Officials from the White House are reportedly furious about the surprise trip Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Republican Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan took to Afghanistan Tuesday.
The State Department and military are also mad. They had to divert resources to provide security and information to the lawmakers. The U.S. military reportedly found out about the impromptu trip as their chartered plane was inbound to Kabul.
WATCH ANYTIME FOR FREE
 |
Stream NBC10 Boston news for free, 24/7, wherever you are. |
Moulton served in the Marine Corps and Meijer is an army veteran.
Get updates on what's happening in Boston to your inbox. Sign up for our News Headlines newsletter.
In a joint statement, the lawmakers said that the plan was to gather information on evacuation efforts.
"We conducted this visit in secret," the statement read. "Speaking about it only after our departure, to minimize the risk and disruption to the people on the ground and because we were there to gather information, not to grandstand."
The Pentagon has raised serious concerns about security threats in Kabul.
"They certainly took time away from what we had been planning to do that day," said John Kirby, press secretary for the Department of Defense.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also criticized the move.
Typically, when members of Congress go to war zones, those visits are long-planned and coordinated with officials on the ground to ensure safety.
Moulton and Meijer's trip was not on a military flight.
"We left on a plane with empty seats, seated in crew-only seats to ensure that nobody who needed a seat would lose one because of our presence," the statement read.
