President Joe Biden's address on the situation in Afghanistan wasn't only "very disappointing," but it was late, Rep. Claudia Tenney said on Newsmax Tuesday.
"Where was he all weekend long while this was unfolding and problems were happening?" the New York Republican said on Newsmax's "National Report."
Tenney said Congress got a scant 35-minute phone call from Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with only a handful of questions allowed before the call was "immediately" shut down.
"I know numerous members who were waiting to ask questions, so we, as the board of directors in Congress, were not given the opportunity to ask questions directly of the people that serve the American people, and we represent them," said Tenney.
Biden also took no questions after his speech, but he blamed former President Donald Trump and said he "inherited this mess" from him, said Tenney.
"President Trump inherited a mess from Obama/Biden, and they didn't complain," said Tenney. "They fixed things. They created a dynamic economy. They restored integrity across the nation and across the world for the United States, and they took bold action. President Biden has no excuse to blame President Trump. You don't come out and do this."
Further, the Biden administration has created a "disaster" that is unfolding on the nation's TV sets and has left Americans and allies stranded in Afghanistan.
"It was a disaster, and this is not about whether we get out of Afghanistan," said Tenney. "It's about how and presenting that as he was the guy who has always been for getting out of Afghanistan. It's just blatantly false ... based on his past statements and asked actions as a senator and as the vice president."
At this point, the United States needs assurances from its leaders that "we're going to meet our promises," said Tenney.
"What is incredible to me is that the Chinese Communist Party has been negotiating with the Taliban for months," she added. "What has the United States been doing? What has President Biden been doing other than blaming President Trump and reversing every policy that he put in place?"
Tenney said she's been working with her colleagues, particularly those on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on a strategy to present to the administration "so that we can help the American people and look forward and restore the credibility of America across the world."
She also said she expects a repeat of years past when it comes to leaving weapons behind for the Taliban, and she questioned the evacuation of the embassy in Kabul.
"Why would we spend over $700 million on an embassy that's probably state-of-the-art?" she said. "We evacuated it. And now, you know, the president said, oh, we've successfully evacuated the embassy and our diplomatic corps is going to be at the airport while we watch teams of people running across the tarmac, hanging off American C-17s. You know this is a disastrous policy, and now we've left billions of dollars in high-tech American equipment paid for by the taxpayers in the hands of a murderous regime now and potentially going to be in the hands of al-Qaida."
Meanwhile, the Chinese and the Russians are moving in and will be looking at the situation strategically, so the United States' foreign policy must also be strategic, and look at how best to protect this country, said Tenney.
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