Republican Threatens Jen Psaki with Subpoena for Writing About Afghanistan in Book While Dodging Congressional Investigation
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) is threatening former White House Press Secretary and MSNBC personality Jen Psaki with a subpoena to force her to testify about the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan after she wrote about it in her new book.
In a letter addressed to Psaki’s legal team first reported on by Axios, McCaul wrote that “As a private citizen, willing and able to publish a memoir on her tenure as White House Press Secretary, I encourage Ms. Psaki to refrain from relying on thin legal arguments to dodge her responsibility to appear before Congress.”
“The Committee will not tolerate Ms. Psaki’s continued obstruction of its critical investigation,” continued McCaul before reminding Psaki of his ability to issue a subpoena and compel her to testify.
“It is troubling that Ms. Psaki seeks to profit off the Afghanistan tragedy, and has felt comfortable writing accounts and making them available to the general public, but refuses to make herself available to Congress,” he argued.
Earlier this month, Psaki’s book received some unwanted attention when Axios pointed out that it included a false description of Joe Biden’s actions at a ceremony honoring American soldiers who died during the evacuation from Afghanistan, insisting that “the president looked at his watch only after the ceremony had ended.”
“Psaki’s new account is at odds with fact-checks at the time, news agencies’ photos from the ceremony at Dover Air Force Base, and on-the-record statements from Gold Star families who were there,” noted Axios in its corrective report. “The Associated Press photographer on the tarmac snapped two photos of Biden looking at his watch twice and 10 minutes apart, as fact-checkers at USA Today and Snopes noted soon afterward.”
McCaul’s investigation into the Afghanistan withdrawal is expected to yield a report at some point before November’s election.
