It was on Thursday that the public knew the five men who had took part in an OceanGate Titan submersible experience to see the Titanic shipwreck had died in an implosion. But, as Matt has highlighted, citing an article from the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Navy had heard what was thought to be the implosion on Sunday. The news has caused considerable outrage and much speculation as to why it was that the announcement was held off for so long. Among those not afraid to express that outrage is Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), as he did during his Thursday night appearance on Fox News' "Special Report."
To start off the segment, a clip was played of Crenshaw from earlier on Thursday telling reporters about how he's heard "concerning things from people on the civilian side who were involved with this," adding "we've got to look into it," as he emphasized a concern with how "what appears to be the case is epic failure in leadership."
Crenshaw had also tweeted out his concerns in the early morning hours of Thursday.
Lost submarine update: I am still hearing reports that the US Government unnecessarily delayed the deployment of proper search & recovery equipment from reaching the Titanic, and now time is running out. I also hear that, contrary to USCG reports, the sub’s location is actually…
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) June 22, 2023
He had already been tweeting his concerns in the days leading up to Thursday's reveal, including how the use of the Magellan for rescue operations was denied, something Crenshaw told host Trace Gallagher could have arrived "Wednesday morning at the latest," something "nobody knows why," something he has questions about.
There is still no progress on this. Our government is failing massively. All Coast Guard has to do is LET MAGELLAN SAVE THESE PEOPLE and help them get their equipment there.
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) June 21, 2023
Mr. President, you can solve this problem right now and save lives. Please do it. https://t.co/7V6Mkkva3b
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The United States Coast Guard has access to a highly capable rescue submersible called the Magellan, which is ready to deploy to rescue this lost submarine near the Titanic. But I’m hearing disturbing reports that U.S. Coast Guard officials are blocking or delaying the Magellan…
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) June 20, 2023
Crenshaw explained that "the failure here is to not put all your options on the table" when it comes to using the 6K ROV and Magellan submarine to see what's there and be able to pick it up. Speaking also about the tapping that was heard throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, Crenshaw wondered "could this have been resolved differently if leadership had just acted sooner and actually put options on the table instead of just assuming 'well, it doesn't matter because they're dead.'"
Gallagher, going back to the Wall Street Journal article, also raised the question as to why the Navy, after having heard the implosion, didn't on Sunday, after "they lost communication and they lost the ping and they lost the text messaging, and then suddenly hear this loud boom, they may have heard what was the implosion," they "no longer needed these vehicles because it's not a rescue operation, it's a recovery operation."
In addition to Crenshaw responding that we need to be told why it is they were operating under that assumption, he also wants to know about the pings from Tuesday and Wednesday.
Crenshaw stuck to emphasizing how he had been hearing from civilians contacting his office, with knowledge of where the Titan was, and that it was not, in fact, as the Coast Guard had been acting, in an area twice the size of Connecticut.
"The problem is they're not employing an asset that can actually go down there and confirm its location and then employing this other asset, this Magellan that can actually pick it up," Crenshaw explained further. "And by the time they even decide to do it, it's too late," he said. The debris had been fought right where they thought it would indeed be.
Crenshaw also pointed to how he has "real questions about the Coast Guard authorities and what kind of decision-making process was made here."
"Look, what's gonna happen in the future? Should we put these people in charge of future recoveries? Should we," he asked. "They can't seem to make proper decisions."
As Gallagher pointed out, this was "a fair assessment," given criticisms over the Biden administration's mishandling of the Afghanistan withdrawal and to do with the Chinese spy balloon that entered U.S. airspace earlier this year and was able to gather intelligence before it was finally shot down days later.
The Biden administration, Gallagher pointed out, has been hit for "slowly responding to a lot of this stuff and it really, you know, a lot of people have said it should have been an all hands on deck event and it wasn't.
The congressman was trending over Twitter on Friday for his media appearance, which meant he was also targeted by liberal media. "GOP Lawmaker Finds Way To Blame Lost Submersible On 'Epic Failure Of Leadership,'" read a headline from HuffPost. Crenshaw didn't just find a way to blame that failed leadership, he actually had reason to though.
To make matters worse, the Biden administration doesn't even appear concerned about the loss of resources that were involved in a potential rescue operation, if the Navy already knew that an implosion had taken place, as Spencer covered.
As NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby indicated during Friday's White House press briefing, he was not actually concerned that resources were being wasted searching an area the size of the state of Connecticut.
KIRBY: "The acoustic data that they [the U.S. Navy] had received...They couldn't be definitive about what that data meant..."
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 23, 2023
REPORTER: "Are you concerned that resources were wasted in searching the area the size of Connecticut?"
KIRBY: "No." pic.twitter.com/Pko0TuBWX1
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