Beginning in afghanistan, the general advised President Biden against his disastrous Foreign Policy decision. I now recognize myself for an Opening Statement. On april 14th, 2021, President Biden announced the United States would unilaterally withdraw its military forces from afghanistan. For months before that announcement, the Intelligence Community and his senior military advisers, including both gentlemen testifying here today issued dire warnings about the withdrawals consequences. After the announcement, i, along with other republican and Democrat Members of congress urged the president to prepare for the withdrawal and its inevitable fallouts. Unfortunately, the warnings were ignored. As the withdrawal date in there. , the situation in afghanistan deteriorated as the taliban gained significant ground across the country. Yet, the binding administrations failure to plan for their withdrawal threatened the safety and security of u. S. Personnel in the country. As a result, in july
Jspeak of the white house red to listen to warnings about the situation on the ground. As the saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. And fail, they did. To the families here today and two to the American People i say i will not rest until i get to the bottom of this tragedy. You deserve answers. The American People deserve answers. There is no military leader, we have lost troops and combat who have this feeling so this is personal to be. This is culpability in this attack lies in Policy Decisions that created the environment of august 2021 kabul. John powerful testimony from the two generals who ran President Bidens chaotic withdrawal from afghanistan an event that defined his first term in office and theearing is right now on a capitol hill. Sandra the president meanwhile thousands of miles away about the land in nevada on a Campaign Swing asking americans to give him four more years. John john roberts in washington. Sandra good to be with you im sandra smith in new york
America and may god continue to bless all of those that still fight for freedom. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you for that introduction. Thank you all those that you represent today and every day that you and your generation that haveti given us the freedos that we enjoy. Secretary austin, sec. Defense,y defense, thank you for your leadership and your time today. Ambassador, i think youpo as wel the great representative of the United States thank you for your leadership and for your continued support of the United States military and thank you senator nelson for leading our airspace administration and nask and also a great veteran yourself, senator nelson, thank you, all the generals and admirals here, thank you all. [inaudible] i think everyone here for gathering today in memory of one of the most important military days in history on the 79th anniversary of dday and most of all, we thank these men and Women Veterans of world war ii, thank you, each of you for your service an
preside over the free country. now, a lot has happened. the british burned it down. it was rebuilt and expanded. but through all of that, every president who lived in the white house respected it. they understood its importance and how sacred it was. until now. remember when obama kicked his feet up on the resolute desk? i didn t go crazy. when he wore a tan suit, i didn t go nuts. obama even invited snoop to the white house who lit one up in the bathroom. boom, next thing i do is pull that thing out of my sock. i heard somebody coming. [laughter] put him out real quick and got on back to the party. jesse: now snoop wasn t the first. willie nelson went on the white house roof and smoked with jimmy carter s son in the 1970s. when willie nelson wrote his autobiography he confessed that he smoked pot in the white house one night when he was spending the night with me. and he said that his companion shared the pot with him was one of the servants at the white house. that is
Expires. Reporter with military time. The editor, host for defense and aerospace podcasts. On my left we have robert costa, chief election and Campaign Correspondent cbs news. David butler, Communications Advisor to the chairman, elizabeth miller, Washington Bureau chief with the new york times. John donnelly, Senior Writer at cq roll call. And max let, publisher for stars and stripes. I would like to acknowledge the presence today of the Ukrainian Ambassador to the u. S. Welcome back to the club. [applause] the United States National Defense strategy is focused on a rising china which america views as its most consequential strategic competitor and russia, which has proven over the past year and a half that is a clear and present threat. Over nearly the past year and a half russia slaughtered ukrainians and ukrainians have fought back with everything they have. General milley said in his remarks last year that the best way to honor ukrainian sacrifice is continue to support its fight