Boebert defends her heckling Biden about service members killed in Afghanistan

Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican who loudly heckled President Biden during his state of the union speech Tuesday, said she has no regrets about shouting in the House chamber to bring attention to the 13 U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan last summer.

Mrs. Boebert interrupted Mr. Biden during his State of the Union address as he referenced members of the U.S. military fatally injured while serving near burn pits. Mr. Biden suggested his deceased son Beau Biden may have developed cancer from being stationed near a burn pit, but he made no mention of the Aug. 26 suicide bombing in Kabul that killed 13 American service members and more than 170 Afghans.

Mrs. Boebert stood up in the chamber and yelled at the president, “You put them there — 13 of them.”

She didn’t plan the interruption but doesn’t regret the move at all, she said on the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton radio program Wednesday.

“My mind went straight to the 13 servicemen and women that died in Afghanistan,” Mrs. Boebert said. “The mother of one of those soldiers lives in my district, and she told me that Joe Biden killed her son.”

Mrs. Boebert’s shout-out was denounced quickly by Democrats and some members of the media, who said the move violated decorum. But Mrs. Boebert said she’s been lauded for referencing the 13 deceased soldiers and Marines.

“We’re getting a lot of people saying thank you, because these 13 service members would not have been mentioned, would not have been brought up, had that reaction not taken place last night,” Mrs. Boebert said on the show. 

Mr. Biden’s speech made no mention of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August, the death of the 13 troops or the Americans and Afghan allies left stranded after the pullout. The Biden administration has been widely criticized for a hasty departure that left the Taliban in control of the country and the U.S. military vulnerable. 

The bungled pullout also marked the beginning of a steep decline in Mr. Biden’s approval ratings. 

Mrs. Boebert shrugged off criticism for interrupting the speech. She pointed out that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was seen ripping up her copy of former President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in 2020. 

“I really don’t give a darn about a breach of decorum when our 13 service members are completely ignored by the man responsible for their deaths,” Mrs. Boebert said. 

Mrs. Boebert frequently clashes with House Democrats, and some of them are pushing Mrs. Pelosi to strip her of committee assignments. Democrats installed metal detectors at the doors to the chamber because Mrs. Boebert announced plans to carry her Glock firearm around Capitol Hill. She’s also been fined twice for ignoring mask mandates in the House chamber. 

Mrs. Boebert told the radio show that she thwarted a requirement that lawmakers attending Mr. Biden’s address Tuesday night show a negative COVID-19 test before entering the chamber.

“I did not get tested, I did not have a golden ticket, I did not have an assigned seat,” Mrs. Boebert said. “And I sat wherever the heck I wanted to last night.”