House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul, speaking one day before his committee is to release its scathing report that accuses the Biden administration of misleading the American public about the withdrawal from Afghanistan, said Sunday that the chaos and deaths could have been prevented.
"This was one of the deadliest days in Afghanistan," the Texas Republican told CBS News' "Face the Nation," noting that the probe will continue "well after the election."
"It could have been prevented at the State Department [if it] did its job by law and executed the plan of evacuation," he said. "They did not do that until the day the Taliban invaded and overran Kabul. By that time, it was too late."
And as a result, he said, "they left these 13 service men and women hanging out to dry; 170 Afghans killed; 45 service members and Afghans injured as a result of the I'd say, moral negligence on the part of the administration allowing this to happen."
House Speaker Mike Johnson is to present an award to the family members of the fallen soldiers on Tuesday, the same day former President Donald Trump, who has made the withdrawal a talking point in his campaign, is to debate Democrat nominee Kamala Harris.
McCaul denied that the honor is being done on the same day as the debate for political reasons.
"That was not a coordinated effort," he said.
The report was obtained by CBS News one day before its official release on Monday.
In it, Republicans accuse Biden and his administration of ignoring warnings from national security advisers, U.S. allies, and military officials about the risks of pulling all of America's troops from Afghanistan.
McCaul also denied that the timing of the report's release, one day before the debate, was intentional, stating that it has taken two years to present because the administration obstructed the committee from getting information and testimony.
The report claims that President Joe Biden "appears to have believed his historic position on Afghanistan would ensure his legacy," according to the record. It added that Harris, as vice president, "appears to have been working in lockstep" with the president to withdraw all U.S. troops.
The Republicans' report counters a White House summary last year that blamed the Trump administration for the deal it reached with the Taliban to pull troops out of Afghanistan by May 2021.
Yet another report that was released by the State Department last year blamed both administrations for the chaotic, deadly withdrawal, saying that their planning was "insufficient."
The Foreign Affairs Committee's report includes several optimistic statements that the Biden administration and Pentagon were making in the days leading up to the withdrawal, including one statement from the Pentagon claiming that Kabul was not in imminent danger.
Two days after the statement, the city fell to the Taliban.
The committee said it conducted 18 transcribed interviews with Biden administration officials and received more than 20,000 pages of State Department documents after issuing subpoenas.
McCaul subpoenaed Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week to testify in a public hearing later this month about the withdrawal.
The committee's report also includes recommendations to prevent similar situations, including the re-establishment of a Crisis Bureau in the State Department and congressional action, and calls for a Defense Department review of the Abbey Gate terrorist attack to be declassified.
"We have a lot of unanswered questions," the congressman said Sunday. "What happened on the ground? Why were these snipers left basically unprotected? Where was the surveillance equipment that was videotaping? Why don't we have one video of the suicide bomber going off?"
Meanwhile, Democrats on the committee also wrote a report that will be released Tuesday.
In it, Rep. Gregory Means, D-N.Y., the committee's top Democrat, argued in a letter attached that the committee's GOP majority "took particular pains" to avoid involving Trump in their report, but ramped up its criticism of Harris as the election nears.