OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Americans have a right to hear what House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff, D-Calif., knew about U.S. policy in Afghanistan, according to Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan.
On Wednesday, Jordan told Fox Business Network’s Stuart Varney that Schiff is among a group of top Democrats who have had leadership roles during the Obama and Biden administrations regarding the nation’s longest war, and as such he should be put on the spot and made to answer questions, but won’t have to for now because his party controls the chamber.
“Are we going to get hearings in Congress to find out what on Earth went on and who is to blame? Are we going to get those hearings?” Varney asked the Ohio Republican and supporter of former President Donald Trump.
Jordan pointed out that the majority party makes those decisions and as such, hearings aren’t likely for the time being.
But things could change if Republicans retake the majority during next year’s midterm elections, when historically, the party in the White House loses seats in Congress.
“Well, I hope so, but I doubt it. I mean, the Democrats are in charge. So, I do think we are going to take back the majority, and when we do in a year-and-a-half, we can have hearings. But I doubt the Democrats do it,” said Jordan.
“But if we were going to have hearings, it is obvious who should come,” he added.
“I mean, the same people who made all these decisions that led to this debacle in Afghanistan are the same ones who were burning foreign policy, Stuart, back in the Obama, Biden administration that gave us the Libya, Benghazi situation,” Jordan continued, referencing the deadly attack on the American consulate in that North African city which left U.S. Ambassador Chris Stephens and three special operators dead.
“So it’s [Secretary of State Antony] Blinken, it’s [CIA Director William] Burns, it’s [Deputy Secretary of State Wendy] Sherman, it’s [National Security Adviser Jake] Sullivan, it’s [Domestic Policy Adviser Susan] Rice, those people need to come,” Jordon added, listing many current Biden administration officials who also had roles during the Obama regime.
“And frankly, I think we need to bring Adam Schiff in too. What was Intel Committee, what kind of information did he get prior to this, this, this ordeal that we watched unfold over the last several weeks? So those are the kind of people who should be brought in, but I doubt if the Democrats will do it,” Jordan continued.
That could definitely change, of course, if Republicans win back the House in the 2022 midterms.
Schiff has been at the center of anti-Trump controversies since the 45th president took office. In 2017, he criticized then-President Trump’s policy of beefing up forces in Afghanistan while pushing a wholly discredited narrative that the former president’s 2016 campaign ‘colluded’ with Russia to steal the election from Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has also blasted Schiff for concentrating on the collusion hoax instead of conditions that led to the Biden administration’s catastrophic, deadly pullout from Afghanistan.
“We should have been having hearings on what’s going on over there. We should have been able to gather that they would collapse this fast. But Adam Schiff was too focused on impeachment than doing the job he was supposed to do,” McCarthy said, according to the Washington Examiner.
“How much time did Adam Schiff spend looking around the world of what his responsibility is?” McCarthy said. “When you’re on the Intel Committee, you learn things that other members do not know. But he spent all this time on politics.”
