On Sunday, President Biden spat in the faces of the grieving Gold Star families whose loved ones, service members were killed by a suicide bomb at the Kabul airport last week. As their bodies were being tended to during the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base, Biden repeatedly looked down at his watch as if he was counting the minutes until the inconvenient photo op was over. Meanwhile, the liberal broadcast networks refused to cover his blatant disrespect and instead chose to tout his presence.
“A solemn heartbreaking day at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Sunday President Biden attending the dignified transfer of the flag-draped remains of 13 U.S. service members killed in the suicide attack at Kabul airport while helping evacuate more than 100,000 Afghan allies and American citizens,” reported ABC chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz on Good Morning America on Monday.
Over on NBC’s Today, also on Monday, correspondent Erin McLaughlin claimed: “President Biden and the First Lady paid respects to the fallen at Dover Air Force Base over the weekend.”
Fact check: Checking your watch is not paying your respects.
It's true. Joe Biden checked his watch during the dignified transfer of the servicemembers killing in Afghanistan at the airport. You can see him jerk his left hand to pull the watch out from under his sleeve, then look down at it. pic.twitter.com/M3QVzJbTIm
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) August 29, 2021
Leading up to the ceremony, there were reports that some of the families didn’t want Biden to attend at all given his role in their deaths. And during Monday’s Hannity, on Fox News Channel, Sean Hannity spoke with the fathers of two of the fallen Marines as they shared how disgusted they were by Biden’s actions during the event.
Darin Hoover, the father of Staff Sargent Darin Hoover Jr., explained that he and his wife “didn't want to deal with him … we didn't want him anywhere near us.” And while Biden was caught on camera checking his watch at least one time, Hoover said it happened 13 times:
In reference to the checking of his watch, that didn't happen just once. That happened on every single one that came out of that airplane. It happened on every single one of them. They would release the salute and he looked down his watch on every last one, all 13, he looked down at his watch.
After Hoover, Mark Schmitz, the father of Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, told Hannity about how livid he was witnessing Biden’s disrespect for his son:
HANNITY: Mark, you want to comment on the watch incident? Did you notice the same thing?
SCHMITZ: Yes, I did. I actually leaned into my son's mother's ear and I said I swear to God, if he checks his watch one more time, and that was only probably four times in, I couldn't -- I couldn't look at him anymore after that, just considering especially the time and why we were there. It was -- I found to be the most disrespectful thing I've ever seen.
He also recounted how Biden made the event all about his own son, Beau. “Well, initially, I wasn't going to meet with him. But then I felt I owed it to my son to at least have some words with him about how I felt. And it didn't go well,” he said. “He talked a bit more about his own son than we did my son, and that didn't sit well with me.”
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s Hannity
August 30, 2021
9:30:13 p.m. EasternSEAN HANNITY: Mark, you met with Biden over the weekend, how did that go?
MARK SCHMITZ: Well, initially, I wasn't going to meet with him. But then I felt I owed it to my son to at least have some words with him about how I felt. And it didn't go well. He talked a bit more about his own son than we did my son, and that didn't sit well with me.
(…)
HANNITY: You chose not to meet with President Biden. I don't know if you want to comment on that, and I'd like to know -- when I saw Biden look at his watch, I literally was like, you got to be kidding me. Because all of this to me was preventable, because we saw them on the march. You know, we had April, May, June, July to extradite everybody, and our equipment, we didn't do it. There's no excuse to me for this. Why did you choose not to meet with the President, Darin?
DARIN: HOOVER: For exactly the reasons you just gave. We said absolutely not. We didn't want to -- we didn't want to deal with him. We didn't want to -- we didn't want him anywhere near us. We as a family decided that that was the way it was going to be. In reference to the checking of his watch, that didn't happen just once. That happened on every single one that came out of that airplane. It happened on every single one of them. They would release the salute and he looked down his watch on every last one, all 13, he looked down at his watch. And as a father, you know, seeing that and the disrespect and hearing from his former leaders, one of his master sergeants, said exactly what you just said. That this was avoidable, that they left them over there. They had them over there, and let them down, and that -- we can't have that. It can't happen ever again.
HANNITY: We also abandoned Americans. Americans now are on their own. We left them behind. Mark, you want to comment on the watch incident? Did you notice the same thing?
SCHMITZ: Yes, I did. I actually leaned into my son's mother's ear and I said I swear to God, if he checks his watch one more time, and that was only probably four times in, I couldn't -- I couldn't look at him anymore after that, just considering especially the time and why we were there. It was -- I found to be the most disrespectful thing I've ever seen.
(…)
