Two CNN hosts reportedly slammed the State Department for refusing to release a diplomatic dissent cable on the chaotic and deadly U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying, "That's not really how oversight works."
In a transcript from Monday's broadcast of "CNN News Central," hosts Brianna Keiler and Jake Tapper surmised that the Biden administration wants to avoid getting hurt politically.
"The administration [is] saying that, Well, we've giving them the information they need, as determined by the administration, though, that is being overseen, so that doesn't quite square," Keiler said, according to a CNN transcript posted by Breitbart.
Tapper added: "That's not really how oversight works. The Oversight Committee — or in this case — House Foreign Affairs Committee, gets to decide what they want."
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, pledged in a letter Friday to escalate the ongoing battle with the State Department over a dissent cable written by diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul soon before the August 2021 withdrawal.
The new deadline for the State Department to respond is Thursday.
"Certainly, there is nothing untoward about wanting this dissent cable," Tapper said in the discussion with his co-host. "Now, the best argument that the administration has is that they don't want the diplomats who were candid in this dissent cable to have their careers dragged into the political arena.
"But there does seem to be a simple solution to that, which would be to redact their names so that the issues can come out."
Added Tapper: "Whatever your position is on the war in Afghanistan or whether the U.S. should be there or President [Joe] Biden or the like, there are obviously lessons that need to be learned from this withdrawal. Hundreds of people lost their lives, 13 American service members lost their lives, there is a dissent cable, this is legitimate work.
"Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul is not a firebrand, he is just doing his job."
Keiler then noted: "There is some political exposure for the Biden administration on this, right? That they would like to minimize, so that's also something to keep in mind as they're trying to minimize the oversight here."
Tapper agreed.
"Yeah. Look, nobody likes oversight," he said, according to the transcript. "That's why people like to have Congress be controlled by the same party when you're running a White House. But this is a legitimate function of Congress. And you can point to other investigations going on on Capitol Hill and question the legitimacy or not, but this is real."
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