. >> a freshman republican representing michigan's 3rd district, congressman peter meijer is an army veteran who served in iraq then spent two years on the ground in afghanistan as a civilian supporting aid workers. as the u.s. evacuation deended into cha... >> i stand squarely behind my decision. >> ...meijer boarded a flight into kabul to assess the operation for himself. >> what we did see was a very vulnerable security situation. >> we were not aware when they were en route. this is not the time to travel to afghanistan. >> as america remembers the september 11th attacks on this 20th anniversary... and with questions about the future of afghanistan and security at home, what does congressman peter meijer say now? >> "firing line with margaret hoover" is made possible in part by... ...and by... corporate funding is provided by... >> representative peter meijer, welcome to "firing line" and thank you for your service. >> thank you for having me on. >> so, as america marks the 20th anniversary of september 11th, how do you reflect now on the terror attacks our country suffered two d

peter meijer represents michigan's third district. abigail spanberger represents virginia's seventh district. they have really let this effort. when we were looking for someone to host this discussion, -- the co-editor who has also written widely on the subject. it is fair to say that much of what i have learned on the subject and what i have learned from congress' work on the subject has started with her. i'm going to turn things over. it is your show. take it away. >> thank you so much. it is wonderful to be here with these two members. you both have been steadfast in reminding us it is congress' duty to reclaim the war powers that have been largely ceded to the executive branch. you have been writing legislation, you have been cosponsoring legislation, you have been trying to get it passed, and you have remind us that both parties have been stretching unilateral authority. you have not been treating this as a partisan issue. i thank both of you for focusing on that. let's jump right in because our time is short. i want to start wit

about efs to recall the 2001 and 2002 authorization for use of military force with representative peter meijer and abby spanberger. hosted by the atlantic council this is half an hour. >> we have with us today to make members who have clearly done homework on the issue of reasserting congressional oversight of the nation's wars, starting with the repeal of the authorized use of military force.e representative peter meijer represents michigan's third congressional district.en rep abby spanberger represents virginia's seventh congressional district, and they andnt othersn congress have ruled that this effort. when we were looking for someone to host this discussion, we had tess bridgeman at the top of our lives. she is a coeditor of just security and she is also written widely on this subject. in fact, i think it's fair to say that much of what i learned on this subject a special what i've learned in terms of congresses work on the subject has started with dr. bridgemen. with that i'm going turn things over. it's your show. take it away. >> thank you so much. it's really wonderful to be here wit

try tomato michigan congressman and army men peter meijer is back.ing longer getting out smarter? >> it had to be about getting out smarter but this is the biggest frustration with the way the hearing went down, you hear this is president biden's remarks. let me defend the decision to withdrawal which does have a bipartisan support rather than how this was executed. both of the books not there. kennedy: was the most frustrating thing for you as someone who works as a contractor in afghanistan? someone who is in combat and the uniform and iraq. is that the 13 service members who were sitting ducks, who were killed by terrorists? is it the fact that we have left to so many americans behind there? or, or their veterans groups and congressmen and women who have lists of people that they've been trying to get out of the country. what is most frustrating for you? >> there are a lot of things we look back on and hindsight is 2020. there's a lot of things we should have done differently. what really, really sticks as the early conversation regular afghan all

. >> reporter: unlike representative seth moulton and peter meijer who went on an unauthorized trip ton, mullin has been in congress since 2012. >> i know mark wayne and i've been asking some of my friends and connections about him because i am concerned for his safety. >> reporter: in a statement mullin's spokesperson says, quote, congressman mullin has been and is currently completely safe. this is his second attempt to enter afghanistan. last week he travelled to greece, but the pentagon denied his request for access to kabul. >> we will get those americans that are remaining in afghanistan who want to get out, there are processes and plans to do just that. you don't need a member of congress to go in and do that. >> it's unclear if congressman mullin ended up getting anyone out of afghanistan. i did reach out to his office earlier today. they have not responded back to me. we also heard a little bit from state department spokesperson ned price there who went on to say that all of the embassies are focused on american citizens, jake, specifically the embassy there in tajikistan, whi

nation's wars, starting with the repeal of the authorized use of military force.e representative peter meijer represents michigan's third congressional district.en rep abby spanberger represents virginia's seventh congressional district, and they andnt othersn congress have ruled that this effort. when w

take a list tone what peter meijer, a house republican who voted to impeach trump, had to say about the washington live event. >> we see what can be done when individuals feel they're being nodded to. these are literally life or death implications of some of these decisions and of these opinions, and leaders need to be clear where they stand, need to be clear what they believe. >> reporter: democrats, meanwhile, are signalling that in the midterms they plan to paint the entire gop as extremists. look, bottom line, even if republicans are not in attendance on saturday, this is threatening to open really old and ugly wounds for the party. jim, erica? >> well, we will be watching and, of course, seeing what is or isn't said in the lead up through tomorrow. melanie, thank you. >>> the man behind saturday's right-wing rally down played concerns of potential violence, telling cnn it will feature a, quote, largely peaceful crowd. >> cnn justice correspondent jessica snyder joins us now. jessica, okay. he says it will be a largely peaceful crowd, but this is a crowd where law enforcement has co

to your point, you just went to kabul with peter meijer. when you guys were there, he said that the white house was lying about details around the withdrawal. you're saying we need a plan. do we have one? we did get 120,000 people out. what's your take now? >> we got 124,000 people out because of the incredible heroism of these marines, sailers, airmen, soldiers on the ground. it was extraordinary to witness what they were doing, stephanie. wading out into the crowd, feet from the taliban, our sworn enemies, to literally carry people to safety, to put afghan boys and girls on their backs and bring them in. that's why this was successful. so don't let the people at the pentagon take credit for this. it's because of the troops on this ground this was successful. but there is so much more work to do. we've got to get the people out we left behind. that requires a sophisticated diplomatic relationship with the taliban going forward. we've got to take care of all these folks in refugee camps. highly talented, educated afghans that are stuck in a

go to congressman peter meijer, he claims this is situation is bad one going from bad to worse.ew to afghanistan this beak. he says congress needs to reclaim more power, authority. congressman, very good to have you. could you explain what that would involve? >> absolutely, neil. i think this conflict would have looked very differently if say every two years each member of congress had to affirmatively say we should continue or we should stop our mission in afghanistan, not just the questions they would be forced to ask the administration but the answers every administration would have to cliff, the clarity they would have to provide. i think it is essential we get back to the constitutional basis so we do not let the conflicts spin out of control with the mission creep and drift we've seen. neil: you have expressed concern about the rest of the folks we left behind and whether they will ever come out now that our soldiers are gone. how do you think that goes? the administration has expressed confidence in the taliban that it will allow these various services to do just that. i