Washington—Representative Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today made the following statement:

“After several days of negotiations with the State Department, we have reached an accommodation that will allow all members of the Foreign Affairs Committee to hear from Ambassador Khalilzad in a classified briefing tomorrow morning. Accordingly, I have withdrawn the subpoena issued to Ambassador Khalilzad last week. Our hearing will then proceed as scheduled with testimony from another administration witness. While I would have preferred to hear from Ambassador Khalilzad in an open setting, I’m glad our members will have this long overdue opportunity to press for answers on the peace plan. It shouldn’t have taken a subpoena to get the State Department to work with this committee and allows us to perform our oversight duties.”

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