The State Department "lied" when it said it helped get an American mother and her three children out of Afghanistan, Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., told Newsmax on Monday night.
"To see that the State Department goes out and takes this credit for this, it is a flat out, disgraceful lie, for them to do that," Mullin told "Cortes & Pellegrino." "This is on par for this administration."
State Department officials said the woman, a U.S. citizen, and her three children, escaped the war-torn nation via an overland route to another country.
Mullin said, while there was some help provided Monday, the two-week ordeal to get her out, which he and his team were working on around the clock, was offered no assistance from the State Department and were even told many times to "stand down" from intervening.
Mullin said, the woman he called "Miriam" was turned back from checkpoints and threatened by the Taliban numerous times, including at gunpoint.
"If they would have let us land in Kabul and Takaya two weeks ago, we would have got her the same day, but instead we had to take her over 300 miles across Afghanistan, with her three little kids, and went through multiple checkpoints," he told guest host Carl Higbie and co-host Jenn Pellegrino. "For us to take her all the way across the country to get her out, and then for the State Department to go out there and claim victory on this, it's disgusting to me."
In a statement to Fox News, the State Department said it "'facilitated the safe departure' of four Americans from Afghanistan and added the 'Taliban was aware and did not impede their transit.'"
Mullin said there were many times the department could have provided help for the woman and her family but chose not to, and he knew this after being on the phone for hours with her during the exodus.
He said Miriam was told five times by the agency they had "negotiated" her release and told her to go to the gate of the airport, where she ended up getting turned around by the Taliban with death threats and at gunpoint.
Mullin said, while Democrats and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., do not seem interested in holding the administration of President Joe Biden accountable for the debacle in Afghanistan, Republicans will when they retake the House in 2022.
Note: See Newsmax TV now carried in more than 100 million U.S. homes, on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Xfinity Ch. 1115, Spectrum, U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615, Frontier Ch. 115, Optimum Ch. 102, Cox cable, Suddenlink Ch. 102, Mediacom Ch. 277, AT&T TV Ch 349, FUBO and major OTT platforms like Roku, YouTube, Xumo, Pluto and most smart TV’s including Samsung+, Sony, LG, Vizio and more – Find All Systems that Carry Newsmax – Click Here
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.