Paul Mirengoff of Power Line has the generals directly contradicting the President, their boss, while under oath. He first quotes Politico's reporting:
Top generals told lawmakers under oath on Tuesday that they advised President Joe Biden early this year to keep several thousand troops in Afghanistan — directly contradicting the president’s comments in August that no one warned him not to withdraw troops from the country.
Then he quotes the following on-camera interaction between ABC's George Stephanopoulos and President Biden. Stephanopoulos speaks first:
So no one told — your military advisers did not tell you, “No, we should just keep 2,500 troops. It’s been a stable situation for the last several years. We can do that. We can continue to do that”?
Joe Biden replies:
No. No one said that to me that I can recall.
Mirengoff concludes:
By adding “that I can recall,” Biden is hedging. Either (1) he realizes that someone did give him, essentially, that advice and wants an out in case he’s contradicted or (2) he doesn’t trust that his memory is of a level sufficient competently to perform his job.
We all know politicians lie, especially when the rock and hard place are close together, as they are here. It is clear Biden was told and immediately discounted the advice as it didn't fit his preconceived notions.
Once it all went south and looked terrible, Biden needed an out and blamed his subordinates. It is a dishonorable act, but hardly unprecedented. A casual disregard for the truth has marked Biden's 40 year public career.
