House Republicans privately blasted the Biden administration’s “disaster” following the Kabul attacks on Thursday, as some GOP members are pushing to impeach the president, insiders told the New York Post.
The heated comments were reportedly made during a conference call on Thursday, as House Foreign Affairs Committee member Michael McCaul (R-Texas) branded Joe Biden’s resolve to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan by 31 August the “worst presidential foreign policy decision in my lifetime and an unconditional surrender to the Taliban,” an unnamed Republican on the call told the Post.
McCaul allegedly said that it was “an outright disgrace” for the US to view the 31 August as a “red line” after which American troops should be out of Afghanistan.
Both McCaul and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) have reportedly expressed an interest in preserving all documents related to the US troop pullout to launch an investigation into its execution, the report claims.
“[I] promise you there is going to be a reckoning,” the House Minority leader reportedly said during the call. “Every option is on the table.”
A Marine assigned to Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command assists evacuees during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan
© REUTERS / US MARINES
Another source added that McCarthy believes that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should convene Congress’ Lower House as soon as possible to have a briefing on the Afghanistan situation – something he had said before. But Pelosi has so far rejected McCarthy’s calls as “empty stunts, ” saying a full House would be back in session on 20 September.
Meanwhile, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) pushed for the resignation of the White House Cabinet and impeachment proceedings against Biden during the call. He called Secretary of State Antony Blinken “a total disaster,” the insider added.
Senator Lindsey Graham previously urged the impeachment of Biden for a “dereliction of duty” over his "commander-in-chief" decision to pull US troops out of Afghanistan without properly preparing to evacuate Americans and Afghan allies from the country.
“I think Joe Biden deserves to be impeached because he’s abandoned thousands of Afghans who fought with us and he’s going to abandon some American citizens because he capitulated to the Taliban to a 31 August deadline,” Graham said this week.
So far, Biden has stuck to the 31 August deadline. In a press conference following the deadly Kabul attacks, he said that it was Donald Trump who made the agreement with the Taliban to withdraw US troops in exchange for the promise that they would not be targeted.
According to the Post, the House Committee's ranking members have been informed by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley that there is “no way” that the US will get every American citizen out of Afghanistan by the end of August.
Biden said on Thursday that there were currently some Americans in Afghanistan who just didn’t want to get out because of their “extended families."
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