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Blinken slammed for testifying virtually: 'Couldn't be bothered to come down here'
By Houston Keene
Published September 13, 2021
Secretary of State Antony Blinken was slammed by Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., for electing to testify virtually, rather than in person, in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the Biden administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Perry blasted Blinken for not being at the hearing Monday over the troop withdrawal that saw 13 American service members die in a suicide bombing in Kabul.
Blinken revealed that he was seated in the annals of the State Department, blocks away from the first of two back-to-back Capitol Hill hearings to which he was summoned. Blinken testified roughly three miles away from where the hearing took place.
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"Mr. Blinken, assuming it isn’t classified, can you tell us where you are today?" Perry asked.
"Yes, I'm at the State Department," Blinken replied.
"Oh, couldn't be bothered to come down here and see Congress?" Perry quipped back. "Alright, that's great."
Blinken replied that his "understanding" was that the House of Representatives was "not in session" before being interrupted by the Pennsylvania congressman.
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"I’m right here, Mr. Secretary, so is the chairman and ranking member," Perry responded over Blinken. "We’re here!"
After Perry’s time to question Blinken ran out, House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said the hearing was a "hybrid hearing" and that while some attendees elected to be at the hearing, others, such as Blinken, chose to "be other places."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/secretary-antony-blinken-testifying-virtually-slammed