WASHINGTON — The State Department supplied Wednesday to permit the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to view a categorized cable from U.S. diplomats in Kabul despatched shortly earlier than the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas had threatened earlier this week to make an unprecedented push to carry Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress if he didn’t flip over the so-called dissent cable.
It was not instantly clear whether or not the State Department’s provide would appease the Republican lawmaker, who additionally wished to see Blinken’s response to the cable.
State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel instructed reporters Wednesday that McCaul, in addition to Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the highest Democrat on the committee, can be invited to the division to view the cable “with appropriate personal information redacted.”
“Chairman McCaul himself has said that this is what he is interested in,” Patel stated. “And so it is our sincere hope that our offer here will be sufficient to satisfy their request for information.”
McCaul was planning to have the committee vote subsequent week on a decision to carry Blinken in contempt of Congress. It would have then proceeded to a full vote within the House, the place Republicans maintain a slim majority.
The State Department had beforehand briefed McCaul on the substance of the cables, however he stated he was not happy.
The overwhelming majority of the 123 cables despatched since 1971, when the dissent channel was created through the Vietnam War, have remained categorized, in line with the National Security Archives at George Washington University. The State Department has lengthy protected the cables from being launched publicly.
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