Fanning out to the Sunday morning talk shows, Republican lawmakers delivered a message to President Donald Trump that he needs to listen to CIA reports on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and dismiss Saudi official claims that they are handling the investigation themselves.
According to the Washington Post, Trump received little support from his own party on Sunday morning, with Nebraska Sen. Joni Ernst (R) admonishing Trump to call out the Saudi government's changing stories.
Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, Ernst called Saudi Arabia a “great strategic partner” but added that failure to come clean over the murder of the journalist would compel Congress to “absolutely to consider further action.”
“At such a time when it becomes necessary, the president also needs to speak directly to the Saudis and say enough’s enough,” Ernst continued. “And if there are indicators coming from those intelligence agencies, he also needs to be involved in some sort of action.”
Ernst added that any dealings with the Saudis should be curtailed and that the Senate may get involved in starting their own investigation, stating: “I do think we need to look into this further, and we need to understand where the investigations are leading us.”
Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) had stronger words for Trump who has dismissed a CIA report into the disappearance and death of Khashoggi, reportedly at the hands of Saudi agents at the behest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“I disagree with the president’s assessment,” Lee 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.”