The House Foreign Affairs Committee will move forward with a resolution to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress after the top Biden administration official failed to comply with a subpoena to testify on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The committee will meet for a full markup on the resolution next week, after which the panel is likely to decide whether to advance the contempt charges to the full House for a vote. Committee members will meet on Sept. 19 at 2 p.m., according to committee Chairman Mike McCaul (R-TX).
The markup comes after the committee subpoenaed Blinken last week as the panel concluded its yearslong report into the chaotic withdrawal that ended in a suicide bombing outside Kabul International Airport that killed 13 U.S. service members and left several others behind as the Taliban regained control of the country.
Although lawmakers finished that report last week, which placed much of the blame on the Biden administration and minimized the role of former President Donald Trump, McCaul said he would still compel Blinken to testify regarding his role in the withdrawal.
“This was a catastrophic failure of epic proportions,” McCaul told reporters on Monday. “This is a disgrace. I will hold him in contempt if that’s what it takes to bring him before the American people.”
The committee previously asked Blinken to testify, although McCaul said those requests were rebuffed by the State Department.
Department officials shot back, noting Blinken has appeared before the House and Senate more than a dozen times to testify about his role in the Afghanistan withdrawal.
“The Secretary has testified before the Congress on Afghanistan more than 14 times — more than any other Cabinet-level official,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. “It is disappointing that instead of continuing to engage with the Department in good faith, the Committee instead has issued yet another unnecessary subpoena.”
Still, in his request last week, McCaul said Blinken’s testimony was necessary “to inform the Committee’s consideration of potential legislation aimed at helping prevent the catastrophic mistakes of the withdrawal, including potential reforms to the Department’s legislative authorization.”
“You served as the final decision maker for the department on the withdrawal and evacuation,” McCaul wrote in his subpoena.
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It’s not clear when the contempt resolution if advanced by the committee, would reach the House floor for a vote. Lawmakers are currently focused on finalizing a stopgap spending deal to avoid a government shutdown that is scheduled to kick in on Oct. 1.
After that, lawmakers are set to adjourn until after the November election.