Washington, DC — Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today issued the following statement concerning Chairman McCaul’s recent public threats to subpoena Secretary Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan: 

“Chairman McCaul’s subpoena threats for testimony on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, first made last week to Secretary of State Blinken and now this week to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, are political stunts that show the Republican party’s desperation to score headlines during an election season. These threats rely on bogus allegations of ‘misconduct’ and ignore the fact that this Administration has already provided regular access to Department officials—including Secretary Blinken, the first cabinet member to publicly testify to Congress after the U.S. withdrawal in 2021—and thousands of pages of sensitive communications in response to the Chairman’s investigation. After two years and no new facts, House Republicans are once again grasping for headlines at the expense of real substance.  

“It has been made abundantly clear throughout this Committee’s Afghanistan investigation that House Republicans have no interest in any facts that they can’t spin into an attack on the Biden Administration, especially when those facts contradict their paper-thin and partisan narrative. I’ve had to demand the release of closed-door interview transcripts precisely because my Republican colleagues have systematically ignored what numerous witnesses have already told us about the withdrawal. 

“It is time to end the political theater; I expect Chairman McCaul to honor his commitment and release the remaining closed-door testimony transcripts so the American public can have the facts, not the spin, on what our Committee has learned.” 

###