EXCLUSIVE: Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is charging that overseas conflicts escalated under the Biden administration.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken testified before the committee in December after a report on the administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, where he was pressed to “take responsibility” for the widespread conflicts that erupted across the globe following the deadly event.
Speaking with Fox News Digital on Monday, Lawler delved into the report that claimed the Biden administration “has left the world in a worse off place than it inherited it” — beginning with the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“The report on the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan is his legacy and that of the Biden administration, because in my estimation, it’s set about a series of events around the globe that have left us in the most precarious place since World War Two, starting with that disastrous withdrawal in Afghanistan that resulted in the death of 13 U.S. service members,” Lawler told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.
Representative Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York, during a news conference at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. (Tierney L. Cross)
The congressman detailed several tragic events under the Biden administration that followed the Afghanistan withdrawal, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel, threats in the Indo-Pacific from China, and the “illicit” oil trade between China and Iran that Lawler says is “funding terrorism.”
“This administration has left the world in a worse off place than it inherited it. And that, in my view, is the legacy of the Biden-Harris administration and that of Secretary Blinken,” the New York Republican said.
Lawler added that while national security has appeared in the most “precarious” position since WW2, foreign policy will soon look different under the incoming Trump administration.
A sign displaying photos and names of the 13 service members killed in a terrorist attack at Abbey Gate outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport is seen during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 9, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura)
“I think President Trump obviously had four years in which there was greater peace and prosperity around the globe. And the difference between Biden and Trump is that Biden is unable to stop conflicts. Trump is willing to act,” Lawler told Fox. “When you are strong, when your adversaries acknowledge and understand that you are willing to act and strike. They think twice about it.”
Lawler also said that he thinks “President Trump will be a very strong leader when it comes to foreign policy, when it comes to bringing these conflicts to an end.”
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., will serve as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee next Congress, where Lawler says there will be “a lot of the focus is going to be on reauthorizing the State Department operations,” such as how the agency programs operate and how its funds are used.
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“I think, obviously, with President Trump coming in, the foreign policy of the United States is going to change,” Lawler said of the incoming administration. “It is going to be much stronger, much more unforgiving on our adversaries. And certainly seek to bring these conflicts to an end.”