Rep. Rich McCormick said Friday on Newsmax that Biden administration officials "absolutely botched" the vetting of Afghan nationals evacuated during the 2021 withdrawal.
Speaking on Newsmax's "National Report," the Georgia Republican argued that senior leaders avoided direct answers when pressed on whether they knew who was loaded onto U.S. military flights during the chaotic airlift from Kabul.
He pointed to a resurfaced 2021 exchange in which Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asked then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas whether 99% of evacuees had been vetted before boarding aircraft.
Mayorkas was unable to confirm the number and attempted to draw distinctions between passengers loaded in Kabul and those transported from third countries.
McCormick said that moment revealed deeper failures.
"Some people that are vetted are going to get into our country that are bad apples. But yes, they absolutely botched the Afghan withdrawal," McCormick said. "They didn't know who got on that plane. They still don't know who came into this country, both from there and other places in the world."
McCormick, a Marine veteran who served in Afghanistan as head of emergency medicine, described the withdrawal as "one of the most depressing days of my life."
He cited the deaths, injuries, and sacrifices made by U.S. service members over two decades of war. That experience, he said, makes the government's lingering uncertainty over evacuee identities even more troubling.
The congressman argued the Biden administration's failures in Afghanistan mirror what he called broader lapses at the southern border, where he said large numbers of migrants entered without adequate screening.
"That is the problem when you let in people without any intention to keep the bad actors away from us," McCormick said.
The congressman said renewed scrutiny under President Donald Trump is necessary to identify dangerous individuals but cautioned against unfairly stigmatizing Afghan allies who risked their lives to support U.S. forces.
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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