The mother of a Marine who died in the suicide attack at Kabul Airport in August has invited Donald Trump to his funeral after the former president responded to her viral social media attack on President Joe Biden.
Shana Chappell, the mother of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, asked Trump to attend the service which is due to take place at the Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, on September 18th.
Chappell gained national attention after she launched a scathing attack on Biden in the wake of the suicide bombing by the Islamic State (ISIS-K) militant group which killed her son and 12 other U.S. military service members, accusing the president of having "blood on his hands" over the attack.
Chappell also appeared to wrongly claim that Trump was the actual winner of the 2020 election.
"If my president Trump was in his rightful seat then my son and the other [heroes] would still be alive!!!!" Chappell wrote in an August 30 post which has since been shared more than 16,000 times.
One day after the Facebook comment went viral, Trump issued a statement saying that Chappell's criticism was "100% correct."
He added: "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.
"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."
In a follow-up Facebook post on September 2, Chappell thanked Trump for his "beautiful response" while requesting he pay his respects 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."
Chappell also claimed that her social media accounts have been "shadow banned" after Instagram temporarily disabled her profile and therefore needs people to share her remarks in the hope Trump sees it.
Facebook apologized after admitting 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 Facebook post.
Facebook restored her account, but did not disclose 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."
It is unclear if Trump plans to attend the funeral. In another statement on September 6 paying tribute to the fallen Marine, Trump said: "Thank you Shana, our country loves you and especially loves your beautiful boy, Kareem."
Trump's office has been contacted for comment.
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Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
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