Secretary of State Antony Blinken was held in contempt of Congress by the House Foreign Affairs Committee for skirting a public hearing on the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal.
He is the third Biden administration official to be formally reprimanded by Congress.
In June, Attorney General Merrick Garland was held in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over Joe Biden audio tapes where he appeared ‘elderly.’ The Justice Department refused to prosecute its leader, ending the proceedings.
And earlier this year, the House approved two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the southern border crisis, which the Senate dismissed.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee has sought to bring in the chief diplomat following his handling of the military and civilian disaster killing 13 U.S. troops and hundreds of Afghans that has been compared to the fall of Saigon during the Vietnam war.
Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, led the rebuke of Blinken after the agency has ‘mischaracterized the accommodations’ he gave the secretary, who ‘ignored the committee for months.’
The chairman called Blinken’s testimony a ‘vital component’ to his investigation into the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal and the department’s ‘shortcomings during that period.’
Blinken is currently in New York City attending meetings connected to the U.N. General Assembly.
A nameplate for Secretary of State Antony Blinken is displayed during a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan
A damning congressional investigation published earlier this month reveals a catalog of missteps and missed opportunities during the Afghanistan exit.
President Joe Biden pushed ahead with his plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan despite multiple warnings of devastating consequences, it states.
It also reveals how Washington’s most senior official in Kabul went on vacation even as the Taliban was closing in on the capital city.
And it accuses Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their officials of prioritizing politics and optics over operational needs, such as planning for an emergency evacuation of civilians.
The resulting chaos, with tens of thousands of foreign nationals and Afghans crowding into Kabul’s airport after the Taliban seized the city in August 2021, triggered the first crisis of the Biden administration.
And it descended into tragedy when a suicide bomber killed 13 American service personnel and about 170 Afghans.
Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Tuesday that if the committee prepares contempt charges – which if passed are then given to the Justice Department for further action – he is ‘sure’ the House will take them up for a vote.
Hundreds of people gather near a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane at the perimeter of the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 16, 2021
Blinken, who is currently attending the UN General Assembly, did not attend the hearing and Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-TX) held a vote to hold Blinken in contempt of Congress
Blinken wrote to the committee in a Sunday letter obtained by Politico that he was ‘profoundly disappointed’ that McCaul rejected other proposed dates to testify.
‘The events of this week were scheduled many months ago, and the dates of the General Assembly’s high-level week have long been publicly noticed,’ he said.
‘I believe you would agree U.S. representation at the highest levels in these engagements is essential. Additionally, I remain willing to make myself available to testify after I return from my travel.’
But his excuses didn’t cut it with McCaul, who has been demanding he hand over critical documents for months.
During the Foreign Affairs meeting Tuesday, McCaul explained in detail how Blinken’s absences have risen to the level of deserving a contempt charge.
‘I wish we were not here today. however Secretary of State Antony Blinken brought this upon himself.’
‘After months of the Secretary ignoring countless requests for his testimony I was forces to subpoenaed him to discuss my findings about the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
‘Let the record reflect that for four months I have patiently waited for and waited on his availability in September. But instead of working with me Secretary Blinken made false promises.’
He refereed how he asked Blinken in May to testify before the body, but after a monthslong back and forth with the secretary’s team, his requests were not answered.
During the Foreign Affairs meeting Tuesday, McCaul explained in detail how Blinken’s absences have risen to the level of deserving a contempt charge
McCaul even recounted a phone call he had with Blinken in which the secretary confirmed a date for the testimony would be handled that week.
The chairman then described how he never heard back after the call.
‘He is politicizing the Afghanistan withdrawal,’ McCaul said of Blinken’s absence.
But it was quickly pointed out by the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y. that Blinken was busy traveling and that the contempt hearing was more akin to ‘political theater.’
‘The secretary has made it clear time and time again he is willing to testify,’ Meeks said at the meeting’s onset.
‘Secretary Blinken has engaged in food faith to reach a compromise to comply with the chairmans subpoena for the Chairman to testify again.’
Taliban fighters celebrate one year since they seized the Afghan capital, Kabul, in front of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 15, 2022
US Representative Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas and Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, oversees a hearing on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan where the witness, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, did not appear to testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on September 24, 2024
Meeks claimed that Blinken spoke with McCaul by phone in mid August and September to find a date to testify, yet they were not able to come to a decision.
Blinken even offered alternative witnesses to testify in his stead.
Still, the hearing with Blinken’s attendance did not materialize despite the committee’s efforts.
The timing of when the House will take up the contempt charge for a full vote remains unclear despite Johnson’s insistence that it will happen.
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