McCaul Threatens Blinken With Contempt Over Afghan Dissent Cable Subpoena

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a press conference at State Department in Washington on April 11, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) has threatened to place Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress as a result of the probe into the United States’ departure from Afghanistan.

The House Foreign Affairs chairman sent a May 5 letter to Blinken as part of the latest development in the panel’s probe.

The committee’s investigation began earlier this year, eventually leading to McCaul issuing a subpoena to Blinken for a dissent cable sent by U.S. diplomats in Kabul questioning the Biden administration’s intentions to remove troops in 2021.

Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas)  during a news conference with House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)  on October 20, 2021 in Washington. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

“That subpoena, which compels you to produce in unredacted form ’the Dissent Channel cable sent on or about July 13, 2021, reportedly signed by 23 State Department officials and the official response to it,' must be complied with immediately,” McCaul’s letter stated.

“Should you fail to comply, the committee is prepared to take the necessary steps to enforce its subpoena, including holding you in contempt of Congress and/or initiating a civil enforcement proceeding.”

The committee initially asked for the documents shortly after the 118th Congress was sworn in earlier this year with McCaul and fellow Republicans making requests of Blinken and four other administration officials, providing a Jan. 26 deadline.

McCaul repeated his request for three pieces of information in a March 3 letter, after which the committee subpoenaed Blinken and his department in March.

The State Department failed to comply with the subpoena by the April 19 deadline that demanded they hand over the dissent cable from the time of the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Officials responded to an April 28 question from The Epoch Times about the cable saying the department was open to giving the committee a briefing and written summary.

Their actions, however, did not satisfy committee members and the State Department again did not comply with a congressional subpoena as of May 1.

Following the dispatch of McCaul’s letter threatening to hold Blinken in contempt of Congress, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters during a May 8 press briefing that his department finds it “unfortunate” that after providing a briefing and written summary, the House committee “continues to pursue” the dissent cable.

The Epoch Times pressed the spokesperson further as to whether the State Department planned to provide a version of the cable that redacts confidential material or anything in the document that could compromise sources or methods and whether the department is prepared to fight the subpoena in litigation.

Patel responded, saying, “We are going to continue to engage with Congress appropriately as it relates to their legitimate requests for information and oversight function ... [State] feels like it has sufficiently conveyed appropriate information.”

Jackson Richman contributed to this report.