Two congressmen say they secretly traveled to Afghanistan amid ongoing U.S. evacuation efforts

A bipartisan duo of House lawmakers said that they secretly visited Kabul, Afghanistan amid the chaos currently unfolding as the U.S. scrambles to evacuate citizens and others from that country.

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), who are both veterans, issued a joint statement regarding their trip.

"As Members of Congress, we have a duty to provide oversight on the executive branch. There is no place in the world right now where oversight matters more. We conducted this visit in secret, speaking about it only after our departure, to minimize the risk and disruption to the people on the ground, and because we were there to gather information, not to grandstand. We left on a plane with empty seats, seated in crew-only seats to ensure that nobody who needed a seat would lose one because of our presence," the lawmakers noted.