Congress Splits With President Trump Over Saudi Arabia and Missing Journalist

So how is President Trump proceeding with all the new information surrounding the disappearance, and apparent murder of Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi?

According to some lawmakers, his response has been less than encouraging.

To be clear, most of Washington has held a “chilly” view of Saudi Arabia, ever since the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens.

Still, Team Trump has taken a more favorable view of the kingdom, and in particular, the royal family, since Trump son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, has been given the lead in that area.

Kushner and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince have cultivated a cozy relationship (Probably not at all related to Kushner’s desperate need for foreign funds to prop up his family business).

President Trump’s current attitude towards the macabre details range from defending the Saudis to an information blackout.

He had initially stated that if the Saudis were involved in Khashoggi’s disappearance, that there would be repercussions.

Khashoggi was a Saudi citizen who had taken refuge in the United States and was often critical of the Saudi royal family and their policies, writing a monthly column for the Washington Post.

He disappeared on October 2, after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, in order to pick up paperwork concerning his divorce from his first wife.

The reports from the Turkish government are that upon entering the consulate, he was set upon by 15 Saudi agents, including a doctor responsible for autopsies for the Saudi government.

Those agents had all arrived in Istanbul hours before Khashoggi’s appointment at the consulate, on separate flights. They all left hours afterwards.

Meanwhile, a mass cleaning of the consulate apparently began after their departure, along with a rumored fresh coat of interior paint in the Consul General’s office, where Turkish officials claim Khashoggi’s murder-by-dismemberment occurred.

For all the problems and conflict that exists within our own government and the warring political parties, we have yet to see partisanship rise to the level of one party attacking a member of the other party, or critics of the party by cutting them into pieces, while they were still alive.

When you consider the type of people who would sanction such a grisly end of someone, simply because that someone criticized their politics, do you think these are the people we should be making deals with? Are they reliable or trustworthy?

President Trump and his supporters think so. At the very least, they don’t want to blow up the $100 billion arms deal the United States has struck with the Saudi government.

You’re looking into the face of hell on earth and for the sake of money, say it’s worth the risk.

That doesn’t mean Congress are A-OK with the arrangement. It would appear that some in Washington actually do possess a gag reflex and the scraps of conscience that spur them to speak up.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham pointed out on Tuesday who he felt was responsible.

Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is one of Trump’s most stalwart allies in Congress, called Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, “toxic” and a “wrecking ball” in an interview on “Fox and Friends” on Tuesday.

“Nothing happens in Saudi Arabia without MBS knowing it,” Graham said.

“This is not rogue killers,” Graham said Tuesday on Fox News radio. “This is a rogue crown prince.”

That would be the same Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that senior adviser Jared Kushner is so cozy with, and some say, maintains a backchannel line of communication with, via a communication app on his phone called WhatsApp.

Other Republican lawmakers are chiming in, as well.

Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said last week that “there will have to be significant sanctions placed at the highest levels” if Khashoggi was killed in the consulate. Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, has said he’ll seek a vote to block future arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Senator Todd Young, an Indiana Republican, tweeted Wednesday “The Khashoggi murder and actions in Yemen are both part of a pattern of immoral and reckless behavior by Saudi Arabia.” Young penned an op-ed with Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen in the Washington Post last month to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for contributing to the war in Yemen.

Some have mentioned the Magnitsky Act, a 2016 bit of legislation that gives the administration 120 days to respond to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, regarding possibly applying sanctions against those responsible for human rights violations.

And speaking of Senator Corker, he’s got some pretty serious concerns about the administration’s handling of this issue.

Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told The Washington Post that the administration had “clamped down” on sharing intelligence about Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi government who has been missing for more than two weeks.

“I can only surmise that probably the intel is not painting a pretty picture as it relates to Saudi Arabia,” Corker told The Post.

Corker added that the administration canceled an intelligence briefing scheduled for Tuesday and that he was told additional information would not  be shared with the Senate at this time, a development he described as “disappointing.”

Disappointing, indeed, but not unexpected, given what we know about how the Trump’s handle these issues.

Also, there’s all the personal financial entanglements to consider.

 Trump said in a tweet on Tuesday that he “just spoke” with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince “who totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate.” Trump also touted a denial from the Saudi king the previous day.

And in an interview with The Associated Press he likened the global outcry against Saudi Arabia to the controversy surrounding Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault during his confirmation process.

“Here we go again with, you know, you’re guilty until proven innocent. I don’t like that,” Trump told the AP.

It’s not the same thing.

At all.

Trump has further indicated that U.S. officials have requested copies of any video or audio of the event from the Turkish government, but added that he doubts any such recordings exist.

Because of course he does.