Several of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet officials are not making his reelection campaign any easier as they are targeted for their transparency and overall competence.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas are all coming under fire from Republicans in Congress over what they view as a lack of accountability within the Biden administration.
Here is a look at the three secretaries facing scrutiny.
Antony Blinken
Blinken was targeted on Tuesday after he failed to produce key documents that a congressional committee had requested on the withdrawal from Afghanistan. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) even threatened to hold Blinken in contempt if he does not turn over the documents by next week.
“The Committee’s patience has been exhausted, and it requires these files to complete its investigation and make legislative recommendations for this Congress to consider,” McCaul wrote to Blinken. “Should the Department fail to produce the … files outlined below by March 6, 2024, the Committee is prepared to hold you in contempt of Congress.”
Blinken also was admonished for not providing documents last summer when he did not give Congress eight pages of a report on the 2021 withdrawal.
Critics of the withdrawal have labeled it disastrous after 170 civilians and 13 U.S. service members were killed during the Taliban takeover.
Lloyd Austin
Lloyd Austin’s failure to disclose critical health problems and a hospitalization during the first days of 2024 is also front and center this week after Pentagon officials briefed members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.
“This briefing is a classic example of a lack of accountability,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) told Politico. “They sent a pretty low-level bureaucrat who did a 30-day process evaluation — interviewed a few people, came out with a secret report that doesn’t have a single secret in it, and they’re trying to run interference or obfuscate.”
Austin is expected to appear in front of the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday to answer questions about his secretive hospitalization last month. The Pentagon also released a 30-day review that found Austin did not have “ill will” when handling his hospitalization.
Alejandro Mayorkas
One of the biggest topics on voters’ minds this election cycle is border security and the influx of illegal immigrants coming into the country. As Homeland Security secretary, Mayorkas has taken much of the blame.
Mayorkas was impeached by the House on Feb. 13, but five Border Patrol agents have told the Washington Examiner they are concerned that the secretary will not be held accountable for his role in the crisis if the Senate forgoes a trial.
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“I want to see our government take action!!” one California agent wrote in a text message when asked about the impeachment effort. “It took them long enough.”
Senate Republicans are putting pressure on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to hold the trial, but some have said Schumer is considering tabling the impeachment articles.
