President Donald Trump met with Gold Star families at the White House on Monday to recognize the fourth anniversary of the botched exit from Afghanistan, where 13 American service members were killed.
The president signed a proclamation to recognize the events of that horrific day in August 2021, when a suicide bomber detonated at the Abbey Gate Air Force base in Kabul as troops were helping evacuate American personnel.
He stood with a group of about 30 family members of the slain service members who stood with the president behind the Resolute Desk.
‘That was a terrible day. I think it was the worst day,’ Trump said about the events that took place under his predecessor former President Joe Biden. ‘And in many ways the most embarrassing day in the history of our country.’
He said the United States had learned a lot of lessons as a result of the messy exit from Afghanistan and promised that ‘it won’t happen again.’
Secretary of State Pete Hegseth and Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins was with the president and the families together with Vice President JD Vance.
‘There are some great souls who are looking down on you right now,’ Trump said to the families, comforting them for their losses.
The Gold Star families spent years criticizing Biden’s handling of the botched operation, and his repeated failure to honor the fallen in public remarks.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs a proclamation on the fourth anniversary of the “Abbey Gate” terrorist attack with family members of the slain soldiers
Relatives of members of the U.S. military killed in Afghanistan during the U.S withdrawal in 2021 listen to President Donald Trump
Vance spoke to the families, casting blame directly on Biden, saying the event was a way to right the wrongs of the previous administration.
‘The fact that the president of the United States lost your loved ones through incompetence but never acknowledged it … we correct that wrong today,’ Vance said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the review of the disastrous exit from Afghanistan was ongoing, but would be very thorough and would be completed in the middle of 2026.
Biden angered the parents and family members of the slain military members in Afghanistan, beginning with his visit to Dover for the dignified return ceremony where he infamously checked his watch.
He later failed to acknowledge their sacrifices when speaking about the exit from Afghanistan in major speeches, describing the exit as an ‘extraordinary success.’
Biden also angered the families after he claimed during a presidential debate that ‘I’m the only president this century, this decade, that doesn’t have any troops dying anywhere in the world like he did.’
They rallied to Trump’s side during the 2024 presidential campaign, some of them speaking at campaign events and the Republican National Convention.
‘Look at our faces. Look at our pain, and our heartbreak. And look at our rage. That was not an extraordinary success,’ said Cheryl Juels, the aunt of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee on the convention stage. ‘Joe Biden owes the men and women who served in Afghanistan a debt of gratitude, and an apology.’
Vice President JD Vance, left, stands alongside family members of soldiers killed in Afghanistan at the attack at Abbey Gate as President Donald Trump speaks
This image from a video released by the Department of Defense shows U.S. Marines at Abbey Gate before a suicide bomber struck outside Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 26, 2021
Eleven Marines, one Navy corpsman, and one soldier, were killed as a result of the attack:
Marine Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts,
Marine Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Sacramento, California,
Marine Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Marine Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, California,
Marine Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Nebraska
Marine Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Indiana,
Marine Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas
Marine Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Missouri,
Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyoming,
Marine Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, California
Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, California.
Navy Corpsman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio,
Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee.
The family members also received a tour of the White House after the Oval Office event but did not stop to respond to the Daily Mail when asked about their afternoon with the president.
