U.S. Rep. Stephanie Bice, D-Okla., said the Biden administration prevented the FBI from fulfilling her request for a briefing on the arrest of an Afghan man accused of planning a terrorist attack on Election Day.
In a letter dated Friday to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Bice said the FBI fully supported her request until the Justice Department stepped in.
“When my office requested additional information and a briefing on this matter from the Department of Justice, my request was denied by the administration,” she wrote. “What does the Biden-Harris Justice Department have to hide here?
Afghan Man in Oklahoma Planned Election Day Terrorist Attack on Us in the Name of ISIS, Says Department of Justice
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi was arrested this week on suspicion of participating in a terrorist plot in support of the Islamic State. (Department of Justice)
“As longtime residents of Oklahoma City, our community still vividly remembers the bitter memory of April 19, 1995.” – added Bice, referring to the bombing of the federal building. Alfred P. Murrah in downtown Oklahoma City, where 168 people died, including 19 children.
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Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., speaks during a news conference in Washington (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Nasir Ahmad TawhediA 27-year-old Oklahoma resident was arrested this week in connection with an alleged terrorist plot for the Islamic State. He arrived in the United States a month after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) withdrew American troops from Afghanistan on humanitarian parole, not on a special immigrant visa as the Department of Justice initially stated.
The mechanism by which Tawhedi entered the country is particularly sensitive because the DHS inspector general has raised concerns about Operation Allies Welcome, a program under which the agency paroled Afghan refugees into the country, bypassing the State Department's longer and more stringent vetting process for the program. special immigrant visa or SIV.
DHS OIG ERRORS IN AFGHAN WEBSITE WARNS THAT NATIONAL SECURITY THREATS MAY HAVE ARRIVED US
In 2022, the DHS Office of the Inspector General released a report that found that officials “did not always have critical data to properly screen, verify, or inspect evacuees.”
As a result, “DHS may have admitted to the United States or paroled individuals who pose a threat to national security and the safety of local communities,” the report says. Tawhedi worked for the CIA as a security guard in Afghanistan.
Investigators say they believe Tawhedi was radicalized after arriving in the United States
Though he came to the United States on humanitarian parole, which SIV later applied for and was approved, a senior Biden administration official told Fox News.
Photo of Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi and his children from July (Department of Justice)
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The administration maintains that Tawhedi was subjected to multiple rounds of review and that no red flags were detected.
“The unsealed criminal complaint against Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi raises ongoing concerns about the fallout from the administration's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and inadequate vetting of evacuees,” Bice wrote.
