Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, is threatening to subpoena former White House press secretary Jen Psaki if she refuses to schedule an interview with the House Foreign Affairs Committee over its probe into the U.S.' chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
"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," McCaul wrote in a letter Tuesday to Psaki's lawyer Emily Loeb — a partner at Jenner & Block.
"The Committee will not tolerate Ms. Psaki's continued obstruction of its critical investigation," McCaul said, noting the committee's power to subpoena individuals to testify.
He added: "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."
Psaki in a memoir released in mid-May claimed that President Joe Biden never looked at his watch during the ceremony for soldiers killed during the withdrawal, contradicting news photos and accounts from Gold Star families.
In the book "Say More," Psaki writes that "the president looked at his watch only after the ceremony had ended. Moments later, he and the First Lady headed toward their car."
The MSNBC anchor also wrote that Biden's critics were engaged in "misinformation" and used the image to make "him appear insensitive, concerned only about how much time had passed."
The committee is expected to release a report this summer on the Afghanistan withdrawal.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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