Republican Texas Rep. Michael McCaul sent a letter Wednesday morning to former White House press secretary Jen Psaki’s lawyer threatening a subpoena after she failed to respond to an original request to appear for a transcribed interview as part of the committee’s probe into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Daily Caller first obtained a copy of the letter, which was sent to Psaki’s lawyer, Emily Loeb. In it, McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, mentions the fact that Psaki is a private citizen who recently published a book about her time in the Biden White House. In her book, she falsely claimed that Biden never looked at his watch during the dignified transfer ceremony for American soldiers killed in Kabul in 2021.
“Your client Jen Psaki has failed to adequately respond to my letter dated May 21, 2024, requesting that she appear before the Committee for a transcribed interview relating to my investigation into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. As you know, I requested a response from Ms. Psaki by May 28, 2024, which has now passed. Your client’s disregard for my request is an affront to this Committee and the U.S. House of Representatives,” McCaul wrote in the letter.
“I have reviewed the email that was addressed to my staff on May 28, 2024. I am troubled by your and Ms. Psaki’s stated ‘deference’ to outdated ‘concerns’ from the White House Counsel’s Office. Further, Ms. Psaki is a private citizen, who has published her insight into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan for public consumption and personal profit. Ms. Psaki’s duty to appear before Congress is manifest, and her former employer’s desire to avoid congressional oversight is not relevant,” McCaul continued. (RELATED: Jen Psaki Tries To Rewrite History On Biden’s Infamous Watch-Checking Moment In New Book: REPORT)
READ THE LETTER HERE:
(DAILY CALLER OBTAINED) — … by Henry Rodgers
This is a part of the committee’s probe into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan where 13 U.S. soldiers were killed.
He offered three specific dates for Psaki to come in an testify before the committee, June 26, 2024. July 9, 2024, or July 23, 2024. (RELATED: ‘Biggest Threats’: Jen Psaki Says Third-Party Candidates Like RFK Jr. Are ‘Huge, Huge Problem’ For Biden)
McCaul called for a response about her availability for a transcribed interview no later than Wednesday, June 12, 2024, at 5:00 pm ET.
Psaki was widely fact-checked for her claim that Biden did not check his watch during the dignified transfer, which was captured on camera and broadly reported at the time. (RELATED: ‘Middle Finger To Gold Star Families’: Megyn Kelly Tears Into Psaki’s ‘Lying’ Defense Of Biden’s Watch-Checking Moment)
Despite the investigation from the Foreign Affairs Committee and criticism from all parts of the political spectrum, the Biden administration has stood by its decision to pull out of Afghanistan, which resulted in the killing of 13 U.S. servicemembers when an ISIS-K terrorist detonated a suicide bomb outside the airport in Kabul where evacuations were being conducted. Nearly 200 Afghan civilians were also killed in the attack.
A Pentagon probe into the bombing found that the attack was “not preventable,” echoing the claims from the White House that the withdrawal was ultimately a positive success, despite first-hand witness testimony alleging that the attacker could’ve been stopped, but wasn’t.
