Former President Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, vowed on Monday that if he returns to the Oval Office, he will demand the resignation of "every single official" involved in what he calls the "Afghanistan calamity."
Speaking to the National Guard Association in Detroit, Trump declared, "The voters are going to fire Kamala and Joe on Nov. 5, we hope. When I take office, I will ask for the resignation of every single official. We'll get the resignations of every single senior official who touched the Afghanistan calamity to be on my desk at noon on Inauguration Day."
"You know, you have to fire people," Trump continued. "We never fire anybody. You got to fire them, like on ‘The Apprentice.’ You're fired. You did a lousy job." He referenced his reality TV show, emphasizing that those responsible for the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal "did a terrible, terrible disservice to our country. You get fired when that happens. Nobody got fired. Nobody ever gets fired in this administration."
Monday marked three years since the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport. The attack, claimed by Islamic State terrorists, took the lives of 13 American service members and over 100 Afghans.
Vice President Kamala Harris had previously confirmed her role in the withdrawal decision during a CNN interview. In the interview, she stated she was the last person in the room before Biden made the decision to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. That video has resurfaced on social media, reigniting discussions.
CNN anchor Dana Bash asked Harris, "Afghanistan, were you the last person in the room?"
"Yes," Harris responded.
"And you feel comfortable?" Bash pressed. Harris replied, "I do."
Last month, President Biden was criticized by Gold Star families after he claimed during a CNN Presidential Debate that he's the "only president this century, this decade, that doesn't have any troops dying anywhere in the world."
Darin Hoover, father of Marine Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, who was one of the 13 service members killed in Kabul, reacted strongly to Biden's debate claims. "The stumbling, bumbling buffoon that we have in the White House had the audacity to say that, under his watch, that no military members have died," Hoover said in an interview with Fox News Digital in June.
Hoover added, "The rage, the absolute disgust that I got from hearing him say that. I started yelling back at the TV just out of frustration. He's never acknowledged, not one time, any of our kids. He's never said their names. Even to this day, I doubt very seriously that he even knows their names."
According to Hoover, the Biden administration sent the 13 Gold Star families a letter a year after the attack. "All the 13 families get a canned letter. It said the same exact thing. And it looked like it was a photocopy of all of that. It was basically, we're sorry that your service member had died, and that's been it. We've had absolutely nothing before, nothing since," Hoover stated.
A White House spokesperson, responding to Hoover's criticism, said in June that the president "cares deeply about our service members, their families, and the immense sacrifices they have made."
The spokesperson added, "As he said then and continues to believe now: Our country owes them a great deal of gratitude and a debt that we can never repay, and we will continue to honor their ultimate sacrifice."