It's obvious, after his two days of congressional testimony, that Secretary of State Antony Blinken needs to resign because he "has no idea what he's doing," Rep. Jody Hice said on Newsmax.
"He is not fit to be secretary of state," the Georgia Republican said on Wednesday's "Wake Up America." "What took place in Afghanistan is inexcusable. This has been a catastrophic disaster. We are leaving Americans behind in terrorist-run Afghanistan. And yet here Blinken is just acting as though everything is fine, taking zero responsibility."
Blinken acknowledged in his testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the number of green card holders remaining behind the lines in Afghanistan is "in the thousands." Hice said Wednesday that if it weren't for private groups trying to get Americans out, there would have been "thousands and thousands more" left behind.
"The State Department was the problem that we ran into," Hice said. "We have at every turn run into obstacles and obstruction and an unwillingness to work and cooperate with us from the State Department. They have been the number one problem in all of this — and yet another reason why Blinken needs to go. He's not accepting any responsibility for this."
He also criticized Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and national security advisor Jake Sullivan, saying that "no one has accepted responsibility, and this is a catastrophe that continues to occur."
Hice further took Blinken to task for not appearing in person before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday. The secretary did testify before the Senate committee in person on Tuesday but was blasted for his video appearance earlier in the week.
"It's only an 11-minute drive to get to the Capitol, but he refused to do so on Monday," Hice said. "It was good for him to show up in person yesterday. You know the optics in that regard, I suppose, were beneficial to some extent, but that's, again, what he should have done.
''If he's been asked to appear before a congressional or Senate committee, he needs to be there. Trying to show up virtually by Zoom is not the way to do this type of thing, which is exactly what he did on Monday."
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