Gold Star family member gives CNN anchor rude awakening about Biden, leading to awkward silence: 'He has not reached out'

CNN anchor Abby Phillip ran into a rhetorical buzzsaw on Wednesday in the form of a Gold Star mother.

That Gold Star mom, Christy Shamblin, is attending the State of the Union address on Thursday. Shamblin's daughter-in-law, Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, was one of 13 U.S. service members who was murdered when a suicide bomber detonated himself outside the Abby Gate at the Kabul airport in 2021. Gee was supporting Afghanistan evacuation efforts made necessary by President Joe Biden's disastrous withdrawal from the country.

During their interview, Phillip tried to defend Biden as a sympathetic president. But she was left shocked when Shamblin revealed that she has never heard from the president.

"President Biden, he's often called the consoler in chief," Phillip claimed. "He does talk to families who've lost loved ones because of his own experiences. Have you experienced that from him as you've been coping with the death of Nicole?"

"No," Shamblin said.

What followed was several seconds of awkward silence — dead air that Phillip eventually broke.

"Have you spoken to him?" the CNN anchor followed up.

"No, he has not reached out to our family," Shamblin confirmed. "We've actually reached out to the White House and have never heard back. We asked to meet with them to kind of understand where their thinking was in calling this a success, and we've not received a response. It's been months. No, that's not been our experience at all."

"Sorry to hear that," Phillip responded.

Shamblin has not hidden her criticism of President Biden or his administration.

Last year, she spoke at a congressional forum with other Gold Star families who lost loved ones during the Afghanistan withdrawal, slamming the administration for describing the withdrawal as a "success."

Then last September, Shamblin, along with two other Gold Star moms, told ABC News how they felt disrespected by the president during the dignified transfer ceremony for their loved ones at Dover Air Force Base.

"The administration didn't seem to know our story," Shamblin said. "They didn't seem to know Nicole's name, our names. People from the military certainly knew our story, Nicole's name, our names. And that was expressed to us in a way that felt very genuine and loving. But when it came to the people in suits, it felt disingenuous and hollow."

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