Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on Friday said President Biden lied when he claimed there is “no circumstance” of Americans being unable to access the Kabul airport, explaining her office has received reports indicating otherwise.
“Joe Biden said there is ‘no circumstance’ where Americans have been blocked from the Kabul airport. This is a lie. My office has received reports of Americans unable to enter the airport,” she said, adding that her team has alerted the State Department but that “nothing has been done about it”:
“We have no indication that they haven’t been able to get in Kabul through the airport,” Biden said during Friday’s press conference. “We made an agreement with the Taliban thus far. They have allowed them to go through.”
“So we know of no circumstance where American citizens carrying an American passport are trying to get through to the airport,” he continued. “But we will do whatever needs to be done to see to it they get to the airport.”
During the speech, Biden said his administration remained in “constant contact with the Taliban working to ensure civilians have safe passage to the airport.”
“We’ve been able – we made – look. We made clear to the Taliban that any attack — any attack — on our forces or disruption of our operations at the airport will be met with swift and forceful response,” Biden continued.
However, videos have shown images of utter chaos at the Kabul airport in recent days as people try to escape.
On Friday, Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby contradicted Biden on Americans getting through checkpoints in Afghanistan.
“Though there have been sporadic reports of some Americans not being able to get through checkpoints — I fully admit that — by and large, what we’ve been seeing is that Americans are able to get through those checkpoints and are able to get onto the air field,” he said.