GOP rep. in Israel says he’s doing ‘Biden’s job’

Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) said he is in Israel “doing Biden’s job” as he helps Americans escape the country that has been deluged by fighting in recent days.

“The Biden administration — again, weakness invites aggression, and Iran, China, Russia, North Korea, they’re preying upon this weakness in the White House, this weakness in this administration, their priorities on wokeness as opposed to freedoms and safeties of Americans,” Mills said on “The Ingraham Angle,” Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show. “And I can tell you right now, as an elected official, I’m not going to stand for it. And if I had to come over here and do Biden’s job, so be it.”

Mills said he and his team are conducting ground evacuations to aid Americans in getting back to the United States, adding that many Americans have not heard back from the State Department about getting out of Israel. He said there’s a “high possibility” that there are “large swaths” of Americans spread across the country.

“Many of which are scared, or in some cases, the elderly don’t have the ability or the mobility to actually be able to move to those airports. And so we’re looking at ways to be able to continue to go in there, pick them up and run the routes and get them to safety. But unfortunately, once again, the State Department is playing everything on a hope and a prayer and no real strategy,” Mills said.

Mills’s office said he helped 32 Americans evacuate Israel on Wednesday, and he is hoping to make another trip Thursday.

Mills, an Army veteran who also worked as a defense contractor, previously assisted with the withdrawal of refugees from Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrawal in 2021. He is working with the same team that assisted with those evacuations, his office said.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Wednesday that the United States is exploring its options for evacuating Americans from Israel but did not expand on what those alternative solutions may be.

The State Department confirmed Wednesday that at least 22 American citizens have died as a result of the ongoing violence in Israel and is urging Americans to “reconsider travel” to the country. The White House also said that it has determined that 17 Americans are unaccounted for in Israel, but it’s unclear how many of those may be held hostage by Hamas.