Published February 27, 2024
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is facing a fresh contempt threat from House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) over an Afghanistan withdrawal document dispute.
McCaul is specifically seeking access to interview notes compiled by former Ambassador Dan Smith. Smith spearheaded the State Department’s official after-action review that detailed the chaotic 2021 U.S. military pullout from Afghanistan. The interview notes, which memorialize the withdrawal and were used to form the after-action review, are seen by the Foreign Affairs Committee as “vital” to oversight efforts.
McCaul wrote to Blinken on Monday that if State doesn’t turn over Smith’s interview notes by March 6, the panel would move to hold Blinken in contempt of Congress.
The background: McCaul has been engaged in a year-long back-and-forth with the State Department over access to files shedding light on the Afghanistan withdrawal, which culminated in a deadly August 2021 terrorist attack that killed multiple U.S. service members. The Texas Republican was close to marking up a contempt resolution aimed at Blinken in 2023, but he backed off after securing access to a key dissent cable.
In the months since, McCaul has grown dissatisfied with State’s response to turning over key documents that helped form the after-action review.
According to McCaul, State officials have told committee staff that Smith’s interview notes are “being withheld by the White House and National Security Council.”
“The law does not afford the State Department blanket authority to hide behind ‘Executive Branch confidentiality interests’ to obstruct Congress’s access to the truth,” McCaul wrote.
In August 2023, we reported that State sent a tranche of withdrawal documents to the Hill. This came after Blinken called McCaul and expressed a willingness to cooperate further with document production.
The relationship between Blinken and McCaul is more cordial than the dynamic between most GOP committee chairs who are investigating Biden cabinet officials. But in his latest letter, McCaul accused Blinken of acting in bad faith in the Afghanistan investigation oversight process.
“It is appalling that over two years after the deadly and chaotic withdrawal, the Department continues to choose politics over policy,” McCaul wrote.
This is a bit of whiplash from McCaul, who seems to be all over the map on where he stands with Blinken on any given month.
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SOURCE: www.punchbowl.news , www.amu.tv
RELATED: Top Republican Michael McCaul reignites THREAT to hold Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress for ‘appalling obstruction’ as he seeks accountability for deadly Afghanistan withdrawal 2+ years later
Last July, the State Department quietly released a 87-page report condemning his administration’s failure to prepare for the Afghanistan’s rapid collapse at the hands of the Taliban in 2021
Published February 26, 2024
- Blinken has narrowly dodged being held in contempt of Congress last year
- House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul is reigniting his previous threats to take legal action against Blinken
- If McCaul follows through with his threat, it will be the first time in U.S. history that a secretary of state would be held in contempt of Congress.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is back in the hot seat for stonewalling House Republicans seeking documents that may provide answers on the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal nearly two and a half years later.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, is reigniting his previous threats to take legal action against Blinken, saying he has ‘obstructed’ Congress‘ many requests for documents.
‘It is appalling that over two years after the deadly and chaotic withdrawal, the Department continues to choose politics over policy,’ McCaul wrote in a letter exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com Monday.
He says his committee will ‘pursue’ holding him in contempt of Congress if he fails to provide the AAR (after-action review) team’s interview notes by March 6.
The GOP chairman is specifically demanding AAR files from those most intimately involved in the chaotic withdrawal that will help Republicans complete their investigation and shape legislation to prevent the ‘catastrophic mistakes’ from ever happening again by providing ‘access to the truth.’
If McCaul follows through with his threat, it will be the first time in U.S. history that a secretary of state would be held in contempt of Congress.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul is reigniting his previous threats to take legal action against Blinken after he has ‘obstructed’ Congress’ requests for documents
The Americans killed in the blast were: (left to right, starting with top row) Cpl. Daegan W. Page – Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo – Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover – Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza – Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum – Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui – Cpl. Hunter Lopez – Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz – Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss – Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez – Navy Corpsman Maxton W. Soviak – Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola – Sgt. Nicole L. Gee
McCaul says his committee has pursued the AAR team’s interview notes ‘in good faith and with every effort to compromise.’
But, he goes on, the department has ‘not negotiated in good faith and has failed to both comply with the Committee’s July 2023 subpoena and fulfill your August 11 personal commitment to cooperate with this investigation.’
Again, he stressed the ‘legislative need for these primary source documents.’
McCaul writes that department officials told his committee that the Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources Rich Verma ‘personally reviewed’ the AAR notes.
But said they are currently being withheld by the White House and National Security Council.
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SOURCE: www.dailymail.co.uk
