2 Lawmakers Butt Heads Over Whether Biden’s Remarks on Troops Were Mischaracterized

Two lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee debated whether the nation’s top generals actually contradicted President Joe Biden’s statement that no one recommended keeping some troops in 🇦🇫Afghanistan.

During the hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) said to Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “We’re supposed to believe that either the president was either not informed by you of these very important factors, or he forgot it. Either one is alarming.”

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the committee chairman, interjected to suggest that Johnson had mischaracterized what Biden told ABC News’ George Stephanopolous when he was asked if military advisers recommended keeping 2,500 troops in 🇦🇫Afghanistan.

He went on to read the transcript of the exchange between Stephanopolous and Biden.

“‘No, they didn’t. It was split.’ That’s what the president said. He didn’t say, ‘No, nobody advised me.’ It was split,” Smith said.

Johnson interrupted, encouraging the chairman to continue reading the transcript.

Smith proceeded to note that Stephanopolous asked the president, “So no one told , your military advisors did not tell you, ‘No, we should just keep 2,500 troops. It’s been a stable situation for the last several years. We can do that. We can continue to do that’?”

“‘No. No one said that to me that I can recall.’ No one said it’s been a stable situation for the last several years. We can do that. We can continue to do that. Those are the words on the transcript that were just submitted. I’ll leave it to other people to interpret that. But those are the actual words,” Smith added.