Tucker Carlson - Ep. 85 Steve Nikoui is a carpenter from California whose son was killed during Biden’s pullout from Afghanistan. Joe Biden won’t say his name, so at the State of the Union speech, Steve Nikoui did. He was immediately arrested for it.
Steve Nikoui, a California carpenter whose son, Marine Lance Corporal Kareem Nakui, died in the August 2021 Kabul bombing during Biden’s chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal, confronts the president’s silence—Biden never mentioned his name. Nikoui, arrested at the 2024 State of the Union for shouting "Abbey Gate" mid-speech, exposes government failures: delayed NEO plans, Dover Air Force Base neglect, and lies about the attack (his son’s bullet wounds disproved "no gunfire" claims). With Rep. Issa’s hearings revealing systemic collapse and Capitol Police handcuffing him post-interruption, Nikoui demands accountability, framing Biden’s avoidance as a betrayal of grieving families and democratic transparency. His fight underscores how unchecked leadership erodes trust—and justice. [Automatically generated summary]
By August of 2021, Kabul, Afghanistan looked a lot like, well, Saigon, Vietnam looked in April of 1975. Chaotic, dangerous, and humiliating to the United States.
After 20 years in Afghanistan, the Biden administration had just pulled American troops out.
The city immediately fell to the Taliban.
The president got on a private plane with millions of American dollars and ran away like the coward he is.
And thousands of Afghan civilians were rushing to Hamid Karzai Airport in a desperate attempt to flee the country, sort of like those helicopters taking off from the roof of the embassy in 1975. So U.S. service members were deployed to the scene to help keep the peace, but it was an impossible task.
Mobs of Afghans running on the runway, trying to board flights, some clinging to the landing gear, you remember the pictures.
And in the middle of that scene, that total...
Chaos created by the Biden administration, a suicide bomber arrived carrying 20 pounds of explosives and made his way to a place called the Abbey Gate, the entrance to the airport, and then detonated the device and in so doing murdered 13 American service members along with 170 Afghans, men, women, and children.
One of the Americans murdered that day was a Marine Lance Corporal called Kareem Nkui.
He was just 20, 20 years old.
He is now credited with saving the lives of at least three Afghan families and help getting them out of that country.
Fast forward to 2024, and Joe Biden is hoping, as he stands for reelection at the advanced age of 81, that you've completely forgotten what he did in Afghanistan and the humiliating and deadly way he withdrew American forces from that country.
But not everyone has forgotten.
In fact, those touched by the tragedy of that day in the preceding 20 years will never forget.
Now, if you watched Biden's State of the Union address earlier this month, you heard a man in the audience yell out to Biden, reminding him of the killings that took place at the Abbey Gate at the airport in Kabul.
And so we were hoping that, all right, well, these two family members, you know, they're going to be able to go and he might, you know, bring up Afghanistan.
Say their names.
Now, for me, I had never done any interviews.
The only interview that I really did was an interview I'd done with you at the very beginning.
And after his first State of the Union, for whatever reason, I was at work and I got a call from some young man.
man, hey, look, we're trying to fill in a spot in our news thing at 2 o'clock or whatever time was.
Would you come on?
And I'm like, well, I don't do interviews.
Oh, well, look, I need to have someone, please.
And he kept begging and was persistent.
And he was all, you know, we want to ask you about Joe Biden's State of the Union.
Now, this is the first one that he had done after the withdrawal.
So even in Dover, when we had met him in the dignified transfer, he said, hey, look, I understand what you're going through.
We lost our son, Beau, as well.
Now, in there, I wasn't...
So, people had a chance to whether or not they wanted to meet with the president, and if some people didn't want to meet with them, they could go to another room.
I wasn't going to be bullied and go to another room, but, you know, I turned my back to him.
But, like, oh, they're honoring us, like a stateside honoring.
When, in retrospect, you know, it was just trying to show, like, oh, we're honoring these parents, and that's the end of it.
Do you kind of understand what I'm saying?
It's like the optics.
Like, here, look what we're doing.
And, um...
This is the first time I'd seen all the other parents.
And remind you, this is two days after it happened.
So the next day after this all happens, you don't have time to grieve.
You have the military telling you, you have to sign these papers.
We got to go over here to Dover, Delaware.
And I'm like, what's in Dover, Delaware?
I have no idea what they're talking in any of this.
I have to Google everything.
I have to research what a dignified transfer is.
I have no idea.
And they're telling you, you just lost your kid.
Now they're saying you have to go to Delaware and et cetera, et cetera.
So when we go over there, it's already...
And what I noticed, the first thing that I noticed when I went there, from being like a boss or a business owner, I was able to see a different perspective, is that they had no...
They didn't really know what they were doing.
They were reacting to how we would react.
And I found that to be shocking.
It's like, whoa, what is going on here?
There's no protocol.
They're seeing how we would react if we'd get physical, if we'd get violent, if we'd yell.
So he was pretty much the only one that I yelled at.
And I just said, you know, you should have been planning this evacuation.
You know, you should have taken time.
You know, at the time, I just remember him promoting his book and then some of the stuff that had happened with his counterpart was, you know, at the beginning of the...
It's taken several years and me to understand the military.
And that's, I believe, what...
What he was feeling, is that he was upset with how everything happened, and he wanted to convey that, look, you know, I love you, and I've lost people too, and I know what you're going through, and, you know, and so that was that.
Between the time you spent in Dover receiving your son's remains, staying in the Motel 6 with human feces on the wall, Between that and this State of the Union earlier this month, had you had any contact with Biden or the White House?
We've never had any contact with the White House or Biden.
And we have reached out, or McCall and several people, several families have reached out to maybe have a roundtable with them, see what their thinking was.
Anything.
Honor us, or not honor us, honor our children.
Yes.
Something.
And they just refuse.
I don't know why they hate us so much, to be honest with you.
So what happened was when this all happened, we didn't have the House.
So any of the hearings, if you look at any of the Senate hearings that were there, they were all kind of biased.
They all said, although this was great, we did a good job, of course.
It wasn't until...
When McCarthy became speaker that we actually had an opportunity to get the answers that we needed.
So last June, we got an opportunity from Daryl Issa to do like a public...
We went, you know...
We went to Washington and the premise was like, look, we don't know what's going to happen, but we're going to introduce you to McCarthy.
We're going to introduce you to Scalise, McCall, and we're going to get you to know, because nobody knew our story.
Nobody, you know, it wasn't really out there.
Maybe it wasn't to some degree.
And like maybe social media or something, because that's probably the only outlet that the parents had, like their Facebook or whatever.
But there's a good portion of Americans that don't even pay attention to that.
And I being one of them, I'm not on any of those that I could channel anything.
And so when this opportunity came...
You know, they're like, look, we don't know what's going to happen.
We don't know if there's anything, but we're going to go down there.
And, you know, and every family of the 13 was invited to this.
Like, here's what we're doing.
It was set up with Sean Reyes from Utah and kind of connected us with these people.
And then it kind of, from there, went with Daryl Issa.
He was the one that, you know, had been championing everything.
At that point.
And so, you know, they even had funding for it.
Like, we're going to take the mom and the dad of each child, each service member, whoever wants to come, and we're going to go down to Washington and see if there's anybody that's interested in anything.
So we went down there.
We met.
These different offices.
We told them our stories because nobody knew really our stories.
You know, what had happened to us in Dover.
And then really, like, the stuff that we were being told.
So they had given us a whole bunch of lies.
You know, people are talking to the kids.
People are talking to everyone that's coming back.
And what the government is telling us is different from what these people that were actually there are saying.
And there's a hole in it and I'm looking at it and I'm excited and I told my mom, hey Charlie, there's a, wow, there's a hole from one of the BBs, you know, because IED, little BBs, and I'm looking at it and I pull the knife out and the knife was like, had imploded inside the sheath so it was hard to get it out of the sheath.
You know, it was hard.
And when I pulled it out, my gunny was like, he's a gunny.
I think he got promoted, so don't be upset with me.
But when I pulled it out, he's like, that's not a BB hole.
That's a bullet hole.
And so when I took it home, I got one of my 5.56 bullets, and I got my dial calipers, and I started measuring the depth of the hole.
And then put that depth in relation to the boat tail of the bullet and then measured the diameter.
I mean, I got real scientific.
And you could just pull the bullet right out of the 5.56 casing and put it fits perfect in there.
So, fast forward to when we met Daryl Lyson and them in June.
I brought that up and showed them that.
These were some of the things that...
That they use to get the ball rolling, to get interest in it.
So, you know, since June, we've been going to Congress for no other reason but to lobby for our kids, to give information that these congressmen don't have so they can bring in different people and do hearings and get the information that we need.
And we've made, like, enormous traction.
I mean, just the answers that we've gotten.
With the hearings that they've had have been good that we have them, that we didn't, you know, we didn't have them before, but is a testament to what a failure this was.
And we've pretty much gone in all avenues.
We've exhausted the military, I believe, at this point that, you know, well, you know.
The part that they were in charge of was a retrograde.
So there's two parts to it.
There was a retrograde and then the evacuation.
And the retrograde went off unhitched.
You know, no problem.
The problem was that when you hear people say, well, you should have taken the people out before you take out the military, they should have done the NEO before they did the retrograde.
And that's where the point comes, is that the State Department and the administration was in charge of the NEO and the retrograde.
And the only reason why they did the NEO, now they did the NEO, the NEO was implemented by Ross Wilson.
That's another guy.
He's the guy.
You know, after all these nine months of going back and forth, it's not, you know, I don't see it's the generals, I don't see it's the military.
It's this guy.
He's the guy that initiated the NEO, and he did it on August 14th.
And that was all because the day before, and even the generals were kind of like, well, and I said, no, you guys did the NEO because you saw the Taliban right there.
It wasn't for any other reason that he was scared, and that's why he did it.
And if it had been done months earlier, I mean, actually, the whole thing should have been done at the beginning.
Per the Doha agreement.
I mean, all the liberals say, oh, well, don't forget the Doha agreement.
We got the opportunity that there were other tickets.
Other members had given it to us.
I'm sure I had said to some people, yeah, I'm going to say something if this guy doesn't say anything.
But when you're there in the greatest country of the world with the most powerful people, I was scared.
I was scared.
Am I going to get killed?
Am I going to commit suicide tomorrow because of this?
Who knows, right?
And so, no.
At that time, I was just in serious prayer.
I was praying to the Lord, humble me, soften my heart, let your will be done.
And to be honest with you, when I stood up, when I just heard him say something about kids, at some point he was talking about kids, and then he said something about being safe.
And I just stood up.
Like, the Holy Spirit, like, got in me and stood up.
And I don't know if you ever had anything like that happen, but, like, the effects of that had affected me for weeks afterwards, you know?
Like, what really happened there?
And when I stood up and I said the first thing I said, I kind of realized I had said it and I paused.
I was like, uh-oh.
What did I do, you know?
And then I said, you know, United States Marines, and I said his name, and I said, you know, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines.
But I don't even remember saying any of that.
Like, I don't even remember saying any of that, you know?
It just kind of came out.
And if I could back up to why, I had went earlier, I was talking about that first State of the Union.
And I got this reporter, you know, and I felt bad for him, and I wanted help.
And I said, all right, well, look what I'll do.
It's my lunch break.
I got an hour lunch break.
On my lunch break, I'm going to watch his State of the Union so that I'll be able to answer appropriately for your interview that you want me to do.
He's like, alright.
So I watched his interview, or I watched his State of the Union, the first one.
And at like 56 minutes, he brings up Afghanistan.
And he did the exact same thing that he always did.
He says, okay, you know, we're never gonna...
You know, the heroes that...
He didn't even say 13. And then one lady in the audience, she's like, 13 of them.
And then the guy's like, no, we ain't gonna do it because we have one of the other parents.
And...
I was, like, crying even harder.
And so I've had to deal with that for three years with, you know, my God, with my Lord, praying, you know, like, hey, Lord, you know, humble me from this.
Soften my heart from it, you know, like, whatever.
So when the opportunity came to go to the State of the Union, I'll be honest with you.
There is no way I was going to leave that state of union without my kid's name being said.
You know?
And I feel like...
But at first I thought that they would say something.
So I felt like it was the Lord telling me, like, here, you know, your reward for being patient and faithful for three years.
I'm going to bless you with this.
You understand what I'm saying?
And then it didn't happen.
You know, it's like it didn't happen.
And I was able to see the other parents.
I found them in the crowds, you know, where they were at.
And just the way that they were looking, the despair and the sadness that they had at that State of the Union.
Everyone was slumped over, just kind of devastated, you know?
And another thing, I was, like, concerned, like, you would think that the Speaker of the House would have the best seats, right?
All right, well, these two families are getting the Speaker of the House.
And I remember praying to the Lord, like, Lord, you know, why don't I have those seats?
You know, why don't I have the best seats?
I'm thinking.
I don't know that they are.
And then McCall gives up one of his seats, you know, and he's the head of the chairman, right?
So whoever got that, I'm like, oh, Lord, why didn't I get that seat?
You know, and that's all right.
Thank you for the seats that you give.
I don't even know where my seats are, but I'm just assuming.
You know, that's how people...
They do.
You know, we do this.
We do our own assumptions.
As it turns out, the seats I got were like right directly, like I was watching the president, like, you know, right in front of him.
Like right where he comes out of that tunnel, I was sitting right above there.
So the Lord had given me the best seats in the whole world.
And for the last two weeks, I'm like, oh, Lord.
I don't even know what the seats are, but I'm assuming that they're the worst.
And a lot of this has happened to me in the course of this.
By being patient, I feel like the Lord has blessed me.
And these are the little blessings that I need.
I don't need any praise.
I don't want to put anything on Facebook and then read those comments.
And, you know, asked me, hey, have you gotten any help?
I'm like, no, I don't need any help.
I'm just, right now, you know, I'm feeling this way.
And then, he had told me that, he had told me that, well, we, you know, If you say something and then we tell you to be quiet and then you don't, then we arrest you again.
Then we arrest you.
And I said, well, nobody ever told me to be quiet.
I never was afforded that opportunity.
And then he left.
And then they asked me more questions.
The other kid, in the suit, just basic questions.
Sex, weight, and stuff like this.
And then he came back and he said that again.
And then he said, well, there's two ways.
We can ask you.
And then ask you again and arrest you?
Or we can just arrest you.
And he's all, you don't want to be that because that's a felony.
So I felt like he was kind of throwing me a bone, you know, like, and I kind of picked up on that.
And I was all, all right, you know, I appreciate that.
So what happened was, was that, you know, as we're talking and he's telling me this stuff, he says.
The congressman is outside.
So I was invited by Congressman Brian Mast.
And Brian Mast bailed me out of jail, like was there.
And he's all the congressman's right outside the door.
And I felt like, like a million dollars.
Because I knew like, alright, I'm alright now, you know.
I mean, I've got the congressman, you know, to help me.
And so yeah, he got me out and walked me.
We've met him several times.
There's four congressmen that I call the four horsemen, and they're military men, so they understand.
It's Issa, Mills, Mast, and Waltz.
And then they're all led by the chairman, Michael McCall.
So he's the chair of the House of Foreign Affairs, and he's the one that's able to bring these hearings.
And then these guys are just, you know, they're the ones that we're telling our stories to, and they're helping do whatever they do in Washington to get the message out.
So the fact that he was there meant a lot to me.
Like, alright, you know, I'm not...
Because, to be honest with you...
From what I see on TV, yeah, we love you, but the next day I'll be on my own.
This is what I'm thinking.
I'm like, I'm going to be all by myself.
This is great for tonight, but come the 28th when I've got to go to court, I'm going to be by myself.
But the fact that he was there and he's a man of God and we prayed before.
I don't know if we prayed before, but we talked about what we're talking about in the spiritual form.
And I was just really blessed that he was there and he got me out.
And then when I got out, you know, Issa, Waltz, all of them, we're not going to let anything happen to you.
You know, we're going to stand by.
And even they telling me this, I still felt like, oh, a week from now I'm going to be by myself.
You know, I never really had any, you know, True belief, like, hey, these guys are going to be here until the end, but they were.
I mean, every couple days they would do what they have to do, and from what I understand, they found out that because the gavel wasn't hit, that I didn't obstruct Congress.
So the fact that, and Mike Johnson helped that.
So Ken Calvert, Mike Johnson, Waltz, and Daryl Issa, and to some extent Mast and Mills, they, you know, Help to get this out.
Like, hey, he didn't obstruct anything because the gavel wasn't hit.
They wanted to be in MMA and fighting, so they're not weak in that aspect, but they're very compassionate to the underdog.
They're very quiet.
Kareem was a little guy growing up, so he sometimes would be bullied.
That was one of my concerns when he started to learn how to fight.
I was like, I don't ever want to hear that you're bullying anyone or you're doing any of this.
Luckily, that never happened.
He was always compassionate to the underdog and the people that couldn't speak for themselves.
Our home life was just chaotic for the first year.
I think maybe the Lord had that happen to keep me from ruining myself.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
Like, all that probably happened just so I wouldn't ruin whatever.
You know, I just went in my room and just focused on the little things, you know, my son and whatever I could.
Because there's a lot of...
Oh, we want to do this for your kid and we want this interview and this and that.
And for me to mitigate, like, how could these parents not, like, feel some sort of, like, pride or something after all this, right?
And I remember telling my kids, look, you know, be careful how you deal with this because it won't always be there and then you're going to resent the fact that it's not there.
Tens of thousands of service members who died that don't have, you know, shootery boards at their front doorstep with a knock.
I mean, it was just insane.
Stuff at your front door, cards, we love you, money, checks, you understand?
And every check, every cash I ever got, I still have it.
So I never spent any of that.
And every card that we got, not probably every one of them because it was just too much, but I wrote, you know.
Back to them.
I remember telling my kids, hey, you know, watch out how you process this and what you do with it because it's going to ruin you and your faith.
Another thing, two other things.
Today is our anniversary where my sons and I got baptized.
We got baptized on March 26, 2017. And we got baptized together in the same pool.
So the other thing is that when you lose someone, like when I lost my mom, I lost my dad, within a week, like if they died on a Thursday, next Thursday you'd bury them and that was it.
I mean, you start trying to put your life together.
And this situation didn't really happen.
I mean, it was like five weeks they brought back his body.
You know, things come up.
Certain little things would come up.
Like, I know that they had the...
And when these things come up, you kind of focus towards that.
So you repress your feelings and everything for this one event, right?
And you're like, okay, well, this event's coming up and I'm focusing on that.
And one of the events we had in November was the memorial at Camp Pendleton.
Now, since he was...
He lived...
We lived like...
45 minutes from Camp Pelleton.
He came home every weekend.
So the only time I'd never seen him was when he actually deployed.
And he'd bring his Marine friends home with them.
And I felt bad because some of them lived in Iowa.
There was no way they could see their family.
So if we could give them a weekend where they felt at home, then...
I was all for that.
It was kind of like around COVID, so we were cooking breakfast and couldn't really go to church.
Sometimes I'd have the TV on with our preacher, our pastor, and they'd play games and they'd do whatever.
My son would take them on hikes.
They would drink on Fridays.
However they had their own mind, they were able to do it at our house.
And I was blessed that we could provide that for them.
And so we had this memorial for the Marines, right?
And I never did any interviews or anything.
I didn't want to be...
That wasn't right for me.
And so I focused on my heart.
Towards this memorial, which was in November, and surpassed all my feelings and everything.
And, well, I'm just going to focus on that part.
And we went to the memorial, and it was beautiful.
And they had the missing man formation with the helicopters that went over the mountain where he would hike over there in Camp Pendleton.
And I think that was either on a Thursday or Friday.
And then on that Sunday, I just...
I felt like a lot of remorse.
I felt like grief.
And for me, my religion, which is Christian, I felt like for me to display grief is me saying I don't believe in the Lord.