Source: US House Committee on Foreign Affairs
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Washington, D.C. – House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul delivered remarks at today’s committee markup of a report calling for Secretary of State Antony Blinken to be held in contempt of Congress for his failure to comply with a duly issued subpoena. That subpoena compelled his testimony on the committee’s investigation into the Biden-Harris administration’s deadly Afghanistan withdrawal, which resulted in Chairman McCaul’s historic report released on September 9, 2024. During his remarks, Chairman McCaul emphasized that Secretary Blinken’s failure to appear demonstrates his continued prioritization of politics and optics over securing legislative solutions to prevent another similar catastrophe.
WATCH HERE
– Remarks as Delivered –
I wish we were not here today. However, Secretary of State Antony Blinken brought this upon himself.
I take no joy in this procedure.
After months of the secretary ignoring countless requests for his testimony, I was forced to subpoena him to discuss the findings of my report into the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Secretary Blinken violated that subpoena and refused to appear. And now, I have no choice but to move forward with holding him in contempt of Congress.
Let the record reflect, that for four months, I have patiently asked for and waited on his availability in September.
But instead of working with me, Secretary Blinken made false promises and accused me of politicizing this important issue.
By failing to appear before the committee to discuss this serious event, he is politicizing the Afghanistan withdrawal.
His spokesperson has also presented outright lies on his behalf, both to the press and the American people. He claims Secretary Blinken has appeared 14 times before Congress and four times before my committee to discuss Afghanistan.
However, the facts speak for themselves. The secretary has never testified on this committee’s investigation — not once.
In fact, while I have served as chair in the 118th Congress, he has appeared only two times before this committee — both times for statutorily mandated hearings on the State Department’s budget.
Throughout this committee’s investigation, the secretary and his State Department obstructed my access to witnesses and documents at every turn.
It was their failure to produce documents and testimony that determined the timing of my Afghanistan report and today’s contempt markup.
This was not my timeline; it was theirs.
On May 22nd, I publicly requested Secretary Blinken testify on my report in September.
What was my goal?
A single hearing dedicated to fixing the many issues at the State Department that my report had uncovered.
Following my public request, Secretary Blinken’s State Department ignored every outreach from my team.
Finally, on August 19th, I spoke to him directly on the phone. He promised me a date would be, ‘nailed down in the next week.’ But he broke that promise, and weeks passed, and I received no word from him.
And then on September 3rd, I informed Secretary Blinken that a subpoena would be coming and forthwith if he did not appear in September.
I offered him any date, any time that month.
But rather than step up to the plate as a leader, he offered me his subordinates – two deputies who did not even serve at the State Department during the withdrawal.
That is not leadership; that is passing the buck.
This committee expects better.
This is the committee of jurisdiction over the State Department.
Our veterans, Gold Star families, and the American people deserve better from the secretary of state.
After that call, I was forced to issue a subpoena compelling his appearance before this committee.
I have with me proof that Secretary Blinken disregarded my numerous good-faith efforts. Not once, not twice, but three times in this email.
In fact, I offered every day in September. However, the secretary could not make one day, could not make one day in September available for this committee, for this Congress on such an important matter.
Not a single day.
He and his team did not even bother to inform me of his schedule.
Still, when I learned through a public press statement that he would be in the Middle East, I changed the date of the hearing to accommodate his overseas schedule.
Again, I informed his staff of the new date. Unsurprisingly, I received no response. No response. That is the lack of respect that I as chairman and this committee received from this secretary.
Under the leadership of Secretary Blinken, 13 brave American lives were tragically murdered by an ISIS-K terrorist, and many more injured, and many Afghans [were] killed as well.
Rather than take accountability for this, the secretary hides from the American people. He would prefer to hide rather than be before this committee today.
The secretary’s willful indifference, his willful indifference has brought us to this moment.
I take no joy in moving forward to hold the secretary of state in contempt of Congress. It is an extraordinary act.
However, Article I of the United States Constitution entrusts Congress with the power of oversight and to legislate. Secretary Blinken’s failure to appear violates that. It violates Article I of the Constitution. It violates our ability to perform oversight, and it violates our ability to legislate on a hugely important issue — perhaps, the most important issue that occurred during [President Biden’s] presidency.
My sincere hope was that Secretary Blinken’s testimony in September would inform legislation to prevent a foreign policy disaster like this in the future. However, we will not have that testimony.
Instead, he has prioritized politics and optics over the needs of our servicemembers, our Gold Star families, and the American people.
In my judgment, he and the White House have made a judgment call that the risk simply outweighs the reward.
And to my colleagues, your actions today will speak to the respect you afford Congress and its constitutional responsibility.
I urge you all to join me in supporting this measure, holding Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress for violating a subpoena duly issued by this committee. For without that power, not only does that render this committee meaningless, but so to does that render the Constitution of the United States meaningless.
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