'SO DISRESPECTFUL'
Fathers of Marines killed in bombing say Biden checked his watch after each casket was removed & ‘talked about HIS son’
THE grieving dads of two Marines killed in Afghanistan have accused Joe Biden of looking at his watch as each casket was removed and claimed he talked about his son when meeting families.
has been under fire for apparently checking his timepiece after saluting the victims at Sunday's transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
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Mark Schmitz, the dad of Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, and Darin Hoover – the father of Staff Sergeant Taylor Hoover – claimed the president looked at his watch not just once.
Hoover told : "The checking of his watch, that didn't happen just once. That happened on every single one that came out of the airplane. It had happened on every single one of them."
He said Biden would look at his watch after each salute was released.
Schmitz added: "I leaned into my son’s mother’s ear and I said, 'I swear to God if he checks his watch one more time.'"
He claimed it was the “most disrespectful” thing he had ever seen.
Schmitz alleged that Biden talked about his own son Beau rather than Jared in his meeting with the president.
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Beau, who was an Iraq War veteran, died in 2015 from a brain tumor.
Some relatives of the dead troops were angry with Biden and didn't want to meet him, reports.
Roice McCollum said she, her sister, and her father joined Rylee McCollum’s pregnant wife Jiennah on the trip to the ceremony.
All apart from Jiennah didn’t meet with Biden as they “held the president responsible for McCollum’s death."
Roice said Jiennah left the meeting “disappointed” as she claimed Biden brought up his son Beau in the conversation.
She told the outlet: “It struck the family as a scripted and shallow, a conversation that lasted only a couple of minutes in ‘total disregard to the loss of our Marine.'”
Roice added: “This did not need to happen.”
'TOTAL DISREGARD'
In the moments after the ceremony, the gaffe-prone president received a barrage of criticism.
One critic said should show more respect, while others admitted: “It wasn’t a good look."
And dozens of social media users poked fun at and claimed he was running late for his "nap."
One wrote: "Getting ready for his afternoon nap."
Another said: "Time for napping is important."
Others quipped that they were amazed Biden was still awake.
The president has been accused of having “blood on his hands” after 13 US troops were killed following the at Kabul airport on August 26.
They were the first US service members killed in Afghanistan since February 2020.
The 11 Marines were identified as Rylee McCollum, Nicole Gee, Dylan Merola, Kareem Nikoui, Jared Schmitz, Humberto Sanchez, Hunter Lopez, Taylor Hoover, Daegan Page, Johanny Rosario Pichardo, and 20-year-old David Lee Espinoza.
Family members of other Marines killed in the blast slammed Biden for mishandling the withdrawal operation.
Shana Chappell, the mom of Kareem Nikoui, accused Biden of being a "weak human being" and a "traitor."
She posted on Facebook: "You are no leader of any kind. You turned your back on my son, on all of our heroes!!! My son's blood is on your hands.
"All 13 of them, their blood is on your hands."
Before the last remaining troops were evacuated, McCollum’s dad said: “I’ve lost my son, but there are still Marines over there. I am scared s**tless to see what’s going to happen next and what’s going to come our way.”
Steve Nikoui, whose son was killed in the deadly blast, told : “I’m a carpenter; I’ve never served. But even I could see that was a dangerous situation. From what I saw of the airport that they were in it looked like a turkey shoot.”
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And, Kathy McCollum, ripped as she branded him a “dementia-ridden piece of c**p."
Biden vowed to “hunt down” the terrorists and make them pay following the deadly attack.
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