Fox News "The Ingraham Angle" - Transcript: Interview with Jim Banks

Interview

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Joining me now is Indiana Congressman, Jim banks, Afghan war vet, Republican Study Committee chair. Congressman, is it not time for Congress to hold comprehensive hearings on the utter catastrophe that has been this withdrawal and the lies about the Afghan security forces being up to snuff that had been happening and been going on for at least they had gone on for 10 years? Where are the congressional hearings on this?

REP. JIM BANKS (R-IN): Without a doubt, Laura, this is the greatest abdication of leadership that we've seen, certainly in my lifetime by an American President and his team at the Pentagon when it comes to our national security interest. And the least that we can do is hold congressional hearings to get to the bottom of why. I'm not holding my breath, though, with Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, saying that she supports President Biden's plans in Afghanistan and the undoing of everything that's happened over the last 72 hours up to the month before that.

If the Speaker of the House supports Joe Biden's efforts there, I can't imagine that she's going to allow us to have oversight hearings, perhaps those will have to wait until the Republicans went back to majority in '22.

INGRAHAM: Congressman, I read, or my producer might have mentioned this to me that the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan cost several hundred million dollars to build. And that's just completely abandoned, right? So that's just gone. That's just money that's - bye. I mean this is a staggering amount of money.

BANKS: It's humiliating that the Taliban now controls not just the Afghanistan's Presidential Palace, which by the way, Laura, is right next door to the U.S. Embassy. That's where I served in 2014 and 2015 when I was there as a reservist. I participated in these efforts and I can - it's humiliating to me to think that the Taliban now controls one of the most expensive U.S. embassies that we built around the world. They now own it. They literally own the United States Embassy. It's humiliating, it should be humiliating to every American. It's humiliating to the projection of America's strength and posture around the world and it's all happened on Joe Biden's watch.

INGRAHAM: Even the Biden administration has to admit it, it has virtually no clue on how many Americans are actually still in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: If I can get some specifics here, how many Americans do you believe to be in Afghanistan right now?

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Well, we think there are certainly thousands of Americans. We don't have an exact count. I would say somewhere - best guess between 5,000 and 10,000 that are near Kabul.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There are individuals who will self identify as American citizens that numbers around 11,000, beyond that around the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Congressman, the level of incompetence is so breathtaking here. And they said the Trump team, remember, they called the Trump team JV in its first 100 days. They had some maybe missteps on the travel ban [ph] wording out. But this is - these are American lives at stake here. They don't even know how many people are there.

BANKS: I can't believe that Jake Sullivan, the National Security Adviser still has a job at this point. I mean, this is his job. It's his job to answer these questions.

INGRAHAM: I wouldn't hire Mr. Sullivan to secure an elementary school, OK, to get kids out of an elementary school, let alone get thousands of Americans unknown number of Americans out of a country like Afghanistan. I mean - but these are the most experienced people ever. Isn't that what Nancy Pelosi assured us? The most experienced team we've ever had in Washington?

BANKS: That's right. I mean, Laura, up 12,000 estimated Americans, Jake Sullivan doesn't know. But around 12,000 estimated Americans who are still in Afghanistan. And by the way, this isn't been - hasn't been widely reported. But another part of that press conference with Jake Sullivan was that they aren't prioritizing Americans in Afghanistan to get them out first.

I mean, why would Americans not be prioritized to get them out of the country. They can't even get to the airport, they don't know who to call. My office is receiving phone calls from Americans and others in Afghanistan who have no idea what to do, where to go, because our embassy has been vacated. There was no plan at all to get Americans safely out of Afghanistan, and to responsibly make this happen by the Biden administration. It is shameful and it will go down in history as a black mark on our country. And certainly will prove that this President is not up for the job.

INGRAHAM: If these facts, congressman, have unfolded under Donald Trump, they would be demanding his resignation. Forget the cabinet resignations, his resignation. Congressman, thank you.

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