The family of a Marine who died in the Aug. 26 terror bombing in Kabul is blaming the Biden administration for the attack.
President Joe Biden met with the family of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum on Sunday, The Washington Post reported. The length of the meeting, only a few minutes, showed a “total disregard to the loss of our Marine,” McCollum’s sister Roice said.
Rylee McCollum, a 20-year old from Wyoming, was one of 13 American soldiers killed by an ISIS-K suicide bomber outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. His wife is pregnant with their unborn child. A GoFundMe for McCollum’s child’s education had raised more than $428,000 by the afternoon of Aug. 30. (RELATED: ‘He Was So Excited To Be A Dad’: Wyoming Native And Father-To-Be Among Marines Killed In Kabul Attack)
Biden met privately with McCollum’s widow Jiennah, Roice McCollum said. During the meeting, Biden reportedly referenced his son Beau’s military service. The interaction struck the McCollum family as “scripted and shallow,” according to the Post.
“You can’t f— up as bad as he did and say you’re sorry,” Roice McCollum said. “This did not need to happen, and every life is on his hands.”
Rylee and Roice’s mother, Kathy McCollum, slammed the Biden administration during a Saturday radio interview.
“My son did die in vain. This was an unnecessary debacle. It could have been handled properly. They had months and months to remove everyone from Afghanistan and they chose not to,” Kathy McCollum said.
“I never thought in a million years that he would die for nothing. For nothing. Because a feckless dementia-ridden piece of crap wanted a photo-op on Sept. 11, that’s what kills me,” she continued.
Press secretary Jen Psaki noted Biden’s meetings with the family members of the troops who were killed during her Monday press conference, although she did not mention the McCollum family’s criticism.
Biden “knows firsthand that there is nothing you can say to a family member, there is nothing you can say to someone who loses a child, that is going fill the black hole. That remains the case,” Psaki said.
“He was grateful to be there with the families yesterday and to honor both the heroic service and the incredible sacrifice of their sons and daughters. While his son did not lose his life directly in combat, as they did, or directly at the hands of terrorists, as these families did, that they’re mourning, he knows firsthand that there is nothing you can say or convey to ease the pain and to ease what all of these families are going through. But he was honored to be there yesterday and to be able to spend some time with families,” she continued.