Top Republican Demands Transcribed Interviews With State Department Officials on ‘Chaotic’ Afghanistan Withdrawal

The podium at the State Department in Washington on April 11, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The House Foreign Affairs Committee has requested transcribed interviews with five current and former State Department officials regarding the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In his May 14 press release, Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) announced his panel’s request for on-the-record interviews, which he asked that the witnesses arrange by May 22.

Interviews were requested with Jonathan Mennuti, former acting chief of staff to Acting Under Secretary of State for Management Carol Perez; Mark Evans, former acting deputy assistant secretary for Afghanistan; James P. DeHart, former lead, Afghanistan Task Force; Jayne Howell, Bureau of Consular Affairs; and former Ambassador Daniel Smith, who led the State Department’s after-action review of the withdrawal.

The committee said they would like to speak with the five individuals regarding their investigation into what they called the Biden administration’s “chaotic and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan.”

McCaul remarked on the request, “Through our ongoing investigation, we have determined these five individuals have important information that is critical to uncovering how and 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.

“It is crucial they speak with the committee without delay. As we continue to gather evidence, the committee will continue to interview additional current and former administration officials involved in the planning and execution of the withdrawal.”

A State Department spokesperson told The Epoch Times that, in general, they don’t discuss the details of the communications with Congress but that they will “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.”

The request came just days after McCaul threatened to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress in a May 5 letter (pdf) where he asserted that the State Department had not appropriately complied with his committee’s subpoena.

McCaul issued a subpoena to Blinken earlier this year for a dissent cable sent by U.S. diplomats in Kabul questioning the Biden administration’s intentions to remove troops in 2021. “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,” he said in the letter.

McCaul has repeatedly requested the same documents from the department since beginning the investigation near the start of his time as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

McCaul doubled down on his threat, telling ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl on May 14, “I am prepared to move forward to contempt proceedings ... this would be the first time a secretary of state has ever been held in contempt by Congress and it’s criminal contempt, so I don’t take it lightly.”