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(WASHINGTON) – Senators who worry more and more about the US response to Saudi Arabia after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi are about to grill Wednesday's highs Administration officials at an in camera meeting that could determine just how much Congress will punish the long ally is.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that a "sort of response" was imposing on the United States for the role of the Saudis in this horrific death. While President Donald Trump has asked who is to blame, the Senate plans to vote as early as this week to end the US's involvement in the Saudi government's war in Yemen.
"What has obviously happened, as the CIA proves, is totally odious for everything that is expensive in the United States and represents the world," McConnell said on Tuesday. "We are discussing what the appropriate answer would be."
Much will depend on what senators hear from Defense Secretaries Jim Mattis and Mike Pompeo. Administration officials were able to block a Senate effort earlier this year against the Yemeni-backed conflict in Saudi Arabia. Senators are outraged by the administration's reaction to the killing of Khashoggi, and are particularly upset that no one from the intelligence community is attending Wednesday's briefing.
Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, one of 10 Democrats who refused to join previous efforts against the Saudis, said Tuesday that he was reviewing his position.
"Things have changed," Manchin said. "The problem with Khashoggi is very worrying. That's not what we are as a country. This is not what we should have as allies and do not condemn that. "
Senator Democrat Senate Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey will likely support the Yemen resolution, and another key panel member, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., Said it was " inclined "to support it now" he was to be put to the vote.
Senators are hammered by outside groups who broadcast ads and urge them to act.
"What I would say to the administration is that in one way or another, there must be a price to pay for what happened," said committee chair Senator Bob Corker. , R-Tenn.
"My feeling is that unless something happens – where they share what they're going to do to remedy this unfairness that has occurred – I have the impression that people will vote to pbad the bill. "
The resolution of Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., And Mike Lee, R-Utah, had only six votes before being pbaded earlier this year. It drew a mix of Democrats and Republicans who worried about US involvement in the Saudi-led campaign against the Houthis, Iran-backed rebels in Yemen, in a war that, according to human rights defenders, indiscriminately bombs civilians and wreaks havoc in the country. .
It was well before the death of Khashoggi, the US-trained journalist and public critic against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on October 2.
Khashoggi was killed in what US officials described as an elaborate conspiracy at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, which he had visited for marriage papers. US intelligence concluded that the Crown Prince should at least know the plot, but the CIA's findings were not made public.
Trump said that one could never know who was responsible for the murder and in the public comment – and in a long and unusual statement last week – the president has reinforced the long-standing alliance of the United States with the Saudis. Trump praised an impending arms deal with the kingdom, which he said will give the United States lucrative jobs and pay, although some external badessments indicate that the economic benefits are exaggerated.
Several GOP Senators, including key allies Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky, have publicly questioned Trump's behavior on this issue. Paul is trying to block the sale of weapons.
"If you do not draw the line here, where do you draw it?" Graham asked reporters on Tuesday. He, too, supports the blockage of arms sales and says that giving the crown prince "having murdered a critic does not make the world a safer place."
The resolution only needs a simple majority to move forward, but a vote is not certain this week. He could initiate a process to amend the bill that could last several days in the Senate.
Kate Kizer, policy director of the Win Without War advocacy group, said the pressure on senators is "working".
In a teleconference with reporters, Sarah Margon, director of Human Rights Watch in Washington, said that Khashoggi's death had "drawn attention to the brutality" of the Saudi regime, prompting Congress to take action.
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