Jill Biden heads to Camp LeJeune to meet Marines after Gold Star families criticized her husband over the dignified transfer ceremony for the 13 servicemen killed in Kabul
Jill Biden will visit Camp LeJeune in North Carolina on Wednesday for closed-door meetings with military and veteran family members, the White House announced.
The meetings come after President Joe Biden faced criticism from Gold Star families after the first couple met with them at Dover Air Force Base on Sunday, during the dignified transfer of remains of the 13 U.S. service members killed in a suicide attack in Kabul.
The first lady is making her visit as part of her Joining Forces initiative, which supports military families.
She'll be joined by Donna Berger, the spouse of the Commandant of the Marine Corps General David Berger, and Stacie Black, the spouse of the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Troy Black.
Her visit comes after President Joe Biden faced criticism from Gold Star families after the first couple met with them at Dover Air Force Base on Sunday
Jill Biden will visit Camp LeJeune in North Carolina on Wednesday for closed-door meetings with military and veteran family members
Jill Biden, as second lady, visited Camp LeJeune with then-first lady Michelle Obama in April 2011 as part of the Joining Forces initiative. The two stopped by a special Operation Shower event for soon-to-be moms whose husbands are serving and brought baby gifts for the occasion.
For Wednesday's visit, her office said she would hold private meetings and engage in a listening session with several military and veteran family members at LeJeune, which is a Marine Corps base.
Sergeant Nicole L. Gee, 23, one of the 13 servicemembers who died in Kabul last week, was stationed at Camp LeJeune. It was unclear if Biden would meet with Gee's family while there.
The East Wing also said all the events would be closed press, a decision that came after reports families criticized the president during Sunday's Dover visit.
The first couple was at the base to meet with families of the 13 servicemembers who died, which included 11 Marines. After those private meetings, several family members told news outlets there was anger and frustrated expressed at the president.
Mark Schmitz, the father of Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, told The Washington Post that he showed a picture of his son to Biden and told the president: 'Don't you ever forget that name. Don't you ever forget that face. Don't you ever forget the names of the other 12. And take some time to learn their stories.'
He recalled that Biden didn't seem to like those comments.
'I do know their stories,' Schmitz detailed that the president shot back.
Schmitz said that a sister of a fallen troop yelled at the president after receiving the remains on Sunday: 'I hope you burn in hell! That was my brother!'
'I can't fault her for it,' Schmitz told the Post without identifying the relative who screamed at the president. 'We all lost somebody.
Schmitz and Darin Hoover – the father of Staff Sergeant Darin Taylor Hoover Jr. – spoke to Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday night where they blasted Biden for repeatedly checking his watch during the return of the service members who were killed.
Both fathers claimed Biden checked his watch after every casket was removed from the plane on Sunday.
'The checking of his watch, that didn't happen just once,' said Hoover regarding a picture emerging of the president glancing down at the clock on his wrist.
'That happened on every single one that came out of that airplane. It happened on every single one of them,' he said in awe.
'They would release the salute, and he would look down at his watch on every last one, all 13, he looked down at his watch.'
'As a father, you know, seeing that and the disrespect...'
Schmitz added: 'I leaned into my son's mother's ear and I said, I swear to God, if he checks his watch one more time - and that was probably only four times in.
'I couldn't look at him anymore after that.
'Considering especially the time and why we were there, I found it to be the most disrespectful thing I've ever seen.'
Hoover said he refused to meet with the president at the event.
Schmitz said his own meeting 'didn't go well', and Biden spent more time talking about his own son Beau than Jared Schmitz and the other fallen.
Sergeant Nicole L. Gee, 23, one of the 13 servicemembers who died in Kabul last week, was stationed at Camp LeJeune - above Gee calms an infant during an evacuation at Kabul airport
Jill Biden, as second lady, visited Camp LeJeune with then-first lady Michelle Obama in April 2011 as part of the Joining Forces initiative
The US Marine Corps posted a photo to Twitter Sunday evening, of 11 flag flag-draped caskets of their fallen brethren killed in Thursday's suicide bomb attack in Kabul
Mark Schmitz and Darin Hoover told Sean Hannity on Monday that Biden repeatedly checking his watch during the dignified transfer on Sunday
The fathers of fallen Marines Jared Schmitz and Taylor Hoover spoke out against Biden
White House press secretary Jen Psaki dodged a question on Tuesday about President Biden looking at his watch during a transfer ceremony.
She avoided the issue, which she was directly asked about, and instead offered condolences to the families on behalf of Biden.
'Well I would say his message to all of the family members, who were there, those who were not even in attendance, is that he is grateful to their sons and daughters, the sacrifice that they made to the country.
'That he knows firsthand what it's like to lose a child and the fact no one can tell you anything, or say anything, that there's no words that are going to fill that hole that is left by that.'
The White House has declined to comment on Biden's private meetings with families of the fallen.
'He's not and I'm not going to speak to the private conversations, of course, they have the right to convey whatever they would like,' Psaki said.
'But I will tell you, from spending a lot of time with him over the last couple of days, that he was deeply impacted by these family members who he met.'