US State Department lashed out Thursday at House Republicans over a subpoena for testimony about the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan, accusing them of repeatedly calling for hearings on days they knew Secretary of State Antony Blinken was unavailable to appear.Rep.
Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he was trying to accommodate Blinken, who faces the threat of being held in contempt of Congress if he doesn''t appear, the Associated Press reported.The Texas Republican had first set a hearing for Thursday, while Blinken was in Egypt and France.
He then changed the date to Tuesday, when Blinken will be at the annual U.N.
General Assembly gathering of world leaders in New York and attending President Joe Biden's speech at the time of the hearing.They have unilaterally selected a date when we have told them in advance that he will be not in Washington, D.C., because he will be elsewhere carrying out important meetings to advance the foreign policy interests of the United States,& State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.He said the State Department told the committee weeks in advance about Blinken´s schedule, so &it very much does not appear that they´re acting in good faith.McCaul said the department was being &disingenuous& because it had declined repeated requests to pick a date in September for Blinken to testify.
&If we are forced to hold Secretary Blinken in contempt of Congress, he has no one to blame but himself,& the Republican committee chairman said Thursday in a statement.The subpoena for Blinken´s testimony is the latest in a series of moves by McCaul and other House Republicans over the past 18 months to hold the Biden administration accountable for what they have called a &stunning failure of leadership& after Islamic Emirate forces seized the Afghan capital far more rapidly than United States intelligence had foreseen as American forces pulled out.Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly brought up the disastrous exit from Afghanistan in the campaign, trying to link it to Democratic rival Kamala Harris.
Several watchdog reviews and a more than 18-month investigation by House Republicans have failed to pinpoint an instance where the vice president had a particular impact on decision-making on the withdrawal.Blinken has testified about Afghanistan 14 times, including four times before McCaul's committee.Miller said Blinken was willing to testify again if a mutually convenient time could be arranged but noted that Congress will be in recess from the end of next week until after the November election.
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