During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing earlier this month, Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) questioned USAID head Samantha Power about Israel's war in Gaza.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 I recognize the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. McCormick.
00:04 Thank you, Mr. Chair.
00:07 War is a horrible thing, and dealing with humanitarian aid during the fog of war and
00:11 the stresses that go with that, I just admire your efforts in that regard.
00:16 I know that's a difficult thing, especially in a politically charged environment, to add
00:20 to that.
00:22 With that said, some interesting things came up that I kind of want to clarify with some
00:26 statements you've made in the past.
00:28 The Washington Post reported that in January of this year, while you were giving a speech
00:31 on climate change, a former employee of USAID interrupted you regarding the current conflict
00:38 of Israel, in Israel, saying, "You wrote a book on genocide.
00:42 You were still working for the administration.
00:44 You should resign and speak out."
00:45 Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to insert this Washington Post article titled "USAID's
00:54 Samantha Power Genocide Scholars Confronted by Staff on Gaza."
00:58 To the record, please, without objection.
01:02 Thank you.
01:03 According to the same article, you thanked her for her comments and stated that more
01:06 than 25,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict.
01:10 That number came from the Gaza Ministry of Health, which Hamas controls.
01:17 Did you agree with the heckler's premise that Israel's fight against Hamas constitutes genocide?
01:22 Yes or no?
01:25 I think every country has a right to defend itself, and Israel certainly has a right to
01:34 defend itself.
01:35 Hamas still seeks to eliminate Israelis.
01:39 I just visited Kibbutz Berri, where more than 100 people were killed on October 7th.
01:45 So I think that right to pursue Hamas is clear.
01:51 I also think pursuing Hamas in a manner that looks out for civilians, where they provide
01:57 humanitarian access in sufficient amounts is imperative as well.
02:01 So do you believe – I'm going to restate the question just to make sure I understand
02:04 – do you believe the way that Israel's fighting against Hamas, does that constitute
02:08 genocide, yes or no?
02:09 Again, I'm not going to answer yes or no questions like that.
02:12 I'm going to do my job, which is focusing on getting humanitarian assistance to people
02:16 who need it.
02:17 Okay.
02:18 Fair enough.
02:19 The person who confronted you is not the only USAID employee who thinks this way.
02:22 In November, hundreds of your employees signed a letter calling for a ceasefire.
02:26 And I was in Afghanistan, and I realized the USMC, which governs military action, is a
02:32 little bit different than everybody else.
02:34 But for example, I couldn't, as a military noncombatant, an ER physician in Afghanistan,
02:39 it would probably be inappropriate for me to write a letter to the President saying
02:43 I think we should have a ceasefire in Afghanistan, to say the least.
02:46 Do you think it's appropriate for USAID workers to do the same kind of thing, where
02:50 they basically sign letters stating an opinion rather than doing their job, basically taking
02:57 a political stance?
02:58 I mean, I have no evidence that they're not doing their jobs, as you noted.
03:03 So it is appropriate.
03:04 We're dealing with a '75 crisis.
03:05 Whether it's – we have a dissent channel, we have a direct channel for a reason.
03:09 I benefit from hearing from staff.
03:11 I get criticized all the time.
03:14 Sometimes I think the criticisms are valid, and sometimes I learn something about how
03:19 what I'm doing is perceived or how what the Biden administration is doing is perceived.
03:23 And I would note that, again, we've had internal traffic, maybe not of that magnitude,
03:28 but also on Afghanistan.
03:29 I've got to move quickly because I only have a minute and a half left.
03:34 So I appreciate your candor on that.
03:36 There was an article last month titled "Top Biden Advisor Reveals He Confronted Netanyahu"
03:42 and then quoted you as their health care summit where you said that you asked Prime Minister
03:46 Netanyahu to improve compliance with international humanitarian law.
03:50 Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to insert this Washington Post article titled "Top
03:56 Biden Advisor Reveals She Confronted Netanyahu" into the record.
04:00 Without objection.
04:01 Okay.
04:02 Could you please give us specific instances of violations of international humanitarian
04:06 law on Israel's part?
04:07 First of all, I did not say that I confronted, but I had on my trip really important, extensive
04:16 discussions about the need to improve de-confliction.
04:21 You have any violation of international humanitarian law by Israel?
04:25 Can I just again just finish the point?
04:27 I got 38 seconds.
04:28 I understand, but you've asked a question.
04:31 Civilians and humanitarians are dying in very, very large numbers, including most recently
04:35 the World Central Kitchen strike.
04:36 So is Israel violating international law?
04:38 To improve the ability to keep civilians safe and to allow humanitarians to do their job
04:43 as the World Central Kitchen strike indicated.
04:45 Okay.
04:46 So I'm going to go ahead and I got to finish up because I'm running out of time here real
04:50 quickly.
04:51 The White House National Security Communication Advisor John Kirby said that the State Department
04:55 had not found any instances where the Israel has violated international humanitarian law.
05:02 Who's wrong and who's right here?
05:05 There's conflicting articles based on two officials of the Biden administration who
05:10 seem to think that either Israel is conducting an unjust war or they're not in violation.
05:16 I'm just trying to confuse and I think maybe if we're going to make political statements,
05:21 whether it be by your employees or yourself, it starts to confound the problem of getting
05:25 your job done.
05:26 And I think your job is very important.
05:27 Don't get me wrong.
05:28 I think what you're doing is incredibly important and we need to take care of innocent noncombatants
05:32 that are being starved, if you will, or not getting the service they need to.
05:36 But I just want to make sure we have a unified process going forward rather than contradictory
05:40 statements by political people that don't seem to have their act together when it comes
05:45 to unifying response.
05:46 Thank you.
05:47 With that, I have to yield.