Representative Scott Perry, R-Pa., Caused a brief uproar during the congressional hearing of Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday. The congressman went from asking questions about Afghanistan to asking for a report he has seen on how Blinken could be summoned by the FBI about his relationship with President Biden’s son Hunter Biden.
Perry joined Fox News Primetime to explain Blinken’s report and response, after lamenting that the committee’s Democratic chairman, Gregory Meeks, of New York, cut him off when he tried to change the subject to Hunter. Biden and its foreign trade relations.
During the hearing, the member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee asked bluntly, “How much was your recent interview with the FBI and was it a deposition?”
Perry reminded Lawrence Jones host that Blinken’s facial expression changed when he asked the question.
GOP CONGRESSMAN BURNS BLINKEN DURING HEARING IN AFGHANISTAN: “WE DON’T NEED TO FEEL LIVES”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean,” the secretary replied.
“Are you saying you haven’t had a recent interview with the FBI since you were Secretary of State?” Perry asked.
Blinken seemed to stutter before asking if Perry would consider discussing the issue “offline,” adding that he could not comment on the legal proceedings and whether they existed or not.
The sudden change of subject caused Meeks to punch and reprimand Perry:
“Let me remind the gentleman that the subject of this hearing is Afghanistan,” Meeks said.
Perry replied that he therefore simply asked about Hunter Biden because Blinken “generally refuses to answer questions about Afghanistan.”
“So I figured we’d talk about something I should know intimately,” Perry told Meeks.
In “Fox News Primetime,” Perry added that Blinken’s behavior in this exchange and the large audience make him a “bad excuse for a secretary of state.”
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“I wasn’t going to answer any realistic questions about Afghanistan’s horrific failure, so I thought I’d talk to him about something he knew was reported, that he’d had conversations with the FBI, and that potentially l ‘they’ve called again because something doesn’t match their relationship with Hunter Biden,’ ‘he said. “The fact that he had a close relationship with Hunter Biden when he was deputy secretary of state on events in Ukraine is very worrying for the American people and I think we should know what it is all about.”
Jones asked Perry if it is a normal procedure for a president like Greg Meeks to interrupt other lawmakers in this way.
“Well, that’s the procedure of the Democrats and it looks like they all have a very high rank, no matter how horrible politics is: 13 dead Marines, the reputation of the United States dragged around the world, they close ranks and do everything what it takes to support political failures and their president Joe Biden, ”he said. “They don’t care about the American people. They care about the power they have and they won’t allow anyone to attack their secretary of state, you know, with an open microphone, so, yes, [Meeks] I had to cut it. “