CIA Director Gina Haspel met with Republican and Democratic leaders from the Senate Foreign Relations, Armed Services, and Appropriations committee on Tuesday to discuss the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, with many Senators departing the meeting to say they believed the Saudi crown prince was complicit in the killing, according to The Washington Post.
A number of Republican and Democratic lawmakers said the evidence presented by Haspel after a previous briefing with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis included information which "overwhelmingly" pointed to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's involvement in the murder and disappearance of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in early October.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said even though there was no smoking gun, there was a "smoking saw," referring to how investigators said the Saudi team used such a device to dismember Khashoggi.
Graham said the United States should come down on Riyadh like "a ton of bricks" and said he could no longer support arms sales to the Middle Eastern ally as long as MBS was in charge.
Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) said, “If the Crown Prince went in front of a jury, he would be convicted in 30 minutes."
Corker said one would have to be "willfully blind" to ignore the evidence of the crown prince's involvement after Haspel detailed the agency's findings in the ongoing investigation.
Haspel faced criticism after she did not join Mattis and Pompeo last week to fully explain the CIA's findings, which some said was at the request of the White House since President Donald Trump has said the intelligence did not conclusively show Mohammed was involved in the murder.
But many Republican Senators put themselves against that belief on Tuesday after the closed-door meeting with Haspel.
The CIA previously concluded the crown prince likely ordered the killing after receiving intercepted communications involving him and a key aide, who is said to have overseen the team sent to Istanbul which killed Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate.
Haspel and the CIA also analyzed other intercepted communications, listened to audio recordings provided by Turkish intelligence agencies from inside the consulate, and other forms of evidence.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) objected to the closed-door meeting only involving Senate leadership positions.
“I can’t even ask to be included in it because I didn’t know it was going to happen, except for reading about it in the media. That’s not the way it should be. She should have come and testified in front of all senators,” Sen. Paul said. “If you have some senators who are more equal than others, that is not democratic representation.”
The Senate is also preparing to begin debate on a resolution which would withdraw U.S. support for the Saudi military campaign in Yemen, which has killed more than 10,000 and has prompted millions of Yemenis to face potential famine.
The Senate voted to take up a resolution last week which would end support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi rebels in Yemen, with 14 Republicans joining with Democrats to take the major step forward last week.
The vote was seen as a warning to President Trump, who has taken a muted tone with Riyadh over the Khashoggi killing, as a call for him to openly condemn Mohammed or withhold arms sales to the Saudis.
-WN.com, Maureen Foody
Photo:
AP / J. Scott Applewhite