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As the Biden administration has juggled crises in Afghanistan, the southern border and the national source chain, key officers, including the president himself, have declined to make visibility a prime priority.
The media was not notified until two months afterwards that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had taken a parental leave in mid-August to care for his new child twins. Buttigieg’s workplace told Politico on Thursday that he was “generally offline” for an complete month “apart from for important agency choices” and that his functions experienced been ramping up in new weeks.
WHITE Dwelling IN CHAOS STRUGGLES TO Maintain BIDEN ON TIME
Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, best acknowledged for his 2020 run for the presidency, did not appoint an interim secretary all through his leave, even even though provide chain disruptions across the region have left shelves empty in advance of the vital holiday shopping time period. He informed CNN on Sunday that the disruptions are predicted to carry on until finally subsequent 12 months.
“Pete Buttigieg was fully unqualified to provide as Secretary of Transportation,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., tweeted Monday. “Now, Pete is absent in the course of a transportation crisis that is hurting operating-course Us citizens.”
“PETE BUTTIGIEG has been MIA,” Politico declared Thursday.
White Household push secretary Jen Psaki defended Buttigieg on Twitter following Democrats bristled at the “MIA” label.
“Also proud to operate in an Administration that is preventing to make paid out depart a reality for absolutely everyone, and with people today like @SecretaryPete who are position models on the importance of paid out leave for new mom and dad,” Psaki tweeted Friday.
Buttigieg is just not the only Cabinet member to face criticism for his absence.
Earlier this thirty day period, Vice President Kamala Harris flew to Palm Springs, a vacation resort city about 107 miles east of Los Angeles, for a “non-public relatives subject,” officials claimed. Harris put in one particular night time on Oct. 1 at an undisclosed area in Palm Springs and no other explanation was given for the vacation.
Because March, when Biden set her in cost of addressing the root leads to of the border crisis, Harris has confronted constant criticism from Republicans for not traveling to the border area – save for a transient trip to El Paso, Texas, in June – irrespective of her using many outings to her dwelling point out of California. Times soon after her Palm Springs trip, Harris visited New Jersey as a substitute of accompanying Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland for high-stage safety talks in Mexico Metropolis.
On Sept. 17, the identical working day that U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, explained to reporters that an Aug. 29 drone strike targeting ISIS really killed 10 civilians in Afghanistan, not terrorists, Biden and very first woman Jill took a trip to Rehoboth, Delaware, for a peaceful weekend of church services and bicycle rides.
The president was previously under fire for his handling of the chaotic U.S. army evacuation from the country, all through which a suicide bombing attack in Kabul still left 13 U.S. service members lifeless. Biden has consistently defended his strategy to withdraw troops from the state, though as several as a hundred U.S. citizens and tens of thousands of Afghan allies and Afghans vulnerable to Taliban reprisal continue to be stranded. The president mainly avoided cameras through the first drawdown, viewing the Aug. 15 tumble of Kabul unfold from the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken was vacationing in the Hamptons just in advance of the drop of Kabul on Aug. 15, when Taliban insurgents accomplished their retaking of the state 20 several years following their ouster.
In accordance to a detailed timeline of the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul compiled by The Washington Post, the steps by U.S. officials in the times main up to the Aug. 15 collapse instructed “no quick result in for alarm,” with numerous of them “surrendering to the customary rhythms of Washington in August.”
Blinken, like other U.S. officers, had to be named back from his holiday vacation when points started off promptly deteriorating in Afghanistan, the report claimed.
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White Residence press secretary Jen Psaki had an “out of the workplace” electronic mail information for 1 week starting up the identical day Kabul collapsed, but returned to the White Property the upcoming working day.
Harris, who previously said she had a critical function in Biden’s selection to withdraw from Afghanistan, also managed to remain relatively silent on the disaster, as an alternative embarking on her first formal visit to Southeast Asia in an unrelated trip.
