McCaul Says He is Ready to Hit Blinken with Contempt Charges

This week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee dropped a bombshell on the Biden administration.

It released the “Willful Blindness: An Assessment of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Chaos that Followed” report, which outlines the failures of the administration during the botched withdrawal.

Re. McCaul, the chairman of the committee, also hammered Secretary Blinken, threatening him with contempt charges.

Coming After Antony

Blinken has already testified before numerous committees on this subject, but he has not met all the demands of Rep. McCaul (R-TX), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The report blasts the administration, stating, “Our investigation reveals the Biden-Harris administration had the information and opportunity to take necessary steps to plan for the inevitable collapse of the Afghan government, so we could safely evacuate U.S. personnel, American citizens, green card holders, and our brave Afghan allies.

“At each step of the way, however, the administration picked optics over security.

“As a result of the Biden-Harris administration’s failure to plan for all contingencies, the U.S. government conducted an emergency evacuation without the necessary personnel, supplies, and equipment. The administration’s dereliction of duty placed U.S. servicemembers and U.S. State Department personnel in mortal danger, where the Taliban – our sworn enemy – became the first line of defense.

“As a direct result of the failure to plan for all contingencies, 13 U.S. servicemembers and 170 Afghans were murdered in a terrorist attack at Abbey Gate on August 26, 2021, and 45 U.S. servicemembers and countless Afghans were injured. This was preventable.”

When Blinken and other officials testified, they were not exactly forthcoming, which is why McCaul is now looking to hold Blinken in contempt.

He stated, "This was a catastrophic failure of epic proportions. This is a disgrace. I will hold him in contempt if that’s what it takes to bring him before the American people."

"Secretary Blinken refuses to take one day out of this month to come before the [Gold Star] families."

The State Department responded, "The majority isn't truly interested in legislating on Afghanistan policy. If they were, they would have sought to speak to the secretary long ago.

"They would have sought to speak to him to get his input as they make this report. Instead, they waited until the report was completely finished to come back to us."

This is going to be a fun battle down the stretch of this election as the GOP looks to put this withdrawal front and center before Americans as well as tying it to Harris to try to derail her campaign.