House Foreign Affairs Committee adjourns after subpoenaed Secretary Blinken fails to appear; panel to begin contempt markup

An unnamed member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee opened a hearing on the State Department’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and announced that Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not appear after being subpoenaed on Sept. 18, 2024. The member said the secretary had “chosen not to appear and to willfully defy the subpoena under Article I of the Constitution” and announced plans to begin a markup to consider citing him for contempt of Congress.

The presiding committee speaker reminded members of routine procedural rules — that they may submit statements, questions and extraneous materials for the record within five days and subject to length limits — then described the hearing’s purpose: to hear directly from Blinken and obtain his assessment of the State Department’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. The speaker then noted Blinken’s absence and referenced the Sept. 18 subpoena that the committee said required his appearance.

After the announcement that the committee intended to start a markup to pursue contempt proceedings, the session ended with, “Without objection, the committee stands adjourned,” indicating no formal opposition to adjourning. The hearing record as provided does not include further debate, votes, or additional details about the planned markup, including scheduling, the text of any contempt resolution, or which member formally moved the action.

The committee’s stated next step is a markup to begin the formal process related to contempt; the transcript does not specify dates for the markup, the precise measures to be considered, or any planned votes. No representative of the State Department spoke in the transcript, and there is no on-the-record response from Secretary Blinken in the provided text.