House lawmakers subpoenaed Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday over his alleged refusal to testify about the Biden administration’s deadly 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee said Blinken must appear before the committee on Sept. 19 or face contempt charges, the committee said in a letter written by Republican Chairman Michael McCaul, of Texas.
“It is disappointing that instead of continuing to engage with the Department in good faith, the Committee instead has issued yet another unnecessary subpoena,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement, Reuters reported.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department.
In May, McCaul asked Blinken to appear at a hearing in September on the committee‘s report on its investigation of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The State Department failed on several occasions to provide a date for Blinken to appear before lawmakers, McCaul said.
Current and former State Department officials confirmed that Blinken was “the final decisionmaker” on the withdrawal and evacuation, McCaul said in his letter.
“The Committee is holding this hearing because the Department of State was central to the Afghanistan withdrawal and served as the senior authority during the August non-combatant evacuation operation,” he wrote.
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“You are therefore in a position to inform the Committee’s consideration of potential legislation aimed at helping prevent the catastrophic mistakes of the withdrawal, including potential reforms to the Department’s legislative authorization,” McCaul added.
The committee has been investigating the chaotic withdrawal, which ended with 13 U.S. military service members killed, for years.
Former President Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery last month and took part in a wreath-laying ceremony honoring the 13 military members. Trump and Republicans have long criticized President Biden over the withdrawal, which saw the Taliban retake Afghanistan following 20-plus years of U.S. occupation.
The parents of the deceased service members “lost a child because of Biden and because of Kamala, just as though they had a gun in their head because it was so badly handled,” Trump told podcaster Lex Fridman on Tuesday, the New York Post reported.
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