Oklahoma Republican Congressman Markwayne Mullin twice tried to travel to Afghanistan with a large amount of cash in an attempt to rescue five Americans in Afghanistan but was rebuffed by an ambassador and the Pentagon, the Washington Post reports.

A former professional mixed-martial arts fighter, Mullin contacted the US embassy in Tajikistan on Monday saying he was in the Georgian capital of Tblisi with a large pile of cash.  He wanted the embassy staff to help him violate Georgian law to get the cash into the nation; from there, he said, he was going to hire a helicopter to get a woman and four children out of Afghanistan.  The embassy staff refused his request.

One week earlier, Mullin was in Greece, where he demanded the Pentagon give him permission to fly to Afghanistan.  The Pentagon refused his request, which came after the unauthorized showboating trip to Kabul by Reps. Seth Moulton (D-Mass) and Peter Meijer (R-Mich). 

Mullin reported exploded at the embassy staffers in Tajikistan who rebuffed him, demanding to know their names and threatening U.S. ambassador John Mark Pommersheim.  Mullin’s whereabouts are currently unknown, and his Congressional staff does not have information on his location.

His staff, however, released a statement Monday night reportedly from the Congressman, who never served in the military:  “This is a sad day for our country.  Americans have been stranded in Afghanistan by the Biden Administration and are now left to defend themselves from terrorists overrunning the country. One motto of our military is ‘leave no man behind.’ But today, that’s exactly what President Biden did.”

Contrary to Mullin’s statement, no member of the US military is still in Afghanistan after the Pentagon announced its final flight out of the country.