Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) blasted the U.S. State Department for trying to get much-needed good PR by taking credit for a rescue effort that resulted in four Americans being saved from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Mullin told CNN the family, from Amarillo, Texas, his office and Rep. Ronny Jackson's (R-TX) office were involved in the operation to get the family out of the country. Initially, they tried to evacuate the family by getting them to Hamid Karzai International Airport, but "things went really sideways. We started getting all types of pushback from the State Department, and so we found ourselves not being able to get her out through HKIA."
Mullin said the State Department refused to open the gate at the airport when the family was right outside.
"So when the administration says that every American that wanted out could get out, that’s an absolute lie because we’re working with twenty-seven...American citizens right now, that I assure you all of them wanted out, and we couldn’t get them out."
The State Department said embassy staff was present once the family was able to leave Afghanistan through an overland pass, but Mullin explained the staff did not show up until the last minute after Mullin's office and the people they were working with had escorted the family for hundreds of miles.
"So for them to say they facilitated it, that’s a lie. We had to go through over 20 checkpoints. Each one of those checkpoints, you had to pay money to get through because of the Taliban," Mullin said.
After 2 weeks & multiple life threatening attempts, I am overjoyed to share that 4 U.S. citizens from #TX13 were part of the first successful ground evacuation since the U.S. left Kabul. Thank you to Cory Mills & the other patriots on his team for saving these BRAVE Americans! pic.twitter.com/1Tv9KRUgcE
— Ronny Jackson (@RepRonnyJackson) September 6, 2021