Antony Blinken's absence from a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing Tuesday on the Biden administration's botched withdrawal from Afghanistan is not unusual for the secretary of state, Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., told Newsmax on Tuesday.
Blinken defied a subpoena by the committee, on which Mast serves, to testify; and the committee voted 26-25 along party lines Tuesday on a resolution that recommends the full House vote hold Blinken in contempt of Congress. On Sept. 9, the committee released a report on the withdrawal, titled "Willful Blindness: An Assessment of the Biden-Harris Administration's Withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Chaos that Followed."
"This is the MO for Secretary of State Blinken," Mast told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren." "We're talking about the Afghanistan withdrawal, and the reality is — and this is something I have spoken about in length — just like he wasn't present today, he was not present during the Afghanistan withdrawal.
"When there were special immigrant visas, those that were seeking to the tune of hundreds of thousands, he was vacationing in the Hamptons. When there was province after province falling in Afghanistan, he was vacationing in the Hamptons.
"When our embassy was being overrun, he was vacationing in the Hamptons. He wasn't paying attention to what was the largest State Department operation probably in the history of the country," he said.
"During that time, he was vacationing in the Hamptons, and that should trouble everybody."
During the chaotic withdrawal on Aug. 26, 2021, 13 U.S. service members were killed and more than 100 others wounded by a suicide bomber at Kabul International Airport.
A July 13, 2021, dissent channel cable reportedly warned the Biden administration of the mounting deterioration of Afghanistan's security and the need to immediately begin evacuations. The channel allows State Department officials to air concerns to supervisors.
"We know a lot about what the secretary of state advised, and it wasn't about reality on the ground," Mast said. "It was about political explanations to the media around the world about this is what we want you to report is happening, but it's not really what was actually happening.
"They were ignoring what happened in the dissent cable from all of those diplomats in Afghanistan, telling them, 'Don't do this. This is going to be what happens if you do this.'
"He was advising the president, 'Ignore what the dissent cable told you. Don't tell the American people that we're going to end up leaving Americans behind. Go out there and tell the American people that we won't leave any Americans behind,'" Mast said.
Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul, R-Texas, subpoenaed Blinken to testify by Sept. 19. CBS News reported Tuesday the State Department said it proposed other dates for Blinken to appear, citing his travel overseas regarding the Israel-Hamas war.
On Tuesday, Blinken was in New York for the gathering of the U.N. General Assembly. CBS News also reported the State Department offered to have deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell appear in Blinken's place, and Campbell testified Sept. 18.
"The fact is, Chairman McCaul literally offered him any day in September ... that you can come by here because the report was just released," Mast said.
"We are happy to host you. You give us the date. We will be here. And that was the reality of the situation."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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