How very, very interesting! #TuesdayThoughts #Khashoggi
White House prevents Gina Haspel from briefing Senate on Khashoggi murder theguardian.com/world/2018/nov…
White House prevents Gina Haspel from briefing Senate on Khashoggi murder theguardian.com/world/2018/nov…
2/"As of Tuesday, however, the Senate was told by the administration to expect only Pompeo and Mattis at the Wednesday briefing. The White House did not respond to a query on the absence of an intelligence official.
3/"“There is always an intel person there for a briefing like this,” a Senate staffer told the Guardian. “It is totally unprecedented and should be interpreted as nothing less than the Trump administration trying to silence the intelligence community.”
4/"Bruce Riedel, a veteran CIA official and an expert on the US-Saudi relationship at the Brookings Institution, said: “Gina [Haspel] has been the case officer on this. She traveled to Turkey and she is the one who listened to the tapes and is reported to
5/"have briefed the president multiple times. “This is further evidence that the White House is trying to outdo the Saudis in carrying out the worst cover-up in modern history,” Riedel added."
6/"A previous attempt to cut off military assistance to Riyadh under the War Powers Resolution, sponsored by the independent senator Bernie Sanders, Democrat Chris Murphy and Republican Mike Lee, was blocked in March this year by a 55-44 margin.
7/"But several senators who voted to shelve the resolution then have since changed their mind, including Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, and Bob Corker, the committee chair.
8/"Both senators have called for the administration to make a formal judgment on Prince Mohammed’s involvement in the Khashoggi murder and renewed calls for Haspel to appear on Wednesday.
9/"“The briefings are lacking because there’s no one from the intelligence community there. That says to me that you are specifically trying not to have the key question asked,” Menendez said on Monday according to DefenseNews."
10/"“I’ve laid in the railroad tracks in the past to keep us from blocking arms to Saudi Arabia,” Corker told reporters. “I’m in a real different place right now as it relates to Saudi Arabia.” The timing of the vote on the Saudi resolution is unclear. Sanders has said there is
11/"support for holding it this week. The Rep maj leader in the Sen, Mitch McConnell, can try to postpone it, but cannot put it off indefinitely, as any measure under the War Powers Resolution has privileged status and cannot be stopped from going to the Senate floor for a vote."
