The threat is the latest effort to force the release of sensitive documents to Congress, setting up what could become a constitutional showdown between House GOP and the Biden administration on the ability of the legislative branch to conduct oversight.
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee has threatened to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress if the State Department does not turn over classified cables related toRep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, on Friday pledged in a letter — obtained by The Associated Press — to escalatewritten by diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul shortly before the August 2021 withdrawal. The new deadline for the State Department to respond is Thursday.
The department would nevertheless “continue to respond to appropriate oversight inquiries and provide Congress the information it needs to do its job while protecting the ability of State Department employees to do theirs,” principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a statement. for what went wrong as the Taliban swept to power in Afghanistan in August 2021 and the U.S. left scores of Americans and hundreds of Afghans who helped them over the years in grave danger.With the power of the gavel, McCaul has been able to elevate that criticism into aggressive congressional oversight and on a topic that has been met with bipartisan support in the past.
At least 123 dissent channel cables have been sent since 1971, according to the National Security Archives at George Washington University. The vast majority of those have remained classified, and the State Department has long objected to efforts to force their release.
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GOP threatens Blinken contempt charge over Afghanistan docsThe State Department says it's “unfortunate” the House Foreign Affairs Committee's chairman has threatened to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress if the department doesn't turn over classified cables related to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul pledged Friday to escalate the battle with the State Department over a dissent cable written by diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul before the 2021 withdrawal. The deadline for the State Department to respond is Thursday. A department spokesperson says the committee has received a classified briefing on the cable and a written summary. The department says providing the cable would threaten the integrity of the classified reporting process.
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