GOP Rep. Erupts on Blinken in Heated Back-and-Forth on Afghanistan: ‘I Don’t Wish to Hear Your Lies’

The House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Afghanistan erupted Monday when Congressman Brian Mast (R- FL) repeatedly went off on Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Mast brought up the leaked transcript of President Joe Biden’s call with former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, specifically asking if they worked “to manipulate the intelligence about the Taliban.”

Blinken responded by saying Biden made the same comments in private and public, “that the issue was not whether Afghanistan had the capacity to withstand the Taliban, it’s whether it had the will and the plan to do so.”

Mast continued to press Blinken on whether Biden was asking Ghani “to manipulate the ingelligence,” and held up pictures of all 13 U.S. service members who were killed in Kabul to tell Blinken their families should know if that’s what happened.

“I do not believe whatsoever what you’re saying about the administration not working to manipulate that intelligence. To me, that is the most logical — the most logical — explanation of how many in the intelligence community got this so wrong about what was going to happen in Afghanistan,” he continued.

After he was done talking, Blinken started to respond, but Mast jumped in to say, “I do not wish to hear from you. I’m not yielding you a moment of time. I don’t wish to hear your lies.”

Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks interjected to say Mast’s time has expired, and said Blinken could answer the question.

“I didn’t ask him a question,” Mast said. “I don’t want to hear from the Secretary. He lies to us when he steps in front of the camera.”

You can watch above, via C-SPAN.