A Gold Star mother said on CNN Wednesday that President Joe Biden never reached out to her after her daughter-in-law died in a suicide bombing during the administration's withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
"He has not reached out to our family," said Christy Shamblin, the mother-in-law of Sgt. Nicole Gee, a Marine who was killed in the explosion at the Kabul airport's Abbey Gate on Aug. 26, 2021. "We've actually reached out to the White House and have never heard back. We asked to meet with them to kind of understand where their thinking was in calling [the withdrawal] a success. It's been months."
CNN anchor Abby Phillip had asked whether she felt that Biden had appropriately consoled her in the explosion's aftermath. Shamblin appeared with Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who invited her to Thursday night's State of the Union.
McCaul has been fighting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the release of interview notes from the department's after-action report on the Afghanistan withdrawal, resulting in the chairman threatening the secretary with contempt if he did not turn over the documents by Wednesday. McCaul said Thursday he canceled the committee hearing to hold him in contempt because Blinken had agreed to produce the documents.
Shamblin has long been critical of Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan, especially his conduct in its aftermath. She was one of several members of the families of the 13 slain service members who spoke at a congressional forum in August 2023.
"To call it a success is an ultimate disrespect for the very people that deserve every ounce of respect that we can give them," Shamblin said.
Almost a month later, she said that she felt disrespected during a 2021 dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware days after the suicide bombing.
"The administration didn't seem to know our story," Shamblin told ABC News in September 2023. "They didn't seem to know Nicole's name, our names. People from the military certainly knew our story, Nicole's name, our names. And that was expressed to us in a way that felt very genuine and loving. But when it came to the people in suits, it felt disingenuous and hollow."
Critics have said that Biden has not taken sufficient responsibility for the chaotic operation. Last month, a report surfaced that said Biden did not believe anyone within his administration made mistakes during the withdrawal.