After months of disagreements, a group of military families who lost loved ones in a bombing during the U.S. evacuation of Afghanistan gathered on a Zoom call last December. On the line with them was a 35-year-old Republican operative and Marine Corps veteran who some saw as helpful and others saw as divisive.<\/p>\n
The group had taken to calling itself the Abbey Gate 13 Coalition, a reference to the location at Kabul\u2019s airport where 13 U.S. troops and 170 Afghans had been killed in a suicide bombing on Aug. 26, 2021, in the closing days of America\u2019s longest war, marking a low point in President Joe Biden\u2019s term. The relatives participating expressed disgust with the Biden administration\u2019s handling of the operation, but the group had started to splinter over disputes that included whether to overtly support Donald Trump, according to interviews with people involved and text messages obtained by The Washington Post.<\/p>\n
The group asked the mothers of two Marines killed in the bombing to leave over those disagreements, and the rest signed a formal memorandum of understanding that encouraged secrecy and solidarity, according to several parents involved and a copy obtained by The Post. The group added additional members over the next year, while other families chose to abstain.<\/p>\n
The women who left the group, Cheryl Rex and Shana Chappell, said the political adviser, Marlon Bateman, told the family members that they could generate attention and donations by staging \u201cpolitical stunts.\u201d Other families on the call deny that happened, and Bateman said he does not remember ever saying words to that effect.<\/p>\n
The group captured headlines with recent visits to Capitol Hill, a speaking engagement during the Republican National Convention and a trip to Arlington National Cemetery with Trump on the third anniversary of the bombing. The latter event included an altercation between Trump campaign employees and a cemetery worker who had sought to enforce a law prohibiting partisan activity at the hallowed site, Army officials said. Several families then released videos through the Trump campaign to attack Vice President Kamala Harris, his election opponent, after she criticized his campaign\u2019s actions at the cemetery.<\/p>\n
As Trump seeks to pin the tragedy on Harris, she has fought back by noting that Trump oversaw the negotiation of a deal with Taliban militants in February 2020 that undercut the Afghan government and called for the exit of all U.S. troops and the release of 5,000 Taliban members from Afghan prisons.<\/p>\n
This account of the Abbey Gate coalition\u2019s efforts is based on interviews with 18 people, including Gold Star family members, Bateman, and congressional and Pentagon officials. The families\u2019 journey to becoming prominent pro-Trump surrogates followed initial interaction with Biden that angered them followed by active outreach from Trump and support from Bateman and Republican congressmen. The Trump campaign, in its tightly contested race with Harris, has increasingly relied on the group to bolster attacks on Harris over the Afghanistan withdrawal.<\/p>\n
Bateman \u2014 a former Trump administration official who has helped raise funds for Trump\u2019s campaign this year \u2014 said in an emailed response to questions that he assisted the families without pay. He first connected with Darin Hoover, the father of Staff Sgt. Darin \u201cTaylor\u201d Hoover, and advised him to invite all 13 families to join in the same \u201cpursuit of accountability,\u201d he said. Bateman was drawn to the mission in part because he previously served in 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines \u2014 the same unit that went on to suffer significant U.S. losses at Abbey Gate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see this as an obligation to honor the legacies of the 13 fallen heroes,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAt their request, I helped them navigate the most effective way to get answers about what happened to their children and why, including suggesting they prioritize meetings with members of leadership and members who were already conducting oversight on this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the campaign does not pay Bateman. It has covered travel costs for some of the families to attend Trump events, she said.<\/p>\n
Hoover said that Bateman has been \u201cintegral\u201d in their efforts and is \u201cfamily for us now.\u201d It is common for interest groups to have professional advisers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t ask to be political about it,\u201d Hoover said. \u201cIn order to get done changes like we want to see, we\u2019ve got to become a little bit political and go through that climate, good, bad or indifferent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bateman\u2019s work with the group began last year, after Hoover\u2019s state attorney general, Sean Reyes (R-Utah), connected him with Bateman.<\/p>\n
In March 2023, Bateman contacted a fellow alumnus of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign, Jonathan Wilcox, who now works for Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). Issa became the first lawmaker to bring the families to Congress, coordinating with the staff of Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, for a roundtable discussion in August 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the start, I\u2019ve seen Marlon Bateman skillfully and selflessly serve these Gold Star families as their friend, adviser, and tireless champion,\u201d Issa said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The event gave the families an opportunity to draw attention to their children, which is always one of their goals, they said. But behind the scenes, there was tension over the way forward.<\/p>\n
Chappell, the mother of Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, had not traveled for the events in Washington and took issue with the way some of the other members talked about her, according to text messages between her and Bateman that she provided to The Post.<\/p>\n
On Dec. 3, Bateman contacted her and raised concerns about \u201cdivision that is being formed\u201d in the group. Others involved said that Chappell had disparaged several people and taken issue with how Nikoui\u2019s father, Steven, spoke about their son.<\/p>\n
Chappell responded to Bateman that while she still saw Biden as responsible for her son\u2019s death, she saw no chance of getting accountability and wanted to move on.<\/p>\n
\u201cKareem was not political and he disliked Trump and Biden equally so i do not want my son being used in any way to endorse Trump,\u201d she wrote Bateman. \u201cThat would piss my son off if he was alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bateman replied that he was in an \u201cimpossible situation\u201d attempting to moderate discussion among the families. He invited Chappell to a Dec. 8 meeting, at which point the other families said she was no longer welcome, she said.<\/p>\n
Steven Nikoui, in a written response to questions, said it was \u201cabsurd\u201d for Chappell to object to him speaking about their son. She had already done so repeatedly, he said. Chappell said that she had a change of heart, even as she continues to support Trump, and spoke out about other parents after they were \u201ccrappy\u201d to her.<\/p>\n
Cheryl Rex, the mother of Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola, 20, said she split with the group at the same meeting after she voiced concerns about a proposed memorandum to govern the group. It said that members could be removed from the coalition \u201cfor cause\u201d and must keep information shared with the group secret.<\/p>\n
Rex, who also had previously spoken out against Biden, said she did not sign the agreement and that others stopped speaking to her after she raised concerns about it and the partisan actions they were pursuing. Bateman \u201ccreated division within the families\u201d and suggested they should do \u201cpolitical stunts\u201d to generate attention for their cause, she alleged.<\/p>\n
Several other family members disputed that account and said the families instead brainstormed how to generate attention. Animosity was evident between Chappell and Steven Nikoui, Hoover said, and the group decided they would rather work with him. He added that he drafted the memorandum to protect both the coalition and Bateman after months of negativity.<\/p>\n
\u201cSteve is the dad, and he has every right to say the things he says and do the things that he\u2019s doing in the name of his son,\u201d Hoover said. \u201cNo one can take that away from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
In March, Steven Nikoui was detained by Capitol Police during Biden\u2019s State of the Union address after an outburst that included \u201cRemember Abbey Gate!\u201d<\/p>\n
Shortly before the speech, Bateman posted on X, \u201cTaking off to disrupt the State of the Union w\/ @jordanbpeterson,\u201d with a photograph of him and Jordan Peterson, a conservative Canadian author who was attending the speech as the guest of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).<\/p>\n
Bateman and Nikoui both denied that they had planned the outburst, with Bateman saying his post on X was an unrelated \u201clighthearted message,\u201d and Nikoui saying it was \u201cabsurd\u201d to think that Bateman had any role. In an interview shortly after his arrest and subsequent release, the father told Sean Hannity on Fox News that he \u201cjust jumped up\u201d during the speech and it was like \u201cthe Holy Spirit got in me.\u201d<\/p>\n
For three years, numerous Abbey Gate families have openly fumed about their meeting with Biden at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware as their children\u2019s remains were returned. They\u2019ve accused Biden of checking his watch, interrupting them and bringing up the loss of his son Beau to cancer, which they viewed as insensitive.<\/p>\n
That behavior stands in contrast to how Trump has treated them, they said. Within days of the bombing, he called many of them individually, expressing condolences and listening as they grieved.<\/p>\n
The relationship advanced in summer 2023, when Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) arranged to bring the families to visit Trump at his golf club in Bedminister, N.J. Bateman attended, posting online that Trump had spent hours taking photos, signing books and hats, joining them for dinner and entertaining them with music. Another person familiar with the visit said it also included discussion of how poorly Biden\u2019s interaction with the families went.<\/p>\n
Christy Shamblin, the mother-in-law of Sgt. Nicole Gee, said Trump\u2019s treatment at Bedminster and the contrast with Dover convinced her that she should become an advocate for him. \u201cHe was just much more willing to be frank and open and honest with us and support our belief that it didn\u2019t have to happen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Last month, on the third anniversary of the bombing, Bateman and the families brought Trump to visit the headstones of Hoover, Gee, and Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, 23, at Arlington. Army officials instructed Trump\u2019s team not to take photos or video at the gravesites due to a federal law that forbids political activities in military cemeteries. The Army\u2019s guidance also said Trump could not bring campaign staff.<\/p>\n
But Trump\u2019s staff members, including Trump\u2019s co-campaign manager and campaign spokesman, came anyway. The visit became so fraught that military staff began conversing with congressional aides who were present to talk to Trump, because they did not want to be dealing with an official political campaign. (A photo of Biden visiting the cemetery as vice president in 2010 was used in a campaign social media post 10 years later with a disclaimer.)<\/p>\n
To reach the gravesites in August, Army officials said, Trump aides pushed past a cemetery employee and recorded anyway, producing a campaign TikTok. The families responded with a joint statement supporting Trump\u2019s visit. The Trump campaign denied that a physical altercation occurred and, without evidence, accused the cemetery employee of having a mental health episode, which the Army said was false. The cemetery employee decided not to press charges to protect her privacy, and both the Army and the Trump campaign have said they considered the matter closed.<\/p>\n
Bateman appeared with Trump during the memorial ceremony, and posted on social media afterward that it was an \u201chonor to accompany\u201d the former president.<\/p>\n
Last Monday, several of the families returned to Washington as McCaul released a new investigative report about the fall of Afghanistan. It included few details that had not been previously reported, but laid out again how U.S. military officials were frustrated with civilian leaders in Washington as security began to crumble.<\/p>\n
Throughout the tearful news conference, multiple family members said they did not want to be political \u2014 while explicitly urging Americans to vote for Trump over Harris.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody that says we\u2019re being played, we\u2019re pawns, all these other things \u2014 for us, it\u2019s not political. None of us asked to be put in this position,\u201d said Cheryl Juels, Gee\u2019s aunt. \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that it\u2019s turned into this big political thing between Republicans and Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jim McCollum, the father of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, also acknowledged Bateman, saying \u201che has been a rock for us to help us get through this process.\u201d In a text message to The Post, he said that being a part of the coalition \u201chas been instrumental in my healing process\u201d as they sought answers. \u201cI\u2019m upset and disappointed that someone would tarnish any of us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, families convened again in the Capitol rotunda for a ceremony posthumously presenting the 13 troops killed with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award that lawmakers can approve.<\/p>\n
All 13 were recognized. They include 11 Marines: Gee, Hoover, McCollum, Merola, Nikoui, Lance Cpl. David Espinoza, Cpl. Hunter Lopez, Cpl. Daegan William-Tyeler Page, Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, Cpl. Humberto Sanchez, and Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz. Also recognized were Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, a soldier, and Navy Hospital Corpsman Maxton Soviak.<\/p>\n
For some of the relatives, it was the first time seeing one another since Dover.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was such an honor because my son deserved it,\u201d said Elizabeth Holguin, Espinoza\u2019s mother. \u201cI don\u2019t get political. I stand for what my son stood for \u2014 for the red, white and blue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Monika Mathur contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
After months of disagreements, a group of military families who lost loved ones in a bombing during the U.S. evacuation of Afghanistan gathered on a Zoom call last December. On the line with them was a 35-year-old Republican operative and Marine Corps veteran who some saw as helpful and others saw as divisive. The group […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}