Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says President Joe Biden should be impeached if the U.S. does not evacuate every American and Afghan ally from Afghanistan.
During an appearance on Fox News on Friday, Graham said, “If we leave one American behind, if we don’t get all those Afghans who stepped up to the plate and helped us out, then Joe Biden in my view has committed a high crime and misdemeanor under the Constitution and should be impeached.”
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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says if we leave one American or Afghan that helped us behind, "then Joe Biden in my view has committed a high crime and misdemeanor under the Constitution and should be impeached.” pic.twitter.com/ugrntsI0On
— The Recount (@therecount) August 20, 2021
Graham’s comments as the Taliban has taken over Afghanistan following the U.S. withdrawal.
The collapse of the Afghan government led thousands of Afghans to rush to the Hamid Karzai International Airport as they tried to flee the country.
Earlier this week were estimated to be as many as 15,000 Americans still in Afghanistan.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters the U.S. will evacuate as many Americans as it “can.”
“We’re gonna get everyone that we can possibly evacuate evacuated, and I’ll do that as long as we possibly can, until the clock runs out, or we run out of capability,” he said.
However, he added that the U.S. does not “have the capability to go out and extend operations currently into Kabul” to bring Americans to the airport.
Still, Biden told ABC News during an interview earlier this week that the U.S. would try to get all Americans out before an Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline. However, he added, “We’re going to stay until we get them all out.”
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) accused Biden of “naively hoping” that the Taliban would let Americans safely make their way to the airport and said the president should “give American troops the power to push back the airport perimeter and create safe, American-controlled corridors to the airport.”
“We cannot wait for Americans to find their own way. Go get them. It’s the duty of the commander-in-chief,” he added.
A White House official said in a statement, “On August 19, the U.S. evacuated approximately 3,000 people from Hamid Karzai International Airport on 16 C-17 flights. Nearly 350 U.S. citizens were evacuated. Additional evacuees include family members of U.S. citizens, SIV applicants and their families, and vulnerable Afghans. We have evacuated approximately 9,000 people since August 14. Since the end of July, we have evacuated approximately 14,000 people,” per a pool report.
The official added, “Additionally, in the last 24 hours, the U.S. military facilitated the departure of 11 charter flights. The passengers on those charter flights are not included in the totals above.”
