Republicans are moving forward with contempt charges against Secretary of State Antony Blinken for ignoring a subpoena about the Afghanistan withdrawal.
This August marked three years since the botched and bloody evacuation, which led to the deaths of 13 American troops in a terror bombing and billions of dollars in equipment abandoned to the Taliban.
Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, set a September 19 date to mark up the contempt resolution, the Washington Examiner reported.
"This was a catastrophic failure of epic proportions,” McCaul told reporters on Monday. “This is a disgrace. I will hold him in contempt if that’s what it takes to bring him before the American people.”
The White House dismissed McCaul's contempt threat as partisan bluster, noting Blinken has testified to Congress numerous times.
“The Secretary has testified before the Congress on Afghanistan more than 14 times — more than any other Cabinet-level official,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, the Washington Examiner reported. “It is disappointing that instead of continuing to engage with the Department in good faith, the Committee instead has issued yet another unnecessary subpoena.”
McCaul released a lengthy report this week blaming the Biden-Harris administration for the chaotic evacuation, which has continued to haunt the White House ahead of the fall elections.
Democrats have pointed the finger at President Trump, who negotiated a deal with the Taliban to end the war in Afghanistan. McCaul's report says the Taliban had violated the terms of the Doha Agreement, but the Biden administration pushed ahead regardless with a dangerous and ill-conceived evacuation that prioritized "optics" over safety.
The report echoes criticism from top generals like Mark Milley and Kenneth McKenzie, who blame the State Department for failing to order a timely evacuation.
McCaul, a foreign policy hawk, said the withdrawal has damaged America's global security interests.
"We cannot see now into Afghanistan except through over the horizon, which doesn't work. We can't see Russia, China and Iran, either, because of this tragic failure of foreign policy," he told reporters.
The Biden administration has stood by its decision to withdraw, saying it was time to end America's longest war.
The Justice Department, which is currently run by Democratic partisan Merrick Garland, would need to act on any contempt charges approved by the House.
The DOJ earlier this year declined to prosecute Garland after Republicans voted to hold him in contempt for refusing to provide an audio recording of Joe Biden.
