House Foreign Affairs Committee Holds Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Contempt of Congress

The House Foreign Affairs Committee narrowly voted 26–25 to recommend Antony Blinken be held in contempt of Congress following the diplomat’s failure to appear for Tuesday’s hearing.

“Secretary Blinken’s refusal to comply with the Committee’s subpoena — despite months of notice and offers of accommodations — warrants contempt,” the resolution read.

The Republican-led committee has long sought to host the secretary of state as it investigates the botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan over three years ago that left 13 U.S. service members dead.

Earlier this month, committee chairman Michael McCaul issued a subpoena for Blinken to testify for the committee’s investigation. The hearing was scheduled for September 19 despite Blinken’s tight international travel schedule. McCaul then moved the hearing to Tuesday, when Blinken attended the annual United Nations Assembly.

Republican Cory Mills said, “It is shameful that one of the people responsible for this botched withdrawal can’t make the time throughout the entire month of September.”

“We’ve seen him make time to play guitar and sing karaoke in downtown bars of Kiev…all the vacationing in the Hamptons, but who’s been held accountable…?” he asked. “The answer is no one.”

“The purpose of today’s hearing is to hear directly from Secretary Blinken, America’s top diplomat, and get his assessment of the State Department’s withdrawal from Afghanistan,” McCaul said on Tuesday before panning the video feed over to an empty podium. After a long pause, McCaul said, “Unfortunately, our witness, the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is not present today.”

In a letter written on Sunday, Blinken mounted a response. “As I have made clear, I am willing to testify and have offered several reasonable alternatives to the dates unilaterally demanded by the Committee during which I am carrying out the President’s important foreign policy objectives.”

McCaul opened Tuesday’s session by rebuking Blinken’s defense. “Let the record reflect that for four months, I patiently asked for and waited on his availability in September. But instead of working with me, Secretary Blinken made false promises and accused me of politicizing this important issue.”

Republicans recently released their long-awaited report on the investigation into the U.S. withdrawal, assigning most of the blame to the Biden administration.

Democrats have roundly condemned the report and subsequent efforts to question the secretary of state as a partisan ploy to advance Republican narratives. Representative Gregory Meeks (D., N.Y.), the top Democrat on the committee, denounced the move as “political theater.”

The resolution will now advance to the full House, where a wider vote will decide if the matter is to be referred to the Justice Department.