WASHINGTON -- Congressional Republicans on Sunday expressed disagreement with President Donald Trump over his defense of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who the CIA believes ordered the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
"I disagree with the president's assessment," Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press. "It's inconsistent with the intelligence I've seen. ... The intelligence I've seen suggests that this was ordered by the crown prince."
Lee has split with Trump in the past over the U.S. policy on Saudi Arabia, particularly the U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition's military campaign in Yemen. Human-rights groups say the Saudi role has contributed significantly to what the United Nations recently assessed as the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe.
But even some of those who have sided with Trump in the past have begun to tire of his steadfast defense of Mohammed in the face of evidence of human-rights abuses and U.S. intelligence's high-confidence assessment implicating the prince in Khashoggi's October killing.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, speaking on CNN's State of the Union, acknowledged that Saudi Arabia was a "great strategic partner" but added that the United States' commitment to human rights and the rule of law requires Congress "absolutely to consider further action."
In the House, Democrats are promising to tackle the Khashoggi matter when they take over the majority next year -- and are questioning whether Trump's defense of the crown prince is motivated by self-interest.
"Is his personal financial interest driving U.S. policy in the gulf, is it driving U.S. policy vis-a-vis the Russians? We don't know, but it would be irresponsible not to find out," Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat and expected new chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on State of the Union, accusing Trump of being "dishonest" about the crown prince's involvement.
"It telegraphs to despots around the world they can murder people with impunity and that this president will have their back as long as they praise him, as long as they do business with him potentially," Schiff added. "That cannot be the guiding principle behind our foreign policy."
Other Democrats questioned whether Trump simply had a soft spot for despots.
"Why does Trump have such an affinity for murderous autocrats? He defends Vladimir Putin of Russia, fell in love w/ Kim Jong Un of N Korea, admires Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines & now refuses to accept CIA findings that the Saudi Crown Prince ordered #JamalKhashoggi's murder," Rep. Maxine Waters of California, the ranking Democrat and expected new chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, tweeted Sunday.
Both Waters and Schiff will be in a position to closely scrutinize Trump's financial links to Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments next year.
A Section on 11/26/2018