Political Quotes

“reserving the right to object, I want to make a few remarks on Senator Menendez's request for unanimous consent on the nomination of Donald Lu to be Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs and also on the nomination of Brett Holmgren to be the Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research. The reality is that had these nominees been confirmed in August, they would have done nothing to stop the administration's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. President Biden bears responsibility for the catastrophe that has unfolded in Afghanistan. President Biden repeatedly ignored reasonable advice and the intelligence on what was happening on the ground in the runup to the disastrous withdrawal. He abandoned the Bagram Airfield well before August, setting the stage for the chaos at the Kabul airport. He wasn't even listening to his staff on what needed to be done on Afghanistan. Instead, he imposed an arbitrary deadline for political purposes, with disastrous results. I am not going to object to consent on this individual, Mr. Lu, and on Mr. Holmgren, in a moment, that Senator Menendez will ask for, but let's be clear.…”