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Sydney, Australia – Yesterday, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul issued a subpoena to Secretary of State Antony Blinken due to the State Department’s failure to provide all documents central to the committee’s investigation into a State Department grant promoting atheism overseas, which concerns possible violations of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. The committee’s requests date back to August 2023. Pursuant to the subpoena, the department must produce the documents by 5:00 p.m. on September 4, 2024.

“Despite repeated opportunities for voluntary compliance, the State Department has failed to turn over critical information regarding its grant to Humanists International, instead engaging in a pattern of obfuscation and denial regarding its programming and the existence of key documents,” said Chairman McCaul. “We must get to the bottom of why the department — tasked with advancing America’s interests abroad — found the promotion of atheism to be an acceptable use of taxpayer funds. Unfortunately, its failure to comply with my requests has left me no choice but to issue a subpoena.”

Background: Last week, McCaul also issued a subpoena to Humanists International for documents related to the same $500,000 State Department grant promoting atheism overseas.

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