Secretary Of State Antony Blinken Could Face Charges If He Continues To Refuse Cooperating With Republican Lawmakers

Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has threatened Biden's Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, with being held in contempt next week if he does not hand over a classified cable sent by U.S. diplomats in Kabul prior to the Taliban's seizure of power in war-torn Afghanistan, according to Just the News.

The Texan chairman threatened to hold that vote at a May 24th hearing. Blinken has refused to hand over a cable that has been subpoenaed back in March. Mr. McCaul told reporters, "I want to see the original content [as opposed to a briefing by the State Department on it], and I also want to see the secretary's response...It's a state of mind in the embassy at the time, and to have 23 dissenters is very significant."

The Republican congressman explained that the whole point of his probe was to understand "why the Biden administration's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and the injury of 47 more, and in the abandonment of more than a thousand U.S. citizens and hundreds of thousands of our Afghan partners in a country controlled by terrorists." A contempt charge if successful would be forwarded to Biden's Department of Justice for the consideration of charges.

   
Chairman Michael McCaul emphasized his message on social media, writing, "Whether or not Secretary Blinken is held in contempt isn't up to me; it's up to him." 
 

Whether or not Secretary Blinken is held in contempt isn't up to me; it's up to him. pic.twitter.com/Q1cyLaNL14

— Michael McCaul (@RepMcCaul) May 16, 2023

He also attached a video of an interview with ABC to that tweet. In that video, he is asked if he actually going to through with his threat to hold the secretary in contempt. McCaul replied, "It is not my choice. It is his. We have a legitimate subpoena. There is no executive privilege." He further emphasized that "a dissenting cable [with] 23 employees out of the embassy before Afghanistan fell stating why they dissented to the administration's policy is very relevant to congressional oversight. We are trying to work with them...but I am prepared to move forward to contempt proceedings. But I take it very seriously...this would be the first time that the Secretary of State has ever been held in contempt by Congress. And its criminal contempt."