Senator JD Vance of Ohio condemned the vice president Kamala Harris Democrats on Wednesday over the Biden administration’s handling of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan presidential candidate “can go to hell.”
Vance’s comments at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, were his harshest language against Harris during the 2024 campaign. This came in response to the journalist’s question.event” on Monday former President Donald Trump visits Arlington National Cemetery in recent days with family members of soldiers killed in the 2021 attack on Abbey Gate, Afghanistan from removal.
“Three years ago, 13 brave, innocent Americans died, and they died because Kamala Harris refused to do her job, and there was no investigation or one shot fired,” Vance said. “Sometimes mistakes happen – that’s the nature of government, that’s the nature of military service. But it is a shame that 13 Americans lost their lives and one person was fired. Kamala Harris is a disgrace.”
The GOP vice presidential candidate said that if they were going to discuss a story about Abbey Gate, “it’s Kamala Harris who is so asleep at the wheel that she won’t even investigate what’s going on and wants to scream. Because it appeared on Donald Trump. He can go to hell.”
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Vance’s remarks. The Harris campaign declined to comment.
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When asked about his comments, Vance told NBC News he was disappointed.
“Sometimes I’m angry and sometimes I’m angry. And I think Kamala Harris’ failure to lead in Abbey Gate is a disappointing and an angry thing,” Vance said.
He also accused the Harris campaign of “trying to make a massive political issue” about the incident at Arlington Cemetery.
“The fact that Kamala Harris wants to make it an issue when she refuses to come, that she refuses to even call families whose children have died because of her leadership, I think that warrants a little bit of frustration, and I certainly showed that today,” Vance said.
In a statement on Monday, Harris said he was “heartbroken” for the pain and loss the families of the victims had experienced, marking the third anniversary of the attack at Abbey Gate.
“I will fulfill our sacred duty to care for our troops and their families and will always honor their service and sacrifice,” he said, adding, “President Biden made the brave and right decision to end America’s longest war.”
USA It was removed from Afghanistan in 2021nearly 20 years after it invaded the country under then-President George W. Bush.
The Biden administration and Congress have launched multiple investigations into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the attack at Abbey Gate when troops were helping to evacuate people from the country.
In a 2023 report, for example, the White House He mainly blamed the Trump administration For the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
A former U.S. commander who oversaw the withdrawal earlier this year He testified in congressional hearings He is solely responsible for 13 Americans Soldiers were killed during the attack on Kabul airport.
Some family members of the soldiers expressed frustration that the Biden administration did not get all the answers they wanted.
At the same hearing this year, retired Army Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, admitted they were still seeking more information.
Milley said it will take a “quite a long time” to get those answers, especially since many of the records are confidential.
Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a letter last week subpoenaed White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan to testify before a GOP-led panel on the withdrawal.
“He owes it to Gold Star families, veterans and the American public to respond to the catastrophic withdrawal,” McCaul said in an op-ed Wednesday. Type in X he called Sullivan “one of the chief architects” of the administration’s Afghanistan policy.
Vance, a Marine Corps veteran, has directed much of his criticism of military affairs at Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, accusing him of misinformation. his military record.
In 2018, Walz referred to his handling of weapons “during wartime” despite never being deployed to a combat zone. This month, the Harris campaign said Walz “misspoke” when he made the remarks.
Walz’s 24 years in the military included serving overseas and supporting forward units. He officially retired from the Minnesota National Guard in 2005.