No, Don, he did it
GOPers: No doubt that Saudi prince ordered slay
Top Senate Republicans left a CIA briefing Tuesday convinced that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, dealing a major rebuke to President Trump.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (RS.C.), typically one of Trump's fiercest congressional allies, shared his feelings after the closed-door briefing.
“There's not a smoking gun, there's a smoking saw,” Graham told reporters, referencing the bone-saw a team of Saudi assassins are believed to have used to dismember the Virginia-based Washington Post columnist after killing him inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.
“You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of (bin Salman) and that he was intricately involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi.”
Graham continued, “There is zero chance — zero — that this happened in such an organized fashion without the crown prince.”
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) agreed, saying it would take “30 minutes” for an American jury to unanimously convict bin Salman of murder.
“There's no questions whatsoever,” Corker said of the crown prince' s alleged involvement in the brutal slaying.
The Senate is set to take up a resolution that would cancel U.S. weapon sales to Saudi Arabia and pull support for the regime's brutal military campaign in war-torn Yemen — and Graham signaled that measure will pass once it comes up for a vote.
“I cannot support arm sales to Saudi Arabia as long as he's in charge,” the South Carolina Republican said of bin Salman.
Citing confidentiality concerns, lawmakers declined to discuss the specifics of the briefing, which was conducted by CIA Director Gina Haspel.
A congressional source familiar with internal discussions told the Daily News that senators will shortly call for the full Senate to be briefed on the CIA findings. Tuesday's briefing was only attended by Corker, Graham, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (RKy.) and a handful of top members of relevant committees.
A White House spokeswoman did not return a request for comment.
Tuesday's development puts increased pressure on Trump, who stoked outrage last month by siding with bin Salman — over the findings of U.S. intelligence — when the crown prince denied ordering Khashoggi's grisly murder.
“It could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event — maybe he did and maybe he didn't!” Trump said in an official White House statement on Nov 19.