Townhall readers are familiar with the saga of former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki's attempts to avoid answering lawmakers' questions about the Biden administration's false promises before and during President Joe Biden's botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. Now — under threat of congressional subpoena — Psaki has agreed to sit for a transcribed interview with the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC), but there's still a catch.
In a June 17 letter, HFAC Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) revealed that Psaki had — after nine months of ignored requests and under threat of a subpoena — agreed, in a June 12 letter from her counsel, to sit for a transcribed interview on July 26 at 10:00 a.m.
Still, Psaki is potentially playing games to avoid a subpoena. As McCaul noted in his letter, Psaki has "conditioned" her "appearance on approval by the White House" still being run by Psaki's former colleagues.
"As my staff informed your counsel, it is incumbent on a witness appearing before the Committee to make any third-party arrangements," McCaul's letter continued before offering additional assistance to ensure the interview can happen. "The Committee is nevertheless available to attend meetings and be included in correspondence between you and the White House to represent the Committee’s equities," the HFAC chairman said. "While I hope to proceed with your voluntary appearance, I expect you to have resolved the conditionality of your appearance by June 26, 2024."
If Psaki does not, McCaul warned, "I must treat your June 12 response as a refusal to appear and you will be compelled to sit for a deposition on July 26, 2024."
McCaul — who has led his committee's investigation of Biden's deadly departure from Afghanistan — first requested Psaki's cooperation in September 2023. Still, Biden's spokeswoman-turned-fiction writer repeatedly made excuses and refused to answer lawmakers' questions. In his latest letter, McCaul reminded Psaki that his committee's probe of the withdrawal "revealed that the information you provided from the podium during your tenure as White House Press Secretary frequently misrepresented realities on the ground in Afghanistan throughout 2021."
"Your statements raise serious concerns about the breakdown of diplomatic information channels and their dissemination processes," McCaul wrote. "The Committee has a vested interest in understanding those diplomatic and information transmission failures, which led to misrepresentations regarding, amongst other things, coordination with allies, contingency planning, the foreseeability of Afghanistan’s collapse, and the safety of Americans and allies in Afghanistan."
"As a former public servant, and now, a private citizen in the public sphere, you have a duty to appear before Congress when called upon," McCaul reminded Psaki. "Should you wish to avoid being the sole witness to date compelled to appear in this investigation, the limitations imposed on your appearance by the White House must be resolved by June 26, 2024.
As Townhall reported in May, Psaki was called out by Chairman McCaul for relying on "thin legal arguments" to "dodge responsibility" for her role in communications and messaging through the withdrawal.
After Psaki published a book recounting her tenure in the White House, McCaul noted Psaki's "deliberate noncompliance with a Congressional inquiry" was even more notable given her memoir, including its inaccuracies, touched on the administration's efforts during the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Still, Psaki refused to cooperate.
At the beginning of June, McCaul fired off another letter warning Psaki that continued noncompliance would leave him and his committee no choice but to pursue her compelled testimony via subpoena. As Townhall reported at the time, McCaul emphasized that "Ms. Psaki is a private citizen, who has published her insight into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan for public consumption and personal profit" and her continued "disregard" for Congress was "an affront to this Committee and the U.S. House of Representatives."
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