House Republicans are reportedly considering a contempt of Congress resolution against Secretary of State Antony Blinken as he is set to miss a hearing on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Republican-led House Foreign Affairs Committee had subpoenaed Blinken earlier this month, with Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul claiming that the "Department of State was central to the Afghanistan withdrawal and served as the senior authority during the August non-combatant evacuation operation.
The State Department anticipated that Blinken would not be able to testify on the proposed dates and said it had proposed alternatives. However, it seems like no agreement was made and the committee will seek to formally sanction the official.
Should this end up being the case, Blinken would become the third Cabinet member to be sanctioned by House Republicans. Homeland Security. Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was impeached in February (the Senate dismissed the charges in April), and AG Merrick Garland held in contempt in June (the Justice Department declined to prosecute).
Mayorkas was impeached for what Republicans described as mishandling of efforts to enforce immigration laws, especially when it comes to the implementation of a series of family reunification parole programs, which allowed some foreign nationals to wait in the U.S. for immigration visas.
However, Democrats in the Senate voted to rule the articles unconstitutional, saying they did not amount to "high crimes and misdemeanors" and proceeded to adjourn the trial. Mayorkas was not present in the chamber. Some Senate Republicans had said that Mayorkas did not commit impeachable offenses but sought a trial be conducted, rather than having the articles dismissed. All motions to do so failed.
Garland, on his end, was punished by House Republicans for refusing to hand over audio tapes from an investigation into President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents. The Department of Justice swiftly rejected pressing criminal charges.
Regarding Blinken, Chairman McCaul has been extremely critical of the withdrawal from the country, saying the administration didn't properly prepare for the move and that led to the Abbey Gate bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members.
A report published on November 9 claimed the government allegedly "watered-down" reports about crumbling security in the country.
The GOP review, which was based on testimony from officials and internal State Department documents, provided an elaborate narration of the failures in both military and civilian aspect, which transpired after the withdrawal deal of Trump with the Taliban in February 2020.
The report stated that the withdrawal allowed the Taliban to conquer the country even before the last number of officials got out of the country on Aug. 30, 2021.
"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," said Rep. Michael McCaul. He then underscored that the Biden administration allegedly "picked optics over security" each step of the way.
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