Republican lawmakers are calling on ABC News to release the full video of its exclusive interview with President Biden on Afghanistan, saying the public deserves to hear the president’s complete answers on the crisis.
“ABC owes it to the American people to release the entire video,” Rep. Jim Banks, Indiana Republican, told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday. “Obviously, this interview did not go well for the president. The American people deserve to see all of it. The American people deserve to know, why is this president hiding?”
He said Mr. Biden has been avoiding “answering any question, the tough questions, the easy questions … any questions about what it’s going to take to solve this catastrophe and lead this country forward.”
ABC News released a full transcript of the interview with Mr. Biden, in which he said there was no way to prevent “chaos ensuing” in Afghanistan when he pulled out all U.S. troops.
Asked by interviewer George Stephanopolous if U.S. intelligence had predicted the Taliban would take over, Mr. Biden replied, “Well, by the end of the year, I said … that was a real possibility.”
In July, the president said it was “highly unlikely” that the Taliban would gain control of the country.
Sen. Ben Sasse, Nebraska Republican, also told Mr. Hewitt he’s in favor of ABC News releasing the full video of the interview.
“I’m for the American people being able to see this,” he said.
Mr. Biden also refuted reports that his military advisers wanted to keep about 2,500 troops in Afghanistan.
“It was split,” he said. “No one said that to me that I can recall.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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