Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki has agreed to sit down with House GOP investigators probing the Biden administration Return from AfghanistanFox News Digital has received this information.
Psaki will appear for a closed-door written interview with the House Foreign Affairs Committee on July 26, part of the panel’s long-running investigation into the chaotic August 2021 operation, according to a letter sent to Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the contents of which were obtained by Fox News Digital.
Deputy White House Counsel Rachel Cotton wrote in the letter that the committee’s request to speak to Psaki “raises serious issues related to the separation of powers and executive branch confidentiality.”
“Nevertheless, as an extraordinary accommodation, we will authorize Ms. Psaki to participate in a voluntary written interview with Personal Counsel and the Office of White House Counsel, subject to appropriate terms and conditions for the interview,” the letter said. “To allow the Office of White House Counsel to assess potential executive branch privacy issues that may arise during Ms. Psaki’s interview, please provide a list of topics the Committee would like to raise with Ms. Psaki or arrange a call with the Office of White House Counsel to discuss those topics.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during the daily briefing on October 12, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Cotton added that the White House hopes lawmakers will “follow the longstanding practice of engaging with the White House to help us better understand the scope of the testimony sought,” so they can best cooperate while remaining “consistent with the executive branch’s confidentiality interests.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Psaki’s personal attorney for comment.
Psaki was President Biden’s first White House press secretary, serving in the role during the US military’s two-week operation, which was in its final stages. Presence in Afghanistan 20 years later.
A source close to the committee’s Republican majority told Fox News Digital that investigators believe she made a number of false claims in that role, and they want to determine the extent to which she is culpable for those alleged false statements while serving in her role as spokesperson.
The committee also plans to question her about what she told reporters in the White House briefing room and shortcomings in information reported to the White House at the time by others involved in the withdrawal, the source said. They will investigate whether Psaki intentionally made misleading claims, as Republicans allege, or whether she was misinformed, the source said.
Representative Mike McCaul attends a press conference with senators and House impeachment managers at the US Capitol on April 16, 2024. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Biden makes shocking gaffe, claims no soldier died anywhere in the world during his tenure
Specifically, GOP investigators want to know whether the Biden administration — including the State Department and Defense Department — failed to provide accurate assessments to Psaki or, alternatively, whether information was being passed through national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who may have misrepresented the agency’s input to the White House press secretary.
The source said Republicans are investigating whether the Biden administration is choosing politics over policy, potentially hiding the truth from the American people.
During last week’s presidential debate, Biden Surprising omission “The truth is, I am the only president this century who has not had a single soldier die — in this decade — anywhere in the world, as happened with (President Trump),” he said of the 13 U.S. soldiers killed during the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Attacking Biden on the House floor the next day, McCaul said, “That’s a lie, Mr. President. I would like to remind President Biden of the 13 military personnel who were killed in the terrorist attack at Abbey Gate on August 26, 2021, during a deadly and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
Jen Psaki speaks onstage during Jen Psaki in Conversation with Lawrence O’Donnell – Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World at 92NY on May 8, 2024 in New York City. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
He then read the names of those killed: Marine Lance CPO David Lee Espinoza, Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, Marine Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, Marine CPO Hunter Lopez, Marine Lance CPO Ryley McCollum, Marine Lance CPO Dylan R. Merola, Marine Lance CPO Karim Nikoui, Marine Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, Marine CPO Humberto Sanchez, Marine Lance CPO Jared Schmitz, Navy Corpsman Maxton (Max) Soviak and Marine CPO Daegan William-Tyler Page.
In addition to these 13, three US soldiers were killed in a drone attack in Jordan earlier this year.
Investigation by McCall It is viewed by Democrats as one of the less partisan investigations launched by the House GOP majority in this Congress.
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McCaul authored a report that examined in detail the Biden administration’s decisions and actions after the president announced on April 14, 2021, his decision to unconditionally withdraw all U.S. military personnel from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021.
According to the report’s executive summary, “Over the next four months, the administration repeatedly delayed critical action that was needed to mitigate the decision’s potential consequences.” “The result of their inaction was a chaotic non-combatant evacuation operation (NEO) that cost the lives of 13 U.S. service members and left more than 800 Americans stranded behind enemy lines.” The report examines the aftermath, including “the Taliban’s seizure of power, the chaotic and deadly evacuation, and the long-term impact of the withdrawal on the United States and our allies.”
