Saudi crown prince 'ordered, monitored' killing of Khashoggi, Corker says - CNN

Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN after a briefing with Haspel that the prince, known as MBS, "ordered, monitored, the killing" of the father of four. He "owns it," Corker told CNN.

"If he (MBS) were in front of a jury, he would be convicted of murder in about 30 minutes," Corker said.

Corker was one of several lawmakers who emerged from a small briefing with the CIA director appearing convinced of the prince's responsibility for the killing. The murder has become a lightning rod, dividing the White House and a usually supportive Republican-led Senate.

'High confidence'

After Haspel's briefing, the groundswell of certainty and disgust will likely complicate the administration's efforts to protect both the prince and its relationship with Saudi Arabia, even as lawmakers remain divided about how to respond.

The White House's staunch defense of Saudi Arabia is "backfiring right now, because it's so at odds with the intelligence," said Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and CNN contributor.

That disconnect has created a backlash on Capitol Hill, and is now fueling calls for Haspel to brief the full Senate after her meeting with a limited number of lawmakers.

"I left the briefing with high confidence that my initial confidence is correct," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, who said he is highly confident that the prince is responsible for the murder.

The Virginia resident disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. After several weeks of changing explanations, the Saudi government finally admitted that his killing was premeditated and carried out by a team of government officials, many within the prince's inner circle.

Several of those men have been sentenced to death. Saudi officials continue to deny the prince's involvement, blaming rogue operators.

'A smoking saw'

The Trump administration has argued there is no "smoking gun" tying the prince to the murder, but Corker said Haspel presented the senators with information they hadn't heard before.

"He murdered him," Corker said. "No question in my mind. I had almost no question before the briefing. I have no question now."

"There's not a smoking gun," said Graham, who then referred to reports that the Saudi team included a forensic expert who arrived with equipment to dismember Khashoggi's body. "There's a smoking saw," Graham said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary James Mattis traveled to Capitol Hill last week without Haspel for a closed-door briefing on Yemen for Senate lawmakers at which they emphasized the strategic importance of the US-Saudi relationship and defended the administration's response to Khashoggi's murder.

A hard core view

Pompeo said after the briefing that there was "no direct reporting" that connected the prince to the killing. The CIA has concluded that the crown prince personally ordered Khashoggi's killing, according to a senior US official and a source familiar with the matter.

Their rationalizations were "lame," said Boot. "I think Pompeo and Mattis will come to regret serving as an apologist for Saudi Arabia," he said. "One of the major mistakes the administration is making, is that they equate MBS with Saudi Arabia," he said, and seem to believe "the entire relationship depends on MBS."

Aaron David Miller, a vice president at the nonpartisan Wilson Center, said President Donald Trump's insistence on highly personalized diplomacy might be behind the administration's staunch defense of the prince.

The White House has "a hardcore view that they want nothing to come between the fact that MBS is a reformer in their mind," Miller said. "Maybe, but he's also created a regime that's one of the most repressive and ruthless in Saudi history" and a "force for instability" in the region.

'She has pissed off everybody'

Haspel did not respond to CNN's questions as she left the briefing about whether the briefing would satisfy senators' concerns.

She briefed about a dozen US senators and many of them said on leaving that all their colleagues should be able to hear the same information. "Absolutely," Sen. Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, told CNN. He later added in a statement that "every Senator should hear what I heard this afternoon. CIA Director Haspel must brief the full Senate immediately."

Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican who was not part of the briefing, said that "by the director choosing to meet with some, but not others, congratulations to her, she has pissed off everybody."

The CIA had already concluded with high confidence that the prince was behind the murder, and senators said Haspel provided a much more fulsome briefing than the one they got from the Cabinet officials, including new evidence.

Much more information

"Oh, there was much more information," Durbin said. "I went in believing the crown prince was directly responsible or at least complicit in this and my feeling was strengthened by the information."

Asked if the prince is responsible for Khashoggi's death, Durbin answered with one word: "Yes."

Kennedy, Graham and Durbin were among those who said the briefing reaffirmed their determination to act. Graham told CNN said that he and a bipartisan group of senators are working on a bill to target the kingdom and hope it can be on the floor by Monday.

Lawmakers are still debating how to respond. Some would like to limit US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen or stop arms sales to the kingdom. Others would like to sanction the prince directly, while some suggest a formal Senate statement that the prince is to blame.

Corker told CNN that the risk of the US not responding is that "what happens over time is leaders around world think they can get away with" punishing and killing dissidents.

In November, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill to ensure congressional oversight of US policy on Yemen, push for a peaceful settlement there and demand accountability for the journalist's murder.

'Crazy' crown prince

And last week, the Senate overwhelming advanced a joint resolution that would halt US military support for the Saudi-led coalition's war in Yemen pursuant to the War Powers Resolution.

Graham said the United States should come down like a "ton of bricks" on the Saudis, adding that he can no longer do business with Saudi Arabia and "cannot support arm sales to Saudi Arabia" if the "crazy" crown prince is still running the country.

Some senators emphasized the need to find a balanced response. "We have to figure out a way to condemn the butchery and the murder in the strongest possible terms without blowing up the Middle East," Kennedy of Louisiana said. "That's what the Senate needs help on and I am open to all suggestions on how to do that."

Miller of the Wilson Center told CNN that "we can maintain a relationship with the Saudis, but we do not have to agree with the Saudis on everything ... we have to make it clear when our interests and values depart from theirs and sadly, even tragically, we're not doing that now."

CNN's Annie Grayer, Clare Foran, Sarah Mucha, David Siegel and Zach Cohen contributed to this report.

Let's block ads! (Why?)