Jerry Dunleavy, a senior investigator for the Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee probe into the Biden-Harris administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, resigned on Monday to protest what he described as “investigative paralysis” and the failure of Chair Michael McCaul (R-TX) to aggressively pursue the inquest.
Dunleavy is a former journalist with the Washington Examiner and the author of a book on the Afghanistan withdrawal, titled Kabul: The Untold Story of Biden’s Fiasco and the American Warriors Who Fought to the End. He joined the House Foreign Affairs Committee probe about a year ago as a senior investigator, tasked with contributing to the committee’s 600-page final report on the disaster, which is due in September.
Dunleavy said he was still committed to holding the Biden-Harris administration responsible for its “disastrous and deadly Afghanistan withdrawal” but had come to doubt the commitment of committee leaders. With regret, he said it became “undeniably clear” that the committee was “unwilling to take even the most basic steps necessary” to hold President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and their top diplomatic and national security leaders responsible for “the horrors which unfolded, and continue to unfold, in Afghanistan and around the world.
Dunleavy said committee hearings went soft on key players in the disaster, including former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, former U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Chief Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, and former U.S. Special Representative to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad. He said the committee refused to “drag in” other key witnesses from the State Department, CENTCOM, and other agencies.
Dunleavy told the Hill on Monday that he “received pushback” from his superiors when he pressed the committee to take action against Harris. He said investigating her role was more urgent than ever now that Biden has been pushed aside to make her the Democrat nominee for president in 2024.
House Foreign Affairs Committee spokesperson Emily Cassil objected to some of Dunleavy’s criticisms in an interview with the UK Daily Mail on Monday, stating that McCaul “pours his heart and soul into getting answers for our Gold Star families and Afghanistan veterans.