 81, during his speech earlier this month.
He attended a hearing on the Afghanistan pullout Tuesday on Capitol Hill, at which he told reporters he was still facing charges after Mast, Issa and Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) called for the case to be dropped.
Nikoui, a guest at the State of the Union, was seated in the gallery when he shouted the remarks.
Nikoui’s son, Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, was one of 13 US service members killed by an ISIS-K suicide bomber outside Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 26, 2021, as Kabul fell to the Taliban during the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The District of Columbia Attorney General’s office noted cases of past protesters not being prosecuted in defending its decision to not prosecute Nikoui, according to Fox News.
Schwalb’s office did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Nikoui has said he did not intend to interrupt Biden’s speech, but became frustrated after the president mentioned slain Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was allegedly killed by an “illegal” immigrant, but not his son, nor the 12 other US service members killed in the Abbey Gate blast.
“I’ve waited three years, I paid $3,000 and I’ve traveled 3,000 miles to finally hear my son’s name in the State of the Union,” he told DailyMail.com. “That trip to the State of the Union — what a kick in my ass.”
Nikoui was charged with crowding, obstructing, or incommoding Congress, a misdemeanor that typically results in the offender’s release after paying a $50 fine.
