WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans on the Home International Affairs Committee are shifting Tuesday to carry Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress after a contentious back-and-forth with the Cupboard secretary over an look to testify on the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Blinken, in a letter to Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, mentioned that he was “profoundly upset” within the chairman’s determination to advance contempt proceedings and urged him to discover a decision in “good religion.”
“As I’ve made clear, I’m keen to testify and have supplied a number of cheap options to the dates unilaterally demanded by the Committee throughout which I’m finishing up the President’s vital international coverage aims,” Blinken wrote in a Sunday letter.
The contempt of Congress cost is the most recent in a collection of strikes by McCaul and different Home Republicans over the previous 18 months to carry the Biden administration accountable for what they’ve referred to as a “gorgeous failure of management” after Taliban forces seized the Afghan capital way more quickly than U.S. intelligence had foreseen as American forces pulled out in 2021.
McCaul had first set a listening to for Blinken to testify final Thursday, whereas the secretary was in Egypt and France. He then modified the date to Tuesday, when Blinken was on the annual U.N. Basic Meeting gathering of world leaders in New York and attending President Joe Biden ’s speech on the time of the listening to.
As all secretaries of state have prior to now, Blinken will spend your entire week in New York holding dozens of assembly along with his counterparts on a wide range of points however this 12 months with a deal with the Mideast state of affairs and the Ukraine-Russia battle.
Final week, State Division spokesman Matthew Miller accused McCaul and the committee of repeatedly calling for hearings on days they knew Blinken can be unavailable to seem.
McCaul mentioned the division was being “disingenuous” as a result of it had declined repeated requests to select a date in September for Blinken to testify. “If we’re pressured to carry Secretary Blinken in contempt of Congress, he has nobody in charge however himself,” he mentioned in a press release final week.
Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly introduced up the disastrous exit from Afghanistan within the marketing campaign, making an attempt to hyperlink it to his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris. A number of watchdog evaluations and a greater than 18-month investigation by Home Republicans have did not pinpoint an occasion the place the Harris had a selected affect on decision-making on the withdrawal.
Blinken has testified about Afghanistan 14 instances, together with 4 instances earlier than McCaul’s committee.
Miller mentioned Blinken was keen to testify once more if a mutually handy time could possibly be organized however famous that Congress will probably be in recess from the top of this week till after the November election.
Earlier this month, Home Republicans issued a scathing report on their investigation into the withdrawal, blaming the disastrous finish of America’s longest conflict on the Biden administration whereas minimizing Trump’s function.
The partisan assessment laid out the ultimate months of army and civilian failures, following Trump’s February 2020 withdrawal deal, which allowed the Taliban to beat the nation even earlier than the final U.S. officers flew out on Aug. 30, 2021. The chaotic exit left behind many Americans, Afghan battlefield allies, feminine activists and others in danger from the Taliban.
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