Trump Administration Mute Amid Mounting Calls to Condemn Saudi Arabia Over Reported Murder of Journalist
Jamal Khashoggi, Washington Post columnist and prominent Saudi dissident, walked into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last week to pick up a document needed for his marriage. He has not been seen since. Turkish investigators said they believe Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by a team of 15 Saudi agents. Saudi officials have denied they murdered the journalist.
The potential assassination of a journalist on foreign soil raises questions over how the United States will confront Saudi Arabia, an ally the Trump administration has made significant outreach to.
Senator Lindsey Graham said it is “imperative that we find out what happened to Mr. Khashoggi and the Saudi government give a clear answer as to their conduct and information on his whereabouts.”
I very much share the concerns many have expressed about the fate of Saudi Arabian journalist #JamalKhashoggi.
It is imperative that we find out what happened to Mr. Khashoggi and the Saudi government give a clear answer as to their conduct and information on his whereabouts.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) October 8, 2018
The White House, meanwhile, has so not yet issued a statement demanding answers on Khashoggi’s disappearance. Trump, not a president known to hold his tongue, has yet to address it on his Twitter account.
Per the Washington Post:
The Trump administration has said little beyond expressing public concern over Khashoggi’s fate, and the kingdom has sharply denied any knowledge of his whereabouts. In private, officials from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on down have been frustrated with the lack of a substantive response to direct high-level queries, according to administration officials.
Former U.S. officials, journalists and commentators joined calls from lawmakers to demand answers from Saudi Arabia.
Samantha Power, former U.N. ambassador, lamented on Twitter that the “one government that has the influence to get answers on #Kashoggi is mute.”
“The Trump administration’s loyalty to Saudi Arabia & MBS – given the horrors in Yemen, this & more – is a travesty,” she wrote.
The one government that has the influence to get answers on #Kashoggi is mute. The Trump administration’s loyalty to Saudi Arabia & MBS – given the horrors in Yemen, this & more – is a travesty. https://t.co/L3iKlBLJ9t
— Samantha Power (@SamanthaJPower) October 8, 2018
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, calling U.S. lenience on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a “catastrophe”, said the Trump administration should cut off arms sales to the kingdom.
The White House empowered Saudi crown prince MBS as he confronted Qatar, as he kidnapped Lebanon’s prime minister, as he starved Yemenis, as he crushed dissent. Will it continue to sell him weapons if it’s confirmed that he murdered a brave journalist, Jamal Khashoggi?
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) October 7, 2018
Latest reports are Saudi Arabia murdered and dismembered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to the Turks. If so, the US must cut off arms sales to Saudi Arabia; we should recognize that the Trump green light to the crown prince has been a catastrophe https://t.co/XD7mZepeGb
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) October 7, 2018
Fellow Times columnist Tom Friedman agreed, along with a number of other prominent journalists and commentators:
President Trump must ask Saudis to give full and credible account of what happened to Jamal Khashoggi inside their Istanbul consulate. And tell us what he knows too.
— Thomas L. Friedman (@tomfriedman) October 7, 2018
The disappearance of journalist Khashoggi amid evidence of possible murder at hands of Saudi officials in Turkey is a mystery. It demands a thorough examination by US intelligence and a forceful response by Trump Admin which has coddled and condoned Saudi leaders for too long.
— Dan Rather (@DanRather) October 8, 2018
Trump pulled out all the stops when the Turkish government detained an American pastor in Turkey. What will it do now that the Saudi government has apparently murdered a prominent Saudi journalist critic in Turkey. Or does Saudi wealth make a difference? https://t.co/m5IZWpoKz5
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) October 7, 2018
If true, will President Trump condemn Saudi Arabia? He has pursued major business deals there and said during the campaign, “They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.” https://t.co/y48IAyBmxw
— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) October 7, 2018
Is murdering journalists one of the “bold new reforms” Trump just praised his Saudi friends for implementing? https://t.co/hBgE2uJzKg
— Dana Milbank (@Milbank) October 7, 2018
Am awaiting with bateless breath a White House statement in defense of press freedom. Two journalists have been brutally murdered by US allies in past 48 hours – Bulgaria and Saudi Arabia. Will there be any diplomatic consequences at all?
— Edward Luce (@EdwardGLuce) October 8, 2018
What happened to Jamal Khashoggi?
White House must demand answers from the Saudi government immediately.
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) October 8, 2018
#SaudiArabia rats allegedly killed & dismembered a prominent dissident journalist #JamalKhashoggi-after luring reporter into their consulate in Istanbul Turkey-He had written critically of Saudi crown prince #MohammedBinSalman (he’s same bum killing civilians incl kids in #Yemen)
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) October 8, 2018
[Photo by Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images]
