(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A heartbreaking video showed Gold Star father Steven Nikoui making an emotional return after being released from federal custody for heckling President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday.
The video depicts Nikoui embracing other Gold Star family members who also went to the State of the Union. They reunited at a D.C. restaurant after he was held by the feds for speaking up at Congress just minutes before.
In one notable moment, a tearful Nikoui holds a fellow Gold Star father for several uninterrupted seconds. “We’re so proud of you,” a woman tells Nikoui. Moments later, the parents can be seen jesting about the arrest.
WATCH: Steve Nikoui’s fellow Gold Star Families give him a hero’s welcome after he is freed from his completely deranged arrest by @CapitolPolice ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ https://t.co/uLSjSwmpQA pic.twitter.com/MFdlrmSMfC
— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) March 8, 2024
On Thursday, Nikoui garnered national attention for holding Biden accountable for the death of his son, Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui.
The 20-year-old was one of the 13 U.S. servicemen killed by a suicide bomber in Kabul as Biden led the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
“Abbey Gate! Abbey Gate!” the passionate father shouted during Biden’s address, referring to the name of one of the gates at Hamid Karzai International Airport, where a terrorist ignited the deadly suicide belt.
This is Steven Nakoui.
The Gold Star dad who was CHARGED with disrupting Congress and faces up to 5 years in PRISON.
His son Kareem was one of the victims in the Abbey Gate attack in Afghanistan.
DROP THE CHARGES IMMEDIATELY. pic.twitter.com/Ytj8zYcBnM
— Chad Prather (@WatchChad) March 8, 2024
Such vocal protest prompted the U.S. Capitol Police to arrest Nikoui when he allegedly refused to cease shouting. The USCP charged him with Crowding, Obstructing, or Incommoding, a misdemeanor.
Critics on social media scolded the USCP for the arrest. Some Americans expressed solidarity through a GoFundMe fundraiser that has amassed over 5,000 as of Friday evening. The fundraiser is dedicated to a family memorial for Nikoui’s son.
Steve Nikoui, the father of fallen Marine LCpl. Kareem Nikoui, was my guest to #SOTU2024.
He was arrested because he cried out to @JoeBiden to remember his son.
Joe Biden has never honored those killed at the Abby Gate and still hails the catastrophic withdrawal as a success! pic.twitter.com/m8Y0sUPLY6
— Rep. Brian Mast (@RepBrianMast) March 8, 2024
Nikoui’s heartbreaking story extends beyond the effects of Kabul, as his stepson, Dakota Halverson, died by suicide in what the family described as a “ripple effect” of Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“He was still having a hard time believing he was actually gone,” wrote Shanna Chappell, the mother, on Facebook, referring to Halverson’s struggles with his brother’s death in Kabul.
In a separate post, she revealed that Halverson would sneak into the cemetery and sleep at his brother’s resting place.
Republicans are demanding the charges against Nikoui be dropped.
