Schumer says all Americans who wanted to leave Afghanistan have...
By: Morgan Phillips, Politics Reporter For Dailymail.Com and Katelyn Caralle and Elizabeth Elkind 21 hrs ago (MSN)
Blatant attempt at damage control??
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer falsely stated over the weekend that all Americans who wanted to leave Afghanistan have done so, though his office later walked back the claim.
'The Americans, all of whom wanted to come out, have come out. Praise God,' the New York Democrat said outside the New York State Fair on Friday.
Schumer had been asked by NewsChannel 9 how Biden's botched Afghanistan withdrawal could affect Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections.
'I can't predict that. I will say there'll be a job for congressional oversight. There always is, but at the moment actually I'm still focused on trying to get some of those brave Afghans out,' Schumer said, referring to Afghan interpreters who helped the US military and were not yet evacuated on special immigrant visas.
A spokesperson for the majority leader later said he misspoke.
'He misspoke and regrets the confusion his comments have caused,' a spokesperson told Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler. 'He intended to say, as he has been saying, that the U.S. will get everyone out that wants to get out. And he will keep working with the Biden Administration to help everyone who wants to get out.'
Schumer said his office is working to evacuate an orchestra group made up of young Afghan men and women.
'The Taliban hates them. They hate music and they hate boys and girls performing.'
Many Americans are still trapped on the ground in Afghanistan.
The Biden administration has insisted that Americans in Afghanistan were given repeated warnings to flee before the withdrawal.
On Sunday, an American mother and her three children were evacuated over land after they'd been unable to get on a flight out of Kabul.
They had been trying to escape as the State Department repeatedly urged them to go to the Kabul airport gate, but the Taliban refused to let them pass. The final time the mother, 'Mariam,' asked the Taliban to allow her entry into the airport, they pointed a gun to her head. Shortly after that, Taliban started asking Kabul locals who knew her where they could find her.
The White House said last week that around 100 Americans are still stranded in Afghanistan.
Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, Calif., said he believes that number to be closer to 500 and could be as high as 1,000, if family members of US citizens are included in the count.
Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican and former Air Force officer, also accused the Biden administration of deflating the number of Americans stranded in Afghanistan.
'The problem is, it doesn't include families,' the Nebraska congressman said. 'They're lowballing the numbers.'
Many volunteers helping with evacuation efforts also claim that the number is much higher than the 100-200 figure coming from the administration. These individuals say Biden's team isn't accounting for family members who may be green card holders and is also only including those who registered with the U.S. Embassy in Kabul before it was shuttered in the midst of the Taliban takeover.
Registering with the Embassy before visiting a foreign country is an entirely voluntary process and does not necessarily reflect the number of Americans there at a certain time.
According to the Associated Press, Mike Jason, who runs a rescue operation called Allied Airlift 21, said his group has been in contact with 78 green card holders trapped in the country- but when their spouses and children are added to the tally, the number rises to nearly 400.
The volunteers have identified 45 U.S. citizens in Afghanistan but have documents on more than 250 family members stuck there with them.
Over the weekend, as many as six planes seeking to evacuated 1,000 people were grounded in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The passengers included at least 142 Americans, NGO officials working on the evacuation told Newsweek.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that the flights had been blocked because some lacked the necessary documentation to leave the country.
'There are groups of people who are grouped together, some of whom have the appropriate travel documents — an American passport, a green card, a visa — and others do not,' Blinken told reporters at a news conference in Doha, Qatar.
'It's my understanding that the Taliban has not denied exit to anyone holding a valid document, but they have said that those without valid documents at this point can't leave,' Blinken said. 'But because all of these people are grouped together, that's meant that flights have not been allowed to go.'
Blinken claimed he is unaware of any 'hostage-type' situation.
Of the more than 120,000 the US facilitated evacuation from Afghanistan for, around 6,000 were Americans.
Sure Chuck. Suuuuuure
At this point how can anyone trust anything coming out of Democrats' mouths? They are expecting us all to believe the Taliban! It doesn't get any more ridiculous than that!
100? 200? 500? 1000? The numbers have become a political football that will morph into tens of thousands.
How about this. 1 US citizen (and we all know it is far more than one) abandoned by the Biden Administration in Afghanistan is too damn many!
Does that remove the whole "numbers have become a political football" thing for you?
No, it does not. The same numbers game is being played up here and with a national election at the end of the month they are being used as what one might expect.
So those abandoned by the Biden administration in Afghanistan are just political football?
Are you going to blame the State Department for playing political football by making things as difficult as possible for those charities that are doing what the Biden Administration can't in getting US citizens and VISA holders out? Or taking credit for a rescue and evacuation that they had absolutely nothing to do with?
Downplaying those that Biden abandoned in Afghanistan is all the left have. "Political football" what BS. Almost as bad as those on the left blaming US citizens and those Afghans that aided us for being abandoned in Afghanistan by not being out before the US withdrew troops.
He’s a national embarrassment
Schumer is an idiot, who like Pelosi, is long passed the point when he should have been voted out of office.
Neither one of them is an idiot. Sen. Schumer is highly intelligent, and Nancy Pelosi is one of the most accomplished women, people, in American history.
Unless you are one of their constituents, it's not up to you to decide if they should be re-elected or not.
Why would I respond to your ridiculous question, other than to point out that it is just that?
Point out where I said he shouldn't have an opinion.
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Where did he say it was his decision?
Maybe you should work on it a little bit more while you do your things.
Maybe, no, definitely, I'm not the least bit interested in your opinion
Chuck Schumer is too accustomed to a compliant, unbiased liberal press allowing him to get away with stuff like this. When Schumer was the spittle spewing outraged opposition, the liberal press could at least feign that the outrage was genuine even when Schumer engaged in hyperbolic fiction.
Now that Schumer is in charge the press can't ignore the brown stuff on the fan blades without revealing their unbiased liberal bias. The press can sweep a lot of Democrats' nonsense under the rug but this time the lump would be too obvious.
Geez, what a mess. So, we know it’s not true, but even if it were true, what about Afghan allies who are still there? Fuck em? I mean, as much shit as Trump got for “abandoning the Kurds” does no one give a shit about the Afghan people?
What about all the materials we left behind - guns, humvees, helicopters - who cares? What about people who were so desperate to leave, they clung to airplanes even as they took off and then they fell to their death? Fuck them, too?
Everything is proceeding according to plan. Nothing to see here. /s
EXACTLY! How people can claim that everyone got out that wanted to get out did so, is the biggest lie on the planet, they have no fucking idea!
I don’t believe any sane American would want to stay in Afghanistan knowing the Taliban were to be in control. IMO, that’s just a bullshit narrative used because they knew they weren’t going to get everyone out.
People like Schumer and his ilk are one reason I firmly believe in term limits for Congress.
We have term limits in America, although we refer to them as terms of office. For a Senator it's 6 years. For a member of the House of Representatives, it's 2 years. If they are not re-elected by their constituents, they no longer hold office.
Oh, I forgot. Republicans don't believe in fair and free democratic elections. They believe in permanent Republican, i e., minority, rule and domination.
We also refer to term limits as limiting the terms of office.
Pretty sure he meant this definition since he referred to the idiot Democrats as ilk...
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There are term limits only for the president and vice president for two consecutive four year terms. Representatives are elected for unlimited number of two year elected terms. Senators for 6 year unlimited number of elected terms. The key word being unlimited. That is why all members of the House and Senate have the potential to homestead for decades like Schumer, Pelosi and others from both parties have.
Agreed, but strike the word 'consecutive'.
Some Americans couldn't get out earlier.
Now the Taliban won't let them leave.
They are in effect....hostages.