Even though he said he’s willing to testify, House Republicans are still likely to vote in favor of holding one of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet secretaries in contempt of Congress.
Politico reported Tuesday that Republicans are aiming to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt, claiming he is obstructing their duty to investigate the U.S. military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) accused Blinken of failing to comply with a subpoena issued on September 18 to testify today, while Blinken is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
“I wish we were not here today. However, Secretary of State Antony Blinken brought this upon himself,” McCaul said. “I take no joy in this procedure.”
In a letter to the House Foreign Affairs Committee earlier this week, Blinken emphasized that he was “willing to testify” but that his job as the United States’ top diplomat required him to be at the United Nations. Blinken is expected to speak at the UNGA about the Biden administration’s ongoing efforts to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza and return hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, as well as about the United States’ efforts to aid Ukraine in its war with Russia.
“I am profoundly disappointed you have once again chosen to send me a subpoena and threaten contempt, rather than engage with me and the department in a meaningful way to resolve this matter through the constitutionally-mandated accommodation process,” Blinken wrote. “As I have made clear, I am willing to testify and have offered several reasonable alternatives to the dates unilaterally demanded by the Committee during which I am carrying out the President’s important foreign policy objectives.”
McCaul insisted that he made “numerous, good-faith” attempts to bring Blinken before the committee. However, Democrats disagreed with that characterization. Ranking member Gregory Meeks (D-New York) accused McCaul and other Republicans of orchestrating a “political stunt made for Fox News.”
“That’s what this is: a political stunt, plain and simple,” Meeks told Politico. “Why is there suddenly a rush to hold this contempt vote when the secretary has made it clear time and time again that he’s willing to testify?”
As the U.S. was winding down the war in Afghanistan and preparing to withdraw all troops from the war-torn nation, Taliban fighters killed 13 American service members in a bombing at the Kabul airport. Republicans have seized on the tragedy as a central point to argue that Biden’s oversight was to blame, given that he had assumed the oath of office several months before the attack.
However, as Vice President Kamala Harris pointed out during her September debate with former President Donald Trump, the Biden administration was simply carrying out the peace plan that Trump and his then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo negotiated with the Taliban in 2020. That deal established the timeline for U.S. withdrawal, with all parties agreeing that the U.S. would withdraw from Afghanistan by May of 2021 after roughly 20 years of war.
Blinken is the third of Biden’s cabinet secretaries to be pursued by House Republicans. The House GOP impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas earlier this year over the Biden administration’s immigration policy, and held Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress over his refusal to provide the GOP with audio of Biden’s deposition with Department of Justice special counsel Robert Hur.
Click here to read Politico’s report in full.
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