I can say without hesitation that Secretary Austin is one of about five or six Biden officials that need to be embarrassed in public.
Fox News’ Brett Baier had Austin in the hot seat at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, CA.
He clearly made the Secretary uncomfortable, but he should have taken it a step further.
That Awkward Silence
The big moment for Baier came when he asked Austin if he had any regrets regarding the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Austin had a noticeable pause, very much measuring his words before responding…
NEW: Long pause as SecDef Lloyd Austin asked by @BretBaier if he has any regrets from Afghan withdrawal. “I regret the fact that we lost 13 of our finest at Abbey Gate. I regret that we lost 10 civilians in an errant strike." pic.twitter.com/j9WWg0lj11
— Populist News (@populistaaa) December 4, 2021
That video cut off the rest of his response, which is where I feel that Baier dropped the ball.
Austin continued, “Having said that, Bret, I want to make sure that we don’t lose sight of the fact that our American forces, in 17 days, evacuated 124,000 people from Afghanistan.”
Yes, they did get 124,000 people out, but it was mostly the wrong people.
The majority of those evacuated were not vetted, nor did they have any ties to the United States.
Meanwhile, family members of our troops and American citizens were left behind.
That is where Baier should have gone at that point, but he left the Secretary off the hook.
Our media needs to stop coddling these people and hold them accountable when they have them in this position.
We cannot allow these people to tout accomplishments that are not really accomplishments when they are in the public eye.
I think Baier is one of the best in the business, and while he put a tough question to Austin, he could have inflicted some real damage here.
So, rather than risk future interviews, he let Austin walk by patting himself on the back.
Until the mainstream media, all mainstream media, hold this administration accountable, they will continue to pull the wool over our eyes at every opportunity.
Source: Fox News
