The Senate today advanced a resolution seeking to end U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, delivering a sharp rebuke of the Saudi crown prince and President Trump’s decision to defend him amid the fallout over journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s killing.
The 63-to-37 vote means the resolution can be considered by the full Senate, but it does not officially launch debate on the matter.
That will happen next week, provided the Senate passes a second procedural vote — which seems likely, senators said, unless the Trump administration takes definitive steps to hold Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman accountable for Khashoggi’s murder.
Today’s vote marks the first time a majority of senators have ignored the warnings of both party’s leaders and the president to formally endorse calls for limiting U.S. military aid to Saudi Arabia.
It is a signal that Republicans and Democrats are done making excuses for the kingdom’s human rights abuses, lawmakers said.
“We understand that Saudi Arabia is an ally, of sorts, and a semi-important country,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said . “We’ve watched innocent people be killed . . . we also have a crown prince who is out of control.”
Senators emerged from a closed-door briefing with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis angry that the Trump administration had not sent CIA Director Gina Haspel to address the agency’s high-confidence assessment that Mohammed orchestrated Khashoggi’s murder.
One influential senator warned Trump he would hold out on other measures until Haspel came to Capitol Hill.
“I am not going to blow past this,” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), pledging to vote against “any key vote” until Haspel briefed lawmakers. “Anything that you need me for to get out of town — I ain’t doing it until we hear from the CIA.”
The White House and the Senate are at loggerheads over continuing the U.S. military’s backing for a Saudi-led coalition that has been conducting airstrikes in Yemen since the spring of 2015.
Their concern has grown in recent weeks after Khashoggi, a contributing columnist for The Washington Post, was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in what Riyadh eventually acknowledged was a planned killing.
Saudi denials of the crown prince’s involvement in Khashoggi’s death — and Trump’s defense of those denials — have revived efforts to pass a measure that would curtail U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition operating in Yemen.
Trump has a reason to defend Saudi Arabia for business reasons. By his own admission, he’s done millions and millions of dollars worth of business there.
Son-in-law Jared Kushner also has a massive amount of business dealings in Saudi Arabia. In fact, the United States has no ambassador accredited in Riyadh. Instead, the relationship is in the hands of Kushner, which in itself could be a massive financial conflict.
Trump registered eight companies during his presidential campaign that were tied to hotel interests in Saudi Arabia.