“Absolutely Despicable”: John Kirby Sneers, ‘No Use in Responding’ to a ‘Handful of Vets’ on Biden’s Botched Afghan Withdrawal

Nobody at the White House should ever speak this way about our veterans seeking accountability for the Gold Star families the Biden-Harris Administration created with their reckless decisions.

Absolutely despicable.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was met with intense criticism Wednesday after he inadvertently emailed a reporter that there is “no use in responding” to veteran concerns about the Harris-Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Kirby, 61, apparently intended to send his dismissive response to White House staffers but accidentally hit “reply all” on an email chain that included the Fox News reporter making the inquiry.

“Obviously no use in responding. A ‘handful’ of vets indeed and all of one stripe,” read Kirby’s email, according to the outlet.

Kirby: ‘No use in responding’ to a ‘handful of vets’ on Biden’s botched Afghan withdrawal

‘Obviously no use in responding. A “handful” of vets indeed and all of one stripe,’ Kirby said in a ‘reply all’ email chain

By Emma Colton, Fox News, September 11, 2024 4:43pm EDT

The White House pushed back on a report released by the GOP on Sunday that criticized President Biden’s chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.

On the anniversary of 9/11, White House National Security Council communications adviser John Kirby dismissed the concerns of military veterans critical of the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, writing in response to a Fox News Digital press inquiry that there’s “no use” weighing in on the veterans’ views.

“Obviously no use in responding. A ‘handful’ of vets indeed and all of one stripe,” Kirby said in a “reply all” email chain Wednesday afternoon that appeared to be intended for White House staffers, but which also included Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital had reached out to the White House earlier Wednesday afternoon regarding critical comments from four veterans, including Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., who blasted Kirby for his Monday press conference that they said provided “cover” for the Biden administration’s 2021 withdrawal.

Included in that initial reachout were quotes from the four veterans, and Fox News Digital asked the White House if it had any comment to include on the vets’ blistering criticisms of Kirby and the White House’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal. The email chain was forwarded to White House staffers on the National Security Council, before Kirby replied to all on the chain that there’s “no use in responding.”

Kirby’s message was sent in error, with him following up with a Fox News Digital reporter, “Clearly, I didn’t realize you were on the chain.” Kirby sent the email while traveling with President Biden on the anniversary of 9/11.

The veterans quoted in the email lambasted Kirby for “deflecting” from the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, following House Republicans releasing a scathing report this week following the anniversary of the botched withdrawal.

“The bottom line is that the Biden-Harris administration chose politics over strategy, and Kirby, who I wouldn’t trust to guard my grocery list, is now trying to cover for them,” Mills, an Army veteran, said in comments to Fox News Digital.

The Republican chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Texas Rep. Mike McCaul, released a report this week disputing President Biden’s claims that his hands were tied to an agreement made under former President Trump’s administration for the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan under an established deadline in 2021. The report added that State Department officials had no plan for helping Americans and allies out while there were still troops in the region to protect them.

McCaul’s report argued that the administration failed to adequately respond to terror threats ahead of the terrorist bombing at Abbey Gate at the Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 150 Afghan civilians, and that the Taliban likely had access after the withdrawal to $7 billion in abandoned U.S. weapons, and up to $57 million in U.S. funds that were initially given to the Afghan government.

Kirby joined the White House’s press conference on Monday and defended the Biden-Harris administration’s withdrawal, while arguing the new report “says little or nothing new.”

Kirby went on to list the “actual facts” surrounding the withdrawal, including arguing that the Trump administration cut a deal with the Taliban that “mandated a complete U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.”

“President Biden, for his part, faced a stark choice when he came to office: Abide by the flawed agreement and end America’s longest war, or blow up the deal, extend the war, and see a much smaller contingent of American troops back in combat with the Taliban,” Kirby said. “He chose the former and was able to buy additional time to prepare for that withdrawal all the way into summer, and we, as a nation, are safer for it.”

Mills said Kirby was “deflecting” from the White House’s “failed foreign policies,” while pointing to the House Foreign Affairs Committee threatening to subpoena Secretary of State Antony Blinken last year regarding a July 2021 dissent cable by 23 diplomats that offered avenues to mitigate disaster as the Taliban’s power grew ahead of the U.S. pulling out of Afghanistan.

“Once again, John Kirby is deflecting from the Biden-Harris administration’s failed foreign policies. If they were truly transparent, why did HFAC have fun threatening contempt of Congress for Secretary Blinken for intentionally withholding DoS dissent cables from 23 U.S. Embassy diplomats warning that the administration’s strategy would allow the Taliban to advance and lead to the collapse of the Afghan government and American lives to be lost? They knew this and tried to cover it up. This wasn’t ignorance, it was intentional and putting political optics above strategy/safety with a complete lack of transparency. This administration knew exactly what they were doing, tried to cover it up, and got caught. Worse, their actions cost the lives of 13 American service members and severely damaged our credibility with allies. It welcomed aggression from adversaries and showed weakness geopolitically,” Mills said.