GOP senators rip Saudi crown prince after CIA chief's briefing
US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Gina Haspel has briefed Senate leaders on the death of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who several Senators believe was killed at the order of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
Haspel briefed members of the Foreign Relations, Armed Services and Appropriations committees on Tuesday.
Following the briefing, two Republican senators said they were more certain than ever that bin Salman was culpable in the killing of Khashoggi.
"You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS," Senator Lindsay Graham told reporters.
"He murdered him. ...No question in my mind," retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said of the Saudi crown prince. "I had almost no question before, I have no question whatsoever now."
US Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week briefed the whole Senate on US-Saudi relations in the wake of the murder of Khashoggi, who was killed after entering the Saudi consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul on October 2.
The senators, however, found the presentation unconvincing and were also upset at the CIA chief’s absence. The lawmakers wanted to directly hear from her the CIA’s opinion on the Khashoggi death.
The CIA has reportedly concluded that bin Salman ordered the killing.
US President Donald Trump has so far resisted growing calls from both sides of the isle in Congress for a strong response to Khashoggi’s murder, arguing that doing so would endanger deep financial and political ties between the two sides and push Riyadh towards Russia.
Trump’s reluctance to go after bin Salman became clearer after he undermined the CIA assessment that the prince was indeed aware of the murder, despite Riyadh’s denials.
But the biggest reason is perhaps the risk that losing Saudi Arabia’s services would pose to Israel, Trump has admitted.
A top Democratic senator said on Sunday the United States should maintain its strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia while he held bin Salman responsible for the murder.
Senator Ben Cardin said he had no doubt that the Saudi crown prince, also known as MBS, was involved in the murder of Khashoggi.
But the Trump administration has publicly pushed back on those claims. Pompeo told reporters following the Senate briefing that there is no “direct reporting” connecting MBS to the killing.
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