Former Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan sat down recently with former Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews in what he called “the toughest” interview he’s done thus far. Vargas-Andrews is now a double amputee after being gravely injured in the suicide bombing outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal.
Readers may remember his emotional testimony before lawmakers back in March, when he explained how he and others were “ignored” when they wanted to take action to prevent the suicide bombing that ended up taking the lives of 13 U.S. service members and at least 170 Afghans.
“What happened in Afghanistan was a systemic breakdown of the federal government at every level, and a stunning failure of leadership by the Biden administration,” he said at the time.
But during his podcast interview with Ryan, Vargas-Andrews got into a different story, one about a very strange visit he received from the commander-in-chief and first lady while he was at Walter Reed.
"Right away I remember him coming up to me trying to shake my right hand,” he explains, noting that he had to tell Biden he had no arm.
Instead, Biden reached for the tips of his fingers on his left hand, which was bandaged up, and grabbed them with no greeting.
“And I was like, OK, that’s weird,” he said.
According to Vargas-Andrews, the president completely ignored what had happened and began speaking about how his son served in the military.
“And my mom...she’s furious at this point,” Vargas-Andrews continues, recalling that his mother told Biden, “I don’t care what you guys f***ing do, you better take care of him for the rest of his f***ing life.”
He then told Ryan how Biden got very close to his face and said to him, “What do you want?”
“I’m just like confused, I just got blown up, just f***ing saw my friends die next to me, I’m like, I just want to be myself.”
Biden didn’t understand, so his mother had to explain.
“And they just continued to talk about everything but what just happened,” he said. “And then they just ushered him out of the room. He didn’t know what to say...and that was that.”
Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, a Marine who survived the explosion in Kabul that killed 13 Americans, says that when Joe and Jill Biden came to his hospital room, the president reached out to shake his hand even though his arm was gone, immediately started talking about his son, and… pic.twitter.com/5axewScAPk
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 8, 2023
My interview with Tyler Vargas has been the toughest one to sit through to date.
— Shawn Ryan (@ShawnRyan762) August 3, 2023
What he endured and lost can never be replaced or unseen.
It was all due to an incompetent president, an incompetent administration, and weak military leadership. Weak incompetent leadership has… pic.twitter.com/KDDFQXHI4c