Congressman Brown: The President's Childish Retort Endangered The Lives Of High-Level Officials, Staff, And Civilian And Military Personnel

Statement

Congressman Anthony G. Brown (MD-04) released the following statement echoing an earlier press release issued by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, asserting the President's decision to expose a Congressional Delegation to Afghanistan endangered the lives of the Speaker of the House, who is second-in-line to the Presidency, the Congressional delegation, their staff, and the men and women, both military and civilian, on the ground in Afghanistan.

"The President's rash decision to impede upon Congress' ability to conduct oversight of our global military engagements, particularly our most dangerous missions in the Middle East, is the pinnacle of petty, and the most acute example of how this President's childishness undermines our ability to govern responsibly every day.

"In my capacity as a Member of Congress, I have visited Afghanistan, NATO, Ukraine, and our allies in the Baltics. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, the information and intelligence I gathered from each of these trips cannot be overstated. When I was deployed to Iraq, I was visited by numerous Members of Congress, and the questions they asked and inquiries they made gave them valuable insight during a period when our mission was both dangerous and uncertain.

"To do this at a time when our alliances are shaken, at a time when the President is considering a rapid troop withdrawal from the region, at a time when multiple servicemembers have been killed in action in Syria and Afghanistan, and at a time when our diplomats at the State Department are working without pay because the President has thrown our government into chaos, is irresponsible. To go so far as to leak information exposing the commercial travel of the Speaker of the House, violating well-established protocol and practices of operational security, and endangering her safety, as well as the safety of the delegation, their staff, and the personnel on the ground in Afghanistan is unprecedented, unconscionable, and a dereliction of duty."

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