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From the Washington Free Beacon: Antony Blinken failed to attend a Tuesday hearing on the Biden-Harris administration’s bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan, defying a congressional subpoena and setting the stage for him to be the first secretary of state ever held in contempt of Congress.
Blinken was mandated under subpoena by the House Foreign Affairs Committee to testify about the botched 2021 evacuation that brought the Taliban back to power and left 13 American service members dead. He was expected to face tough questions about a recently unveiled congressional report detailing how the United States abandoned a “significant amount of classified information,” advanced biometric data, and millions in cash when it fled the war-torn country.
Instead, the State Department informed the committee on Monday evening that Blinken would be a no-show, claiming he is too busy with the United Nations General Assembly in New York City to attend, according to sources familiar with the situation.
“The committee received a letter stating the secretary will not come,” said one GOP committee source. “He didn’t provide any other dates for this week, claiming he’s busy with events and gatherings at the U.N. General Assembly. Instead, he offered his deputies—neither of whom worked at the State Department throughout 2021 nor the Afghanistan withdrawal.”
Committee chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), is now pushing a measure to formally hold Blinken in contempt of Congress.
If approved, Blinken would make history as the first secretary of state to be held in contempt of Congress, a misdemeanor crime punishable by up to $100,000 in fines and potential jail time, the Free Beacon reported.
In a social media post, McCaul wrote, “Secretary Blinken defied my subpoena & refused to select a single day in September to testify before @HouseForeignGOP on my report culminating the committee’s three-year investigation into the Afghanistan withdrawal. While I take no joy in this, @SecBlinken’s failure to comply has forced me to move forward with holding him in contempt of Congress.”
Secretary Blinken defied my subpoena & refused to select a single day in September to testify before @HouseForeignGOP on my report culminating the committee’s three-year investigation into the Afghanistan withdrawal.
While I take no joy in this, @SecBlinken‘s failure to comply…
— Michael McCaul (@RepMcCaul) September 24, 2024
“After months of the secretary ignoring my countless requests for his testimony, I was forced to subpoena him to discuss the findings of my report into the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan,” McCaul said in his opening remarks Tuesday morning during the hearing that Blinken skipped.
“After months of the secretary ignoring my countless requests for his testimony, I was forced to subpoena him to discuss the findings of my report into the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
Watch CHM @RepMcCaul’s opening remarks on holding @SecBlinken in contempt of… pic.twitter.com/QSirBeAyOd
— House Foreign Affairs Committee Majority (@HouseForeignGOP) September 24, 2024
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