Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy said Tuesday that Afghan interpreters could see a violent end if the U.S. doesn't move to get them evacuated amid the pull-out, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned that Afghanistan was 'unraveling.'
Leahy appeared on MSNBC Tuesday morning and talked about why he included funding to help Afghan refugees in a larger $3.7 billion emergency spending bill that also includes funding for the Capitol Police.
'If they're not given refugee status, we're going to see pictures of them lined up against the wall and machine-gunned,' the Vermont Democrat said, saying he feared violence at the hands of the Taliban. 'That's not an exaggeration.'
Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, said he feared Afghan interpreters would be 'lined up against the wall and machine-gunned' by the Taliban
In the interview he noted 'both Donald Trump and Joe Biden wanted to withdraw from Afghanistan.'
'Now we're finally doing it,' he added.
Leahy explained to MSNBC's Hallie Jackson that he included money for Afghans in the bill because the clock was ticking.
'We can sit in the safety of the Senate chamber and talk back and forth. We're not the ones facing those bullets,' he said.
'If your life is in danger, you're going to be shot, you don't want to wait for parliamentary maneuvers in the U.S. Senate, you want to get it done,' Leahy added.
In a speech last Thursday and in previous public statements about Afghanistan, Biden partially justified the pull-out because Trump had already struck a withdrawal deal and he said he believed American troops would be targeted by the Taliban if he went back on it.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, seen speaking to reporters on Tuesday, said on the Senate floor that 'Afghanistan is unraveling'
But that hardly means the move has been given a bipartisan blessing.
McConnell, the chamber's top Republican, lambasted the move in a
