Shana Chappell: Slain Marine's mom who slammed Joe Biden invites Trump to funeral
Shana Chappell — the mother of Marine Corps Lance Cpl Kareem M Nikoui who died in the suicide bombing at Kabul Airport last month — has reportedly extended an invitation to former President Donald Trump to her son's funeral.
Chappell asked Trump to attend the service which is due to take place on September 18 at the Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California. The gold star mother garnered national attention after she blasted President Joe Biden in the wake of the suicide bombing attack by terror group ISIS-K that claimed the lives of her son and 12 other US military service members. She said the commander-in-chief had "blood on his hands" over the tragedy.
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In a viral social media post on August 30, Chappell also alluded to claims that Trump was the actual winner of the 2020 presidential election. "If my president Trump was in his rightful seat then my son and the other [heroes] would still be alive!!!!" she wrote.
Trump issued a statement one day after the Facebook comment went viral, saying Chappell's criticism was "100% correct."
"If I were President, your wonderful and beautiful son Kareem would be with you now, and so would the sons and daughters of others, including all of those who died in the vicious Kabul airport attack," he added. "Civilians should have been brought out first, along with our $85 billion of equipment, with the Military coming out very safely after all was clear. I love you, and I love Kareem."
Chappell thanked Trump for his "beautiful response" in a follow-up Facebook post on September 2, requesting his presence at Nikoui's funeral. "It would be such an honor to meet the real President of the United States of America, President Trump," she said. "I love you and America loves you."
The heartbroken mother also claimed that her social media accounts had been "shadow-banned" after being temporarily disabled by Instagram. She urged people to share her post as much as possible in the hope that the former President sees it. Facebook later apologized and admitted that Chappell's account was incorrectly taken down after her attack on Biden went viral. "I am assuming it was because I gained so many followers over my son's death due to Biden's negligence, ignorance, and him being a traitor," Chappell wrote in a follow-up post.
Facebook reinstated her account but did not explain why it was removed in the first place. "We express our deepest condolences to Ms Chappell and her family. Her tribute to her heroic son does not violate any of our policies," a Facebook spokesperson told Newsweek. "While the post was not removed, her account was incorrectly deleted and we have since restored it."
While it is unclear whether Trump will attend the funeral service. He paid tribute to the fallen Marine in another statement on September 6. "Thank you, Shana, our country loves you and especially loves your beautiful boy, Kareem," he said.