Criticism over administration’s response to the coronavirus dominates Foreign Affairs hearing
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s first public appearance of the year before Congress was his most heated and combative yet, with House Democrats frequently raising their voice to sharply rebuke the secretary, who categorically rejected all of their criticisms on the administration’s Iran policy and on its handling of the growing worldwide coronavirus outbreak.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing was nominally about the administration’s policy toward Iran and Iraq and its use of war powers. But Democrats used a good portion of their questioning time to ask about the administration’s response to COVID-19, the new coronavirus that began in late 2019 in Wuhan, China and is a close cousin to the SARS and MERS viruses.
Rep. Ted Deutch said the Trump administration had a major credibility problem on its hands when it came to its handling of COVID-19. Continue reading.
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday subpoenaed President Trump’s top negotiator for Afghanistan, complaining that the administration had stonewalled lawmakers’ attempts to get a straight story about its strategy for bringing the war there to an end.