Rep. Michael McCaul signs subpoena targeting Blinken over key Afghanistan document
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, joined 'America's Newsroom' to discuss why he issued a subpoena for the document and how the secretary of state's office has responded to the request.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul accused the Biden administration of "stonewalling" the search for answers on the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, shortly after issuing a subpoena to obtain key information about the exit.
McCaul issued the subpoena targeting Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday morning, in an effort to unveil a critical "dissent cable" that reportedly contains key information related to the withdrawal.
He said the State Department refused to provide the requested material, even in a "classified setting," raising his suspicions about what information can be found in the cable
MCCAUL TARGETS CHINA, AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL AS TOP OVERSIGHT PRIORITIES: ‘I HAVE SUBPOENA POWER’
McCaul was convinced it could unlock a critical piece to the puzzle on exactly what happened during the deadly pullout of U.S. forces.
"We served a subpoena. I want accountability, and the American people and the mothers like you just saw deserve this," McCaul said on "America's Newsroom" Tuesday. "We had a Gold Star mother at the hearing whose daughter, a Marine sergeant, was blown up in the blast, devastated to hear the testimony that it could have been prevented and that nothing was done to stop that suicide bomber. They deserve answers."
"It's the people left behind that deserve answers," he continued. "This administration is stonewalling, and I'm going to… hold them accountable, and I will not rest until we get that dissent cable."
The State Department released a statement on the looming subpoena on Monday: "The Department followed up with the committee to reiterate its willingness to provide a briefing about the concerns raised, and the challenges identified by Embassy Kabul, including in the dissent channel. The committee chose instead to issue a subpoena."
MCCAUL FIRES BACK AT WHITE HOUSE MEMO ATTEMPTING TO DISCOUNT AFGHANISTAN REPORT
Last week during a hearing on the State Department budget, McCaul gave Blinken a Monday deadline to provide the committee a dissent cable authored by at least 23 diplomats stationed the U.S. embassy Kabul in July 2021.
The cable warned about how security in Afghanistan was deteriorating before the U.S. withdrawal at the end of August 2021.
Taliban fighters celebrate the first anniversary of the withdrawal of US-led troops from Afghanistan, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The document was sent through a "dissent channel," which allows State Department officials to send warnings to senior officials.
"Why are they so adamant about not providing these cables even in a classified setting, which I agreed to do?" McCaul questioned. "That raises my suspicion."
But Blinken pushed back on McCaul's request during the hearing, refusing to release the information over concerns it could compromise the "integrity" of similar situations in the future.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"It is vital to me that we preserve the integrity of that process and of that channel, that we not take any steps that could have a chilling effect on the willingness of others to come forward in the future, to express dissenting views on the policies that are being pursued," he told the committee.
McCaul noted that cable also includes American officials' response to the warnings they received from officials on the ground, and the department has also refused to disclose that correspondence. He said the committee was offered a summary of the cables' contents.
"I will not just sit back and take a, sort of, sanitized format, if you will, the State Department's filtered version of these cables," he said. "We made that clear all along."
The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan back in August 2021 left 13 service members dead after a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport. Americans and Afghan allies alike were also left behind amid the chaos.
Fox News' Emma Colton contributed to this report.