CNN host Phil Mattingly on Monday questioned White House national security spokesperson John Kirby about whether Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden not attending ceremonies to honor the third anniversary of the Kabul bombing reflect poorly on the administration.
Former President Donald Trump marked the three year anniversary of the bombing that killed 13 American soldiers by visiting Arlington Cemetery on Monday, where he laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and at the graves of the service members who perished during the Biden administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal; Biden and Harris both only issued statements. Mattingly, on “The Lead With Jake Tapper,” asked Kirby about the contrast between Trump’s actions and the Biden-Harris administration’s, inquiring whether the current administration’s statements were sufficient. (RELATED: ‘He And He Alone’: Gold Star Mother Says Biden Responsible For Terrorist Attack That Killed 13 Soldiers In Kabul)
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“I know you’re not gonna get into campaign trail stuff, and I’m not asking you about the politics of this, but the idea of the visual this morning and the former president being at Arlington National Cemetery for the wreath laying,” Mattingly said. “The current president, current vice president, both put out paper statements, but I’m just wondering, is that enough, given what happened three years ago?”
“Neither going to Arlington nor any individual paper statement is ever going to be enough to repay these families and to try to make sure that they know they’re supported and that they’re loved, and they’re respected and admired for what they’re going through,” Kirby said. “And nothing‘s going to assuage their grief. Nothing we can say, nothing we can do, no flowers you can lay, is going to take that pain away.”
Biden wrote in a White House statement on Monday about the anniversary of the terrorist attack, listing the names of the fallen soldiers and calling them “patriots in the highest sense.” The president is slated to remain in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, through Friday.
“Today and every day, I mourn and honor them. My prayers are with their families and loved ones,” Harris wrote in a separate Monday White House statement. “My heart breaks for their pain and their loss.”
“It’s been striking to me, listening to the families of many of those that were killed at Abbey Gate and their frustrations with the current president. And I know in talking to advisors throughout the course of the last three years, that has been a painful issue for him personally,” Mattingly said. “But it remains true that he hasn’t reached out to them since being [there] when the bodies were brought home. There’s been a lot of frustration that he hasn’t said their names publicly. Does he understand the pain the family members have reflected related to him?”
Kirby asserted Biden “understands what grief is like, what mourning is like, what sorrow is like, what frustration is like” more than any other president.
The Biden administration’s April 2023 review claimed that Trump was to blame for the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan because he had previously ordered correspondence with the Taliban, negotiated a withdrawal date and failed to provide the Biden administration with a comprehensive plan for the operation.
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