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Washington, D.C. — House Foreign Affairs Committee Spokesperson Emily Cassil issued the below statement responding to State Department Spokesperson Matt Miller’s statement at yesterday’s press briefing, which included misrepresentations of the committee’s reasonable accommodation process regarding its request for Secretary Blinken’s appearance on the chairman’s Afghanistan report. 

“Let’s set the record straight, since the State Department and its spokesperson unfortunately continue to misrepresent the facts. The secretary has never appeared before this committee to testify about the chairman’s historic investigation into the Afghanistan withdrawal. And despite being given four months’ notice that his testimony would be required in September, the secretary and his team have not offered a single other date this month. Instead, they have consistently engaged in obfuscation and outright avoidance — offering his deputies to come testify, neither of whom even worked at the State Department during the withdrawal.

“Mr. Miller also conveniently failed to mention that just yesterday, Chairman McCaul communicated to the secretary and his team that he would move the hearing to September 24th, a day which the secretary himself has acknowledged he will be in the United States. I encourage Mr. Miller to abstain from using his platform to misrepresent this committee’s actions and the secretary’s compliance with Congress’ Article 1 responsibilities.”

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