Matt Gaetz: SecretaryWormuth, there’s train and equip money requested in this budget, right?
Secretary Wormuth: Certainly, congressman.
Matt Gaetz: The train and equip mission in Niger is owned by the army, right?
Wormuth: Yes. We certainly provide soldiers for that. Yes.
Matt Gaetz: General, do you know what is going on in Niger right now?
General George: I know there’s some challenges over there in Niger right now, and I don’t think that we are actually in charge of that mission that’s on the ground.
Matt Gaetz: Yeah, we just heard the secretary say you’ve got soldiers there, so we’re going to dive into that to some extent. Do you know what the status is of diplomatic overflights to our installations in Najair?
General George: I’m vaguely track I’m assuming that that’s a challenge.
Matt Gaetz: I mean, it’s not a challenge. It’s binary. Are we allowed right now to do diplomatic overflights in Niger? Yes or no?
General George: I don’t know exactly.
Matt Gaetz: I’m not tracking it that close. I don’t think- Madam Secretary, do you know if we’re allowed to do those diplomatic overflights?
Wormuth: I don’t, but I’m sure the Afrocom commander does.
Matt Gaetz: Yeah, but you guys just said it’s in the budget you’re asking for to do these train and equip missions. One of them is in Niger. In Niger right now, the government has stopped us from doing diplomatic overflight missions. We have army soldiers right now in Niger who aren’t getting their troop rotations, who aren’t getting their medicine, who aren’t getting their supplies, who aren’t getting their mail. The two senior people in the United United States Army are sitting before me and it’s like, Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. Are you going to do anything for the soldiers that are in Niger right now who can’t get medicine? Yes or no?
Wormuth: Congressman certainly, we can talk to General Langley and make sure that…
Matt Gaetz: I’ve talked to General Langley. He comes in here and never has really good answers. I asked him for information about how many of the coup leaders we had trained, including in Niger, and Ghana, and Mali, and the Ivory Coast, and he didn’t even produce his I’ll report on time. So pardon me for a lack of confidence in General Langley. What I’m telling the two of you is that you have a responsibility for these soldiers in Niger. And general, you would agree with me with the premise that we should never sacrifice the well-being of our service members to avoid political embarrassment, right?
General George: Congressmen, I will tell you, I’m not tracking that somebody in Niger is not getting their medicine or their mail, but I will follow up after this.
Matt Gaetz: You don’t even know the stats of diplomatic overflights. How about the great power competition? You would If we were to train and equip missions, we would never want Russian soldiers at the US installation where we’re doing train and equip, right? That’s not even a tough question. You would agree?
General George: Yes.
Matt Gaetz: If there were Russian soldiers behind the wire at Air Base 101 in Niger, where we have soldiers doing the training and equip mission, that would concern you, wouldn’t it? Right. Well, I’m here to tell you we’ve received reports that they run out of medicine in May, that they cannot get their troop rotations. You know why you don’t know that? Because it’s a cover up. Because the US Embassy in Niger is covering it up because of Secretary Blinken’s embarrassment. Because Blinken went there in March of 2023 and said, This was the centerpiece of our Africa strategy. This was the model of resilience. Then, lo and behold, the very coup leader we trained takes over the country. Then we struggle with whether or not to call it a coup. We’ve now called it a coup. Since we’ve called it a coup, now they won’t let us get folks in and out.
And so I’m looking at what could erupt as another Bengazi. There is no mission for them to do. There is no train and equip right now with the coup leaders. So we got a bunch of people sitting around without their supplies, without their medicine. And the whole reason intelligence isn’t getting to us is because the embassy is blocking it because Blinken is humiliated that this failed.
And I’ve used my five minutes on everything in the army right now because I have constituents who are there in Niger, and they’re wondering how to get water. Did you know they can’t even get clean water? Did you know that the partner nations that we have at that base with our soldiers, the partner nations, the Italians and the Germans, they’ve stopped cooperating with us. They won’t even help us get provisions to our troops because of the status of forces agreement that we have with the government being deemed invalid. I am just a country lawyer from North Florida, but this strikes me as something the two of you should know about. I get the blank stares, but Secretary Wormuth, can I take as your commitment that you are going to leave here and you’re going to see to the well-being of these folks in Niger and that they can get the rotations and the medicine they need?
Wormuth: Certainly, I will make sure they’re getting the medicine and the water that they need. Yes, congressman.
