Blinken grilled on Hunter Biden-FBI report: GOP Rep. Perry says 'American people ought to know'
The secretary of state said he didn't know what the lawmaker was referring to
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., caused a brief uproar during Secretary of State Antony Blinken's congressional hearing on Monday. The congressman pivoted from questions about Afghanistan to asking about a report he's seen regarding Blinken potentially being summoned by the FBI regarding his relationship with President Biden's son Hunter Biden.
Perry joined "Fox News Primetime" to explain the report and Blinken's response, after regretting the fact the committee's Democratic Chairman Rep. Gregory Meeks, N.Y., cut him off when he attempted to change the subject to Hunter Biden and his foreign business dealings.
During the hearing, the House Foreign Affairs Committee member asked bluntly, "How long was your recent interview with the FBI and was it a deposition?"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Perry recalled to host Lawrence Jones that Blinken's facial expression changed when he asked the question.
GOP CONGRESSMAN ERUPTS AT BLINKEN DURING AFGHANISTAN HEARING: ‘WE DON’T NEED TO HEAR LIVES'
"I'm sorry, I don't know to what you are referring," the secretary responded.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Are you saying that you have not had a recent interview with the FBI since becoming secretary of state?" Perry asked.
Blinken appeared to stutter before asking if Perry would consider discussing the topic "offline" – adding that he could not comment either way about legal proceedings and whether or not they exist.
The sudden change in topic caused Meeks, to slam his gavel and reprimand Perry:
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Let me remind the gentleman that the topic of this hearing is Afghanistan," Meeks said.
Perry replied that he was therefore simply asking about Hunter Biden because Blinken "generally refuses to answer questions about Afghanistan."
"So I just figured we would talk about something he should be intimately familiar with," Perry told Meeks.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On "Fox News Primetime", Perry added that Blinken's behavior in that exchange and the hearing writ large makes him a "poor excuse for a secretary of state."
"He wasn’t going to answer any questions realistically on the horrific failure of Afghanistan so I thought I would talk to him about something that I knew was reported, that he had had conversations with the FBI and that potentially they have called him back in because something is not matching up regarding his relationship with Hunter Biden," he said. "The fact that he has had a close relationship with Hunter Biden when he was assistant secretary of state regarding events in Ukraine, that’s very concerning to the American people and I think we ought to know what it is."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jones asked Perry whether it is standard procedure for a chairman such as Greg Meeks to interrupt other lawmakers in that way.
"Well, what’s procedure is by Democrats and you look they all close rank no matter how horrific the policy is -- 13 dead Marines, America's reputation being dragged across the world stage, they all close ranks and do whatever is necessary to support the failed policy and their president Joe Biden," he said. "They don’t care about the American people. They care about the power that they have and they are not going to let anybody assail their secretary of state, you know, on an open mic, so, yeah, [Meeks] had to cut it off."