Charges dropped against Gold Star father arrested for heckling Biden during SOTU address

Gold Star father Steve Nikoui, 51, was cleared of all wrongdoing by Washington, DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb on Tuesday. He had been charged with a misdemeanor of "crowding, obstructing or incommoding," which carries a fine of up to $500 and 90 days in prison.

According to Fox News, Schwalb argued that despite the fact that, as the Capitol Police noted, "disrupting the Congress and demonstrating in Congressional Buildings is illegal," Nikoui should not be charged since countless other protestors in recent years weren't.

Those with Nikoui when he found out said he was "thrilled and humbled," and had tears in his eyes.

During the State of the Union address, Nikoui shouted "Abbey Gate" and "13 Marines," referrring to to the location of the suicide bombing by ISIS-K that killed 170 Afghan civilians and 13 US service members, including his son, Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui.

"The Sergeant at Arms is holding my State of the Union guest for yelling at POTUS in protest because his son was killed in action at the Abbey Gate due to Biden’s incompetence," Florida Rep. Brian Mast posted on X. "So much for the right to petition our government for the redress of grievances."

"To this day," he added, "no Biden official has been dismissed or demoted as a result of the deadly and catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan. I will not stop until the Biden Administration is HELD ACCOUNTABLE for its disastrous policies."

Mast went on to slam Biden, noting that, "for the last three SOTU speeches, Joe Biden REFUSED to say the names of the 13 US service members who were killed by his disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal."