President Donald Trump issued a statement today in response to the testimony of Joint Chiefs Chair Mark Milley, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and CENTCOM head Gen. Frank McKenzie before the Senate Armed Services Committee

It’s written in typical Trump style and is pretty much right on point, in far fewer words than were said today during the hearing.

New statement from Donald Trump:

"This withdrawal was developed by a child’s mind, and only the Biden Administration is responsible for it.” pic.twitter.com/lt2qo6E0UR

— The First (@TheFirstonTV) September 28, 2021

The botched and embarrassingly incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan had nothing to do with past Administrations or things that happened “from 20 years ago,” (other than we should not have been in the Middle East in the first place!). The horrible “withdrawal” was caused, in particular, because the Military was taken out before American citizens and $85 Billion worth of the highest-grade Military equipment anywhere in the world. This withdrawal was developed by a child’s mind, and only the Biden Administration is responsible for it. When I left office, the Taliban was held at bay, we had as long as we wanted, there was no reason to rush, no soldiers were killed or even shot at for over 18 months, and if they didn’t meet certain conditions, we would have hit them very hard. But then Biden and Milley removed the Military in one of the dumbest Military moves in history, and it all began. So sad for our Nation!

As we’ve previously noted, Joe Biden and the Democrats have tried to suggest that somehow Biden was locked into something by the Trump deal. But as Trump notes, if they didn’t meet the conditions of the deal, “we would have hit them very hard, there was no reason to rush.”

That’s actually an incredibly important point to make here. A lot of the disaster that occurred was based on this artificial rush timeline that Biden demanded — allegedly because of the deal with the Taliban.

But as Gen. Milley confirmed today, the Taliban did not hold to the provisions of the deal, such as working out a power-sharing deal with the government. Trump’s deal was conditioned on a lot of things; it wasn’t just a naked pullout like Biden. If they weren’t adhering to the deal, Biden was under no obligation to hold to the withdrawal or to pull out of Bagram.

As it was, Biden didn’t hold to the date that had been agreed — May 1. He actually changed the date twice — from May 1 to September 11 and then to August 31. So, when he tries to claim he was somehow locked into anything, it’s just a lie, as he demonstrably deviated from the deal on the date.

He’s also shown he had absolutely no compunction about throwing things that Trump did under the bus. So, Biden frequently whining he was somehow locked into this, or that Trump was to blame for Biden’s incompetent withdrawal, just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

Biden had months to work out a competent withdrawal. We were urging him since at least May to get out our Afghan allies, fearing he would leave them there. Who could have dreamed he’d also even leave American citizens?

So, Biden’s arguments just don’t wash, and this is why the American people have so soundly rejected his explanations, and why he’s cratered in the polls — even in deep-blue states like Minnesota ever since the Afghanistan debacle.