U.S. President Donald Trump
The U.S. Congress will have a difficult time undermining the Trump administration's close ties with Saudi Arabia, despite a Senate vote this week to consider a resolution that would end support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
On Wednesday, 14 of President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans, who hold a slim majority in the Senate and rarely defy his wishes, joined Democrats to vote 63-37 to advance the measure, paving the way for a possible vote to pass it next week.
The unusual result underscored lawmakers' frustration with what they see as the Trump administration's inadequate response to the murder of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate and the deepening humanitarian disaster in Yemen.
Senators from both parties have been increasingly critical of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler who the CIA believes ordered the killing of his critic. Trump has stood by the prince.
British Prime Minister Theresa May plans to raise the killing of Jamal Khashoggi and the situation in Yemen with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G20 summit in Argentina, she said on Thursday.The visit by the prince, the kingdom's de facto ruler, to the summit of industrialized nations is fraught with controversy over the killing of Saudi journalist Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.The killing of the Washington Post columnist, a critic of the crown prince, has strained Saudi Arabia’s ties with the West and battered Prince Mohammed’s image abroad. Saudi Arabia has said he had no prior knowledge of the murder.“I am intending to speak with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. The message that I give will be very clear ... on this issue of Jamal Khashoggi but also on the issue of Yemen,” she told reporters on the flight to Buenos Aires.“We want to see a full and transparent investigation in relation to what happened and obviously those responsible being held to account,” she said on Khashoggi's killing.Western nations are calling for an end to the Saudi-led military campaign in neighboring Yemen, which was launched by Prince Mohammed, as a humanitarian crisis there worsens."On the issue of Yemen, we continue to be deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation,” May said. “The long term solution for the Yemen is a political situation and we will be encouraging all parties actually to look for that and work for that.”Trump cancels G20 Putin meeting over UkraineSaudi crown prince meets India's Modi in Argentina
UK PM May says plans to speak to Saudi crown prince on Khashoggi, Yemen
But the parties broke almost immediately over how to move ahead. Democrats demanded a vote on the resolution as it stands, while some Republicans who voted "yes" said they wanted it amended, or that it would prompt the White House to act.
"What I'd love to see happen is to have the administration address it," Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters on Thursday.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Corker, one of the 14 Republican "yes" votes, said he was discussing a way ahead, including possible amendments, with Senate Republican leaders and Democrats.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Wednesday he would withhold his vote on any key issue, including upcoming spending bills, until the CIA briefs senators about the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi."I am not going to be denied the ability to be briefed by the CIA, that we have oversight of, about whether or not their assessment supports my belief that this could not have happened without MBS (Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman) knowing," Graham told reporters.If the briefing supports his view the crown prince knew about it, "there will be no more business as usual with Saudi Arabia.""I'm talking about any key vote, anything that you need me for to get out of town, I ain't doing it until we hear from the CIA," Graham said, adding "I just did" when asked if he had told President Donald Trump. Senate advances bid to end support for war in YemenUN chief says ready to meet Saudi crown prince at G20
Republican senator to withhold vote until CIA briefs on Khashoggi
Aaron David Miller, a former State Department official who is now a scholar at the Wilson Center, said the Senate vote marked a "significant inflection point" in U.S.-Saudi relations. However, he added, "The problem is that you've got to maintain a certain degree of momentum. The House isn't going to vote on this."
Even if the Senate passes the resolution, to become law it would have to also pass the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a majority until January. Democrats said they had no indication that the House Republican leaders would allow a vote.
Speaker Paul Ryan said at a Washington Post event on Thursday that he opposed the Senate measure. Republican leadership aides did not respond to requests for comment on whether they would allow a vote.
If the resolution does not become law, Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the foreign relations panel, said lawmakers could try to add legislation punishing Saudi Arabia to a spending bill that Congress must pass by Dec. 7 to avoid a federal government shutdown.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has suggested that U.S. President Donald Trump is “part of the cover-up as to what happened” in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.Clinton, who was also Trump's campaign rival in the 2016 presidential election, kicked off a paid speaking tour with her husband and former President Bill Clinton in Toronto and took the opportunity to attack the president's response to the killing.“We have a president who is part of the cover-up as to what happened in that consulate or embassy when Mr. Khashoggi was murdered,” Clinton said Tuesday.“And we have a president and those closest to him who have their own personal commercial interests,” she added.Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, went missing after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.After initially saying he had left the consulate alive, Saudi Arabia admitted weeks later that he was killed there.Trump, who has stated that he plans to maintain relations with Saudi Arabia, has come under criticism from many in Washington who think the U.S. should downgrade its ties with the Kingdom and end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.The president also refused to blame Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the crime after reports emerged that the CIA concluded that the prince ordered the killing, saying "maybe he did, maybe he didn't!"
‘Trump part of Khashoggi cover-up’
But that would need bipartisan support to pass, and the spending bill already faces tough hurdles. Trump has threatened to allow a shutdown to force Congress to give him billions of dollars to build a wall on the border with Mexico.
A Saudi resolution would likely pass the House when Democrats take control in January, after sweeping victories in November's mid-term elections. But Trump's Republicans will hold a larger majority in the new Senate, and many of his critics within the party, including Corker, will have retired.
Other things could also influence Congress. If special counsel Robert Mueller issues his report on Trump, Republicans might be less likely to vote against the president. Or there could be advances in Yemen peace talks, a point that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stressed in his remarks to senators shortly before their vote defying the administration.