Christy Shamblin took the stage at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night to share how the attacks on Kabul in 2021 affected her and her family.
Nearly everyone in the Milwaukee arena stood to show their respect. Former President Donald Trump appeared to have tears in his eyes.
Shamblin is the mother-in-law of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, who was among the 13 U.S. troops killed in an ISIS-K attack on Kabul in 2021 amid the U.S. departure from Afghanistan.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
“While Joe Biden has refused to recognize their sacrifice, Donald Trump spent six hours in Bedminster with us,” “He allowed us to grieve. He allowed us to remember our heroes.”
Shamblin said Trump spoke to the families “in a way that made us feel understood.”
“Donald Trump carried the weight for a few hours with me,” Shamblin said. “For the first time since Nicole’s death I felt like I wasn’t alone in my grief.”
Nearly everyone in the RNC arena is standing in respect for the families of the service members who lost their lives during America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
— Alex J. Rouhandeh (@AlexRouhandeh) July 18, 2024
She joined Texas Rep. Michael McCaul at President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address in March. Prior to the address, Shamblin said in a CNN appearance that the White House did not reach out to her family after Gee’s death.
“No. He has not reached out to our family. We’ve actually reached out to the White House and have never heard back. We asked to meet with them to kind of understand where their thinking was in calling this a success, and we’ve not received a response. It’s been months,” Shamblin said.
Shamblin had noted at the time that she hoped to hear how Biden “is going to strengthen our armed forces and support them, and answer our questions, leading to a thorough investigation like they promised so that we can move forward in a positive way and make it better.”
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
During Wednesday’s speech, however, Shamblin shared that instead of Biden, Trump actually was the “compassionate” figure she and other families needed.
Shamblin has previously been critical of the Biden administration for calling the Afghanistan withdrawal a “success,” describing it as “an ultimate disrespect for the very people who deserve every ounce of respect that we can give them” during a 2023 press conference.
“Joe Biden said the withdrawal from Afghanistan was an extraordinary success,” Cheryl Juels, Gee’s aunt, said at the RNC on Wednesday. “Look at our pain and our heartbreak and look at our rage. That was not an extraordinary success. The humiliation of our nation was not an extraordinary success.”
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Juels said Biden owes the men and women who served in Afghanistan “a debt of gratitude and an apology.”
Juels and Shamblin were joined on stage by other families whose children were killed during the attack.
Herman and Alicia Lopez spoke about their son, Capt. Hunter Lopez.
“In the nearly three years since Hunter’s been gone, there has been silence. Silence from that empty space at the dinner table, where Hunter would have joined his brothers and sister and us for family gatherings,” Alicia said. “And there has been a deafening silence from the Biden and Harris administration. Despite our pleas for answers and accountability, they have pushed us away.”
Follow Newsweek’s coverage of the RNC Day 3 here.
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