U.S. Central Command Gen. Kenneth McKenzie testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday and directly contradicted President Joe Biden claiming that no one advised him to keep 2,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The testimony from one of the nation’s top generals being the latest indication that the Biden administration has little respect for the truth when it comes to pushing an agenda or protecting its backside.
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., the ranking member on the committee, asked McKenzie if he agreed with Gen. Scott Miller, the former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, recommending to President Joe Biden to leave a few thousand troops in Afghanistan, USA Today reported.
“I recommended that we maintain 2,500 troops in Afghanistan. And I also recommended earlier in the fall of 2020 that we will maintain 4,500. At that time, those are my personal views,” said McKenzie.
“I also have a view that the withdrawal of those forces would lead inevitably to the collapse of the Afghan military forces, and eventually the Afghan government,” he added.
This morning, under oath…@CENTCOM Gen. McKenzie: “I recommended that we maintain 2,500 troops in Afghanistan.”
WATCH ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/gXtABfGOsn
— Chad Gilmartin (@ChadGilmartinCA) September 28, 2021
Asked by Inhofe if Biden heard the advice, McKenzie confirmed that the commander-in-chief was present during the discussions, adding he was “confident that the president heard all the recommendations and listened to him very thoughtfully.”
During an interview last month with ABC News, Biden tried to blame Trump’s deal with the Taliban for pulling U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, prompting anchor George Stephanopoulus to say, “But your top military advisors warned against withdrawing on this timeline. They wanted you to keep about 2,500 troops.”
“No, they didn’t,” Biden shot back. “It was split. Tha– that wasn’t true. That wasn’t true.”
On August 19th…
ABC NEWS: “But your top military advisors warned against withdrawing on this timeline. They wanted you to keep about 2,500 troops.”
BIDEN: “No, they didn’t. It was split. Tha– that wasn’t true. That wasn’t true.”
WATCH ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/VxIEEJLvR9
— Chad Gilmartin (@ChadGilmartinCA) September 28, 2021
“They didn’t tell you that they wanted troops to stay?” Stephanopoulus pressed.
“No. Not at — not in terms of whether we were going to get out in a timeframe all troops. They didn’t argue against that,” the president said.
Again, the ABC News anchor pressed, “So no one told — your military advisors did not tell you, ‘No, we should just keep 2,500 troops. It’s been a stable situation for the last several years. We can do that. We can continue to do that?'”
“No. No one said that to me that I can recall,” Biden replied.
All of which means either McKenzie is not telling the truth, or President Biden’s struggles to recall advice he is being given in response to major issues that the country faces — this being perhaps the most damning evidence that his cognitive abilities are indeed a national security threat, if true.
Or, it means Joe Biden is lying:
Pretty huge lie by President Biden was just directly exposed by Gen. McKenzie pic.twitter.com/q3c4olLdKy
— Eddie Zipperer (@EddieZipperer) September 28, 2021
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also testified Tuesday that the recommendation reached the president’s desk: “Their input was received by the president and considered by the president, for sure.”
Did this recommendation to keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan make it to President Biden’s desk?@SecDef Austin: “Their input was received by the president and considered by the president, for sure.”
WATCH ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/7G86EjSIvW
— Chad Gilmartin (@ChadGilmartinCA) September 28, 2021
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, responded to the damning testimony in a tweet, saying: “It’s abundantly clear: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris ignored the advice from the military and mislead the American people. Biden’s botched Afghan withdrawal could have been prevented and American lives could have been saved.”
It’s abundantly clear: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris ignored the advice from the military and mislead the American people.
Biden’s botched Afghan withdrawal could have been prevented and American lives could have been saved. https://t.co/wUCd3C0xt0
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 28, 2021
Here’s a sampling of other responses to the story from Twitter:
This is big — Biden has repeatedly denied this, but McKenzie says it under oath. https://t.co/UV4aDM22uu
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) September 28, 2021
Biden lying about ignoring advice he got from generals that ultimately led to the deaths of 13 Americans is far more impeachable than a Trump’s phone call. https://t.co/0B4dP0Oc4U
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) September 28, 2021
We all knew this but now we have it under oath: despite the Biden WH’s claims, top generals recommended against full withdrawal & warned Afg would rapidly collapse to the Taliban https://t.co/8nVUaPq9V6
— Alyssa Farah (@Alyssafarah) September 28, 2021
So the feckless generals and our corrupt commander-in-chief…start publicly contradicting each other about the Afghan debacle… https://t.co/aTN21nGFmr
— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) September 28, 2021
Pretty huge lie by President Biden was just directly exposed by Gen. McKenzie pic.twitter.com/q3c4olLdKy
— Eddie Zipperer (@EddieZipperer) September 28, 2021
Agree or disagree whether we should have kept troops in Afghanistan or whether 2,500 would have made a difference. Entitled to your opinion. But it should be universally codemned that the President straight up lied about the recommendation, especially with what’s happened since
— Bret Brillante (@BretBrillante) September 28, 2021
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