Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas refused to answer questions Thursday about an Afghan national accused of plotting an ISIS-inspired Election Day terror attack.
Mayorkas, 64, stonewalled a Fox News reporter who peppered him with questions about how Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi gained entry into the US, the vetting process involved and whether it is known if the 27-year-old Oklahoma City resident was radicalized before or after he arrived in the country.
“I’d be very pleased to answer your question in a different setting, but we are here to talk about emergencies and the support that we can deliver to people in desperate need,” the DHS chief responded during a virtual appearance at a White House press briefing.
The reporter noted that the DHS and the State Department have given “conflicting answers” about Tawhedi’s immigration status — with Mayorkas’ agency claiming that the alleged terrorist arrived on a Special Immigrant Visa issued by the State Department and the State Department indicating that Tawhedi was paroled into the country by DHS.
“How do you not have those answers prepared?” the reporter asked Mayorkas, who appeared irritated by the grilling.
“Oh – um – that’s not what I said,” Mayorkas responded. “What I said is I would be pleased to discuss this issue at a different time, but I am here to speak about disasters that have impacted people’s lives in real-time and that is the subject that I am addressing today.”
When asked if he could at least “assure people that appropriate steps have been taken to secure the country against these kinds of threats,” Mayorkas again failed to answer.
“Your persistence in questions can be matched by my persistence in answers,” he said, eliciting a chuckle from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Mayorkas was appearing at the briefing from North Carolina, where he was monitoring recovery efforts related to Hurricane Helene.
Tawhedi was accused by the Justice Department on Tuesday of conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS after he allegedly communicated with a terrorist facilitator, stockpiled weapons and ammunition and made efforts to sell off his family’s assets and move his relatives overseas as part of his plan to carry out an Election Day massacre.
The Afghan national entered the US on Sept. 9, 2021 — just weeks after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan and the last US troops departed from the war-torn nation in a chaotic exit orchestrated by the Harris-Biden administration.
