CNN anchor Jim Acosta suggested that Republican nominee Donald Trump is “politicizing” the deaths of the 13 service members killed in Kabul, Afghanistan, by visiting Arlington National Cemetery on Monday.
Trump attended a ceremony to commemorate the three-year anniversary of the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, where a suicide explosion killed 13 U.S. service members outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport. Acosta questioned whether Trump’s arrival at the cemetery was simply a political statement — without mentioning President Joe Biden’s vacation during the anniversary.
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“[I]s he politicizing these soldiers’ deaths? Should he even be at Arlington National Cemetery if he’s gonna make some politics out of this?” Acosta asked Democratic Colorado Rep. Jason Crow.
“Well, I also mourn the deaths of those 13 service members,” Crow responded. “Every death of a service member is a tragedy. At the same time, I mourn the deaths of the 2,400 service members who died during the 20 years we were at war and I just look at President Biden, under whose leadership we actually ended and made the tough decision to end our nation’s longest war. It becomes very clear to me years ago that this war was not winnable through military means and sitting here today, we are honoring the death of those who died in service to our country and at the same time, we are not at war in Afghanistan and that was the right move by President Biden.”
Biden is currently taking a vacation in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, after he recently returned from a getaway in Santa Ynez, California, following his Monday night speech at Democratic National Convention (DNC).
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The president and Vice President Kamala Harris both released statements on Monday to honor the 13 service members. Biden honored the service members’ for being “brave, committed, [and] selfless” and vowed that they will never be forgotten.
“These 13 Americans—and the many more that were wounded—were patriots in the highest sense,” Biden said. “Some were born the year the war in Afghanistan started. Some were on their second or third tour. But all raised their hand to serve a cause greater than themselves—risking their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans, Allies, and Afghan partners. They embodied the very best of who we are as a nation: brave, committed, selfless. And we owe them and their families a sacred debt we will never be able to fully repay, but will never cease working to fulfill.”
Harris, also listing the service members’ names, said she will “mourn and honor” them everyday, while she further praised Biden’s decision to withdraw from the war.
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“As I have said, President Biden made the courageous and right decision to end America’s longest war,” Harris said. “Over the past three years, our Administration has demonstrated we can still eliminate terrorists, including the leaders of al-Qaeda and ISIS, without troops deployed into combat zones. I will never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people and the homeland.”
The families of the service members said they felt abandoned by Biden on the two-year anniversary of the withdrawal, alleging the president had shown a lack of sympathy toward their grief and had not once said their loved ones’ names out loud.
Biden falsely claimed during the June 27 debate that no Americans died overseas during his presidency. The president reportedly believed “nobody made a mistake” during the withdrawal despite the widespread backlash from the gold star families and his critics, according to a new book released in February.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.