‘Reprehensible’: CNN Analyst Slams Democratic Rep. Moulton And Republican Rep. Meijer For Unauthorized ‘Instagram Trip’ To Kabul

CNN counter-terror analyst Phil Mudd had harsh words Wednesday for Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton and Republican Michigan Rep. Peter Meijer.

Mudd joined “New Day” anchors John Berman and Brianna Keilar to discuss the ongoing situation in Afghanistan, and the topic turned to Moulton and Meijer’s unauthorized trip to Kabul. (RELATED: Two House Lawmakers Secretly Travel To Kabul Amid Frantic Evacuations)

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“They are two veterans who say they want to go on a fact finding mission,” Berman said of Moulton and Meijer. “It’s been sharply criticized by people inside the administration, who called it everything from unhelpful to basically outrageous. I wonder what your view of it is.”

“Reprehensible,” Mudd replied. “‘Sharply criticized’ is too polite.”

Mudd went on to say that if the president — who is responsible for American national security above all else — had determined the situation was so dangerous that the military should withdraw, there was no excuse for members of Congress to take matters into their own hands and go anyway.

“So two members of Congress, without the support of their leadership, decide that they’re going to bypass Disneyland and take an Instagram trip to Afghanistan because they want some eye candy for a bunch of constituents,” Mudd continued. “If I were Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy, I would see this as a chance for bipartisanship. Both those guys, on their committees, out. Done.”

Mudd went on to suggest that Moulton and Meijer may have taken seats that could have been filled by Americans or Afghan refugees who still needed to be evacuated.

“What happens to the two refugees who didn’t get those seats? What do you tell them?” he asked.

Mudd concluded by saying that the only thing anyone appeared to have learned rom the trip was that starting the evacuation process earlier would have ensured that more people could get out safely.

“John, I can do oversight from Memphis and give you that. Reprehensible. They ought to go from their committees,” he said.

“Look, I think there are more questions to follow about it, but Moulton and Meijer say they were actually on a plane where there were empty seats and that they were in crew seats,” Keilar pushed back, adding that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had also criticized the pair for traveling to Kabul without authorization.

Moulton had been advocating for an expedited Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) process — which would have allowed the evacuations to begin much earlier — for months before U.S. troops withdrew and Taliban fighters took control of the country.