Former Ambassador and acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell is accusing the Biden White House of revealing the locations and identifications of intelligence officials in the Middle East after it showed, in a tweet, President Joe Biden in a video conference with his national security team and senior officials.
"Who took this picture outing Intel officials?!" Grenell said Sunday in a tweet, where he shared the White House's post. "Dear God."
The White House Twitter post went online Sunday afternoon while the situation in Kabul was deteriorating. It shows Biden sitting alone, in front of a video screen in a secure conference room at Camp David, and explains that "this morning, the President and Vice President met with their national security team and senior officials to hear updates on the drawdown of our civilian personnel in Afghanistan, evacuations of SIV applicants and other Afghan allies, and the ongoing security situation in Kabul."
Biden is scheduled to be at Camp David until Wednesday, and on Saturday issued a defense for his decision to finish the pullout of troops from Afghanistan.
Sunday afternoon, when the White House post went online, Afghanistan's capital of Kabul was falling to the Taliban, and President Ashraf Ghani was fleeing the country.
Ghani said he left the country to help protect it from bloodshed. He has not disclosed details on his current location. NBC News reported that he was in Amman, Jordan, while Al Jazeera reports indicated he is in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
There have been no further messages on Twitter from the White House after the quick fall of Kabul or from the office of Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
Biden did issue a lengthy statement on Saturday defending the decision to complete the pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, saying he "inherited" a deal cut by his predecessor, former President Donald Trump "which he invited the Taliban to discuss at Camp David on the eve of 9/11 of 2019—that left the Taliban in the strongest position militarily since 2001 and imposed a May 1, 2021 deadline on U.S. Forces...I was the fourth President to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan—two Republicans, two Democrats. I would not, and will not, pass this war onto a fifth."
Congressional Republicans Sunday slammed Biden for spending time at Camp David instead of benign at the White House while Kabul was falling. "Why is Joe Biden on vacation?" Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures." "I don't think he's taken one question from the press this entire weekend, so this is a frightening situation."
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., meanwhile, accused Biden of being "in hiding."
"He should immediately address the nation and answer for the catastrophic situation in Afghanistan," he said on Twitter. "Conference calls between cabinet secretaries and senators don’t cut it in a crisis."
"It’s clear the Biden administration was caught unprepared, didn’t anticipate this catastrophe and the President is hiding & asleep at the wheel," Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., tweeted.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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