GOP Sens. Josh Hawley and Marsha Blackburn on Thursday joined a wave of other Republicans calling on President Biden to resign, a demand that that surged in the hours following multiple bombings around the airport in Kabul, killing 13 US service members, The Hill reported.
Hawley said in a statement issued by his office that Biden “has now overseen the deadliest day for US troops in Afghanistan in over a decade, and the crisis grows worse by the hour.”
“We must reject the falsehood peddled by a feckless president that this was the only option for withdrawal,” wrote Hawley, who in April vocalized support for removing all U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
“This is the product of Joe Biden’s catastrophic failure of leadership,” he added. “It is now painfully clear he has neither the will nor the capacity to lead. He must resign,” said Hawley, who previously called for the resignations of Biden's security team over the situation in Afghanistan.
Blackburn issued her demand in a tweet, also calling for the resignations of Vice President Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley.
The GOP senator argued that the president and each of the named administration members “should all resign or face impeachment and removal from office.”
Blackburn last week was among a number of Republicans who called on Biden to fire his national security team, including National Security adviser Jake Sullivan, for the administration’s handling of the security situation in Afghanistan.
Earlier this week, Republican Rep. Byron Donalds called on Biden to “resign immediately,” citing a “botched withdrawal” from Afghanistan.
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik and Rep. Jim Banks have also said that Biden is unfit to hold office.
On Tuesday, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said in an interview on Newsmax that Biden “should be impeached,” adding that he had “abandoned thousands of Afghans who fought with us and he’s going to abandon some American citizens because he capitulated to the Taliban to a 31 August deadline.”
Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, on Thursday, confirmed the deaths of the US service members, as well as injuries to at least 15 others, in two suicide bombings around the Kabul airport.
ZZ/PR