House Republicans are demanding the White House turn over the full, unedited transcript of Biden’s phone call trying to get the Afghan President to lie about the Taliban:
DAILY CALLER – A group of House Republicans sent a Thursday letter to President Joe Biden demanding a full unedited transcript from his phone call with then Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, where he reportedly encouraged him to convince the world that his government was holding its own against the Taliban.
The letter was spearheaded by New York Rep. Claudia Tenney and was signed by 26 other House Republicans. In it, the lawmakers blasted Biden’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan after 13 U.S. service members were killed in a terror attack at the Kabul airport and call and demand Biden release the full, unedited and unredacted transcripts of his July 23 conversation with Ghani to the public.
Biden urged Ghani to convince the world they had the Taliban under control, mentioning the importance of “perception” when it came to the Afghan Security Forces and the government’s ability to prevent the Taliban from overthrowing the country, Reuters reported.
“In the period leading up to the withdrawal, your administration made a series of false assurances to the American people and our allies regarding the situation on the ground. The contrast between your Administration’s official spin and the reality on the ground revealed a bewildering lack of coherence, strategy, and fundamental transparency. It appeared repeatedly as if your Administration was engaging in a deliberate effort to conceal the truth and mislead the American public. On August 31, new evidence emerged that suggests this is exactly what you have been doing since the start of this operation,” the letter reads.
“A troubling new revelation arose that demands immediate explanation. Reuters released excerpts from a July 23 conversation between yourself and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in which you reportedly pressure Ghani to ‘project a different picture’ than the reality on the ground ‘whether it is true or not.’ The transcripts also indicate that you promised to provide air support to the Afghan military, a vow you never fulfilled,” the lawmakers continued.
“This damning phone call further erodes your credibility and the confidence of the American people in your ability to lead. Your disturbing emphasis on ‘perception,’ a term you used four times in the Reuters excerpts of the call with Ghani, over substance and truth demands scrutiny and accountability,” they added.
“We hereby request that you make the full, unedited and unredacted transcripts of your July 23 conversation with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani public so Congress can determine the degree to which you may have deliberately misled the American people leading up to and during this disastrously executed operation. You must provide a more fulsome picture of the events that led to the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Congress has a duty to oversee the Executive. The American people deserve answers and clarity. We urge that your administration expeditiously releases the full transcripts of the call,” the lawmakers concluded.
I’m glad they are doing it, but seriously, good luck getting Biden to comply with this.
Also I was a bit disheartened to see that Kevin McCarthy’s name was not among the 27 Republican who signed the letter.
Below is the full letter so you can see which Republicans did sign it: