Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said President Joe Biden “deserves to be impeached” if even one American is left behind in Afghanistan following the president’s military withdrawal from the Taliban-controlled country.
“If we leave any Americans behind—if we leave thousands of those Afghans who fought along our side behind bravely—Joe Biden deserves to be impeached for a higher crime and misdemeanor of dereliction of duty,” Graham said on Fox News on Friday.
The White House has estimated that more than 15,000 Americans are stuck in Afghanistan, but it is not clear how the federal government plans to evacuate all of them before the Aug. 31 evacuation deadline.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin claimed earlier this week that the military would continue its evacuation efforts “until the clock runs out,” prompting backlash from critics who accused the Biden administration of willfully leaving Americans behind.
Graham said that if this happens, Biden will have betrayed his oath of office.
“If we leave one American behind. If we don’t get all those Afghans who stepped up to the plate to help us out then Joe Biden, in my view, has committed a high crime and misdemeanor under the Constitution and should be impeached,” he explained.
The U.S. is “duty-bound” to get every American out of Afghanistan safely, Graham continued, and “honor-bound” to help all the Afghans who helped the U.S. military during its mission in the region.
Former White House strategist Steve Bannon also argued Biden should be impeached, but said former president Donald Trump should be the one to lead the effort by running for House Speaker.
However, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has pushed back on questions about whether Republicans will pursue impeachment against Biden, saying he does not want to do to Biden what Democrats did to Trump.
“We’re not going to move impeachment for political purposes,” he said.
