ICYMI: Hawley Chairs Judiciary Hearing Uncovering Biden Administration’s Failure in Afghan Vetting Process

ICMYI: Hawley Chairs Judiciary Hearing Uncovering Biden Administration's Failure in Afghan Vetting Process

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) chaired a hearing on the Biden Administration's failure to properly vet Afghan nationals, leading to the shooting of two national guardsmen in Washington, D.C. in November. During the hearing, Senator Hawley exposed that millions of taxpayer dollars were funneled through non-profit organizations with known terrorist ties.

Senator Hawley asked Craig Adelman, the Deputy Inspector General of the Office of Audits, "In 2022, your office found that President Biden's DHS allowed some Afghans into the country before they were fully vetted, including, if I remember correctly, one who had been liberated from prison by the Taliban. Do I have have that correct?"

"That's correct," Adelman replied.

Senator Hawley continued, "So, you investigated the vetting process. Did you find that the Biden administration's DHS had a formal vetting process in place that they followed carefully?"

Adelman answered, "The Department could not provide us with a formal screening and vetting process at the start of the OAW (Operation Allies Welcome) process."

Senator Hawley questioned, "Did the Biden administration require Afghans to to show identification at ports of entry?"

"We found over 30,000 did not have formal identification," responded Adelman.

Senator Hawley went on to question Julie Marzouk, Principal and Founder of Marzouk Evolve Advocacy Consulting, "How is it that money, taxpayer money, ends up in the hands of an organization, multiple organizations, that have terrorist affiliations?"

Marzouk replied, "I think there's plenty of fault to go around. The first should lie with the terrorist supporting nonprofit that presents itself as a legitimate civil rights organization…the Council of American Islamic Relations - CAIR."

The Senator asked, "So this is a group that you say has ties to terrorism?"

"They were an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation," said Marzouk. "In that trial, the wiretap from the 1993 meeting in which CAIR was founded was brought into the federal public record in that meeting, they specifically state that they are going to present themselves as a legitimate civil rights organization while furthering the mission of Hamas."

Hawley continued, "So you have an American court, an American court proceeding that finds that this entity has direct ties to Hamas, may be part of a Hamas funding network, that they're getting money. How much money did they get from the federal government to shepherd Afghan parolees?"

Marsouk answered, "It's very hard to track the funding because some state fiscal oversight portals show it more clearly than others. I can say with certainty that in California, they received $15 million. In the state of Washington, they received more than a million dollars. And I can say also that an affiliate of CAIR, which is called ICNA, the Islamic center for North America, which has its own documented ties to extremism and terrorism, was also sub granted $1 million."

Senator Hawley concluded, "We need to find out where this money has gone. This is a scandal. This is corruption, and we've got to figure out how taxpayer money has ended up in the hands of yet another organization with terrorist attacks."

Watch the full hearing here.

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