‘Unacceptable That the Department Accommodates This Behavior’: House Foreign Affairs Member Calls for State Dept. Briefing Over Post-Election Therapy Sessions

Agency offered ‘effective stress management techniques’ days after Trump’s win

A senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is calling for a briefing after the Biden-Harris State Department hosted a series of in-house therapy sessions in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s victory.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), who is in the running to become the committee’s next chairman, pressed the State Department to disclose how much it spent on private therapy sessions for employees grappling with Trump’s victory, according to a copy of the investigatory letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The request comes on the heels of a Free Beacon report detailing at least two therapy sessions held at the State Department in the wake of this month’s election. Sources described one informal meeting held for Near Eastern Affairs Bureau staffers as a “cry session” over Trump’s win. An agency-wide email also touted an “insightful webinar where we delve into effective stress management techniques to help you navigate these challenging times.” That webinar was held on November 8, three days after Trump’s win. Another was scheduled for November 13.

“It is disturbing that ostensibly nonpartisan government officials would suffer a personal meltdown over the results of a free and fair election, something the United States champions around the world,” Issa wrote to outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “It is unacceptable that the Department accommodates this behavior and subsidizes it with taxpayer dollars.”

“The mental health of our foreign service personnel is important,” he continued, “but the Department has no obligation to indulge and promote the leftist political predilections of its employees and soothe their frayed nerves because of the good-faith votes of—and at the personal expense of—the American taxpayers.”

Issa also pressed the State Department to provide information about the materials used during the therapy session and detail “the agenda” behind them. Issa wants to know if any similar sessions were held for U.S. diplomats stationed abroad and if the State Department has “held similar sessions in the past.”

“I am concerned that the Department is catering to federal employees who are personally devastated by the normal functioning of American democracy through the provision of government-funded mental health counseling because Kamala Harris was not elected President of the United States,” Issa wrote.

The seemingly partisan nature of the therapy sessions suggests that career State Department employees who are upset over Trump’s win will not be able to faithfully carry out their duties when Trump takes office, according to Issa.

“The mere fact that the Department is hosting these sessions raises significant questions about the willingness of its personnel to implement the lawful policy priorities that the American people elected President Trump to pursue and implement,” he wrote. “If foreign service officers cannot follow through on the American people’s preferences, they should resign and seek a political appointment in the next Democrat administration.”

One U.S. official with knowledge of the sessions said that during the Biden-Harris administration’s term in office, “there has been an overemphasis on people’s feelings, often with a college campus-like fervor, rather than the work of advancing America’s interests.”

The State Department did not respond to a request for comment on Issa’s probe.